Thursday, August 6, 2009

Limbaugh compares Dems to Nazis; claims Obama uses Nazi imagery

He claims that the Obama administration is using subtlely Nazi-like imagery in order to... Well, Rush's theory is pretty much off the rails, so the intention of such a purported move isn't entirely clear. In fact, I'm not sure how long this post on Rush Limbaugh's blog will remain, but here's the link for now: Whose Swastikas, Speaker Pelosi?

There, you can read about Rush's

"reaction to the Obama health care logo the other day. I mentioned something about it reminded me of Germany in 1942, the shape of the logo, the people. I said, "I haven't seen this in many, many years." And if you go and take a look at this, you will find that the Obama health care logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo. I'm going to show you people watching on the Dittocam this, and there you are. The middle frame is the Obama health care logo. At the bottom is an official Nazi logo, eagle and everything, spread wings, or bird with spread wings. Ms. Pelosi has some major apologizing to do. I know that numerous repeated Botox injections can cause blurry vision, but I don't think Ms. Pelosi can use that as an excuse. They are really unraveling. They are really falling apart."


I'd show you Rush's graphic, but it's so dumb, what's the point. OK, I'll show it, via Reason.com:

Good god this is dumb. If use of the caduceus in a logo is inherently fascist, perhaps Limbaugh will protest our National Socialist doctors in the United States Army Medical Corps:

If you manage to trudge through Limbaugh's incoherent rant about Nazi logos and Obama, you'll also be informed that the initial production of the Volkswagen was "right out of the playbook of the environmentalist wackos." Yeah, I don't get it either.


More here and here and here.

UPDATE August 6, 2009 10:25 pm

Turns out that American Thinker has jumped on the dumb Nazi comparison bandwagon (the trend that is sweeping the Republican party!) Read here.

Now this?


12 comments:

John said...

The analogies comparing Obama to Nazis is all over the place. it is a blatant appeal to people quick emotional response to something disgusting, namely Nazis.

Perhaps I am naive, but it seems low even for Limbaugh.

I responded to a similar claim from the American Thinker http://theobservedblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/american-thunker-barack-obama-is-just.html

Adam Holland said...

Thanks, The Observer.

I'll add a link to it in the post.

Adam Holland said...

OldGuy:

Thanks for pointing out that, out of the thousands of images comparing Bush to a Nazi, not a single one came from a Democratic commentator of the stature of a Rush Limbaugh. They're all from the lunatic fringe.

Oldguy said...

Since when has Rush Limbaugh have "stature" among progressives?
It's still selective outrage, if you're going to be critical of the one then you need to be critical of all.

Adam Holland said...

Oldguy:

You've missed my point. Can you cite an instance of a major liberal or Democratic commentator who compared Bush to Hitler? The examples in the google search you provided all came from obscure, insignificant sources.

I look forward to your commenting with those examples, because I can't find any. Once you find them and post them here, we can both express our outrage at what these fools have said. Can you name a single liberal with the number of followers Rush Limbaugh has who made a comparable comment?

Oldguy said...

>Can you name a single liberal with the number of followers Rush Limbaugh has who made a comparable comment?<
First off I can't really find a single liberal with the number of followers as Rush Limbaugh. They don't exist.
Wannabes yes.
Which begs the question, why do you think that is.
Progressives take a great deal of glee out of pointing out how ignorant and stupid listeners are to his show but can't seem to field a passable commentator that can rise anywhere close to Limbaugh.
So in essence anything that progressives have have the "stature"
of obscure and insignificant
Apples and oranges.

Finding a comparable liberal would be a Sisyphean task.

Adam Holland said...

I see that you're a Rush Limbaugh fan. Fair enough, Oldguy. Feel free to cite any liberal commentators who went as far as Rush did by comparing Bush to Hitler.

Oldguy said...

>I see that you're a Rush Limbaugh fan.<
Actually I'm not really, I listen to him once in a while and he does make some good points, but I'm not a slavish dittohead.
From NRO
Of Course They Think Bush Is a Nazi

George Soros, the billionaire financier who is MoveOn's most generous benefactor (in November, he gave the site $2.5 million) has compared the Bush administration to the Third Reich. Soros, who was born in Hungary and grew up under both Nazi and Soviet domination, told the Washington Post last November, "When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans." He added, "My experiences under Nazi and Soviet rule have sensitized me." Soros repeated his accusations in his new book, The Bubble of American Supremacy.

The makers of the antiwar ad "Army of One," which was chosen by MoveOn to be one of the 15 finalists in the anti-Bush competition, have also made a web movie entitled, "Bush is not a Nazi, so stop saying that." The movie, featured on the website Takebackthemedia.com, begins with ominous music and the warning: "The media will not tell you of the Bush family Nazi association." It goes on to accuse the Bushes of financing the Third Reich. It also features a series of intercut statements comparing George W. Bush to Hitler. "Both leaders had catastrophes occur allowing them to remove many civil rights," the movie says, showing side-by-side pictures of the Reichstag fire and the World Trade Center attacks. The screen switches to a photo of Bush with a young woman athlete and a picture of Hitler with an adoring young fan. "Imperialism seems to be a real turn-on," it says.

Filmmaker Michael Moore, one of the celebrities chosen by MoveOn to judge contest entrants, has suggested that the Bush administration is taking the first steps to Nazi-style authoritarianism. In his new book, Dude, Where's My Country?, Moore writes that "The Patriot Act is as un-American as Mein Kampf." Last October on CNN, Crossfire host Robert Novak said to Moore, "That's obscene, to compare the Patriot Act with Mein Kampf." "No," Moore answered, "The Patriot Act is the first step. Mein Kampf was written long before Hitler came to power. And if the people of Germany had done something early on to stop these early signs...if people don't speak up against this, you end up with something like they had in Germany."

Actress and comedienne Janeane Garofalo, also chosen by MoveOn to judge the contest, last year referred to the Bush administration as the "43rd Reich."

These kinds of things have been out there for years.
I dislike Paultards as much as the next guy but be honest. You have no problem searching a Ron Paul forum looking for anti-semitic remarks, it can't be that much of a stretch to find liberal comments invoking the third Reich.

Adam Holland said...

OldGuy:

Sorry for the unintended delay in posting your comment. Thanks for the quote from National Review.

The Soros statement seems different to me from the others we're discussing. He's making a sound point in a lazy way. He's not calling Bush a Nazi, just saying that a pure "with us or against us" attitude concerning U.S. military actions is an excessively militaristic attitude -- might makes right. I couldn't agree with him more, even though I think the argument should be better made.

The video which was submitted to and rejected by Moveon.com -- the one saying that the Bushes were Nazis -- was wrong and unfortunate. Moveon was right to reject it. I never heard of the person who submitted it before this story appeared and I haven't heard of him since. (By the way, Prescott Bush and Averell Harriman did do business with the Third Reich. That didn't make them Nazis, just greedy and unprincipled.)

Janeane Garofalo is a very minor standup comic and actress who made a very silly joke. How on earth did the National Review even hear about it? I haven't heard about her in years.

The Michael Moore quote is a manufactured controversy. He was saying that the Patriot Act could be the first step to fascism, not that Bush was Hitler.

It is very clear to me that no major figure among the liberals has made the sort of outrageous slanders now taken as completely acceptable by major figures among the GOP. You are the ones who complained of "Bush derangement syndrome". What a joke! Are those examples the best you could find?

Oldguy said...

>Are those examples the best you could find?<
I'm sure that comments have a character limitation as I could actually find many more.
These examples satisfy your challenge as they do invoke the Nazi meme.
You'll notice that I am not defending Limbaugh's characterization as I'm not a fan of Nazi comparisons, but I do find it interesting that you feel the need to defend these examples.
The bottom line is that there really is no amount that I could cite that you would accept.
We just have to agree to disagree again on this one.

Adam Holland said...

OldGuy:

I actually did condemn some of the examples you cited. I called them lazy, silly, wrong and unfortunate. Maybe you missed that.

The point which you're trying to rebut is that the GOP is using tactics which important, mainstream Dems didn't. Do you think that you've rebutted that with the examples you got from National Review?

You say you could provide many examples comparable to Limbaugh's inane comparisons of Obama to Hitler. Start with one. The ones you gave don't come anywhere close in importance or absurdity.

And the google image search you sent really confirmed that the Democratic leadership and pundits didn't do this stuff, didn't it?

Oldguy said...

Janeane Garofalo was a weekly radio host on Air America (you know the liberal "alternative" to conservative AM talk that no one gives a hoot about).
Look you can go ahead and put blinders on to the insipid hatred of the left, up to and including the assassination fantasies that were all the rage in the final years of Bush's term.
If you don't want to look them up that's fine. (Paulbot tactics btw, constantly demanding more and more "proof" until the opponent loses interest)
It's all out there for those who want to look, true believers will never be convinced.

I've posted my rebuttal and am happy with that.

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