I’ve gotten a huge and overwhelmingly positive response to yesterday’s G-File. However, among the critics the same two or three points keep coming up. The gist of my column, if you haven’t read it, is that it’s not only moronic to compare Bush to Hitler but it is also slanderous to the United States and a form of Holocaust denial to boot. See my syndicated column for more on the Holocaust denial part.
In response, a few lefty types have offered the following points. First, conservatives said outrageous things about Bill Clinton — comparing him to Hitler, Hussein or Stalin — and so we/I have no right to complain when liberals do the same to Bush now. “Payback is a bitch” quoth several. This is asinine on every level. First, if you are willing to concede that it was absurd to call Bill Clinton Hitler, you must concede that it’s wrong to call Bush Hitler too. And if you concede that, but still insist on making the Nazi comparison, you are in effect knowingly lying simply out of spite, not conviction. Moreover, this is not about defending Bush, it is about defending the integrity of fundamental historical truths and moral categories. To willingly compare Bush to Hitler even though you know it is absurd, does very little damage to Bush but a great deal of damage to the truth.
Also, in my own defense, I made these exact same points many times during the impeachment madness. And this was at a time when Clintonites were literally siccing private detectives on my family and Clinton supporters were phoning me — and emailing me — with death threats. I made this point in speeches and in the nascent Goldberg File. I don’t have time to scour the archives, but I did find two examples. Here and here .
Relatedly, several readers have made the point that conservatives call liberals “communists” all the time and isn’t that just as bad? Well, yes and no. First of all, right or wrong there is cultural unanimity on the evilness of the Nazi regime. Sadly, the evils of Communism are more controversial, particularly because liberals and leftists refuse to concede the enormity of Stalin’s and Mao’s crimes. And yes it is true that conservatives correctly compare those monsters to Hitler, but people of left not only reject the comparison they also go to great lengths to make the fair point that not all people who call themselves communists are Stalinists or Maoists. There are certainly Communists or orthodox Marxists in every major univeristy faculty in this country. Nobody calls him or herself a Nazi.
And lastly, several readers and a few bloggers apparently think I’m a hypocrite because NRO sells Iraq-style playing cards with Hillary as the Ace of Spades. I have no problem with the cards, but I’m not in charge of advertising even if I did. More to the point, the cards are clearly a joke. I’m not opposed to all forms of humor. The problem with the buffoons who call Bush a Nazi is not that they are joking, it’s that they’re serious. That is why they should be ashamed.