Let's all be honest here, it is no more honorable to call or compare this President with Hitler as it was to do the same with the last one. What is worth noting is the amount of righteous anger directed at a small number of people who show up at these tea party protests with these signs as if these people are something new and are only something that is the sole property of President Obama. I will only say this, the people that take the time to dishonor the office of the President of the United States are no more honorable than the same ones who did so during the term of the last President. That being said, regardless of how I may feel or anyone else may feel these people are well within their rights to do so under our constitution but do NOT reflect the body as a whole when they do. It's rather like going to a ASU football game when they play Cal. and because 3 people in the stands are wearing Cal. jerseys, therefor every ASU fan is also a Cal. fan. That is the same logic being applied here.
Fair point.
Your last line, about assuming that the few fringe a-holes who "dishonor the office of the President of the United States" somehow represent most or all of the opposition to the President, or all the tea-partiers, even, isn't wholly accurate, since I don't see any posts here claiming that the lunatic fringe on display
does represent all the opposition, or the tea-party thing, etc.
Clearly, the vast majority of both Republicans, and of the tea-party protesters, are
not making the Nazi/Hitler comparisons.
One key difference I'd point out is this: the Democrats tend to quickly shut up, or kick out of the party, any elected official seen endorsing this kind of behavior. If you remember that Democratic congresswoman from Georgia, Cynthia McKinny (sp?)? She went on a rant about how Bush allegedly knew about the 9/11 attacks, and let it happen, etc. She was a far-left wing-nut.
The Democrats (including the DNC) immediately found another, saner Democrat to run against her in her next primary, and funded him, forcing her out of Congress.
Meanwhile, when a Republican in congress shows total disrespect of both the office of President and his own chamber, by shouting "You LIE!" during a Presidential address to a rare joint session of Congress, he uses the ensuing controversy as a fund-raising tool, and is publicly praised by many other Republicans. The only negative comments he got from the right-wing media were that he shouldn't have offered any apology at all.
So yes, there are moon-bats on the far left, and wing-nuts on the far right. But the Democrat party, at least, tends to "deal with" their extremist fringe more effectively than the Republican party. How many Democratic Senators claim that the U.S. government, NASA, and the UN are involved in a giant conspiracy to pull off a hoax? Sen. Inhofe (Republican) claims exactly that, about climate change. I mean - really? And the GOP doesn't weed him out of office?
If and when some Democratic Senator claims that Russia's nuclear weapons are a hoax, or that China's emerging military strength is a "right wing hoax" perpetuated by the U.S. military, I'll be first in line to denounce them for it, and I'm confident they'd have sane primary challengers in their next election, as the Dems weed the nutcase out.
Anyway - thanks for making a reasoned point on the issue. I agree with your essential point, I just think that there's more tolerance for the extreme in one party vs the other.
WTF?
