Noem's plea of innocence today reminds me of this bit from the play "Lenny" . . .

[Journeyman]

"Lenny," based on the life of Lenny Bruce, opened on Broadway in 1971. In it, there's a remarkable exchange between Adolf Eichmann, Adolf Hitler, and Lenny Bruce. The quote from Eichmann gives breadth to Noem's idiotic statement today. One can only assume, she's beginning to feel the hot breath of justice hard on her tail. The rest of the bit I include because it was a remarkable commentary in its day, made all the more telling by our present situation.

Eichmann: "Und don't blame me, you freak! I vas only following orders. But you, you vas ordering followers!"

Hitler: "Bullshit! You can't know what it was like. Goering vas, running around, giving himself fixes in a house dress. I didn't know what the he'll was going on. I asked them, 'How'm I doing, fellas?' Und dey said 'Great, man, they love you!'"

Lenny: "Yeah, nobody told you what a putz you really were!"

Hitler: "No. I couldn't get that information!"

Lenny: "That's right, that's it, you must not stop the information because the information keeps the country strong. You need the deviate, make room for the deviate, you need that madman to stand up and tell you when you're blowing it. The harder you come down on the deviate the more you need him."