Why the reluctance to compare Bush to Hitler?

[Cyrano]

Anyone with even a vague knowledge of history sees that this country today resembles Germany of the mid-to-late 1930s.

Brown shirts? Try protesting Bush in public, or even put an anti-Bush bumper sticker on your car, and see what happens.

World opinion? The World Court, the Kyoto Treaty, the U.N., stopping nuclear proliferation? Screw them all.

Torture? Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and places whose names we don't yet know.

Propaganda? We have an American media that only Josef Goebbels could love. (One question rule for reporters? C'mon, people. He doesn't even answer the one question that's asked)

And these examples are just for starters. "But, wait," you say. "He's not killing Americans." I beg to differ. Over 1200 Americans are dead in Iraq (and perhaps as many as 100,000 Iraqis) and all of this on the say so of one man: George W. Bush.

Oh yeah, there aren't any gas chambers. Well, not yet. About all I can hope for on this score is that when I'm standing in a shower waiting for the gas to be dropped in, some moronic Bush voter is standing next to me looking around for the soap.

[xultar]

1. * doesn't have the mustache n/t

[MikeG]

2. Its been right-wing talk radio mau-maued.

[Fenris]

3. Because it's oversimplified hyperbole.

[bowens43]

8. In what way?

His administration is using exactly the same methods used by the Third Reich.

[RafterMan]

17. So you think this is only the *second* government in history

to whip up patriotic ferver to control its people and push them into a war?

The Hitler comparisons are a conjuror's trick. He's done enough bad things to discuss here and now without resorting to dubious historical analogies.

[Redleg]

50. Because Bush hasn't (yet) encouraged the extermination of a whole

group of people nor has he (yet) sought to invade neighboring countries to create a bit more "living space."

[leesa]

89. Ummm...he is encouraging the elimination of Muslims in his Crusades

AND he is creating "living space" for our military bases in Iraq. He is doing both the things you say he is not.

[John BigBootay]

95. Where has Bush called for the elimination of Muslims?

By this, I assume you mean a Hitlerian campaing to extermintate Muslims as Hitler tried to do with Jews.

Though I may disagree with Bush's tactics in combating terrorism, I have seen no evidence that he is trying to destroy Islam or rid the planet of an estimated one billion Muslims.

Where is your evidence of this?

Personally, I find Bush's efforts to combat terrorism schizophrenic-- he aggressively fights in Afghanistan and in Iraq (under shoddy initial intelligence) but at home, he insists that Muslims not be profiled for greater scrutiny at airport security checkpoints. Yet he allows infiltration and espionage of mosques.

This doesn't sound like the doings of a Hitler-- on one hand he is aggressive and proactive / on the other hand he seems cowed by PC guilt.

[Done]

94. change "living space" to oil

...after all we have plenty of living space in the US, what we need is oil.

[CatWoman]

96. I get so sick of the "H" word

Main Entry: hy·per·bo·le
Pronunciation: hI-'p&r-b&-(")lE
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek hyperbolE excess, hyperbole, hyperbola, from hyperballein to exceed, from hyper- + ballein to throw -- more at DEVIL
: extravagant exaggeration (as "mile-high ice-cream cones")
- hy·per·bo·list /-list/ noun


Main Entry: sim·i·le
Pronunciation: 'si-m&-(")lE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin, comparison, from neuter of similis
: a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses) -- compare METAPHOR

[DrGonzoLives]

4. Because it's histrionics

made mostly by people who hope he does turn into Hitler so that they can be martyrs.

Vague knowledge of history, eh? What was Germany's economy like in the late 1930's?

[Journeyman]

29. It's the question I ask of all such posts. . .

It's easy to see similarities between historical eras and to draw conclusions that seem to be supported by the facts. It is far more difficult, however, to address the differences between eras, as this requires a more thorough understanding of the times in question (especially in this particular debate, as so many have posted so much about so little), and forces the poster to address what these differences may portend for the future of our struggle.

[RafterMan]

5. Because

historical determinism is a fraud, and Bush didn't write Mein Kampf.

[DeminGa]

23. There have been comparisons made between...

Have you ever read A Project For the New American Century, Rebuilding Americas Defenses?

You can find it on line, minus a few important names which have been conveniently removed since I first read the report back in '01. The report is todays Bush agenda, his platform for rule written BACK IN '98 by many of the people now found in his administration. The names include Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Wolfowitz etc etc

I have wanted to start a thread on this subject, but am too new to have that ability. I am curious to know how many people here have heard of this, read it, or are in any way familiar with it. I believe it is the MOST important piece of the puzzle that explains the war, this presidency and our future

Please read up on it, it will explain why we are in Iraq and where we are going from there. It may even give you reason to believe that we either had a part in 9/11 or at least looked the other way.

Look for the reference to needing a "new pearl harbor" in order to initiate the plans of the pnac and win the approval of the american people. Scary!

Read about how Iraq is only a stepping stone to global domination and military dominance around the world

You may never look at our government the same way again. I now I didnt!


I believe their site is www.newamericancentury.org
(edited to include addy)

[Cyrano]

24. DeminGa. Welcome to DU. Yes, I've read pnac and that's

part of the reason I've made the Hitler comparison in this thread.

[RafterMan]

30. Have you ever heard

"Remember the Maine"?

Ever heard of Alcibiades?

On edit, how about the Gulf of Tonkin resolution?

I have read the entire PNAC document and it is nothing new. Hitler waged aggressive war. Bush waged aggresive war. Therefore, Bush is Hitler is not a valid syllogism and serves no useful political purpose.

People who use it think they are trying to open people's eyes, but they are closing them instead.

[Cyrano]

34. I'm only treating PNAC as one element of what Bush has done since

he's been in office. Further, in comparing Bush to Hitler, I actually mean BushCo. Cheney, Rove and many others around Bush are dangers to any concept of democracy.

What other American administration in history has had as much contempt for the Bill of Rights that this administration has demonstrated? Not to mention their contempt for public and world opinion. If you think these people aren't capable of far worse than we've already seen from them, wake up.

[RafterMan]

42. Adams and Wilson

had their Sedition Acts. Lincoln suspended habeus corpus. Roosevelt put Japanese in concentration camps. Johnson lied us into war. Jackson defied the Supreme Court on Indian removal.

Do you hear me saying Bush is not horrible? No. But if you think further ghettoizing the critique against Bush with spurious comparisons to Hitler is somehow useful, wake up yourself.

[Cyrano]

53. Okay, Rafterman, you win. Good luck with your view that this is just

another set of despicable acts by a despicable administration. If it makes you feel any better, I sincerely hope you're right.

[RafterMan]

54. Oh come on.

You asked for a list, I gave it to you. And you reply with more nonsense: Either Bush is Hitler, or he's just another guy.

Bush can be uniquely bad -- the worst president ever, the end of America, even -- without demanding that he be compared to Hitler. That particular analogy focuses people more on how Bush is not like Hitler (not gassing jews) and helps them overlook the things he is actually doing wrong.

[Cyrano]

56. Dear RafterMan. I suggest you read post #49.

This posting makes a far better case than I was capable of documenting.

If, after after perusing that posting, you still cling to your position, then we have nothing more to discuss. Or, as Strother Martin said in "Cool Hand Luke," "Now what we have here is a failure to communcate(sic)."

[RafterMan]

57. Dear Cyrano

I suggest you read post #55.

Maybe when you go selling your Bush is Hitler line, adding "Pravda says so, too" will win over the heartland.

[Cyrano]

58. Dear Rafterman: Read it again. There was much more there than Pravda.

However, getting through to you is like trying to make a point on Rush Limbaugh. After reading all of your postings, my personal opinion is that you're sole intent is to be contentious, arbitrary and argumentative. Enjoy. From here on, your talking to yourself.

On edit: I know you'll have to have the last word on this. But I won't be one of the readers of it.

[RafterMan]

62. Contentious, arbitrary and argumentative

You insist on moving the case against Bush from the realm of hard facts to the mushy world of analogy, label those who disagree with you "cowed", and depart in a snit.

As for post 49, nobody is arguing that other people don't make the analogy -- that is what gave rise to your post in the first place. The argument is that it (a) does not enhance people's understanding of what is wrong with Bush and worse (b) allows people to use the obvious differences in the two cases to dismiss his real flaws.

Rush Limbaugh indeed.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

6. This Thread Ain't Nuthin' But Shit (eom)

DTH

[Cyrano]

18. Well, doveturnedhawk. That's a truly erudite statement. But,

how about stating your reasons and your arguments of why you think "this thread ain't nothing but shit?"

[leesa]

90. Wow. Enlightening!

[sinkingfeeling]

7. May not be Hitler, but it sure is an American version of fascism!!

[bowens43]

9. Bush is too stupid to be Hitler

Rove on the other hand.....

[bowens43]

10. I have compared bush ho hitler and wil continue to do so.

The methods used by bush and his henchman have been used before.

[MindPilot]

11. because Hitler was a legitimately elected

charismatic leader and brilliant military strategist who worked his way to the top from humble beginnings. He also wrote a book.

* wishes he could be Hitler.

[KurtNYC]

13. Don't think so

Hitler never had more than 37 percent of the popular vote in the honest elections that occurred before he became Chancellor. And the opposition among the 63 percent against him was generally quite strong. Hitler therefore would have never seen the light of day had the German Republic been truly democratic. Unfortunately, its otherwise sound constitution contained a few fatal flaws. The German leaders also had a weak devotion to democracy, and some were actively plotting to overthrow it. Hitler furthermore enjoyed an almost unbroken string of luck in coming to power. He benefited greatly from the Great Depression, the half-senility of the president, the incompetence of his opposition, and the appearance of an unnecessary backroom deal just as the Nazis were starting to lose popular appeal and votes.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm

[boi1946]

16. I keep remembering

that comment B* made when he said the his job would be a whole lot easier if he was a dictator.
But I think we are giving B* too much credit comparing him to Hitler. If B* had not had Bushco and the BFEE, he would still be back in Texas playing counterfeit cowboy and ruining another company.
Hitler, on the other hand, was an extremely charismatic speaker, had a very compelling vision that was embraced by a lot of people, and gained a following on his own.
All of B*'s ideas, for the most part, have been fed to him.
I am not saying by any means that I admire any of Hitler's actions, but B* without his retinue is really minor league.

[RafterMan]

20. Hitler was a moronic military strategist

The Allied High Command thought he was Britain's best general.

That may be the only field in which Bush is his equal.

[Bush was AWOL]

36. Hitler was a terrible military strategist

He's a large reason they lost.

[nedlogg]

12. Hitler didn't crack stupid jokes . . .

everytime he gave a speech.

And therein lies the difference.

[jdots]

14. the reference it Hitler is subjective

they are two entirely different men in two different times.I think it makes us sound bad to call him a Hitler to the right wingnuts because they might want that part of history to happen again but this time Hitler wins.

[xerox]

15. Uhhh

Its a notion that makes us look silly and no one will listen to what you have to say seriously.

[Lerkfish]

19. I have no problem with the comparison. Its history, to deny it is to

repeat it....oops! already in process.

The ONLY problem with the comparison is it gives the repukes a hook to criticize the comparison whole cloth without examing it on its merits. Similar to the "conspiracy theory" label, it both allows them to avoid the argument and accuse the arguer of something dispicable in order to shut them up.

Look at this way: there's no inherent problem with comparing present policy to the Crusades, to British Imperialism, etc, etc...those are historic comparisons that have some validity, depending on the point being made. But for SOME reason, you are not allowed to make similar camparisons with hitler.

why? I think because its TOO CLOSE TO HOME. I think some repukes are ACTUALLY NAZIS, if not in name then in sentiment, and making the comparison makes them too uncomfortable...otherwise, why would they care?

[StopThief]

21. Because its HYPERBOLIC?

nfm

[Cyrano]

22. Reading many of these responses, it appears the rw really has us cowed.

It's okay for them to call Clinton a murderer, a thief, a drug dealer, and then impeach him for a blow job (making a travesty of what impeachment was intended for), but heaven forbid we should call their fuhrer a fuhrer.

How come they get a pass on everything and we have to watch our manners and not sound like we're going overboard? When we listen to the shit that Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly peddle daily, comparing Bush to Hitler could seem rather mild. Aside from which, there's the possibility that about half the voters actually buy the comparison.

[RafterMan]

27. I must have missed the posts

that said it was okay for the right wing to call Clinton a murderer, thief and drug dealer.

Why are you so wedded to this analogy? Isn't what Bush has actually done bad enough for you? The only reason you want to force the comparison is to stir up the emotional resonances that people have surrounding Hitler. The fact that others know this lame strategy will not help rid us of Bush does not mean that they are "cowed", it means that they are wiser than you.

[Rambis]

28. They spent 49 million on a blow job

ken starr couldn't come up with anything else. Whitewater =0
travelgate =0 on and on, blah blah blah!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

38. I empathize with you!!! I am sick of this crap!!!!

The Reich Wing can say whatever they want without any retrobution, but one small slip by us and Hell breaks out all over!!!

[Zynx]

25. Because it is a comparison that damages our credibility.

As bad as Bush is, he isn't responsbile for the deaths of fifty million people like Hitler was. He simply doesn't compare. Those who compared Bush to Hitler in this campaign probably cost us hundreds of thousands of moderate votes.

[Bush was AWOL]

37. Yep. That's exactly why

I'm in total agreement.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

40. Limbaugh and co have much credibility with a large segment of....

America and they have no problem comparing us to Osama!

:eyes:

[Bush was AWOL]

43. That sort of thing damages his credibility as well

let him make ignorant statements like that if he must. It will only hurt his people in the end.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

45. Really? Gee, his "people" control our country now.

His form of "speech" seems to work well, maybe we should try it to get our base as fired up and vengful as their base is.

[Bush was AWOL]

48. Him making stupid statements like that has not helped their cause

it's the other areas, like framing the debate, where they are killing us, and why they are in power.

[genieroze]

26. Hitler wasn't stupid

other than that, I don't see much of a difference.

[RetroLounge]

31. No reluctance here

bush** is a nazi...

RL

[PROGRESSIVE1]

32. If the Right Wingers can compare us to "terrorists" and call us....

"Un-American", then we most certainly can compare * to Adolf Hitler.

"Bush is Hitler"!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

47. Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right...

nt

[PROGRESSIVE1]

64. This mentality is WHY Democrats keep on loosing and deserve to loose.

We must hit them back as hard as we can. We need a left wing Limbaugh to rally our base to our causes. We can't just be 'ABB', but Pro-Better World. Do whatever it takes to win or sink.

[RafterMan]

65. But "Bush is Hitler"

is the ultimate ABB argument, not a Pro-Better World argument.

As for doing what it takes to win, has "Bush is Hitler" every put you over the top in an argument with a pro-Bushie or an undecided? Honestly?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

77. Democrats Deserve To Lose Because They Don't Compare Bush To Hitler?

[WilliamPitt]

33. 6,000,000 dead Jews

plus millions of other dead all across the globe.

It's a sensitive topic not to be bandied about lightly.

[Cyrano]

39. I live in FL and I know a few old people who have tatoos on their arms.

Some of them are very politically aware and they are tremendously troubled by what they have seen over the past four years. Although they know that they themselves might not have much time left, they are afraid for their children and grandchildren.

On edit: Perhaps it is what I am reading into their fears that leads me to make the connection between Hitler and Bush. None of the people of which I'm speaking have made this comparison. IMO, the unimaginable horrors they've seen and survived precludes the possibility of comparisons to anything else. Nonetheless, they have lived for many years in America and many of them have said they've never before been this worried here.

[NYCGirl]

46. Thanks for that, Will. Much of one generation of my family died in

Auschwitz, and I think the comparison of a really bad president with Hitler trivializes what happened.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

78. 6 Million Dead in CIA secret wars in 3rd world countries-John Stockwell.

(I have a relative who helped prosecute Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after WWII. Anti-fascism must run in my blood.)

Bush is only the latest in a long line of US presidents who have allowed the nation's 'interests' to be obtained through murder, torture, poverty, terrorism etc.

The US's death toll closely matches Hitler's with the main difference being that the US govt. kills any ethnicity in its way and takes the help of any ethnicity possible, an entirely opportunistic feeder over many decades of fascist terror.

Read former CIA Angola Station Chief John Stockwell's confessional from 1987 where he detailed how the CIA destabilized countries around the world with terrorism which killed millions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm

AND he warned that the Reagan/Bush White House had people at the highest levels who wanted to suspend the Constitution, torture and execute on executive order, commit 'pre-emptive' wars, and set up FEMA concentration camps. This all came to be just as he told.

Read L. Fletcher Prouty's online book from 1973 telling of his time in the CIA (1955-1964)when it took over the US gov't like a secret deadly virus.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/ST/ST.html#TOC
(The Secret Team, The CIA and its Allies in Control of the United States and the World)

Prouty characterizes the Vietnam War (millions dead) as a CIA operation that snowballed for years until it had to be embraced as an overt war that no one wanted.

So the US Gov't does nurture a Master Race identity in its people, invade countries and kill their people for resources, use propaganda and hate-mongering, and is building a police state with technology the old German fasicsts could only dream of.

Oh yeah. And the US and its corporations built Hitler's war machine and provided the eugenics ideas plus the model of the Native American Holocaust and African slavery followed by apartheid and lynching for the Nazis to build on when they tried their own 'final solution' to the Jews.

I'd have to say that the US only lacks Hitler himself when you compare the two historical entities. Bush is just the latest face on this American donation to the world's suffering.

"Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them." -- Sartre

[tavalon]

92. So it's the numbers that matter?

In the issue of genocide? One of my partners is Jewish so I certainly don't take that horrible atrocity lightly by any means, but I don't think this is a numbers game. People in Falluja are being decimated, melted with napalm and possibly gased with who knows what. The Vietnamese suffered similarly though on a much bigger scale, but to the little girl made famous by the picture showing her running down the street with third degree burns over her naked body, it matters not one whit whether she was Vietnamese, German Jew or Iraqi. These are sadly, not even close to the only times that fascism has wreaked such atrocities. Fascism is so very similar in it's various incarnations - that is what makes it so comparable, not the numbers.

The world has been down this fascist route too many times, the playbook is worn. To mention that this playbook has been done before is valid, numbers aside.

[toddaa]

35. It's the wrong analogy

Hitler was a racist, Bush is not. The driving political force behind the Nazis was anti-Semitism. That is not the case with Bush. There are plenty of other imperial tyrants in history to choose from without jumping to the cliched and overused Nazi analogy. Frankly, it smacks of laziness.


I'd start with Julius Caesar if I was to make a comparison. However, Caesar was great man of enormous intellect and a genius at warfare. Two major deficiencies in W. On second thought, scratch that. Bush is no Caesar.

[tavalon]

93. Bush not a racist! Snort!

The driving political force behind the neocons is anti-muslim (ragheads, or hadn't you heard?)though for both of these regimes, the actual underlying force was a power grab while trying to keep their own countries economies from collapsing.

As inflammatory as it is, the analogy still sticks for me.

Edit: I'm from Texas, spare me the "Bush is not a racist", please.

[rniel]

41. No reluctance from me n/m

[DeminGa]

52. Humm.....

I am a bit on the fence with this one. I can see both sides to the arguments given here

I do have 2 more quick points to make in response to some posts

"Hitler was a racist, Bush is not."
See, now I think Bush IS a racist. Everyone sees something different of course, but the way inwhich he treats other countries, other religions and even his impatience for different people in this country....I see him as a racist

As for another post concerning people that lived during Hilters rule, I know of several people that fled europe during that time and lived thru the horrors. They have no shame in comparing what they see now to the beginnings of Hitlers reign.

I am not trying to compare the horrors of that war to what is currently going on in this day and age. That I believe would be an injustice to a certain extent, and I dont wish to in any way make light of the atrocities under Hitler. But from what I hear and read about Germanys change in attitude, change in policy and law, the gradual changes that took place over time, I can easily liken that to what I see happening in this country so many years later and I believe it is important to not lose site of that!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Because most Americans think of Hitler ONLY in relation to the

Holocaust and are completely unaware of everything else he did in Germany before a single Jew was killed. For that reason, the comparison of Bush to Hitler seems wildly bizarre.

I know what you mean in comparing Bush to Hitler, because I know my European history, but given the dismal state of history teaching in this country (taught by the football coach more often than not), most people do not.

Besides, Hitler was the mastermind of Nazism, and Bush is just a nasty little frontman for a cabal, a joker who couldn't plan anything more complicated than a frat party.

By calling him a fascist, you'll get a lot of responses of "What's that?" And then you can explain.

[Petrodollar Warfare]

49. Well, there is no reluctance based on my google search...

...let's just look at one site for a sampling...

The Gallery of "Bush = Hitler" Allusions
http://semiskimmed.net/bushhitler.html

Artists, writers, singers, poets etc

Harold Pinter (British playright)
Quoted in the Guardian, June 2003: "The US is really beyond reason now. It is beyond our imagining to know what they are going to do next and what they are prepared to do. There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany"

Corin Redgrave
In the Mail, Corin Redgrave incorrectly asks "Even the Nazis allowed the Red Cross to visit their prisoners : why won't America?" Millions of Russian prisoners taken by the Nazis on the Eastern front might have been surprised to hear that.

Ted Rall (cartoonist and writer)
In January, 2004, asking "Is Bush a Nazi?" seems the conclude that Bush is worse because at least Hitler was elected:

Lately we're being told that it's either (a) inappropriate or (b) untrue to refer to Bush's illegitimate junta as Nazi, neo-Nazi or neofascist. Because, you know, you're not necessarily a Nazi just because you seize power like one, take advantage of a national Reichstag Fire-like tragedy like one, build concentration and death camps like one, start unprovoked wars like one, Red-bait your liberal opponents like one or create a national security apparatus that behaves like something a Nazi would create and even has a Nazi-sounding name. All of those people who see a little Adolf in the not-so-bright eyes of America's homeland-grown despot are just imagining things.

Me, I'm catching it for this week's cartoon for daring to suggest that, well--you know. Of course, there are differences. Hitler, for example, was legally elected. And he had a plan--not one that I like, but a plan--for the period after the war. I'll be happy to stop comparing Bush to Hitler when he stops acting like him.


Annoy.com ("created and designed to annoy")
With the introductory text "Despite claims she was "misinterpreted," Germany's Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin resigned September 23, 2002 following an international fuhrer furor that arose after she compared President Bush to Hitler for threatening war to distract from domestic problems. Can't think why. Hitler was shorter.", the "Unbearable Likeness Of Being" postcard shows a montage of Hitler standing saluting behind Bush, who is waving. See - they're in a similar stance: what more proof could anyone want?

Jay Baker
Jay Baker is a writer, filmmaker (and voter) from Sheffield, UK. In his essay "The Yankee Swastika", the first paragraph manages to put supporters of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on a par with holocaust deniers:

And yet there are still those who refuse to accept the figures when facts show just how many innocent people of a particular persuasion were condemned to concentration camps and sent to an early grave; a mass grave.

Then he goes on about how at least Hitler was elected, and how Bush likes nothing better than killing brown people:
George Bush actually came to power in what many might argue to be a less democratic way than Adolf Hitler. ... Bush may even have an ideology based on the "blonde haired, blue eyed, white super-race." I say this because since squatting in the White House, he has been intent on bombing other far-away, dark-skinned people of Middle Eastern countries, as part of his "War on Terror," which is really a War of Terror.

He also informs us that the National Rifle Association is a splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan. That must explain all those burning crosses seen so regularly in Charlton Heston's garden.

Aaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder draws the Boondocks comic strip. I can't find the actual cartoon itself because the archives don't seem to let you view old strips, but on 13th October 2002 the Boondocks carried a classic instance of "at least Hitler was elected":
"Some people in other countries are comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler because of his warmongering," a Boondocks character says of the president. "That's preposterous; even I wouldn't compare him to Hitler," another responded. "I mean, Hitler was democratically elected. Wasn't he?" ...

Linda Ronstadt
Not just one Hitler, but a whole new bunch of Hitlers, according to the enduring crooner:

Don't get her started on the recent <2004> presidential election. "People don't realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves," she says. Of Iraq in particular, she adds, "I worry that some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don't know anything about the Iraqis, but they're angry and frustrated in their own lives. It's like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we've got a new bunch of Hitlers."
There are people who are entertained by the idea of the Iraq war? Sadly, Linda doesn't give us any specific examples of who she means.


---------------------------------------------------------------------

Commentators, columnists and pundits

Scott Ritter (ex Iraq weapons inspector)
Telling the Berliner Zeitung, May 2003: "I see no difference between the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Poland in 1939." also reported as saying Bush had used the September 11 attacks as Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag to repress domestic dissidents.


Harvey Wasserman (columnist and senior advisor to Greenpeace USA)
Writing at CommonDreams.org, September 13, 2002, titled "Bush's 9/11 Reichstag Fire": "Few Americans believe the Bush Administration itself brought down the World Trade Center last year. But the conviction is widespread throughout Europe and the Muslim world, and for good reason. This unelected regime---Hitler also came to power with a minority of votes---has used the terrible tragedies of September 11 in much the way the Nazis jumped on the Reichstag fire."


Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star
Writing in the Toronto Star on 13th January 2003, starts "Some refer to George W. Bush as another Hitler. This is a gross exaggeration..." and then goes on to make it seem more like a tiny exaggeration. Damien Penny has a full dissection of the article.

Neil Clark, occaisional columnist
In a letter to the Observer: "... It is because the US is acting like Nazi Germany on the international stage that millions of us around the world are so passionately opposed to it."
Tim Blair has more.

Dave Lindorff, politcal author
In three 'Counterpunch' articles, Dave Lindorff expands on the comparisons he sees between Bush and Hitler.

In "Bush and Hitler - The Stategy of Fear" on February 1, 2003:
It's going a bit far to compare the Bush of 2003 to the Hitler of 1933. Bush simply is not the orator that Hitler was. But comparisons of the Bush Administration's fear mongering tactics to those practiced so successfully and with such terrible results by HItler and Goebbels on the German people and their Weimar Republic are not at all out of line.

In "Bush and Hitler...Compare and Contrast" on July 18, 2003, in response to criticism of his February article:

So far, for example, while he has rounded up some Arab and Muslim men purely because of their ethnicity or religion, Bush has not started gassing them--at least not yet. What I did say, however that some of the tactics of the Bush administration resemble those of Hitler and his Brownshirts. I would go further and add that Bush's attorney general, John Ashcroft, a man who has pointedly praised the old Confederacy, would probably feel quite comfortable in brown with a hakenkreuz tacked to his sleeve.

<... warmongering ... agressive nationalism ... Guantanemo Bay as a concentration camp ...>

So let's make ourselves clear here. George Bush is not Hitler. Yet. America is not a fascist state. Yet.

In "RNC Plays the Hitler Card - MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads" on January 6, 2004, talking about the MoveOn ads:

... The truth is that the two ads are pretty darned good. <...> The Bush administration deliberately stoked public fears after 9/11--just as the Nazi's used the Reichstag Fire--to win support for an illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq, an act of aggression which, at the Nuremberg Trials, was specifically determined to be a war crime. The ad might have added that the "shock and awe" terror campaign that was the centerpiece of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, was also by definition a war crime, since its target was the Iraqi public. <...> President Bush did in fact publicly claim divine instruction to have been behind his decisions to invade Afghanistan and later Iraq--a rather scary example, if he is being sincere, of the very kind of megalomania that characterized Hitler. <...> Were these two ads unfair to either Bush or to the memory of the Holocaust? Hardly.

<...> Are they saying that Bush is Hitler? Only to the most simplistic or willfully unimaginative of viewers--that is to say the RNC poobahs. What they are saying is that the same technique used by Hitler and his National Socialist brownshirts to whip up nationalist fervor in Germany in the early and mid 1930s is being employed today by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, and to the same end--to get the American public to acquiesce in surrendering its democratic rights, to accept one-party rule, and to agree to a national policy of permanent war in the name of American global hegemony. ...

Paul Street
Paul Street, ZNet contributor and Vice President for Research and Planning at the Chicago Urban League, wrote on April 14, 2003 that there is, apparently, only one particularly notable difference between Bush and Hitler - Hitler wouldn't have allowed any looting of museums in Baghdad:

The White House is deeply offended (officially at least) by those who note the chilling parallel between Nazi foreign policy and the Bush-Wolfowitz doctrine of "preemptive" (really preventive) war currently being enacted in Iraq. Remembering that all versions of racist imperialism are not the same, then, let us note one key difference between the way the Bush gang is proceeding and how Adolf Hitler's Third Reich would have conquered Baghdad.
The Nazis, we can be sure, would have made special provision to safeguard, and then of course appropriate, the monumental treasures of Mesopotamia and ancient Sumerian civilization. ...


Samir Amin
Samir Amin (one of the better known Neo-Marxian thinkers) writes in "Confronting The Empire" at the Centre for Civil Society:
is infinitely more brutal in its simple and extreme unilateral conception, and it is close to the Nazi programme, which was also based on the principle of a Master Race. ... Finally, Washington will not even attempt to support its real allies, something which always means knowing how to make concessions. Fake governments, like that of Karzai in Afghanistan, will manage things better as long as military power supports a belief in the "invincibility" of the US. Hitler did not think any differently. ... The militarist programme adopted by the United States now threatens all peoples. It is the expression of the logic adopted by Adolf Hitler -- to change social and economic relations by military force in favour of the "Master Race" of the day. ...

That's, erm... civil.

Iver Bogen
Iver Bogen (emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, Duluth), writes about the "The Nazification Of The Republican Administration":

Just as Hitler was installed (but not elected by the German people) as the Feuhrer by the Nazi party, so George W. Bush was installed as President of the United States by a conservative Supreme Court. In both cases, governments used "national security" as an excuse to launch an assault on democratic freedoms. While "lebensraum" was a rallying cry for Hitler, Bush's "evil axis," referring to North Korea, Iran and Iraq, was supposed to generate patriotic "no-think" here in the USA.

Just as Hitler detached himself from the League of Nations, George W. has been assuming a more insular position internationally. ... Just as the burning of the Reichstag provided the Nazi party with the opportunity for shredding the Weimar Constitution, so did the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 provide the Republican administration (Cheney/Ashcroft/Rumsfeld) with the rationale for abolishing the freedoms granted to all citizens in the American Constitution. ...

Iver Bogen is also published at the Duluth Reader Weekly.


Yamin Zakaria
In an article titled "Democracy is Hypocrisy" at the Al-Jazeerah Information Centre (NB: not affiliated to Al-Jazeera TV):
Even Adolf Hitler came to power through the democratic system in Germany, whereas Bush, the current leader of the democratic block came to power illegitimately according to many prominent Americans. Never mind the 'small' difference since they both have a lot in common.

Adolf Hitler claimed to have launched a 'defensive' war against the Jews, Slavs and the rest of Europe to protect the German race. Similarly Bush has waged the same 'defensive' war against the Islamic world and anyone else that does not to conform to the US dictates. ... Hitler claimed the supremacy of the Aryan race, Bush calls for the supremacy of US democracy run by its Multinationals, as exemplified by Paul Bremer of Iraq with the likes of Halliburton and Bechtel.

Adolf had the Gestapo; Bush has the FBI and CIA, who are far more efficient with killings, kidnapping, torture and now arbitrary imprisonment without charge or legal representation. ... There are 'Arabs' and 'Muslims' campaigning and raising funds along with the Zionist camp to re-elect Bush. They are staunch supporter of US democracy and a believer in Adolf Bush. ...

Jihad Watch has more about Mr Zakaria, including his admiration of the repellant Zundel.

David R. Hoffman (Legal Editor of PRAVDA)
In "Bush vs Hitler", the Legal Editor of Russia's classiest newspaper doesn't hold back. You half expect the picture editor to chuck in a photo of Bush with a Hitler mustache, and use a swastika as the 's' in his name. Oh, hang on, they do have a picture of Bush with a Hitler mustache and using a swastika as the 's' in his name:

In fact, several disturbing analogies exist between George W. Bush and history's most infamous fascist, Adolph Hitler: Both men assumed power in defiance of the will of the majority; both men used "great lies" to pursue their warmongering agendas; both men preyed upon humanity's basest instincts to disseminate those "great lies"; both men were appeased by the British government, Hitler through Neville Chamberlain and Bush through Tony Blair; both men were willing to use national tragedies to justify the destruction of civil liberties, Hitler through the burning of the Reichstag and Bush through the September 11th terrorist attacks; both men were/are suspected of either participating in, or ignoring warnings about the imminence of, these tragedies in order to enhance their political stature and power; both men a culture of death for political self-aggrandizement, Hitler through his well-publicized genocide campaigns, and Bush who, while governor of Texas, routinely denied DNA tests to death row inmates, even though such tests could prevent wrongful executions; both men were willing to appeal to racism, Hitler through his quest for a "master race," and Bush through his condemnation of affirmative action policies, which primarily benefit racial minorities.

<...> both men reveled in war and exploited the military to satiate their personal ambitions and vendettas; both men used war to enrich their political cronies; both men demonstrated contempt for international law and the concerns of the world community; and both men believed they were/are on some holy crusade inspired by a "divine province" that placed them into power. <...>

September 2004 update: he's done it again.


Federico Fasano Mertens, editor of La Republica del Uruguay
Replying in March 2003 to a letter from Martin Silverstein, the US ambassador to Uruguay, accusing his newspaper of "totally lacking any sense of journalistic integrity" by comparing George Bush to Adolf Hitler...

The matter at hand is the comparison between Adolf Hitler and George Bush.

There are obvious differences. The first being that the war criminal, the murderer of the Jewish and Soviet peoples, won a resounding victory in the German elections, while the war criminal and murderer of the Iraqi people reached power fraudulently, in the biggest electoral scandal in US history.

From the theoretical point of view, the comparison between Bush and Hitler is correct. The scientists have described Nazism as a terrorist dictatorship of corporate expansionism. Bush, by putting himself beyond the law and invading a defenceless nation which it had not attacked in order to take over its oil wealth, the second largest on the planet, and then stating that other oil-producing nations will follow, comes close to the definition of a corporate terrorist dictatorship. Even though he may not like to admit it.
George Bush is a Nazi in his genes. ...

...because, you know, Nazism's genetic...

...The American Burning of the Reichstag of September 11 gave George Bush the chance of a lifetime. The worst electoral victory of a US president since 1876 had turned into the best historical opportunity for a warmonger to impose a new US order on the world.
As in Hitler's case, the first thing he did was to surround himself with a clique of con artists such as himself, men obsessed with the intimidating power of force. ...

(there's plenty more commentary on that site, plus a bunch of pics from around the world...and I don't see too much reluctance, atleast not internationally)

[RafterMan]

55. Internationally

they don't have to win any votes.

[Donkeyboy75]

51. Why does it matter?

What * has done is bad enough. There's really no point in comparing him to Hitler. What would be accomplished by that?

[RUDUing2]

59. I posted an article about this on another part of DU

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles3/Jayne_Hitler-Bu...

When President Bush decided to invade Iraq, his spokesmen began comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolph Hitler, the most monstrous figure in modern history. Everybody was therefore shocked when a high German bureaucrat turned the tables by comparing Bush himself with Hitler. As to be expected, she (the bureaucrat) was forced to resign because of her extreme disrespect for an American president. However, the resemblance sticks--there are too many similarities to be ignored, some of which may be listed here.

Like Hitler, President Bush was not elected by a majority, but was forced to engage in political maneuvering in order to gain office.


Like Hitler, Bush began to curtail civil liberties in response to a well-publicized disaster, in Hitler’s case the Reichstag fire, in Bush’s case the 9-11 catastrophe.


Like Hitler, Bush went on to pursue a reckless foreign policy without the mandate of the electorate and despite the opposition of most foreign nations.


Like Hitler, Bush has increased his popularity with conservative voters by mounting an aggressive public relations campaign against foreign enemies......

Like Hitler, Bush has promoted militarism in the midst of economic recession (or depression as it was called during the thirties). .......

Like Hitler, Bush displays great populist enthusiasm in his patriotic speeches, but primarily serves wealthy investors who subsidize his election campaigns and share with him their comfortable lifestyle. .....

Like Hitler, Bush envisages our nation’s unique historic destiny almost as a religious cause sanctioned by God. .....

Like Hitler, Bush promotes a future world order that guarantees his own nation’s hegemonic supremacy rather than cooperative harmony under the authority of the United Nations (or League of Nations).


Like Hitler, Bush quickly makes and breaks diplomatic ties, and he offers generous promises that he soon abandons, ......

Like Hitler, Bush scraps international treaties, ......

Like Hitler, Bush repeats lies often enough that they come to be accepted as the truth. .......

Like Hitler, Bush incessantly shifted his arguments to justify invading Iraq--from Iraq’s WMD threat to the elimination of Saddam Hussein, to his supposed Al Qaeda connection, to the creation of Iraqi democracy in the Middle East as a model for neighboring states, and back again to the WMD threat. As soon as one excuse for the war was challenged, Bush advanced to another, but only to shift back again at another time.


Like Hitler, Bush and his cohorts emphasize the ruthlessness of their enemies in order to justify their own. ......

Like Hitler, Bush takes pride in his status as a “War President,” ......

Like Hitler, Bush continues to pursue war without cutting back on the peacetime economy. ......

Like Hitler, Bush possesses a war machine much bigger and more effective than the military capabilities of other nations. ......

Like Hitler, bush depends on an axis of collaborative allies, which he describes as a “coalition of the willing,” in order to give the impression of a broad popular alliance. .......


Like Hitler, Bush is willing to go to war over the objections of the U.N. (League of Nations). .......

Like Hitler, Bush launches unilateral invasions on a supposedly preemptive basis. ......

Like Hitler, Bush depends on a military strategy that features a “shock and awe” blitzkrieg beginning with devastating air strikes, then an invasion led by heavy armored columns.


Like Hitler, Bush is willing to inflict high levels of bloodshed against enemy nations. ......

Like Hitler, Bush is perfectly willing to sacrifice life as part of his official duty. .......

Like Hitler, Bush began warfare on a single front (Al Qaeda quartered in Afghanistan), but then expanded it to a second front with Iraq, only to be confronted with North Korea and Iran as potential third and fourth fronts. ......

Like Hitler, Bush has no qualms about imposing “regime change” by installing Quisling-style client governments backed by a U.S. military occupation with both political and economic control entirely in the hands of Americans. ......

Like Hitler, Bush curtails civil liberties in captive nations and depends on detention centers (i.e., concentration camps) such as a Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and any number of secret interrogation centers across the world. .......


Like Hitler, Bush uses the threat of enemies abroad to stir the fearful allegiance of the U.S. public. .......

Like Hitler, Bush depends on a propaganda machine to guarantee sympathetic news management. ........

Like Hitler, Bush increasingly reduces the circle of aides he feels he can trust as his policies keep boomeranging at his own expense. ........

Like Hitler, Bush has become obsessed with his vision of conflict between good (U.S. patriotism) and evil (anti-Americanism. ......

Like Hitler, bush takes pleasure in the mythology of frontier justice. .......

Like Hitler, Bush misconstrues Darwinism, ......

Of course countless differences may be listed between Hitler and President Bush, most of which are to the credit of Bush. Nevertheless, the resemblances listed here are striking, especially since Bush’s first term in office must be compared with Hitler’s performance as German Chancellor through the year 1937, preceding the chain of events immediately preceding World War II. In any case, George W. Bush seems the worst and most dangerous U.S. president in recent memory (for me since Roosevelt)--if not in the entire history of the United States.

(the ......means there is more to the paragraph, click on the link to read it all)

[JDPriestly]

83. You forgot some things

Bush only allows true believers into his rallies.

Bush makes people who attend his rallies sign pledges to support him.

Bush increasingly limits his appointments to high positions to people who demonstrate complete loyalty to him personally.

Bush's appearances and even cabinet meetings are staged and scripted to an extent unknown in American history. (per Suskind in Price of Loyalty)

Bush limits press access and favors sycophantic journalists. (per John Dean -- Worse than Watergate)

Bush scapegoats minorities -- such as homosexuals and atheists.

My husband grew up in the Third Reich and says he recognizes the familiar "feeling" of repression. He is an expert on German language, literature and culture. There are many differences between Hitler and Bush, but the analogy is not out of place.

[Q]

60. The 'moderates' will scold you if you make such comparisons!

Don't you know that the moderates don't want to piss Bush* off because they have to work with him to advance THEIR agenda.

Hitler's Germany certainly had many appeasers and enablers. Those who betrayed their country for a few pieces of silver or a seat at his table of power. They are as responsible as the Nazis...for not stopping Hitler when they had the chance and before he attained dictatorial power.

[RafterMan]

63. And how does comparing Bush to Hitler

help to stop Bush?

Now we're Judas appeasers, I guess. Shudder.

[NewJeffCT]

61. very easy

When we compare Bush to Hitler, we get demonized by the media - look at what happened to Move On when somebody submitted a "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad that compared Bush to Hitler? Move On was shouted down by the mainstream media and became a radical, fringe group of loonies that lost a lot of their effectiveness after that...

However, when the RNC itself puts out an ad comparing Democrats to Hitler, nobody bats an eye, nobody in the media says anything.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

67. That is the hypocracy that I can't stand!!!

:grr:

[Cats Against Frist]

70. And Pig Limbaugh goes on the air the day before the election

screaming for HOURS that the Democrats and Osama bin Laden agree on EVERYTHING because OBL also accused Bush of being in cahoots with the Saudis and mocked him for the "My Pet Goat" thing.

It's totally part of their propaganda plan to "scold" us for calling them fascists.

[Doctor_J]

81. we get demonized in the media anyway

so might as well tell the truth.

[NewJeffCT]

88. that's not it

Before Move On had the Hitler ad submission, they were an organization that was getting some decent coverage in the mainstream media. However, after they got "demonized" by the media, their ads sort of lost their effectiveness and they were categorized as a fringe organization out there with PETA, the American Communist Party & the like.

While I was not a Howard Dean supporter in the primaries, he was also demonized by the media. Before the Iowa caucus, he was generally getting pretty good press in the mainstream media, and his gaffes seemed to just increase interest in him. However, after the mock outrage at the "Dean Scream", he was demonized & marginalized for the rest of the campaign.

[DUR]

66. What a disgusting comparison

We haven't gassed or shot 11 million people.

We haven't herded people into cattle cars because of their religion and sent them off to their death.

Say what you want about the morality of the war, but if you say that * is hitler, then you're saying that our troops are the SS, and as a Kosovo vet I don't appreciate that.

[Cyrano]

80. DUR: This is not an attack on the military. Many of us on DU are vets.

Nobody has compared out troops to the SS. Our/My fight is not with the military. It's with this corrupt, despicable administration.

By the way, welcome to DU. However, if you think that our "Commander in Chief" is infallible, you're in the wrong place. Put simply, our current president is a prick who has thoughtlessly squandered the lives of our dedicated military, while cutting their benefits.

No one has accused our military of herding people into cattle cars because of their religion. Nonetheless, we've only seen BushCo's first four years. What do you suppose his second four years will look like? I don't know about you, but it scares the shit out of me.

[LibertyorDeath]

68. Hi I understand what you are saying & in some ways it's true

& in others not ( or not yet)

Bush** to me is more like Mussolini or Franco he wants to be all powerful but not necessarily Genocidal. Hitler was very enamored of this idea of a Master race. It is much harder to be a Hitler in 2004
in the most Powerful (Democratic) Republic on the Planet there are generations of people here that fought & had loved ones die in the struggle against Hitler's particular brand of Fascism.

That said there are Bush-Nazi Similarities the far right in America has long Historical ties with Nazism & Fascism.

Bush's** own Grandfather helped fund the 3rd Reich.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

In the summer of 1942, the New York Tribune exposed Bush, calling him “Hitler’s Angel.” In 1943, while still owning his stock, Bush resigned from Union Banking Corporation. Bush hired Allen Dulles, who later headed the CIA, to hide the millions that they were generating from investments in Nazi Germany. When the government seized their Union Banking Company under the Trading with the Enemy Act in 1942, the Bushes terminated their financial transactions with Nazi companies.
http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/jphuck/Book4Ch.1.html

THE BUSH FAMILY OLIGARCHY
THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH
http://watch.pair.com/reich.html

Bush** is Bush** he employs people like Rove who certainly use lessons learned from the 3 Reich ie Joseph Goebbels

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/joseph_goebbels.htm

and Gonzales who condone the use of Torture & are dismissive of the Geneva Convention.

Rumsfeld lies every time he opens his mouth likewise Rice.

Collectively they are without a doubt the worst group of individuals to get their hands on the levers of Power in the USA
They are busy consolidating this power by purging the Administration & CIA of anyone not idealogically inline. There is no room for moderate Republicans with Bush** only far right yes men.

They are just getting started with what they are building once the SCOTUS is totally theirs the Foundation will be complete.

The American Corporate Media is in Lock Step with this many things are coming together for them they are going to try & build their vision of America it is not a Vision Americans of good conscience share.
It is a Far right vision.

They use what ever works to gain & keep power they are parasitic & I don't think they have allegiance to any particular brand of Fascism.

Other than Power & Control.

America has Jumped the Shark IMO

[Senator Lamb]

69. sorry guys

The Hitler and WW2 analogies are a bit overdone. so far, this no where near Germany in the 30's, though his policies are bad. not that bad, yet....

[shuffnew]

97. "so far"? Shall we then be content to wait or strive to prevent? (n/t)

[leyton]

71. Because the comparison blows everything out of perspective.

Brown shirts? Try protesting Bush in public, or even put an anti-Bush bumper sticker on your car, and see what happens.

My "Dump Dubya", "Kerry/Edwards", and "Catholic for Kerry" bumper stickers have earned me nothing but thumbs-up and friendly horn beeps. I have yet to be arrested.

And these examples are just for starters. "But, wait," you say. "He's not killing Americans." I beg to differ. Over 1200 Americans are dead in Iraq (and perhaps as many as 100,000 Iraqis) and all of this on the say so of one man: George W. Bush.

So is LBJ Kaiser Wilhelm then? What about the troops of ours that died in Somalia under Clinton's watch?

Torture? Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and places whose names we don't yet know.

This is the part of the Bush legacy that most angers me, but you still blow it out of proportion. While I find torture intolerable, I can still distinguish between mass genocide and grossly inhumane prison conditions.

I have a lot of disgust for Bush. But I have enough sense and enough respect for those who actually suffered under Hitler and Stalin not to make the comparison. When there are concentration camps, you can come say "told you so" all you want; until then, I'm sick of this type of hysterics. Flame away.

[Cyrano]

79. Do you really want to wait until the comparisons become reality?

Why wait until all the history of which we know becomes another version of reality? And just to put it into perspective, what sane person on the planet could have envisioned a Hitler or a Stalin?

Isn't what you've seen to date enough to convince you that BushCo, (especially Cheney and Rumsfeld) couldn't care less about human life?

The big difference this time around is that these loonies are controlling the most deadly arsenal in the history of the world.

So exactly what is it that makes you think they wouldn't use it, given their behavior to date?

Am I an alarmist? Perhaps. But I sure as hell don't feel safe while these people have their fingers on the button. Do you?

[Fleshdancer]

72. I think Bush is more concerned with religion than race....

and I think what we're experiencing is a weird facism/corporatism/Judeo-Christian mix. But perhaps the biggest reason why I don't want to compare Bush with Hitler is because it takes a certain level of intelligence to be as evil as Hitler was. I hate having to admit that he was smart because it's normally a compliment, but he was. Bush on the other hand....

[VioletLake]

73. I posted this on another thread:

The problem with this argument is that it needs to be delivered a certain way, or it doesn't work. When it does work, it can be quite powerful.

I have no problem with your delivery, Cyrano.

[Blue_Tires]

74. we are ALL just spinning our tires now

just how alike or dissimilar Bush and Hitler are is up for (seemingly endless) debate....CAN we all just agree that no matter what former world leader he most closely resembles, BUSH IS A PIECE OF SHIT that must be fought and dealt with before he tampers with the future of the free world anymore....

[snippy]

75. Karl Rove was the first person to compare Bush to Hitler.

Of course Rove did it in an admiring and complimentary way.

Drudge excerpting from Woodward's book "Bush At War:

ROVE THOUGHT POST-9/11 WORLD SERIES GAME LIKE NAZI RALLY

"The president emerged wearing a New York Fire Department windbreaker. He raised his arm and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd on the third base side of the field. Probably 15,000 fans threw their arms in the air imitating the motion.

He then threw a strike from the rubber, and the stadium erupted. Watching from owner George Steinbrenner’s box, Karl Rove thought, It’s like being at a Nazi rally." (p. 277)

http://www.drudgereport.com/wood.htm (emphasis added).

[NYCGirl]

84. And that makes it right? (eom)

[snippy]

87. I don't see why that would make it right or wrong.

Too many people think that comparing Bush to Hitler means that Bush's acts are comparable to Hitler's acts. Rove properly and more accurately compares Bush's ability to attract blind and devout support from his followers to that of Hitler. I can not imagine how anyone can address any comparison of Bush to Hitler without considering the fact that the person who knows the political power aspects of Bush better than anyone else sees similarities between the two.

[ibegurpard]

76. Because the genocide was so horrific that people think it couldn't

possibly happen here. Thus, they ignore the disturbing parallels between what's happening here and the Nazis' rise to power. Does that mean that Republicans are going to start operating death camps? Probably not, but people should still be EXTREMELY frightened and concerned at the disregard with which these people view our system of checks and balances. I don't want to live in the society that these people fantasize about whether they slaughter people or not.

[Clarkie1]

82. Hmmm...why not compare Kerry to Karl Marx?

Bush is bad.

But get real.

[youngred]

85. whenever you have to compare your foe to Hitler you have already lost

There may be similiarites in the manner in which they have acheived and hold power, but that is true of most any power-grabbing putsch.

Hitler has been made into such a monster that people simply don't believe that anything like that could possibly happen again, and especially not here in the US with our long tradition of Democracy. You lose credibility comparing Bush to Hitler even though the similarities may be striking

[Traction]

86. The comparisment is absurd

We can put anti-Bush bumber stickers on our cars if we want to, as it's perfectly legal. Yes, some Repuke might take it off, but that's a private citizen. The government won't do anything to it.

Bush a Nazi? What a laughable joke. Real Nazis despise Bush. He's nothing more than your average neo-con incompetant moron.

[Guarionex]

91. No reluctance here...

He's worse...he's got his hands on more powerful weapons and propaganda systems...Hitler got nothing on Bush.