Bush as Hitler Let's Be Fair
Uploaded by Gotskillz on Jul 04, 2004
Beyond the shared enthusiasm of the Fuehrer and all US presidents (with the possible exception of Warren Harding) for mass murder as an appropriate expression of national policy, I've never seen any particularly close affinity between Adolf Hitler and the current White House incumbent but the Republican National Committee seems peculiarly sensitive on the matter.
At the end of the first week in January the RNC lashed out furiously at a Democratic website Move0n.org for including in its featured entrants for robust campaign ads for 2004 a couple that offered Bush/Hitler comparisons.
One features Hitler making a speech, cross cut with footage of the Nazi blitzkrieg, while a voiceover says "A nation warped by lies lies fuel fear fear fuels aggression invasion occupation." As the scene fades from Hitler giving a raised arm salute to Bush with his hand raised at his inauguration, the voice-over says, "What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003."
The second ad shows Hitler, speaking in German, with a voiceover translating the lines as "We have taken new measures to protect our homeland, I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator." Then, as Hitler continues to speak, the voiceover says, "God told me to strike Al-Qaeda, and I struck him." The visage of A. Hitler becomes that of G. Bush and the voiceover continues, "and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did." "Sound familiar?" the voiceover sinisterly proclaims.
As a way of enticing undecided voters to vote against George Bush next November, both ads seem a trifle heavy-handed, which is probably why MoveOn.org's audience didn't include them in the 15 finalists. But this didn't stop the RNC screaming. Somewhat cravenly, MoveOn's Eli Pariser then said his group "regrets" the brief appearance of the two ads on the MoveOn website. They're gone now, though as of January 6 you could find the scripts of the offending two on the RNC's site.
Hitler/Bush comparisons began their current vogue after an article by Dave Lindorff appeared last February, here on CounterPunch.org, to which Lindorff is a regular and valued contributor.
In a full bore attack on Bush-as-warmonger Lindorff swept into an impassioned finale, declaring that "we must begin exposing George W. Bush and his War Party for what they are: craven usurpers aiming at nothing less than the undermining of all those things that most...