Speaking of name-calling in Hungarian politics, Socialist MP Zsolt Török (right) seems to have gone a bit overboard in a confrontational e-mail exchange with a retired Hungarian émigré who, just to make the whole thing that much more emotional, had done time as a political prisoner back in the communist era. According to a write-up of the big fight on Fidesz.hu (based on a print-only report in conservative daily Magyar Nemzet), the fireworks started when one László Varju, who emigrated to America in ’56 and is a retired U.S. Air Force officer, wrote to the 37-year-old Török to express his outrage that the Hungarian left continues to treat as icons people like Che Guevara and WWII-era Hungarian communist activist Endre Ságvári. In his reply, Török wrote: “I don’t negotiate with fascist murderers, just like I don’t with terrorists and cowardly rabbits robbing our nation and leaving it.” Among other choice things.
The MP also asked Varju “how it feels to kill” and “how it feels to be a person whose children want to commit suicide when they learn their father was a small-time gold thief, a small, murderous rat.” As closing remark, he called Varju a “pedophile.”
Asked by Magyar Nemzet what had happened, Török confirmed that he had corresponded with a person who called himself László Varju, who sent Török what the latter called a slanderous and threatening e-mail. Somehow we think it won’t be the last, especially since Török’s official webpage helpfully includes his e-mail address.
