To say CPAC looked like "Nazi Germany" is just wrong.

[npk]

I'm sorry but D.L Hughley was way out of line to say the Republican Conference, CPAC, resembled Nazi Germany. That kind of discourse is just wrong. I understand Hughley's intent was to draw on the fact that the Republican party is not making a welcome home for many minorities, but the way he did it, by comparing a group of people who gassed millions of Jews, and attempted an culture genocide is way out of line.

Hughley confronted Steele on the Republican's implementation of their big tent philosophy. "Well, Michael, I agree. I'm telling you, if it were the sign alone -- in other words, the tenets of the Republican Party are amazing and they seem warm and welcome. But when I watch it be applied -- like you didn't have to go much further than the Republican National Convention."

"Agreed," replied Steele.

"It literally look like Nazi Germany. It literally did. I make that point, not only are we not welcome -- not only are we not welcome, but they don't even care what we think," explained Hughley.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/DL_Hughley_GOP_convention_looked_like_0302.html

[Uzybone]

1. Actually he was talking about the convention (with its 1.5% minorities)

not CPAC. yes the convention looked like a modern day Nazi rally to me. Visceral hate of Obama spouted from Palin, Lieberman, Giuliani and Thompson. Flags all over the place. The crowd chanting the same things over and over again. I don't think DL was out of line with that one.

Raw Story sucks, they get a lot of facts wrong.

[rebecca_herman]

2. doesn't he lose the argument then?

Godwin's Law and all?

I think we can find a way to criticize people without comparing them to a group of some of the worst racists in human history that killed around 10 million people just for their religion or ethnicity and were a major instigator in a war that left 50 million people dead.

[msongs]

3. exactly. it acted more like a KKK rally nt

[MadMaddie]

4. You have to go back before the Nazi Party

became a powerhouse.

The years when Hitler and jackbooted thugs would hold town meetings and instigate racial hate crimes. You have to go back to the beginning of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi's.

D.L. Hugley is on the right path. Because when Hitler started his rise the communities and even the politicians ignored him and wrote him off as just a nuisance. And while they tended to other matters Hitler became more powerful and eventually took over the government and destroyed Europe

In Africa the radio played a key role in the genocide that occurred there.

<snip>
Arusha - Italo-Belgian former journalist Georges Omar Ruggiu pleaded guilty in a United Nations court on Monday to having helped directly incite the genocide which killed about 800 000 people in Rwanda in 1994.
<snip>

Do not make the mistake that the Germans and the Africans made. Do not fall into the "oh it's fine, ignore him and he will go away"!

History tells us that if we ignore him we do it at our own peril.

[npk]

5. I don't agree MadMaddie

Respectfully I don't agree. The Republican party is a train wreck in the making. We, and by we I mean all progressives - I would assume Hughley to be a progressive, should let the Republican party continue to fall apart piece by piece. Why should we would give this party any small little thing like this they could use to drum up any sympathy from the media.

[mshasta]

6. sorry

that D.L Hughley hurt your feelings....
I don't give a penny how he calls those racists repuks

[npk]

7. My feelings aren't hurt and you should care

All progressives should care when another supposed progressive labels a group of people as resembling "Nazi Germany." Not only is that not representative of most conservatives, it also insulting to victims of the Holocaust. It belittles what the Holocaust was about when a comedian, turned political pundit, uses it is this manner. That is not in keeping with the progressive movement. It is basically something I would expect a freeper or repuke to say.

[mshasta]

9. hey! is First Amendment

[npk]

10. Yes it is. I don't dispute that

I would just rather see progressives sit back and let the republican party implode. Why give them fodder that idiots like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hanity can use on their shows to try and drum up sympathy or controversy. Like Sean Hanity, saying "Did you hear how D.L. Hughley called conservatives a bunch of Nazis." Now you and I know that is not what Hughley was getting at, but it gives those idiots more talking point non sense to spew over the airwaves, and makes progressives look bad at the same time.

[Sebastian Doyle]

13. The Holocaust didn't happen overnight, you know.

It was the end result of a fucked up agenda which, in the beginning, looked a lot like the current Repuke party. The Chimpministration was following Hitler's early blueprint, which isn't surprising, considering Prescott Bush helped create the Nazis in the first place. Just because they haven't rolled up the same body count as Hitler, doesn't mean it's not coming from the same exact sickening pit of Hell.

[Jennicut]

8. Their brand of hate is not too far off to what led to the Nazi's being allowed to have control

The Repubs have shown in the last few months that their reactions to Obama have been sickening and disgusting....watermelons on the white house lawn and so on. They are not Nazi's yet but allowed unchecked and things get ugly fast.

[TankLV]

11. Then you just don't "get it" and never will...

To automatically dismiss any comparison to Nazi's is just plain silly and irrelevant.

There are too many parallels NOT to compare...

You just refuse to see it...

and that will be your loss, not ours....

[Joe the Liberal]

12. I can't say I disagree with Hughley............

and he was comparing the Republican National Convention not CPAC, however I saw maybe a total of 4 black people at both of those events combined. So what he said was not entirely out of line, Republicans say WAY more nasty comments like that on a daily basis. We can't compare them to Nazi's but they can compare and call us communists, socialists, terrorists, unAmerican, and unpatriotic (the list goes on and on) plus a whole plethora of other nasty comments?

[npk]

16. A lack of minorities and equating that to Nazism...

Is nonsense. Hitler preached genocide against, largely, one group of people. Put another way, Hitler advocated wiping out an entire civilization of people by any means necessary. That is a far cry from what the Republican party was or has been preaching.

[Joe the Liberal]

20. It was just a figure of speech..........

Hughley didn't mean the Republicans are literally Nazi's preaching "genocide against, largely, one group of people." or "wiping out an entire civilization of people by any means necessary." He was just trying to make a point, which is that the republican party is not a very diverse group of people and I agree with him on that point.

[Fire1]

22. Yeah, but just give 'em half a chance and they would. n/t

[npk]

30. Again my point is that it was poor choice of speech

I said in my OP that I understand what Hughley was trying to say. My point is to not give the republicans something they can run with in the media. If the media gets a hold of this, or Rush, it becomes another distraction and something that independents and moderates, who may have voted for McCain last election, think is an attack on them. My point is that what Hughley says doesn't lead to productive discussion. And he was interviewing the head of the RNC at the time. If Hughley wants to be taken seriously as a political pundit, he need avoid using language like that. There were other ways Hughley could have made his point. For instance he could have said to Steele, "Why is there such a lack of minorities at the convention," or "Do you think that the republican party's rhetoric in the past has been seen as bigoted and hateful amongst many minorities." Those type questions encourage discussion. Questions or observations like. "Gee Michael you all look like a bunch of Nazis" doesn't.

[Joe the Liberal]

31. I still don't see what the big deal is...........

So D.L. Hughley a comedian/TV host compared republicans to Nazi's, life goes on. Again republicans compare liberals and democrats to all sorts of things on a day to day basis, some have made a career out of it. They have said far worse things about us, and not to mention written very derogatory songs, and sent our very racial inappropriate e-mails. With all the things they do/say I think I can let one little Nazi comparison slide, everyone is ok, nobody got hurt, the world goes on.

[npk]

32. I understand Joe

Not meaning to make a huge deal out of it, or attack you. I just wish Hughley had avoided making that reference. I will drop it though.

[erinlough]

21. For some history on why we should compare Rush to Hitler

explore how Hitler came to power using the power of the media. It is an eye opener, think Clear Channel down south.


www.ushmm.org/propaganda/exhibit.html#/themes/writing-the-news/page5/

click on "Explore in Depth"

[Number23]

40. I've been sitting here for five minutes absolutely MESMERIZED by your sig pic

[firedupdem]

14. I agree with DL on that one...

another part of their convention that stood out to me was the way the crowd stopped clapping when pics of Rosa Parks and Dr. King went up on the screen during their convention. You could see that "convention" was a gathering of hateful people.

[npk]

17. Yes many of those people are bigots

That doesn't mean the Republican party is fixing to start marching down the streets of DC advocating the complete destruction and inhalation of one race of people. Come on.

[firedupdem]

19. No, because they would get their asses kicked. LOL

However, you have the nut jobs that are listening intently. There are some that listen to their garbage for what it's worth and then you have others that shoot up churches because they feel that's what they need to do to save their country.

[npk]

26. I don't dispute that. You are right in that assessment.

My point is that Huhgley made the mistake that many of the right make and that is to lump a group of people together by the extreme end of that group. There are many people in this country that have done some very horrible things and advocated violence, all while doing so under the progressive umbrella. The point is it is wrong to make such associations. What Hughley did was look into a crowd of people, and make a claim that he knows is entirely unfounded and at the same time is somewhat prejudicial on his part. It's like saying all progressives are cowards and beatniks because of their protest of many social issues of the 50's and 60's. It as an extremely ugly and completely unnecessary comment to make. Like it or not we need Conservatives and moderates on our side in 2012 and the future and saying what Hughley said, painting many people with such a broad brush, is not helpful.

[Festusss]

15. The amount of hatred and abject "patriotism"

spewed out at that "Conference" sure had the same look to me.

And what's wrong with making a literal comparison? If it walks like a duck...

[Bjorn Against]

18. Well those who sent people off to secret prisons and tortured were being cheered.

I think Nazi comparisons should be used very sparingly, but when a group of people take things so far that they are literally acting like Nazis then they should be called on it. The fact is that the Bush Administration has set up secret prisons around the world. These prisons hold people who are almost entirely from one single ethnic group. Arabs have been targeted with hate based propaganda aimed against them and they have been being treated under a different set of laws. At Guantanamo Bay there are no lawyers, and access to human rights groups has been extremely limited. And Guantanamo is probably the best of these prisons that are targeted for people of Arabic descent or the Islamic faith, the secret black site prisons the US has sponsored around the globe are supposed to be much worse. People are being tortured daily, and yes people have died. We don't know how many people have died, we don't even know how many people are in these prisons because the detainees identities are kept secret. They simply disappear and we don't know what happens to them, but we do know that there have been horrific reports of torture that have come from these places.

These are all facts, and you may argue that this does not reach the level of Nazi Germany but they have taken it far too close for my tastes and they deserve to be called on it.

[npk]

23. There are conservatives who believe what Bush did was reprehensible

There are great deal of Democrats in congress who supported many of the policies, including the Iraq war and the GITMO. Many of these people at the convention the other night are wrong and misguided. They have been lied to and taken advantage of. I don't think that equates to being Nazis.

[Bjorn Against]

28. I think those who knowingly cheer that kind of thing are the modern equivilant of Nazis

A very large number of people at those conferences are cheering that kind of thing. Sure there are many that are being taken advantage of and don't really know what they are cheering for, but you could say the same thing about the Nazis. The majority of Germans identified themselves as Nazis but most of them had no real clue as to what their party was doing. Having ignorant members of the party however does not absolve the party itself however, and anyone who supports secret prisons and torture deserves to be compared with Nazis.

[zulchzulu]

24. Whenever you "go Nazi" in an argument, you are getting sloppy

The CPAC crowd was just nuts. Not Nazis.

I hate to say it, but the Nazis were a LOT smarter than any Repig could ever be. Calling Repigs Nazis is giving Nazis a bad name.



:sarcasm:

[BuyingThyme]

25. I suspect that 90% in that room would do to most Iranians & Palestinians what the Nazis did to Jews.

To say that CPAC looked like "Nazi Germany" is just right.

[npk]

27. That is a horrible thing to say

If you weren't being tongue-n-cheek, forgive me. To say 90% of the people in that crowd would do to the Iranians & Palestinians, what Hitler's Nazis did to the Jews is a very reckless statement to make. Many of those people that were at that convention were just like you and me. There ideology is out of whack, but they are still good people. Were there some racists and bigots in that crowd. Yes. I suspect you would find some racists and bigots that would turn up at some progressive rallies and conferences. What Hughley could have said was that the "rhetoric used by the speakers was symbolic of Nazi Germany." That I would have no problem with. He focused on the people, instead, and in doing so made a very idiotic assumption.

[BuyingThyme]

29. I suspect most people in that room responded to 9/11 by saying

that Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. should be nuked.

I suspect that just about 100% of the people in that room openly support torture.

These are the kinds of things that brought those people together at that convention.

I don't for a second think the people in that room are any better than Adolf Hitler.

[Festusss]

33. Not every German in Nazi Germany was a Nazi

I'm sure there were plenty in that audience who are "just like you and me" (I'm leaving any racial connotations out of this statement..). The scary thing is some of those "good people" in pre-Nazi Germany had nothing against Jews before the rise of the Nazi Party. But, after years of gradual, methodical demonization of Jews, they either became full-blown racists or, at the very least, became indifferent to the Jewish plight.

So let's say that only 10%, instead of 90%, of the people in that crowd were complete bigots, racists, etc., and they would commit similar crimes against Iranians & Palestinians, etc. Now take the other 90% who are generally "good people" in the audience who are willingly (that's very important in this context), willingly sitting their and taking in all of the hate-rhetoric. How can they be exempted for participating in this "conference"? How does one not conflate their participation with the 10% of full-blown, card-carrying racists there? Their participation is the same 'willful compliance' that a good portion of Germans exhibited during the rise of the Nazi Party.

How close are gatherings like this, as "innocent" and "harmless" as it may seem now, to full blow Nazi/KKK hate rallies? Throw in a couple anti-Semitic blurbs, some anti-homosexual rhetoric, and a few "N-bombs" and they're right there. I guess they cleaned up their act a little with CNN running the free publicity and whatnot.

I never really pay too much attention to what Hughley says, but I think he made a pretty astute observation here and think it's highly appropriate when someone reminds everyone how dangerously close some of these Repugs are to donning a red arm band.

[BuyingThyme]

34. Welcome to DU, Festusss!

:hi:

[Festusss]

36. Donke! n/t

[camera obscura]

35. On a serious note: I agree. On a non-serious note...

I agree. The Nazis were much better dressers.

[ShortnFiery]

37. Bullshit! Intimidation and coercion is what the Right Wing is all about.

Or did you miss Michael Steele's PLEAS to Rush through Poltico, "Oh please Boss, don't hit (bad mouth) me no more. I have my head on straight now. Oh please don't!?!" :puke: Just pathetic how FRIGHTENED (and sickly awed) the right wingers are by *perceived authoritarian power.* :thumbsdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuDDqU6n4o

[Hanse]

38. I haven't got a problem with that.

1. They're a bunch of white supremacists.

2. They have no problem scapegoating and executing minorities.

3. They have hyper-inflated egos.

4. They're secretly into leather and scat sex.

[ecstatic]

39. He's a comedian nt

[MrSlayer]

41. Nazi is dropped too casually.

He should have said it looked like "two flecks of pepper in a salt shaker" or something like that.

[old mark]

42. I think they are not Nazis, but only in a matter of degree - they

are not actively murdering huge numbers of people, but I believe many GOP's would if they could. They DO reflect theNazis in that they routinely employ sweeping lies, hate and demonization of their political opponents as tools to manipulate public opinion and that they have the support of the big corporations and the very rich. They also direct the anger of some of the poor against the "enemy"-us.

They are more like the Nazis than not, IMO, and I think there is some degree of real threat to the nation from the extreme right.

mark

[Political Tiger]

43. Republicans share the mindset of the Nazis. n/t