Cognizant of the tragedy and atrocities of WWII, I am generally reluctant to draw comparisons with Hitler era tactics to make a point about Bush and the neo-cons. Right wing politicians and their media lackeys on the other hand, have little compunction in going back in history to search out false analogies to discredit their critics. The irony is that their own conduct lends itself to far more accurate comparisons with obnoxious and dangerous past regimes. Twice before I have written on the uncanny resemblance in the words and ideas of the present day neo-cons and authoritarians of the past ( here and here). Today through a trackback left at this blog, I came across an article in which the author finds similarities in the rhetorical styles of Hitler’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and that of Bush’s P.R. man (and Brain), Karl Rove.
It is not so much the actual words that the author finds similar – but the central ideas contained in their messages. Both drum up support for an immoral war by invoking dangerous enemies and feckless appeasers . Both call for sacrifices for the sake of "Total War" or "complete and total victory." And both bolster their arguments using an adoring tone of hero worship for a deeply flawed and dangerous leader.
"Karl Rove has been going around the country calling for "Complete victory over terrorism."
These remarks were plagiarized from Joseph Goebbels 1943 "Total War" speech in which Goebbels calls for "total victory over our enemies."
In addition to the similarity of Rove’s and Goebbels’ views is the fact that Bush, Rove, Hitler, and Goebbels only spoke before carefully selected groups of supporters. The biggest difference between Rove and Goebbels is that Goebbels thinks "the burdens should be shared equally between high and low and rich and poor," whereas Rove and Bush think that the poor should fight and die while the wealthy stay home and make money." (emphasis mine)
Accidental Blogger 