Uh, it was Obama who staged the Teutonic stemwinder in Berlin, not McCain.  And in front of a triumphant column celebrating the victory of Prussia over Denmark, for god sakes.

So give me a break on the Leni Riefenstahl riff.

Hey, Noam, dumb me.  You are blaming Obama's people, not McCain.  So, cool.

The imagery should resonate among all sane people

Yep, I can see it now, a elderly couple in Tarpon Springs nervously watches a commercial starring the newest installment of Hitler standing in front of a monument celebrating Prussia's victory over Denmark, and the inevitable question comes to mind: 'Is it dinner time?"

For God sakes, indeed. You guys even seen Leno ask people on the street what continent South America is on? Sure, they get the subtle point: crowds equal genocide. Fellas, BO has higher popularity among jewish voters than Joe Lieberman. Get over it, the jewish vote isn't going anywhere.

Yes, because Obama Hitler and also Obama Stalin.  

I have heard that Hitler charge a lot from older Jews (50+), sometimes as an aside such as "Hitler inspired young people too and look where it got us" and sometimes as a straight up comparison "You're not voting for that Hitler Obama are you?"

While the first may seem like a fair point, inspiring leadership can be a very good thing or a very bad thing depending on what it inspires, the presence of the second point of view makes me think there may be racism involved in both perspectives.

Even regarding the first position - does anyone really think that Obama is going to put Jews or Homosexuals in concentration camps? Read Hitlers book and read Obama's books - is there really anything to compare?   I've even heard the "fear" that Obama will appoint only black people to the cabinet.  A) It's absurd.  B) Who cares?  Clearly some element of racism/ethnic discrimination involved here, I am ashamed to say, much like the older generation of Irish-Americans would insult/look down on Italians.

If anything, Obama is the Anti-Hitler, using his oratory gifts and charisma to inspire unity, hope and idealism.  Some years back Bill Moyers did a special that dealt with a similar charge leveled against Roosevelt, that like Hitler he used his charisma to become a demagogue, or as some like to put it "the closest thing America has had to a dictator."  This was pre-Bush II of course and Bill Moyers, as usual, brought the conversation back to reason in proving that there is in fact no comparison between Roosevelt and Hitler: one used his political power to inspire hate and violence and one used his political gifts to foster care, optimism and self-sacrifice.

And yet a small number of Jews feel the need to compare Obama to Hitler.  Why?  Who knows.  But as victims of racism and ethnic persecution Jews (especially older ones who lived through those events) should know better.  Hopefully as the electorate gets to know Obama better these charges/insinuations/dishonest comparisons will for the most part be undone.

The very idea is an insult to all of the victims of the Holocaust and WWII.

Ah, but it is 'how' you use the footage that makes all of the difference in the world.   The rally is presented Obama as some kind of demogogic wunderkind, which definitely starts to veer into rather uncomfortable territory.  McCain doesn't even nod in the direction of what Obama said, just that he said it to a very large crowd of enthusiastic Germans.  No overt harm, no foul.  Right?   It is simply one more condemnation by association.   Let the implication simply sit there, unstated, but clearly offered.

Why is it that these latest ads by McCain steer as far away as possible from the substance of Obama's campaign, and treat only the surface, the atmospherics?  Because that is the only way he has a chance of winning.  McCain, even if you prefer his plan and agenda, has shown that he is incapable of making such a plan comprehensible to anyone.   Consequently, this means that if you cannot win the debate on the merits of your argument, you simply slime the personality.  For those so inclined, McCain has to ignore the substance and attack the accidents.  

Why is it that Senator McCain cannot offer constructive reasons to vote 'for' him?  Why is he buidling his campaign on why you should vote 'against' Obama?  Because that is the only arrow left in the quiver.  Which absolutely floors me.  I never would have guessed that McCain would be quite so empty.  

yeah, God forbid we actually elect a leader who can inspire people, instead elect a guy who can barely fill up a VFW hall. And of course Reagan giving speeches in front of cheering crowds is reminiscent of Jesus giving the sermon on the mount, but Obama doing it is Hitler at Nuremberg.

jacob, are you going to condemn Kennedy's speech at the Berlin Wall? there were quite a few people there as well, or how about MLK at the Washington mall and his "I have a dream" speech, are you saying it would have been as effective if he gave it to 15 people in front of a diner? Do you ever even think before you type?

Hey, Walter Mondale had a hell of a time matching Reagan on the visuals department, I don't remember any Republican complaining about that. Nor did McCain lament his celebrity status 8 years ago.

Oh, goodie.  Whilst posting my latest unhinged diatribe about things actual in this grand world of politics, Jacobt1 has posted another pearl of wisdom.

I do so enjoy the philosohper-king pointing the way for all of us poor beknighted people who think for ouselves.  What rapturous joy that the oracle has spoken, and shown us all to be gibbering madmen.  

I say we embrace madness - for the chaos of independent thought and democracy are far preferable to the static reality of a world envisioned by mindless skull-fucks like Jacobt1.

Ahem.  Sorry, where was I?

A yes, a loverly day indeed when the wise and gracious ones so deem to let us know what we should think and feel.  Thank you dear Jacobt1, I shall remember your wisdom and munificence forever, recognizing you as this list's own personfication of Room 101.  

Oh yes, indeed, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Last night--I swear I am not making this up--I dreamt that McCain unveiled a new ad at the Olympics, designed to take the wind out of Obama's giant Olympics ad buy, and that the ad was shown live, as it was being filmed.

In the spot, McCain stands before a carnival Ferris wheel filled with children. He says something like, "I can be fun and games too!" At that moment, something goes wrong with the Ferris wheel, it collapses in a giant crash, crushing most of the kids.

I woke up at that point, at about 5 a.m., in a cold sweat. Now I know what Gregor Samsa was dreaming the night before he woke up to find himself transformed into a cockroach.

kgrant1054 gets my vote for COTD!

Once upon a time, being a gifted speaker who draws large crowds would have been considered a good thing. In fact, a major world religion sprung up from just such a man. But now, obviously anyone with those qualities is a modern Hitler.

Gavriel Meir-Levi:

I'd like to see that Moyers program.  I just finished reading Schlesinger's first book on Roosevelt.  One of the striking themes was that in 1932, while FDR was elected on a wave of yearning for change from the status quo, there was also a fair amount of fear and apprehension.  FDR kept his agenda vague enough during the campaign (somewhat Obama-like, actually) that when he arrived at the White House in March 1933, nobody was totally sure what all he'd do.  Some who knew him well were afraid that he'd call for a huge increase in Federal power, and get it, and then who knows.  Remember, in the early 30s, fascism was not necessarily a dirty word in this country.  Centralization of power, both economic and political, seemed to be the wave of the future.  Lots of intellectuals (including a few in FDR's brain trust, I believe) talked openly about the advantages of the Soviet system.  Harold Ickes, FDR's Sec of Interior, spoke rather approvingly of Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Marx.  

In the event FDR did call for an increase in Federal power, got some of it, was rebuffed on other things.  Mostly he used that power for the good of the country, or in any case he clearly did not take the path that greater power opened for Hitler and Mussolini.  Was that because FDR was a great man, or because the American system makes such a descent difficult or impossible?  Probably a little of both.  Frankly, this country has been damned lucky to have men like Roosevelt and Lincoln at the helm when our greatest crises strike.  I shudder to think what might have happened if, say, Senator Huey Long had won the Democratic nomination in 1932.  

But obviously, when anyone today makes a comparison to Hitler, they generally mean the Hitler of 1940, not the Hitler of 1932.  To tar Roosevelt with that brush -- or Obama, or any other American currently in public life -- is disgusting.  

"If anything, Obama is the Anti-Hitler, using his oratory gifts and charisma to inspire unity, hope and idealism."

What's so good about unity?

yard relates:

"In the spot, McCain stands before a carnival Ferris wheel filled with children. He says something like, "I can be fun and games too!" At that moment, something goes wrong with the Ferris wheel, it collapses in a giant crash, crushing most of the kids."

Sounds just like the Joker. Wierd, dude, wierd.

My father was born and raised in a small village near Hamburg.  When he was 12 years old, the ruler of his country became Adolf Hitler.  He didn't arrive in the United States for another sixteen years and, even though he was never in a concentration camp, it is safe to say he had a difficult life.  So much so that he never, ever spoke about his life prior to arriving in America.

With one exception.

In 1992, my family had gathered to celebrate the Jewish holidays.  After dinner a number of us drifted to the family room to watch TV for a while.  At a certain point a Perot commercial came on.  Out of the blue, about half a minute into the commercial, my father started telling a story about his childhood.  Neither my siblings nor I had ever heard him talk about Germany before, so he had our complete attention.  (For those of a certain age, imagine an EF Hutton commercial.)

It seems that Hitler was making a campaign stop in Hamburg and there was a lot of excitement in my father's village.  He remembered people running around yelling, "Hitler is coming!  Hitler is coming!"  He related that his father pointed to all those people and said they were idiots.  His father pointed out that Hitler was just a popular hate-monger and that no one really knew what he would do if elected.  The only thing that those people knew was that they hated the way things were and that Hitler was a man of action.  They didn't know what he would do; only that he would do something.  Then my father pointed to Ross Perot and said, "That man reminds me of Hitler.  He talks and talks and no one knows what he would do.  I would be scared if he wins."

Yes, imagery is important, as Leni Riefenstahl well knew.  Yes, the voters of South Florida are a scary lot.  (Thanks, all you alte-cockers for leaving your glasses home, mis-reading the ballot and giving us eight years of George W. Bush.)  That being said, I think that they are a reasonably sophisticated lot.  While a large crowd with a charismatic speaker might remind someone of a Riefenstahl epic, I think they can understand the substance of the speech is not something that Hitler would say.  In the end, I don't think anyone is really going to confuse Barack Obama with Adolf Hitler.