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July 19, 2005BELTWAY BLOGROLL
In The Blog's-Eye: Hitler Lightning Strikes Again
Death and taxes may be the only certainties in life for the average citizen, but ill-advised political references to Adolph Hitler and the Nazis also are looking more and more inevitable for members of Congress these days.
Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., is the latest to get into trouble for making a Hitler comparison. After visiting the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he said on a radio talk show that Muslim terrorists imprisoned at the base are worse than Hitler because Hitler "sort of had a political rationale about what he was doing."
A caller quickly challenged LoBiondo about the comment, and he apologized just as quickly on the air and again later. But bloggers could not let the slip pass without criticizing LoBiondo and his colleagues who insist on making such references.
Captain's Quarter's urged lawmakers to familiarize themselves with Godwin's Law, which holds that the longer online discussions last, the more likely they are to result in some type of Nazi or Hitler comparison. "We don't need to debate the relative merits of one form of fascism and oppression over another; they're all bad, grown-ups know it, and those who don't won't learn anything from sound bites like these," Ed Morrissey wrote.
Michelle Malkin simply posted a link to the analysis at Captain's Quarter's and put it under the heading "Dumb Republican of the Day." And Judgment Proof concluded: "Can our politicians please cut this whole Hitler comparison game out? It's really getting annoying, isn't it? Besides, the more you do it, the less effective it is. Let's use reason and logic over emotion and name-calling, please."
As those posts indicate, LoBiondo has had plenty of company, and Letters to Nowhere has a nice roundup of lawmakers who have been infected by "Hitler-itis" recently: Sens. Bob Byrd, D-W.Va.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; and Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.
The History News Network also tracks such references.
Posted by dglover at July 19, 2005 01:06 PM
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