What is it with Republicans and Nazis anyway? It seems like every other day, a prominent Republican is comparing something or someone to the Nazis, Hilter, the Holocaust, etc. Of course, this is almost always wildly disproportionate, ridiculous, and offensive, and yesterday's outburst by Pennsylvania Senator Rick "santorum" Santorum is no exception. Check out what Santorum had to say yesterday on the floor of the Senate, comparing Senate Democrats to none other than - you guessed it! - Adolf Hitler!:
I mean, imagine, the rule has been in place for 214 years that this is the way we confirm judges. Broken by the other side two years ago, and the audacity of some members to stand up and say, how dare you break this rule. It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, 'I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine."
Of course, this is the same guy who said:
Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality --
To which the grossed-out AP reporter responded, "I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about "man on dog" with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out." Uh, yeah!
Anyway, back to Republicans and Nazis. Here are a few more examples:
*"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. " -- Pat Robertson, 1993 interview with Molly Ivins
*"The EPA, the Gestapo of government, pure and simply has been one of the major claw-hooks that the government maintains on the backs of our constituents." -- Tom DeLay, 1995
*Hitler was "an individual of great courage" and a "genius." Talk about Jews killed at Treblinka reflected "group fantasies of martyrdom." -- Pat Buchanan, 1990
*"Those who support gay and lesbian families are no different from those who supported Adolph Hitler in the years preceding World War II'? - Sheri Drew, who gave the invocation at the Republican National Convention on August 31, 2004
*"The Nazis were for gun control, the Nazis were for high marginal tax rates. Do you want to talk about who's closer politically to national socialism, the Right or the Left?" -- Anti-Tax Activist Grover Norquist, 2004
*"What Hitler began to build against the Jews is now being built against people of faith who believe the Scriptures are valid for today and their injunctions against certain sexual behaviors is correct." -- Lou Sheldon, Traditional Value Coalition (1998)
*"The notion that is involved in homosexuality, the unbridled sort of satisfaction of human passions' leads to 'totalitarianism,' 'Nazism,' and 'communism.' " -- Republican former Senate and Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, 1997
*"Feminazis" - Rush Limbaugh, comparing activists in the women's rights movement to the Nazis (too frequently to cite)
and, of course, this recent gem...
*"The whole system" [for picking judges]" is "like going to a concentration camp and picking out which people go to the death chamber." -- Robert Novak, May 15, 2005
So there you have it. Anyone who opposes the Republican agenda on a whole host of issues -- taxes, the environment, gay rights, guns, judges, women's rights, separation of church and state -- is compared to the Nazis. And lest anyone forget, the Nazis murdered 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, not to mention millions of other s-- Roma ("Gypsies"), Homosexuals, the disabled and retarded, prisoners of war, etc., etc. This was arguably the darkest chapter in human history, yet Republican leaders apparently feel free to use it to their narrow political ends.
There's just one word for this: disgusting. OK, one other word: inexcusable. So where are all the "moderate" Republicans condemning these remarks? Are they just "good people who do nothing," or do they actually find these comments to be acceptable?
P.S. In fairness, there have been digusting comments made on the Left, usually the far, FAR left, by people like Louis Farrakhan. However, these were usually denounced by mainstream Democrats. Do I hear any "mainstream" Republicans denouncing Robert Novak, Pat Robertson, or Rick Santorum? Hello?