Enough With the Nazi Demagoguery Already!

From 2000-2008 we had to put up with eight years of the loony left comparing George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler and his administration to the Nazis. The right correctly objected and the sane Democrats on the left were content to let the demagoguery go on. Now political conservatives seem no longer outraged at such comparisons as more than a few individuals on the wacky right have been comparing Barack Obama to Hitler and his political operatives as Gestapo. Of course, the left is now hypocritically outraged at such comparisons while the sane Republicans are just as hypocritically content to let their extreme minions continue such ridiculous aspersions. And, of course, political pundits on both sides just reinforce the outrage of their own while ignoring the agitators doing the same thing to other side. Just this morning in a interview Joe McGinnis, the author who is writing a book on Governor Sarah Palin and, who in creepy voyeuristic fashion has rented a house next door to hers with a deck overlooking her backyard, compared Palin to a Nazi Stormtrooper.

Enough of this already! Those who did not agree with the politics of George W. Bush, fair enough-- but to portray the former president and his administration as the reincarnation of Hitler and his minions could only be promoted and believed by the ignorant. Those who do not agree with the politics of Barack Obama, fair enough-- but to compare him and his administration to the Nazi Chancellor and his knuckle-breaking police could only be believed by minds that are quite weak intellectually. (And, by the way, no-- the Arizona immigration law, which I dislike, has no comparison to Kristallnacht.)

The rise and advent of Nazi Germany was a dark and evil time in world history. The systematic extermination of six million Jews has no comparison with anything happening in the United States or the developed West. It is fair to critique the current and any former president on their positions and actions, but to brazenly depict the current or former president with a Hitler-like mustache is not only beyond the pale; it is extreme demagoguery that undermines the important and healthy debate that is so necessary in a democracy.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching an interview on cable news with a now very elderly Holocaust survivor. He was asked what he thought of all the Hitler and Holocaust comparisons being touted by both sides. He simply responded that anyone who would compare anything happening in America to Nazi Germany needed a remedial course in twentieth century European history.

I agree-- and I would also add that such persons also need a remedial class in critical thinking as well.