Dear conservative media: Spare us the hypocritical denunciations of Nazi comparisons
Dear conservative media: Spare us the hypocritical denunciations of Nazi comparisons
Last summer, when Nancy Pelosi observed that some tea party protestors were carrying signs bearing swastikas, the conservative media twisted her comments to claim she was comparing the protestors themselves to Nazis. As we pointed out at the time, this was absurd for two reasons. First, Pelosi clearly was not comparing the protestors to Nazis; she was merely making an accurate observation that was later confirmed by Fox News’ own reporting. Second, conservatives’ supposed concern over Nazi comparisons was belied by the fact that they regularly compare Democrats and their policies to Nazis.
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Want more examples? There are too many to list, but here’s another large handful from the last year alone:
* While promoting his new book about the “secular socialist machine” on Fox News Sunday, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said that Obama and Democrats are threatening America as much as “Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.”
* While complaining about the $20 billion relief fund the Obama administration negotiated with BP, conservative columnist Thomas Sowell - in a column promoted by Sarah Palin and Matt Drudge - compared Obama to Hitler.
* Conservative radio host Michael Savage smeared FCC diversity officer Mark Lloyd as a “neo-Nazi” and a “Nazi czar.” He has also compared diversity training to a “Nazi reeducation camp,” and railed against unsubstantiated rumors of a “Hitler-like executive order” for amnesty for “illegal alien criminals.”
* Conservative columnist Ben Shapiro has called the Obama administration “anti-Semitic” and compared Rahm Emanuel to the death camp prisoners who aided Nazis.* Conservative radio host Mark Levin joined Limbaugh and Beck last year in making health care reform/Nazi comparisons by saying that the proposed health care policies were “Hitler-esque.”