Obama as a Nazi

Interesting article over at ZombieTime about the comparisons of Obama to Hitler, and how the left seems to be freaking out over it. I touched on the subject a little bit the other day in the post, Only Democrats Would Compare Obama to a Nazi, but only as an aside. Just as I described the guy being accused of being "a Democratic Party plant," the folks with these signs are nutjobs.

I think it's inappropriate and offensive to compare anyone who hasn't killed, or attempted to kill, millions of people to Hitler. But alas, we live in America, and we every minor political disagreement becomes the end of America as we know it in somebody's eyes.

During Bush's 8 years, he did a lot of scummy things that I disagreed with. Preemptively launching an unprovoked invasion of Iraq resulted in the deaths of at least tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians was foolish and criminal, but that does not make him a genocidal maniac hellbent on world domination.

The folks on the fringe are often so certain of their righteousness that they are quick to bust out the Bush/Nazi/Obama comparisons, and they're usually rightfully discounted out of hand. They're a sideshow distracting from what the real debate is about.

It's not really the Nazi stuff that's bothering me about the health care debate in this country right now. I find the biggest and most offensive problem we have in this debate the folks shouting opposition down at town halls. I disliked it when Code Pink would do it at committee hearings in Washington, and I dislike it now.

I understand that people are passionate about this topic, but so many of those standing up and screaming at their representatives seem to fail to understand the basic facts of what is being debated. Being certain of one's opinion is not a license to prevent others from forming their own. For something as significant as health care reform, debate and discussion is essential to creating a successful program. Unfortunately, the opposition to reform has settled on screaming about Obama trying to pull the plug on grandma. This is not legitimate discussion, and any changes to our health care plan are going to suffer in quality as a result of the partisanship being displayed by Republicans.

Actively trying to stifle dissent is evidence that these people don't have confidence that the facts of the situation support their point of view. Dissent IS American. Throwing tantrums and screaming at people who disagree with you is decidedly not.