Howard Dean is a Nazi!

Articles

Matthew Bastian

Howard Dean is a Nazi!
Jan 15, 2004

A simple Internet search on the keywords “Bush” and “Hitler” returns an astonishing number of hits – over 240,000, to be more precise. Several websites have entire sections devoted to what can only be described as a burgeoning cult science. Determined to make the connections that will vindicate their ongoing slander of the president, Bush’s more fervent detractors bend over backwards to find similarities between the two. Just like the “scholars” of legendary seer Nostradamus, who twist and contort the language of his vaguely worded quatrains in an attempt to prove his clairvoyance, the “black helicopter” Left seizes on the even the flimsiest similarities as de facto evidence of Bush’s secret, fascist leanings.

The whole thing might be an equally amusing exercise if it were not so revolting.

No two syllables in our modern lexicon, save perhaps “Nazi,” carry the emotional wallop of “Hitler.” Such is the lingering effect of his legacy. Sadly, the term is used in an almost breezy manner in our current political context, usually in reference to Republicans, and never seems to merit one iota of substantiation. The Bush/Hitler blogs are no different.

The Bush-is-Hitler tune generally goes as follows: both men were failures until they reached the political zeniths of their respective countries, both created an artificial enemy and went to war as a distraction from domestic problems, both withdrew from the international community, and both were driven by a religious zeal.

Many liberals would take the above summary at face value and nod approvingly. Quite frankly, the fact that so many people don’t see a problem with it IS the problem.

Let’s start with the fact that Hitler laid out the basis for his future policies of conquest and ethnic cleansing early in his political life. Maybe I missed it at Barnes and Noble, but I’m not aware of Bush’s personal equivalent of “Mein Kampf.” (Quick reminder: Bush only went to war AFTER Muslim fanatics flew passenger jets into our buildings.)

Once in power, of course, Hitler implemented his paranoid philosophy and was ultimately responsible for wholesale murder on a scale that only Josef Stalin could appreciate. For anyone to even hint at comparing Hitler’s bloody legacy to the civilian casualties of our missions in Afghanistan and Iraq is both inane and incredibly insulting to the victims of the former.

To the vitriolic Bush-haters, these are but minor details. Who needs to worry about petty issues like gas chambers when you have a clear- cut case built on the fact that Bush and Hitler both liked dogs? (What more proof do you need to justify scribbling the little moustache over Bush’s visage?)

OK. If that’s the way it’s going to be, let’s try it from another angle: I’ve done some of my own analysis and can only come to the conclusion that Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean is a Nazi.

One of the Bush-Hitler connections is that Hitler, like Bush, “inspired only those who shared his anger.” Sounds like Dean to me. Even he would have to admit that his campaign is built on the ability to whip the partisan Bush- haters into frenzy.

Bush is also accused of using terrorists as “artificial enemies” in order to rally his true believers, much as Hitler did with the Jews. If this is so, then Dean has done the same with “the rich.”

And let’s not forget that Nazi’s were, by definition, economically socialists. They believed that massive government spending and intervention was the key to digging Germany out of the malaise of the Weimar years. Given Dean’s opposition to tax cuts and growing laundry list of proposed handouts and entitlements, his economic policies ring very Nazi-like indeed.

Hitler also squashed political dissent and later outlawed it. Dean, in turn, is outspoken in his support for the McCain-Feingold law, which bans political “issue” ads 60 days before a general election. The connection is all too clear; history is repeating itself right here at home. Chilling, isn’t it?

Of course, it isn’t. It’s a silly exercise, but no sillier than these hack historians and genealogists out there in cyberspace who are convinced that our president is a living “Boy from Brazil,” spawned in the jungle by Josef Mengele.

If you’re out there and reading this, please knock it off with the Hitler garbage. Ashcroft is not coming for you. You can trash your copy of the Zapruder tape and the fabled “missing hanging chad.”

And get that tinfoil off your head.

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About Matthew Bastian: Recovering socialst, part-time drummer, long-suffering Brewers fan, and all-around beach hound, Mr. Bastian lives in central New Jersey. Email Matthew Bastian: mbastian19@hotmail.com

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