Self-conscious conservatives for Mandela

Apparently, it takes a special kind of conservative to avoid falling into what even an embarrassed Cornell West has characterized as the "Santa-Claus-ification" of Nelson Mandela.

It's tough to buck the tsunami of media deification of Mandela in the wake of his death.

What else can explain the warm fuzzy talk from the likes of Ted Cruz, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and even Rush Limbaugh in recent days?

Why is it so difficult for conservatives to tell the truth about Mandela?

Is it a lack of information?

Is it a fear of being labeled "racist"?

Here are some documentable and undeniable facts about Mandela:

He was a longtime Community Party member, though he lied about his allegiance from time to time.
He was not a "political prisoner" for 27 years, as is often reported, but was convicted of specific acts of sabotage and revolutionary activity. He was offered many opportunities to walk out of prison a free man if he simply denounced violence and terrorism. He refused.
His best friends on the world scene during his active political life were Fidel Castro, Moammar Gadhafi and Yasser Arafat.
He hated the United States and called it the country that, more than any other, "committed unspeakable atrocities in the world." He concluded by saying Americans "don't care for human beings."

What's the documentation for this? His own words. His own deeds.

It's one thing for the state-run media to pronounce secular sainthood on Mandela. But Rush? Say it ain't so.

Is it too much to ask for even conservatives to stand up to the whitewashing of Mandela's record?

If so, won't they have to apologize to the likes of Arafat, Gadhafi and Castro?

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I know it's tough. It's not like Mandela didn't have some redeeming qualities. He was not a cartoon figure as his triumvirate of evil friends were. Yes, he even reined in his wife, Winnie, and divorced her when she publicly chanted for "necklacing" their political opponents – placing gasoline-soaked tires around their necks and lighting them on fire. Yes, he was right to oppose Apartheid and helped bring it to an end.

I get that.

Nevertheless, should the U.S. be lowering its government flags to half-staff for an America-hater?

Should the U.S. be lowering its government flags to half-staff for a Communist Party leader?

Should the U.S. be lowering its government flags to half-staff for a liar and a deceiver?

Should the U.S. be lowering its government flags to half-staff for an unrepentant terrorist?

Should the U.S. be lowering its government flags to half-staff for a friend of Arafat, Gadhafi and Castro?

This is something the U.S. didn't do for one of its strongest friends and allies in modern times – Lady Margaret Thatcher.

I'm grateful Rush Limbaugh pointed that out with some irony.

But conservatives need not jump on the bandwagon of official sanctification and media adulation.

What's wrong with a dose of truth?

Mandela was not a freedom fighter – any more than his loathsome buddy Yasser Arafat was.

Forgive me if I don't mourn for Mandela. I mourn instead for his victims. I mourn instead for those martyrs being persecuted, tortured and killed every day around the world for their faith in God. I mourn instead for the tens of millions of innocent victims of Communism and other forms of totalitarianism Mandela promoted.

By the way, though my commentaries on Mandela have been read by hundreds of thousands of people in the last week, not a single person has questioned even one of the facts I have reported that indict his semi-official narrative.

Maybe I just don't have enough mourning in me for people like Mandela, who got more than he deserved as his reward during 95 years of life on the planet.

Conservatives need to buck up and learn how to defend their own heroes. They don't need to align themselves with the media myth-makers.

With the death of this legend, even the boldest conservatives of our time have become self-conscious about proclaiming the truth. And it's the truth that always sets us free.

Order WND columnist Ilana Mercer's brilliant polemical work, "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa"