No one is Hitler (article)

[Pete]

ZNet | Mainstream Media

When Are Nazi Comparisons Deplorable?
For Fox News, only when Republicans are the target

by Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting; FAIR; January 18, 2004

The controversy over comparisons between George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler in two ads submitted to the anti-Bush ad contest run by the online activist group MoveOn.org says less about the state of left discourse than it does about the double standards at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

News Corp's Fox News Channel started the controversy on January 4, airing Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie's complaint about the Bush/Hitler comparison. "That's the kind of tactics we're seeing on the left today in support of these Democratic presidential candidates," Gillespie charged, calling such tactics "despicable."

The whole next day (1/5/04), this was a major story on Fox News Channel. John Gibson asked, "What about the hating Bush movement, the MoveOn.org and George Soros sponsoring these ads that compare Bush to Hitler?"--before being corrected that the ads were not sponsored by MoveOn (or Soros, a funder of the group), and were taken down in response to complaints.

Sean Hannity accused a guest: "You guys on the left are going so far over the cliff. You're making comparisons to the president and Adolf Hitler." Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said on Hannity's show, "This is the hateful, vitriolic rhetoric that has become the Howard Dean Democratic Party." Bill O'Reilly cited the ads as evidence that "right now in America the Democratic party is being held captive by the far, far left."

It should be noted that however hyperbolic, comparisons to Hitler and fascism are not unknown in the American political debate. Rush Limbaugh has routinely called women's rights advocates "femi-Nazis," and references to "Hitlery Clinton" are a staple of right-wing talk radio. Republican power-broker Grover Norquist on NPR (10/2/03) compared inheritance taxes to the Holocaust.

Closer to home for Fox News, on the very same day that Gibson, Hannity and O'Reilly were talking about the Hitler/Bush comparison as evidence of the left's extremism, a column ran in the New York Post that described Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean as a follower of Josef Goebbels, referred to him as "Herr Howie," accused him of "looking for his Leni Riefenstahl," called his supporters "the Internet Gestapo" and compared them to "Hitler's brownshirts."

The New York Post, like Fox News Channel, is part of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's conservative media empire. And this piece wasn't just put up on the Post's website as part of a contest--it was written by a right-wing commentator who frequently appears in the Post's pages, Ralph Peters, and selected for the op-ed page by the Post's own editors. So it's more than a little embarrassing that these blatant Nazi comparisons were being made in the Post while the paper's corporate sibling was denouncing such comparisons as a sign of derangement.

So what did the Murdoch organization do? Fox appears to have completely ignored the Post's own Nazi analogies--there's no reference to the column whatsoever in the cable channel's transcripts. And the New York Post seems to have sent the column down the memory hole--clicking on a link that used to go to Peters' story gives you a "page not found" message, and the text isn't found in the Nexis media database. (Ironically, in light of this Orwellian disappearing act, the column also compared Dean to Big Brother.)

In the interview that started the brouhaha, the RNC's Gillespie was asked if he would oppose similar attacks on Democrats. He replied: "If they stoop to the kind of despicable tactic like morphing a candidate into Adolf Hitler, yes, absolutely, I will tell you right here on the air. Have me back if any organization does that, I would repudiate it."

The same organization that interviewed him did that, through another of its branches, the very next day. So far, Fox News hasn't had him back on to condemn the New York Post.

ACTION: Please ask the New York Post whether it stands by the column it published describing Howard Dean as a Nazi, or if it owes Dean an apology. And ask Fox News Channel why they didn't criticize that column, even though its hosts repeatedly condemned such analogies that same day--when they involved George W. Bush.

CONTACT:

Fox News Channel: 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
Phone: 1-888-369-4762
[email protected]



New York Post
1211 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036
Phone: 1-212-930-8000
[email protected]

See:

The ads submitted to MoveOn.org comparing Bush to Hitler
The New York Post column describing Dean as a Nazi

[This article was distributed as an "Action Alert" by the FAIR ListServe. You can subscribe to FAIR-L at: http://www.fair.org. You can donate to FAIR at: http://www.fair.org/donate.html.]


Z-Net Source (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=4847)

The title shows my opinion on the matter.

-Pete

[el_profe]

its retarded to compare dean or bush to hitler.

[(*]

yeah, you can't compare bush to hitler...

Hitler was a decorated soldier in the Bavarian army, and won an election with more votes than the losing candidate :lol:

Bill maher did a bit like that on his show, pretty funny....

But being serious...You can't compare anyone to hitler, not even hussein.

[MikeyBoy]

Hitler was a decorated soldier in the Bavarian army, and won an election with more votes than the losing candidate

LOL. Bush proudly defended texas from the vietcong :P

[Bradyman]

Yeah. I hate how there is so much animosity between those on the "left" and those on the "right" or between Democrats and Republicans.

[Y2A]

Once Bush declare's himself dictator, throws out the constitution, slaughters minorities, and has people that post on these boards thrown in jail, then I'll compare him to Hitler.

[Don't Change Your Name]

I found this once in this forum:

"We come not as conquerors, but as liberators." - George Bush (2003)

"Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators." - Adolf Hitler (1938)

:o :o :o

[Pete]

Originally posted by El Infiltr(A)[email protected] 18 2004, 11:02 PM
I found this once in this forum:

"We come not as conquerors, but as liberators." - George Bush (2003)

"Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators." - Adolf Hitler (1938)

:o :o :o
The comparisons are bullshit man. Don't try to spread them because they are like saying Canada is the new switzerland or something like that. It doesn't work.

[Al Creed]

Once Bush declare's himself dictator,

The election was rigged in his favour. Why do you think it all came down to Florida, a state governed by his Brother? Why was his camp against any recount?



throws out the constitution

USA PATRIOT Act (http://michaelmoore.com/takeaction/issues/patriotact.php)



slaughters minorities

September 11th lead to ALOT of anti-Muslim(In fact, Anti-Nonwhite) violence [Canadian Reference removed].


has people that post on these boards thrown in jail

His administration has cracked down on political dissent, haven't they? Sherman Austin? What about "Free Speech Zones?"



then I'll compare him to Hitler.

Ok, this is here we agree. Bush isn't hitler. Adolf Hitler died in 1945.

Bush isn't like Hitler. Hitler was a puppeteer. Bush is a puppet.

However, I guess one conclusion can be dawn:

The Republican Party are America's Answer to The Nazi Party of Germany.

-They spread fear through propaganda(Joesph Goebels=Fox News)

-They send the army to attack nations with little justification other than they have something to be had

-Dissent is essentially outlawed.

-Only those in the Party get Anything really substantial.

Hrmmm...

[timbaly]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18 2004, 11:58 PM

slaughters minorities

September 11th lead to ALOT of anti-Muslim(In fact, Anti-Nonwhite) violence (In Hamilton, a few days after, a HINDU TEMPLE was torched:|)




Hamilton is in Ontario, not even in the US. Plus those muslims killed after 9-11 had nothing to do with Bush's orders. He didn't order any such violence against muslims in the US.



Ok, this is here we agree. Bush isn't hitler. Adolf Hitler died in 1949.


'49? You must mean '45.


Why does everyone call fox news propaganda, what blatantly falsified information was ever on the air? I know that the anchors sometimes throw in annoying side commentary about how great the war effort is or how great the troops are doing, but I have never seen anything completely ficticious on that channel.

[Al Creed]

...SHIT&#33; I meant 45...My sleep-deprived brain made me do it <_<


Propaganda: prop·a·gan·da ( P ) Pronunciation Key (prp-gnd)
n.
1) The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
2) Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda.

Propaganda doesn&#39;t exactly mean completely fabricated information. Faux News, along with MSNBC and CNN, promote Right-Wing viewpoints and exaggerate the truth, and never offer any analysis or inetrpretation of any information, thereby leaving the viewer with just one side of an issue.

To me, that&#39;s propaganda.

[lucid]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2004, 04:58 AM
The election was rigged in his favour. Why do you think it all came down to Florida, a state governed by his Brother? Why was his camp against any recount?



Smoking dope and driving causes accidents.

Smoking dope and getting online causes stupid posting.



Here is a site for you to visit. Please put on tin foil hat before entering. (http://www.conspiracydigest.com/)


ps: X-files isn&#39;t real.

[LSD]

Smoking dope and driving causes accidents.

Smoking dope and getting online causes stupid posting.


Good to see you&#39;re maintaining your tradition of intelligent posts, lucid.

[lucid]

Originally posted by Lysergic Acid [email protected] 19 2004, 10:08 PM
Good to see you&#39;re maintaining your tradition of intelligent posts, lucid.
What can I say. The conspiracy theory crap gets old after a while. I mean if people could come up with legit original anti-bush stuff I would be all ears. But you must admit most of the crap is just junk found on the internet. I&#39;m sure that Bush having a brother In office in Florida had a lot to do with him winning the election. Gore was also pulling bogus crap during the election. Like wanting to recount areas with large democrat populations instead of recounting the entire state. There was also some crap about him trying to suppress the absentee votes from the, mostly republican, military.

I can find conspiracy theory crap to. Lets try and seperate reality from obviously BS internet crap.

[synthesis]

Why does everyone call fox news propaganda, what blatantly falsified information was ever on the air?

Well, pretty late into the war, they were denying that there had been a single civilian casualty. I&#39;m not sure how biased a supposedly balanced network can be before it&#39;s called propaganda, but that&#39;s pretty close.

Also very notable:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/steinreich8.html

As was pointed out, propaganda doesn&#39;t necessarily mean you&#39;re lying. If what you say advances an agenda, it is propaganda. For the most part, propaganda isn&#39;t really a bad thing, but when it&#39;s coming from a news source that is claiming to be objective and unbiased ("fair and balanced") it is hypocritical and misrepresentative.

[LSD]

What can I say. The conspiracy theory crap gets old after a while. I mean if people could come up with legit original anti-bush stuff I would be all ears. But you must admit most of the crap is just junk found on the internet.


There is a lot of conspiracy bullshit, but that doesn&#39;t mean that sometimes it isn&#39;t true. Remember, Nixon supporters said the same thing about Watergate and we know how that turned out.....



I&#39;m sure that Bush having a brother In office in Florida had a lot to do with him winning the election.


Well I&#39;m sure it helped. It propably didn&#39;t give him the election, but if you look at the massive amounts of people kicked off the voter lists unjustly and the fact that many in the government had worked in Bush&#39;s campaign...



Gore was also pulling bogus crap during the election. Like wanting to recount areas with large democrat populations instead of recounting the entire state. There was also some crap about him trying to suppress the absentee votes from the, mostly republican, military.


Yah, cheating is pretty much a hallmark of American politics at this point.

[Guest1]

Funny how we never learn from switzerland&#39;s vaunted neutrality.

We have a leader here, taking a democracy down the road it has travelled time and time again, the road of decay, death, dictatorship. Instead of looking at what causes democracies to head down this spiral to oblivion, we&#39;re sitting here, afraid to compare this to the last times it&#39;s happened?

I&#39;ll compare bush to hitler if I want, and caesar, and alexander the great, and every other leader who&#39;s corrupted democracy through war.

Don&#39;t be too neutral to see the similarities.

[Pete]

I see similarities but not full blown paralells.



Smoking dope and getting online causes stupid posting.

I think if you smoked some weed then posted you&#39;d have a lot higher quality posts. You concentrate a lot more and say what you want to say clearer. Drinking and posting makes for stupid posting.