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July 2, 2004/Tamuz 13 5764, Vol. 56, No.41
Hitler images play on our fears
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
This election season, Americans are being forced to confront images of the most feared man in the history of world Jewry, those of Adolf Hitler.
On June 24, the Bush campaign began showing a re-election ad on its Web site that included "remarks made by and images from ads sponsored by Kerry supporters." Among those images is a clip of Hitler saluting his followers, immediately followed by a statement on the screen that reads: "What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003" and finally a picture of Bush being sworn into office in 2001.
The clip was taken from an ad that appeared in January on the independent liberal Web site, moveon.org. The ad was one of more than 1,500 entries the Web site received in a contest dubbed "Bush in 30 seconds," which invited readers to submit anti-Bush commercials. The contest entry featuring the Hitler clip remained on the Web site for 10 days before being removed following protests from the Republic National Committee and others. Moveon.org said the entry was not a top-15 finalist.
The Bush ad, which features the clip, attempts to relate Hitler to prominent Democratic figures that also appear in the ad with the message, "This is not a time for pessimism and rage ... it's a time for optimism, steady leadership and progress," which is printed on the screen.
Now it appears that "pessimism and rage" are being leveled by voices from both sides, at the optimism that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and President Bush each purports to hold for the country, sweeping it under the rug with hateful speech.
But these ads are not the first to compare a political candidate with a dictator. In 2002, an ad sponsored by the RNC, opposing the bid of U.S. Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) for re-election, morphed Cleland's picture into one of Osama Bin Laden. Cleland lost the election.
In his book "Dude, Where's My Country?" filmmaker and author Michael Moore writes: "The Patriot Act is as un-American as 'Mein Kampf.'" And in October, when Moore was a guest on CNN's "Crossfire," he told host Robert Novak, "The Patriot Act is the first step. 'Mein Kampf' was written long before Hitler came to power. And if the people of Germany had done something early on to stop these early signs ... if people don't speak up against this, you end up with something like they had in Germany."
In the new Bush ad, former Vice President Al Gore says of Bush: "He played on our fears." In fact, such rhetoric from supporters of both candidates plays on the fears of all Americans.
We need to demand from our candidates and political parties that they stop playing on our fears, focus on real issues and support real solutions.
Contact the writer at michael_miklofsky@jewishaz.com.
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