on "Obama == Charismatic & Inspiring Speaker ergo Obama == Hitler"

[acroyear]

yes, that very argument is coming from the right-wing nutsos like Gribbit - the same people who call Godwin's law on us realists the second we actually point out REAL fascist-like behaviour out of the current administration...

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: OMG! Obama is Jim Jones!:

That's the problem with arguments like this: they apply only to those one disagrees with. Someone with charisma that we agree with is an inspiring leader; someone with charisma that we disagree with is the next Charles Manson. A billionaire philanthropist who funds political groups that we agree with (Richard Mellon Scaife or Adolf Coors) is a civic-minded citizen who wants to improve his country; a billionaire philanthropist who funds political groups we disagree with (George Soros) is an oligarch out to destroy the country. It's all about whose ox is being gored.

Comments

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

Adolf Coors

A right-wing Dominionist Christian is someone with whom we *agree*? On what planet?

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

you missed the context - the argument comes from the right-wing and brayton was taking it apart in the quote i excerpted.

if "we do it", it's good, but if "they do it", it's bad, which has been an insanely (in terms of reflecting this country's collective sanity) effective argument the right-wing has managed to pull for the last 30 years.

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clarifying ... because I surely was confused about where that came from.

And yeah, you're right about the right wing's behavior in this regard. If John McCain denies having an affair, well, he obviously didn't have one. But if Bill Clinton denies having an affair, he's lying.

@@

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

actually, not this time on McCain - it's the right-wing nutcases that are spreading the rumor because they want Huckabee. It's no different than the smear campaign they played on him in South Carolina in order to give the win to Bush Jr in 2000.

McCain's just "not conservative" enough (translation: he's conservative but he's no reactionary and that's what they call "conservative" now, that bring back the 1920s (or really, the 1870s) mindset).

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Problem is, the GOP doesn't really like Huckabee either.

Course, Rush is using this to try to lobby McCain over to the dark side, pointing and saying, "See! The liberals are evil and you shouldn't work with them on anything."

[thatliardiego.livejournal.com]

Fox News Radio host airs side-by-side comparison of Obama speech and Hitler speech.

[faeriquene.livejournal.com]

Don't you know that Barack Obama is Muslim and therefore evil? And also that his middle name is Hussein, so he is evil? And also he is left handed, and therefore evil?

::sigh::

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Not one way strongly or the other yet about him... but I *was* thinking that his voice's sound patterns sounded strikingly like one of Hitler's speeches when they were playing an excerpt on WTOP the other day (yeah, I know it was "preachy" and for a large crowd... but the pattern was there... was odd)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

And i see it as no different from any other charismatic leader...like Reagan for example, who was full of pro-america platitudes but rarely said anything of real substance throughout the campaign, and increasingly so throughout his second term.

Charismatic leaders talk that way. It's part of the rules. FDR was no different, nor was JFK, and for that matter, nor was Lincoln. Nor was any other President this country has ever had or most any other elected leader in the world or in history. It's politics. It's how it works.

That Hitler used it successfully merely shows that he learned just as any successful politician has. The fact that he was an evil asshole changes nothing with regard to the tactical actions one MUST do if one is to gain power, and enticing the crowds into a fervor of *belief* and trust through carefully chosen words and phrasing is a critical part of that.

It is a fool who tries to enter politics without reading Machiavelli, much less Cicero, both of whom wrote on this topics extensively. Obama isn't duplicating Hitler; both Obama and Hitler study and follow the rules of politics and manipulation laid out over 2 millennia ago.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

p.s. Vote Saxon.