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May 20, 2005

The Greatest Historical Analogy Of All Time

You've probably already seen that yesterday Rick Santorum compared Democratic actions on the filibuster to Hitler in Paris in 1942:

Remarkable. Remarkable hubris. I mean, imagine... the audacity of some members to stand up and say, how dare you break this rule? It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942: "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It's mine."

I believe even Hitler himself would endorse Senator Santorum's extremely accurate historical analogy.



Posted at May 20, 2005 09:04 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I confess this analogy is a little subtle for me. The part about the Democratic party = Hitler is clear (I mean, QED), but I'm having trouble figuring out what the other elements represent. What's Paris? The Senate? Who are the Republicans in this situation? Do the Citizens of Paris = American People of Faith?

If so, I'm a little suspicious of Santorum's patriotism. I mean, we're talking about the French, here. Would he make such a comparison if he truly loved America?

Posted by: inkywretch at May 20, 2005 10:40 AM

Clearly Paris represents the filibuster, which belonged to the Republicans when they were the minority. Now, by losing the election, the Democrats have viciously invaded the filibuster with a blitzkrieg of non-vote-getting, and using it for their own perverse, probably-gay filibustering. We can only hope that Tony Blair sends up some Lancasters to rid the filibuster of this constitutional tyranny.

Also: Does this mean we're done hating the French now?

Posted by: Brent at May 20, 2005 10:50 AM

An open letter to Senator Rick Santorum:

"Before you go comparing basic and commonly used parliamentary maneuvers by Democrats to Hitler's invasion of Paris, you might want to remember how much a brief comparison of Bush to Hitler endeared MoveOn.org to the American public. And, by the way, Bush actually did invade a country that didn't attack us."

Pax,
Matthew

Posted by: Matthew at May 20, 2005 11:03 AM

I believe the man is immune to logic, Matthew. I think you're wasting your time.

But...

Santorum's competition in '06, Bob Casey, currently leads him in the polls by about fifteen points.

This would be a sign of hope except that Casey is actually a Republican is disguise-- he's a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay Democrat. Because that's the only way to get elected here in sunny Pennsylvania.

(I have no idea how our governor slipped into office, but he's been acting like a Republican-- and his chances of reelection aren't good, either.)

Posted by: Matthew Sullivan at May 21, 2005 10:32 AM

I am willing to take a DINO like Bob Casey over Santorum any day of the week.

Posted by: Thomas at May 21, 2005 06:36 PM

You know, I'm extraordinarily grateful for the fact that I can't help but think about a frothy mixture of fecal matter and lube when I see the good Senator's name. God bless you, Dan Savage.

Posted by: saurabh at May 22, 2005 12:33 AM

Look it was dumb of Santorum but let's not forget that the Left routinely invokes the hitler analogy.

Posted by: JS at May 22, 2005 01:02 AM

the Left routinely invokes the hitler analogy

Actually:

1. The Nazis are routinely invoked across the political spectrum. For instance, Tom Delay has called the EPA the "Gestapo," Bill O'Reilly compared Michael Moore to Himmler, etc.

2. Progressives usually invoke Nazis when it comes to things like invading countries that haven't attacked us. Conservatives usually invoke Nazis when it comes to stuff like promulgating environmental regulations. As hard as it may be to believe, these actually aren't the same thing.

Posted by: trix at May 22, 2005 10:08 AM

inkywretch,

It's a complicated analogy, perhaps the most complicated ever created by the mind of Humankind. Brent does a good job of explaining it, except he left out the part about how berets and mime are analogous to Donald Rumsfeld.

Brent,

No, we still hate the French. They're only nice when being killed by Nazis.

saurabh,

Yes: and again, yes.

Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at May 22, 2005 10:14 AM

So according to Godwin's Law, The Republicians just lost the filibuster debate...

Posted by: Marcus at May 22, 2005 04:24 PM

Thanks for the clarification, Jon. Now, I have to get back to buying wine and dumping it down the storm drain.

Posted by: Brent at May 23, 2005 12:23 AM