Last night's news - "And It’s Only June… Bush and Kerry camps spar over whose Hitler images are more offensive"

So, how often have the anti-Bush people compared Bush to Hitler? Numerous. A consistent image during the anti-war protests had Bush made over to look like Hitler.

It can be argued that these are fringe folks. What about the mainstream?

The money behind Moveon.org and other anti-Bush groups is George Soros. He has this to say:

America, under Bush, is a danger to the world,” Soros said. Then he smiled: And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.”

Soros believes a “supremacist ideology” guides this White House. He hears echoes in its rhetoric of his childhood in occupied Hungary. “When I hear Bush say, ‘You’re either with us or against us,’ it reminds me of the Germans.” It conjures up memories, he said, of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit (“The enemy is listening”): “My experiences under Nazi and Soviet rule have sensitized me,” he said in a soft Hungarian accent.

One of the ads displayed on Moveon.org's web site last winter was a Bush/Hitler image. They removed it after Republicans protested.

Then there is Al Gore.

In an hour-long address punctuated by polite laughter and applause, Gore also accused the Bush administration of working closely "with a network of 'rapid response' digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for 'undermining support for our troops."'


"Brown shirts" was an early term for Nazi. Gore is apparently saying that bloggers for Bush are Nazis.

Then there was the judge who said that Bush reminded him of Mussolini and Hitler.

None of this is new. Jonah Goldberg wrote a column in Sept., 2003 about how acceptable it has become to compare Bush and Hitler.

What does the anti-Bush side have to say? This is from Bush Watch:

Christine: This morning we've posted a link to the new Bush ad on our headlines page. The ad links images of Kerry with images of Hitler, and the Dems are angry. An AFP story says:

"Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer issued a statement calling the images "remarkably insensitive" and "hateful," and adding, "The use of Adolph Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong." 'They are trying to convey a comparison between Senator Kerry and the Democrats and Hitler," Singer told AFP, demanding that the Bush camp immediately pull the ads and issue an apology. 'The fact that George Bush thinks it's appropriate to use images of Adolph Hitler in his campaign raises serious questions about his fitness to spend another four years in the White House," the spokesman said. But Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt denied any intention to draw a direct line between Kerry and the head of the Third Reich and said the German's image came from attack ads run on the Democrat's behalf by the group MoveOn.org. Some months ago MoveOn.org quickly withdrew a spot linking Bush and Hitler, and the Kerry campaign said it had nothing to do with it. But Holt said the incident was proof that the Democrats had "taken political rhetoric to a new low.'"

Who's right?

Jerry: The point is there are two men running for the presidency: John Kerry and George Bush. George Bush has an ad linking John Kerry with Adolph Hitler. Thus, George Bush is responsible for introducing a comparison between Hitler and the candidates into the campaign, no matter where the footage came from. The trap is to get John Kerry to respond in kind. If so, the waters will be muddied in the minds of the voters, and the sometimes apt comparison between the predilictions of the Bush administration and previous fascist administrations throughout the world and throughout history will be negated. Remember, Bush, not Kerry, said a dictatorship in the U.S. would be fine if he were the dictator. Actually, the ad is very slick propaganda, worthy of hours of study by film students, particularly those interested in editing. Its intentions demonstrate how low the Bush campaign is willing to stoop, and this is early in the campaign. It's a despeaate attempt to shift the campaign dialogue away from Iraq, 9/11 lies, cooking the books on the economy and anti-terrorism, torture, spy leaks, and Bush's sinking poll numbers, to name but a few topics more worthy of our consideration. --06.26.04

Let's see if I understand this logic... Bush introduced Hitler into the election by showing an anti-Bush ad. And somehow this anti-Bush ad links Kerry and Hitler.

Do these people listen to themselves?