Rick Santorum has a certain affinity for World War II analogies, but this one calls for some additional explanation.
Nazi officers parading in Paris, 1940.
Santorum sees the situation as so dire that during a Lincoln Day Dinner in Mason, Ohio on Friday, he likened the election to World War II and urged voters in the state to model themselves after the Greatest Generation of the 1940s that fought the war. He extended that metaphor on Sunday in a speech to more than 2,000 supporters at a megachurch in Cumming, about an hour outside of Atlanta.
"Remember, the greatest generation for a year and a half, sat on the sidelines while Europe was under darkness," Santorum said, going on to explain why Americans delayed entering the war. "We're a hopeful people. We think, 'Well, you know, it'll get better. Yeah, he's a nice guy. I mean, it won't be near as bad as what we think. This will be okay. I mean, yeah, maybe he's not the best guy after a while, after a while you find out some things about this guy over in Europe who's not so good of a guy after all ... '"
It's not altogether clear where Santorum was going with this, but it seemed as if Santorum was referring to Hitler.
Asked today he was likening President Obama to Hitler. Santorum responded, "No, of course not." The former senator added, "It's a World War II metaphor. It's one I've used 100 times."
Perhaps. What's unclear is what Santorum was trying to say in this metaphor. As Santorum sees it, today's conditions are similar to the WWII era. Americans were "hopeful," and thought someone was "a nice guy," who turned out to be "not so good of a guy after all."
What is the point, exactly, the audience is supposed to glean from this metaphor? Was Santorum just taking a stroll down memory lane, or are we supposed to see similarities between 2012 and 1940? And if we're expected to see the parallels, who is the analogous "nice guy" we should be worried about now?
Leave a Comment:
I have a better metaphor for our current politics--Arkham Asylum.
Uh huh. Well now Hitler did use religion to provoke his crusade against the Jews,blacks,homosexuals and so on. Hitler did rewrite history to try and prove Germany was superior and Ayrians were a master race. Hmmm...Santorum has a point of sorts but it seems self defeating.
Oh and we failed to jump into the war for many reasons not the least of which was that many Americans were German immigrants and then there was the fact that we were still reeling from the depression. But then we can't expect facts from the right. Heck fire even the great historian Newt gets history screwed up(when it suits his cause)
Also, in those days, the good old days that Rep. want to return to so badly, we were quite isolationist. We didn't like war or want to go to war. Oh, and the logistics were terrible. We had 3000 miles of water between us (US) and europe's war.
We did get involved before we joined the war. There was the Lend/Lease program as well as sending supplies to the UK. Roosevelt wanted to do more but public opinion was running against getting involved. He did not want to hand the Republicans an issue who were still isolationist. And Joseph Kennedy who was the ambassador to England was against the war while supportive to Hitler. Kennedy was jockeying to run for president as a Dem, but eventually gave up the idea. Roosevelt could not afford to give Kennedy an issue to challenge the presidential nomination.
Perhaps Santorum is using the R.Catholic version of the WWII - the Jewish people were being punished for killing Christ hence Pope Pius XII remained neutral to say the least - i was an adult before i heard anything but the prejudicial view presented in Catholic circles - sad and insular and fundamentalistic in too many ways to name.
You would have to see the pictures of the Catholic European Priest in Nazi-Roman salute in unison with SS officers, to understand the dark betrayal.
Well it does not seem at all odd or difficult to figure out to me. He was blowing the dog whistle hard as he could. Cumming, GA is in Forsyth County a notorious (you can look it up) hotbed of racism. So much so that last time I checked there were no African Americans living there and it is just north of Atlanta. This may have changed, but if it has I imagine it has not changed much.
You're not just a-kiddin'. My dad lives near Ellijay, also north of Atlanta, and I have come to the sad realization that everyone there - yes, even my own father - is very racist.
Santorum's parallel between WWII and now is ironic to me. While his intent is obvious, it seems to me that Sanoturm himself is that "nice guy" that we should all be scared as hell of.
Santorum is scum
Obama, the Kenyan Muslim Atheist Socialist Hitler.
You forgot Fascist. Hitler was Fascist.
The man is so ignorant he's incapable of seeing the irony in any of his insane rhetoric, so it's quite possible he really doesn't understa......Nah. He's just a bigoted, lying, hypocrite, the quintessential candidate for today's GOP.
As Santorum sees it, today's conditions are similar to the WWII era. Americans were "hopeful," and thought someone was "a nice guy," who turned out to be "not so good of a guy after all."
Mirror, mirror on the wall who's the most dangerous historian of all.. Rick Santorum, who has his WWII "nice guy" metaphor backwards. Santorum is indeed the "nice guy" who turned out to be "not so good of a guy after all".
Odd that Rick has outed himself, but very noblesse oblige of him!
Everytime Rick Santorum opens his mouth I am reminded of what John Belushi and friends were called on the debut version of Saturday Night Live: The Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
So that's where that came from. I remembered that line but for some reason thought it was the name of another show in Canada.
Santorum is getting reckless with ihs words and sounding more unhinged by the day...his glee at "winning" primaries has encouraged him to lose whatever perspective he may have had. Good. The more he stands out as an extreme wacko, the better.
Santorum held a rally outside of Cumming? Are you sure it wasn't the other way around?
Hah
This guy is in dire need of a mental health professional
Where is Nurse Ratched when you need her?
Where does this guy get his math?
"the greatest generation for a year and a half, sat on the sidelines while Europe was under darkness"
The war in Europe began September 1, 1939. The US declared war against Germany December 11, 1941. That's 2 years, 3 months and ten days later. Nowhere near a year and a half.
If his politics are as good as his math, we're in big trouble if he is elected.
There is no question that Rick Santorum, his campaign and his supporters are crossing blaring red lines when it comes to attacking our President and engaging in anti-American rhetorical flourishes. This is not a mistake. Every vile smear uttered by Santorum and the conservative wing of the GOP that fervently backs his candidacy is 100% what they believe and what their deluded brains tell them that most American believe. It's false, of course; such incendiary language is far outside the mainstream in this country and is looked at with alarm by ordinary American voters. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
Santorum's going to alienate the entire sane electorate with this stuff; by which I mean, he may just squeak out a victory.
The media, even the left-oriented media, talk about Santorum "standing by his principles". I heard it all day today on the news.
What principles? He looks like a coward to me.
He makes oblique comparisons to the Obama adminitration and Hitler's Germany, and then pulls them back. " I never said that. I didn't mean that".
This weekend he made thelogically-based accusations against Obama, infering that Obama's beliefs are not based on the biblel and thus not Christan. Then he backed away from them on the Sunday talks when the venerable Bob Schieffer called him out on it.
Now, today, he refers to Schieffer indirectly (cowardly is more accurate) as "less than erudite". On his best day, Santorum could only aspire to be part of the same species as the classy Schieffer.
This used car salesman is race-baiting and fear mongering with one hand, and clutching that bible and professing his love for Jesus in the other. In other words, the worst kind of hypocrite. The only difference is that he is hiding in a sweater vest, instead of "being true to himself" as the press is saying and just wearing that white sheet.
Ricky, Ricky, just repeating an outrageous lie hundreds of times doesn't make it any more true than the first time you misused the so-called metaphor. Holy smokes, Dude, it is not a metaphor you're looking for here--it's an analogy--and a false one at that. F-.
Actually, I think of the 2012 election as analogous to the 1933 election in Germany that brought Hitler to power. If Obama loses and these asshats win, that's what we'll be getting. "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross," as Sinclair Lewis said in 1932.
There was no 1933 election that brought the Nazis to power. Hitler was appointed chancellor by the then-German President Paul von Hindenberg. No party had a majority in the Reichstag. The Nazis had the largest number of seats, and although von Hindenberg tried a number of different chancellors and coalitions, none worked out, partly because the Nazis wouldn't allow any coalition that didn't include them to work out. So, in the end, von Hindenberg had to appoint Hitler as chancellor and hope that the non-Nazis in the coalition would keep Hitler under control. So, although the Nazis came to power through the processes of parliamentary democracy, Hitler did not come to power as a direct result of an election. Chancellor is not an elective office as such, and Hitler never held elective office in his life.
Thank you for that clarification. That's the page of the play book now being used by the corporate puppetiers. We are seeing that same obstructionist use of political power. Today's GOP uses slight of hand tatics that manipulate emotions and forment anger and violence. Our defense is to kick out these fascists by protecting our vote and by voting. We also need to work together to rebuild our own neighborhoods, communities and local economies. Government services like the Affordable Care Act help us do that. That's why the GOP wants to take them away from us.
Yes, that's the one thing in common between Nazis prior to 1933 and Congressional Republicans today: acting to deliberate sabotage the system for their own political gain. Republicans aren't Nazis, but I still wouldn't want them to have unlimited power.
This casting of Obama and anything remotely ' Liberal ' as a precursor to our very own American slice of Nazi Germany, with Obama starring in the role of Hitler, Stalin, Franco, Mussolini and Satan is something I've read/seen/witnessed on Yahoo comments sections, in articles and leaking out of real people's mouths. A recent article I ran across was 25 Signs American is Rapidly Becoming like Nazi Germany over on End of the American Dream dot com, if you want to look up a truly fun fun website. The first sign had to do with children's lunches. And Hitler wasn't a Christian, of course. Glen Beck orgasms over this comparison of our current Godless evil clime to that clime. And are the fundies worried they're the ones headed for ovens and weird showers?
And now this? A man running for president calling the current president, however veiled, Hitler? Rick needs to own his hateful course of politics, rhetoric and religiosity; he needs to stop going, oops, just kidding. Own it!! Man up! Stop backing off, if this is what you mean, then, hey, mean it.
And gosh, as others have pointed out, was not America ISOLATIONIST at that time? And trying to pull out of the Great Depression. And didn't Hitler assure the Catholic church he'd uphold Christian values? He also admired the teachings of Martin Luther, who wrote a book called On the Jews and Their Lies, and constantly quoted beliefs and works from it.
Facts don't seem to matter. Grand polarizing the monsters-are-coming previews to upcoming world terrors do. Okay, everyone else, can't we come up with some better monsters than Rick and company? Bishop Blood Fiends? The Attack of the Giant Zombie Republicans? [ That's not intended for you if you're a nice Republican, of course, I was just kidding, that's not what I meant, you didn't read that right. ]
I'm less interested in WHAT Santorum said and more interested in WHERE he said it. He was making an overtly political speech in a TAX-EXEMPT church. The days of tax exemptions for these havens of hatred have got to come to an end.
Uh - Amen.
How did the follow up question get missed? "If you were not referring to Hitler when you said "this guy over in Europe" then who? Isn't that journalism 101? WTF?
Not many reporters do follow-up questions these days, apparently.
Santorum likes to say that his grandfather (I think) left Italy to escape Mussolini, so it's possible that's the likely alternative in the unlikely event he wasn't talking about Hitler; but Mussolini is hardly any better.
And Santorum's grandfather was a communist. Something he leaves out of the story.
Don’t ya’ just love how little ol’ Reich Santorum loves to “REDIRECT while he RE-WRITES HISTORY. He could NOT teach HIS bull@!$%# in a public school, now could he?
At least now, we understand why he hates public education and wants ALL OUR CHILDREN to be “Home Schooled” in the ‘SANTORUM STATE HOME SCHOOL SYSTEM a VERY “PRIVATIZED” WAY TO RIP OFF THE TAXPAYERS WHILE BRAINWASHING OUR KIDS. This guy didn't even trust his OWN church when it comes right down to it, now did he?
After all...wasn’t it he who made all those HISTORICALLY STUPID REMARKS about FRENCH HISTORY recently?
For the record, TRUE HISTORY TELLS US THAT it was the French Catholic Church (the co-leaders of the country at the time) who were actually "Beheading" anyone, who had the balls to die for the CRIME of “forsaking their allegiances to the Roman Catholic Church".
If you take the time to research you will learn what it actually means to be a “PROTESTANT”.
Since I‘m already on the subject…and for the record…
Santorum also refers to "his" church as "the church” when in reality it is merely “A” church.
It was Prescott Bush who became banker to Hitler--yes, the grandfather of W. And it was the heads of corporations like IBM (Watson) and Ford (old Henry) who admired Hitler so much, with the head of IBM pushing the great Nazi idea of slave labor for the US. (Remind you of a certain GOP candidate, anyone?)
I met a Holocaust survivor when I was a child, he was a kind, elderly gentleman, and over the years, he explained a lot about what happened to his family and himself, starting when a young, ignorant little girl asked about the 'tattoo" on his arm. He was the only one of his family who survived. He ultimately explained the concept of "Never Again" to me, the basis being that survivors educated the future generations so as to insure what happened, NEVER happened AGAIN, to anyone. The left, invent nonsense like "Godwins Law" because they don't want people to understand how an atrocity like the Holocaust happened, how people could allow such a thing to occur. It's easier for the left to recreate that same nightmare, if people don't know the warning signs, for example, that Hitler was first given credibility by leftist academics, like Martin Heidegger at Freiberg University. Hitler was praised by media types, like Rachel Madcow, and student activists, actors, writers, and some in Hollywood and the NY Times just adored him. Yes, Prescott Bush was an investor in German corporations and did finance Hitler, so did Joe Kennedy, and you know who he was, one of his namesake's is running for Barney Frank's old seat in congress. Madcow knows that, but she doesn' t mention what doesn't suit her. I'd suggest that Madcow read an article written by gay journalist Johann Hari, from October of 2008 in the Huffington Post, titled the Strange Case of Gay Fascism, again, he's gay, he's a leftist and he wrote an article based on his research after realizing that too many gays have a predilection for fascism. Rachel seems to display that same predilection.
They considered Hitler "charismatic". The left don't want us to consider the arguments and excuses Hitler used. The fact that he and his nazi party, which grew from the German trade union movement, attacked the Jews, slandered them, to demonize and dehumanize them, so as to make them considered less than, blamed for everything. Another fact the left don't want you to know is, the nazi's were a leftist movement, and along with the academics, students, celebrities, media, directors, there were also gay activists, like Ernst Roehm. Roehm is the one who hooked Hitler up with the national socialist worker's party, the nazi party. Hitler promised Roehm a homosexual utopia, but when Hitler no longer needed him, found Roehm's extremism inconvenient, well, you should know what happened on the Night of the Long Knives, and after that point, homosexuals were sent to the death camps, along with the Jews, Catholics, and other Christians and anyone who stood up to Hitler.
We liberals are going to give your post every bit of the consideration it deserves.
Well done Mary.
So, should we push them off the boat, or make them just want to jump themselves ?
sorry, bad time of the month for me.
The ignorance "Mary" demonstrates is beyond refutation. It is a nullification of the idea of knowledge. "Mary" cannot be educated. And the fact that "Mary" would begin that treatise in willful ignorance by dragging in a story about a Holocaust survivor is obscene.
Despite his lame denial, Candidate Froth was probably referring to abortion and President Obama's opposition to it being insufficiently rabid for his tastes. Everything that pinhead says in the context of sex, gender, WW2 or the Holocaust is almost invariably about his extremely expansive, some might say On The Go, definition of "abortion," which seems to be breaking backwards into new (if you can call it new) ground almost every week. The rights concept of protecting life seems to be running backwards in time to the point where rape laws are being softened and opposition to contraception is being ramped up.
Frothy Mixture thinks that legalizing abortion is a form of Nazism.
Intelligence, Morality and Richard Santorum
You can be stupid and mean. You can be smart and mean. But you are still, just mean.