Comparing President Bush to Hitler is working out Great

[bryant69]

I mean instead of elucidating on President Bush's dozens of failures, we are instead focused on defending two interenet jokesters who compared President Bush to Hitler.

Yep, because comparing President Bush to Hitler is a sure fire losing strategy; we'd do better if we just all shot ourselves in the foot. We'd get a bit more of the sympathy vote that way.

Karl Rove is happy when we compared President Bush to Hitler; makes his job easier.

I hate to say it but this is an area where the conservatives do a bit better than we do. We all know that there are ugly and provocative things that some Conservatives believe (particularly about Race). But they keep those beliefs under wraps for the good of the party. Now, granted, they don't really believe in the benefits of debate or free speech, but still.

I'm not suggesting that I or anybody else should tell people what they can or can't say. That's a decision everybody has to make for themselves. I am saying that this is an important election. Real people are losing their jobs. Real American troops are being sent off to battle. I don't think there's anything wrong with tempering your remarks with that realization.

Oh, and to put the final nail in the coffin, I don't buy the Hitler-Bush comparisons.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. me neither

good post. The comparison is infantile and doesn't help our cause.

[loudnclear]

24. Can anyone have an opinion that offends the neocons and keep it here?

Agree or disagree...but at least don't deny the right to have an opinion. I personally think it doesn't help the Dem cause to become Republican-lite. Does that make me a bad persone?

[waylon]

2. I couldnt agree more

Call names or win an election, its up to us..

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Who's "we" exactly?

Just because a couple of people decided to take it to the extreme doesn't exactly mean "we" had any part in the comparison or the creation of the moveon contest entry.

Perhaps "we" should a page from the conservatives who don't waste time worrying the people who post things about "Hitlery Clinton".

[meegbear]

4. True ...

but God ... it's FUN!! :evilgrin:

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Then maybe you should stop

talking about, people talking about, people comparing Bu$h to Hitler?

[bvar22]

6. Agree.

Hitler could read and write, served in the army, and was wounded in combat.

bush* is just a pathetic little Hitler wannabe!

[arcane1]

15. AND- he was elected

:evilgrin:

[bobbieinok]

27. no, he was not elected

he was appointed as the 4th (?) chancellor in 3 years

the nazis had been winning, but in the election prior to his appointment their numbers started down

[FrankBooth]

7. I don't buy the comparisons either

Bush is a petty tyrant. Hitler was a tyrant of epic proportions. Bush is much more analagous to some Central American dictator, who basically runs the country like an organized crime syndicate or bannana republic - that is, he uses it to enrich himself and his cronies and to consolidate his power to ensure the money continues to flow in even after he is gone.

However, there are valid parallels to Hitler - the brazen use of propoganda being the most obvious and compelling.

And, I do believe that Bush is just as dangerous as Hitler for one reason - although he may be only a petty tyrant, he is the most well-armed petty tyrant in the history of the world.

[the_boxer_]

29. Excellent post FrankBooth...

Bush may not be Hiter in every regard, however, there are many parallels and then there's always the slippery slope...

I totally agree with the "Most well-armed petty tyrant" comment.

[StClone]

8. W's wealth can be traced to Prescott Bush Nazi financier.

Sssssshhhhh. We don't want Americans to know that.

And I heard that a couple of guys over in some cafe in Wausau compared Bush to Attila the Hun It was overheard by a Publican faithful and now WE are prominantly bashed on the RNC website. Yikes!

[htuttle]

9. What is your point, really?

It was the Right that dug out a couple of videos out of over 1,000 (that didn't have any Hitler in them), and made them an issue, all by themselves. In fact, they are trying so hard, they are hosting the videos themselves at RNC HQ, since MoveOn took them down.

How is any of this the 'fault' of Democrats, Mr. Colmes? So some posters on an independent web forum (ie., that's DU) make the comparisons -- again, how is this anything to do with the Democratic party? Hell, how do we know the posters are even Democrats?

The Right will make an issue out of any damned thing they want. We aren't going to get anywhere by doing things that the Right wants us to do. With Big Media ready and waiting to broadcast whatever the GOP Party Line is for that day, we need to instead find a way to not sucked into playing the game on their terms.

[frylock]

10. bush-hitler comparison unjust..

<snip>

Let's just compare. When Adolf Hitler took office in early 1933, there were over 6 million Germans out of work; in 1935, that number was already well under 3 million, dropping to under 1 million by the end of 1936. German industrial production soared in Hitler's early years; after steep declines from 1930-1932, Hitler's state-interventionist policies, combined with tax incentives, reversed that trend, so that by 1935, German production roared past its previous record peak in 1929.

Under President Bush, the American unemployment rate has rocketed more than 50%, and layoffs continue to mount. The US economy entered a recession within months after Bush's inauguration, reversing a decade of economic boom. Industrial production is falling, and skewed tax breaks that favored the wealthy have opened a gaping deficit, siphoning money away from both capital investment and state spending, both of which are sorely needed. In short, under Bush, America's economy has entered a free-fall.

The differences don't stop there. Hitler built the autobahns, transforming Germany's and the world's transportation. He ushered in an era of exciting new uniforms. Closet homosexuals found gainful employment in the highest rungs of government, and an outlet to vent their frustrations with the world. It is also thanks to Hitler that the briefly fashionable square-shaped mustache will never, ever come into vogue again.

George W. Bush built a single baseball stadium in Arglington, Texas. Amtrak and America's airlines are bankrupt, putting transportation into its worst crisis in history. The days of casual wear are out the door, while America's homosexuals are pouring out of the closet and into the open at record rates, threatening to overwhelm our large cities. Moreover, goatees are still all the rage, in spite of the fact that the gritty poverty the goatee represents is no longer so ironic.

Probably the most fundamental difference between them was that Hitler was a completely self-made man. He came out of poverty and rose to the top with no help from his father. It's a classic rags-to-death-camps story, the stuff legends are made of. Bush, on the other hand, bumbled and boozed his way into riches and power purely through the guiding hand of his father and his father's oil friends, a hand he's only dimly aware of. George Bush Jr. suffers from the sort of genetic degeneration that eventually doomed the aristocrats of Europe, such as the Hapsburgs and the Romanovs; in the Bush family, W clearly has the droopy eyes and blank expression of an inbred son with recessive genes.

<more>

http://exile.ru/151/1510204113.html

[Karenina]

12. Perfect.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[YNGW]

11. It is working out great.

The participants are doing a wonderful job. Goodness knows the best and brightest progressives and best and brightest of the Democratic Party are here at DU, and with these people on the case, and with "Bush is Hitler" in their back pocket, victory in 2004 is as good as in the bank.

[waylon]

13. yep, all 35 thousand of us

will make it happen, right?

Ive said this too many times in too many posts but, lets not forget the rest of the country. How do you think they are going to respond to this?


I dont understand why we are playing right into their hands. The more we hate, the more they smile.

Why dont we focus on what our candidates can do for the country, not what bush has done. Let us, for once, take control of the discussion, please!

[Gin]

14. Hitler/ Shmitler.....I don't care who * is comapred too...he is still the

village idiot...and hes going to be defeated.

[Indiana Democrat]

22. LOL!

Gotta love good sarcasm.

Well done. :)

[Terwilliger]

16. This is simply something for the right-wing to glom onto

Fact is, conservatives and Repukes can make outlandish, outrageous statements and there is ZERO backlash against them, but when two "internet jokesters" submit an ad among hundreds, suddenly the entire left is defined by these things.

The fact that you continue to let the right-wing frame the debate says more about you. It's only hyped up and outrageous because the Republicans made it that way. Hell! The freaking ads were pulled from MoveOn and are NOW SHOWING on the RNC website. Shouldn't that tell you that the Republicans are angry because there might be merit to the comparisons?

[waylon]

23. That SHOULD tell us who we are dealing with

but we seem to do it over and over again!!! I dont get it.

We know how things work, we have suffered from backlashes before, we whine about it, then we do it all over again.

I dont necessarily blame moveon for this but I suspect their line that it slipped through their filters is, generously phrased. I am a bit aggravated that most DU'rs, from what ive read, support these ads.

The comparisons can be made, but we should know better than put it out there for the whole world to see.

"The freaking ads were pulled from MoveOn and are NOW SHOWING on the RNC website. Shouldn't that tell you that the Republicans are angry because there might be merit to the comparisons?"

Nope, that tells me that they are using it as ammnunition against us.

[Terwilliger]

26. ammunition how?

Look, Democrats suck all on their own...that doesn't mean Bush/Hitler comparisons are not warranted. Fact of the matter is, Bush has gained his power in this administration through the Reichstag fire and perpetuating fear and suspicion throughout the American populace. It should be CLEAR that Democrats should be pointing these things out.

But, you know, you and other folks like yourself are simply reacting to the idea that truth is not something the American people want to hear. So telling them the "truth" about how bad Bush is as a president is equivalent to suggesting that he was like Hitler. So what are ya gonna do now? When 2+2=4 and nobody cares, what chance do you think there is of ANYONE saying ANYTHING that the fearful American public will not turn into a brand new hatred of Democrats and the left?

I don't think anyone in the Democratic party is adequately prepared for 2004. This is an 11 month exercise in waiting for the inevitable.

[the_boxer_]

30. I'm afraid you may be right Terwilliger...

That's the problem. We need to actually have a rock and stand the hell on it.

[waylon]

31. I think we need to be practical

If you really think the average american will listen to that, then go for it. I dont. I think they want to hear why they should vote for OUR candidate

[Terwilliger]

32. I agree...but how do you do that?

when the entire American media system is rigged to deride anything any Democratic candidate stands for?

Seriously...how do you refine the message that our candidates are all light-years ahead of Bush when the American people don't even care that Bush is a liar and a traitor? Bush does horrendous things on a daily basis, yet the news of the day is how one Dem candidate fights with another...when do you think the American people are going to listen to reasonable, rational discussion about the merits of particular candidates?

OnEdit: how do you fight the impractical when the impractical is seen as practical?

[waylon]

33. Focus on what our candidates are doing about the issues

I think everyday folks are tired of fear and conspiracy. I think they want to hear positive news. When was the last time we heard bush sound fatalistic?

The media is ours, we just need to learn how to use it.

[Terwilliger]

35. Kerry: Well, we should do our best to close the gun-show loopholes...

the RIGHT: "OH NO! HE's GOING TO TAKE OUR GUNS AWAY!!"

Kerry: "No, of course that's not what I'm saying. It's simply inexcusable that guns are so easily available to people who should not have access to them"

the RIGHT: "OH NO! NOW HE'S DECIDING WHO SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE GUNS"

&c.
&c.

& cetera...

This is the kind of "issue oriented persuasion" that goes for public debate these days. How do you fight against a public that would rather hear comfortable, familiar sound bytes than hear cold hard truths that require them to examine any issue and make tough choices?

I say, unless you get in their face and tell them that they are inexcusable morons for following Bush so blindly as he leads them down the garden path is the ONLY way you'll shake them from their slumber.

If you're right, and it's just going to be hunkering down and "getting the message out", what do you think will be different this year from 2000?

[waylon]

36. We didnt control the debate in 00

We have the opportunity to do it now. The substance of that debate is in question. Conspiracy theory (which it will be labeled) or progressive issues? Its up to us.


Lets not throw in the towel, lets have a sensible plan.

[Cleita]

17. Considering that one of the websites you can view

the video in question on is on the RNC website, it gives you pause for thought. If they are soooo offended, why is it there for all their RW constituents to view? Maybe some of the morons might make a loose connection after all. If it looks like duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.

I do buy the comparison. No, not the one of Bush being like Hitler. Hitler was much smarter and more evil than Bush. But, the Republican Party has become indistinguishable in ideology from any other fascist party in history and that includes the Nazis.

[ElementaryPenguin]

18. Everyone who publicly compares Chimp to Hitler...

Chips away at the myth of this fucking ignorant, arrogant prictator's "popularity"!!

Let's keep it up!! There are MANY valid parallels!

[GR]

19. It's Time People Spoke Up About The Similarities...

I don't condone the commercials per se, but I do condone their spirit, which is that nothing is beyond belief or beyond saying about Bush.

The Lenni Reifensteihl tableus of cheering worshipful supporters and waving flags are one example of the similarities.

Free speech zones, relegating dissent to out of sight locales is another.

Using 911 for political purposes, like Hitler used the ReichStag fire, and the very SELECTION OF NY FOR THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION TO LEVERAGE 911, is dispicable.

Not six million Jews, but how many Iraqi civilians has Bush killed thought bombing, on-purpose or not their still dead? How many "preemptive manhunts" read "assassination squads" have been in operation in Iraq of late.


Speaking truth to power, however hyperbolic, is sometimes necessary if only to widen the parameters of discourse beyond center left to far right. The republicans engage in hyperbole all the time, e.g. Grover Norquist said taxes are like the holacaust. Max Cleland was compared to bin Laden and Saddam. Democrats recently compared Dean to bin Laden.

Limbaugh calls Dean...Nikita Dean...Limbaugh spent years beginning his show with "America held hostage..." implying that the legally elected Clinton was illegitimately occupying the White House.

The double standard must end.

[jbfam4]

20. Wes Boyd's statement regarding the Hitler ad

http://www.moveon.org/

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie stooped to a new low today when he launched a coordinated media campaign against MoveOn.org Voter Fund. RNC press operatives have been pushing a vicious and false smear campaign against MoveOn.org Voter Fund for two ads which are not Voter Fund ads.

[Indiana Democrat]

21. You must be a disruptor puke.

You're not toing the sure loser hate everything and scream it from the mountain tops line.

[mlawson]

25. Most of us do not refer to bush as "President".

I won't even capitalize the cretin's name. Remember, he was selected, not elected. He may be official, but he is not legitimate.

As for the bush/hitler thing, I doubt that any of our prez candidates will use it in their campaigns; it would indeed be a losing gambit.

[symbolman]

28. I'm a finalist in the contest

and am looking forward to going to the event (maybe even winning - tho there is a lot of very good competition) and having a good time..

thanks to the RNC MoveOn is getting TONS of free publicity and Bush is being associated with Hitler over and over..

THEY are shooting themselves in the foot and it's hilarious..

If you want to see the flash that started it all go to : http://www.takebackthemedia.com/bushnonazi.html

"Bush is not a Nazi - so stop saying that..."

There are rumors that there are going to be Freepers there to disrupt.. I hope so, I've got something for them..

[Malva Zebrina]

34. It will not work for one very obvious and plain reason

most Americans have no idea of how Hitler came to power over those years, and how he reigned with fear using an excellent propaganda machine. They simply know Hitler as the bad man who killed the Jews.

They know nothing else,relatively and it is too late to try and eduacate them. That is why any appeals to an actual parsing of the comparisons to Hitler will not work and why people think it would work against the Democratic challenge to Bush.

I personally do not enjoy the posts who say to "play it smart" and we will win. I do not believe that. It is NOT smart, imo, to try to downplay tyranny in order to win--in the end no one knows the truth--either with a Bush or with a Democratic contender who is trying to downplay tyranny in order to oust the Bush.

Bush has the money and he has the bully pulpit and I do think, sorry for the cynicism, he is on his way to winning a second term by appealing to the base instincts of stupid people . What can I say--those who would support his pre-emptive killing in order to "bring peace and denocracy" are crazy and totally uncaring individuals.

A more interesting approach would be to explore exactly why this issue has come up at all. What happened and what is happening to persons in this country who feel the need to compare this man who claimed the presidency by stealing it, to a Hitler.

Howcome we have this phenonema in the first place?

That is really the question.