Republicans & Conservatives: Archives

I find their outrage rather hypocritical, considering that Bushie Grover Norquist just compared the estate tax to the Holocaust on NPR. Moreover, conservatives will compare liberals to Nazis at the drop of a hat. Feminazis, anyone?

MoveOn should apologize for not screening out tiresome cliches. ;)

MoveOn has agreed those ads were in poor taste and apologized for letting them slip through:

“None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.

We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.

Contrast this with the behavior of the RNC and its allies when supporters of President Bush used TV ads morphing the face of Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) into that of Osama Bin Laden during the 2002 Senate race.”

http://moveonvoterfund.org/smear/release.html

MoveOn saying this ad slipped through the cracks is about as transparent as Pete Rose’s old contention that he never bet on baseball. There seems to be an element of common sense that they’re overlooking.

The common sense is that the Conservatives have no shame about portraying the left as dictators and friends of terrorists and criminals. This is just some on the left repeating the error.

Additionally, The RNC let the Osama/Max Cleland and Willie Horton commericals air. The MoveOn people did not. The RNC should take the fence-board out of their eye before they try to pick the sawdust out of ours.

Actually the common sense I was referring to was the screening process- which should have actually viewed the entries before letting them loose on their website. The basic message in their apology wasn’t “we’re sorry, it’s stupid to compare anyone to Hitler” it was “If the RNC did it, how come we can’t?” Most people would agree that following that path demeans the value of the actual issues - (foreign policy, economy, etc.)

Does this really move beyond the bounds of free speech? I don’t think so. I happen to think the ad was quite humerous - something about hearing Hitler bark while viewing pictures of Bush grimacing. If you think of jobs as the jewish, then the comparison stands, actually.

The government ought to stay out of my media.

The RNC must be getting real hypersensitive if it’s responding to nothing more than posted suggestions for commercials, suggestions that get voted down, no less.

I mean, this is precisely why the Hitler comparisons get made. You have this party moving about trying to close off a president from all dissent, trying to paint all those who voice disagreement as unpatriotic, no matter how real their concern is.

I think many Democrats tire of the stonewalling, the self-righteous behavior of the leaders of the GOP, and the whole re-run of the Cold War crucifixion of liberals by conservatives as being unpatriotic. I think many Democrats would appreciate that for once, when a Republican says “we’re in this together”, that the conservative meets them halfway.

If you search for “Clinton Hitler” in Google, you get 237,000 hits, a large proportion of which are conservatives comparing Clinton and Hitler.

Funny how these guys discovered the virtues of civility as soon as Bush was sworn in…

When are people going to leave the words, Nazi, Hitler and holocost to WWII references only? Actually I thing GOP’s use these words more towards liberals than vice-versa but then liberals actually believe in free speech.

The irony of their outrage is crystal clear in this article (use right mouse button to open link in new window). If all true, I suggest MoveOn restore the two clips in question immediately. Or will we have to contend with “free speech zones” everywhere?

Thank you, JJ for pointing out that the comparison of everyone (be they Right or Left) to Hitler is getting a bit clichéd. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t pay attention to the past and watch out for the possibility that dictators such as Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, etc. don’t exist and have come to wield immense power (much to the detriment of society, humanity, and history) but by using Hitler as a label for anyone and everyone that a party/person disagrees with cheapens the truth of the matter. That Hitler was a terrible person is a fact — that people don’t understand this truth would be the fault of those who mis-use the truth over and over and over again until, like the boy who cried wolf, nobody gives a rat’s ass until it’s too late.

Of course, I have to agree with 9thwave, though. MoveOn should have kept a repository of all ads submitted and stood firm to the fact that, this being a “free” nation (*IntelligenceAuthorizationActforFiscalYear 2004CarnivorePatriotAct, cough, cough) there should be no restrictions imposed on ones right to express their views. That some people won’t like it is symptomatic of everyone having the right to express that opinion. The ads were in no way threatening to Bush (or Hitler) and, if Conservatives feel they have the right to call a decorated, disabled Viet Nam veteran’s patriotism into question, what right do they (or any other group) have when their own morals are brought under a microscope?

If you are going to bitch about MoveOn.org, you had better talk to the RNC about their dispicable ads comparing a veteran amputee to Bid Laden.

blah blah blah blah,

9thWave, the article you refer to represents mini-temporary concentration camps for non-Bush supporters wherever he goes. Also a blatant double standard of application of the laws that entitle to Secret Service to provide security zones for the President. Security zones if handled fairly should exclude both Bush supporter and non-supporters.

Allowing only supporters to brandish signs and have access to the media while concentrating non-bush supporters further away, fenced off, and out of sight of the media is not an equal and fair application of the law.

But we all know non-Bush supporters are unpatriotic and potentially dangerous people, so, such mini-temporary concentration camps surely are justified and warranted for such people.

I would encourage moveon.org to publish such things all the time. It only makes them look bad.

As for concentration camps, I know two liberals from my bridge group who are literally quite afraid that Bush is going to ship them off somewhere. I told them that even if they were terrorists it was unlikely. They weren’t encouraged. I wonder if that means that they are paranoid….or maybe they are terrorists. :)

I get such a kick out of whenever the Left is accused of something, as is the case here, their defense inevitably is “Well, so and so does it too!” As if that makes their transgressions ok.

Our defense, Jeff, is that unlike your people, we screened out our offensive attack ad while it was still just an entry in a web contest . As I recall the Max Cleland ad, and the ad that said democrats were for helping the terrorists actually ran on TV. Who did worse, the ones who had the taste not to run offensive ads, or the ones who actually ran their offending ads?

I think this is just the RNCs way of responding to ads that hit too close to home.

I’m a little puzzled by the hyperbolic response to a hyperbolic entry in MoveOn’s contest. And I’m more than a little disappointed in MoveOn for collapsing like a popped balloon at the slightest smear from the smearmasters of the Republican Party.

These guys said it best:
http://www.unknownnews.net/040107a-wc.html
MoveOn knuckles under to Republican pressure

Republicans play politics as a dirty game, and by those standards there’s simply nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious and growing similarities between Bush and Hitler.

Hyperbole? Sure. Also par for the course, a course designed by the Republican Party.

I’ve had high hopes for MoveOn, and still do, but they dropped the ball badly here. Politics is a dirty game and you don’t win by letting the dirtyest Republicans write the rules.

Moveon.org is a website paid for by the most liberal of the Liberal Democrats and it is a surprise to some that a Hitler/Bush ad would pop up. Jesus, these are the same people that believe in an 80% income tax for the rich and government paid healthcare for all. What I really think the Liberals should do is get off their asses and start making some policies that work, instead of just attacking President Bush over and over again for evil tax cuts and fake war for daddy.
You lost the election in 2000 we won get over it Bush will always be the 43rd president of the United States and there is nothing you can do about it.

Godwin’s Law applies to politics too. Both Republicans and Democrats have used the Hitler analogy far too much. While as a social democrat I find the Bush administration appalling, and Bill Clinton wasn’t much better, neither Bush, Clinton, Daddy Bush or Reagan or anyone involved in senior positions in either the Republicans or the Democrats have yet to become gas-chamber-using anti-Semites who want to invade the whole of Europe. The use of Hitler analogies for the opposing sides on frequent opportunities proves how out-of-touch from reality both the Republicans and the Democrats truly are.

Tom,

Nice reference to Godwin’s Law. I had to look it up. Since it’s a Usenet term, I’m ashamed to be a geek that I missed it.

http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/g/Godwin_s_Law.html