Why the Shock Over Newt Gingrich's Nazi-Muslim Comparison?

[SteppingRazor]

Ol' Newt did the president a favor when he came out and said "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington ... We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor."

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Nazi comparisons are, of course, de rigueur in demagoguery. It's a simple metaphor to describe unmitigated evil. After all, rarely have we been so sure that we were on the right side of history as in World War II -- I mean, the SS uniform included a skull and crossbones insignia. Skulls, for Pete's sake!

But when Newt painted a billion Muslims the world over with the swastika, it sparked outrage even among his fellow conservatives. Joe Scarborough has spent the last two episodes running of Morning Joe freaking out over it.

And, sure, it's a deeply insulting, wholly absurd comparison. But why in the world is anyone shocked over Newt Gingrich using it? Newt Gingrich is the worst demagogue of my lifetime. People complain loudly and often about the level of partisanship in Washington today. And while I'm just as likely as anyone to remind such complainers that the Thomas Jefferson campaign accused John Adams of being a "howling hermaphrodite" -- and so this sort of partisanship has been with us more or less since the nation's founding -- the fact is that the partisan rancor today is pretty damn ugly. What we should remember is that a great deal of the blame for this lies with Newt Gingrich.

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More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-sweeney/why-the-shock-over-newt-g_b_684856.html

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Newt's the second big Republican contender for the nomination.

Believe it or not.

[WolverineDG]

2. Nazis have the right to march through neighborhoods of Holocaust survivors

Apparently, Republicans feel Nazis have more rights than Muslims.

dg