My advice to politicians: stop making comparisons to Hitler
It's been a bad week for people invoking the name of Adolf Hitler. Real bad. Worse for them than Adolf himself.
It started with Presidential Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Oh Spicey why? During a press briefing, he was defending the administrations decision to bomb a Syrian airfield. That's cool. That's his job. But then the discussion moved to Syria's President Assad using chemical weapons on his own people. UH OH! Be careful!
Nope, he couldn't do it. Spicer compared Assad to Hitler. " Hitler didn't even sink to the level of using chemical weapons. ... He was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing."
Oh man, you didn't just go there, did you? Yep, he did and as usual, when someone makes a Hitler comparison, the follow-up is worse. Can you say "Holocaust Centers"?
He tried to backtrack about four times but he couldn't get out of his own way. It was like he was Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner. He ran off the cliff, was suspended in the air and looked sheepishly at the camera knowing he was going to fall to the ground. A long fall. POOF! BEEP BEEP!
Of course, this led to many calls for Spicer to be fired. The episode led to multiple heartfelt apologies from Spicer. What an unnecessary mess.
Now you'd think after this disaster we wouldn't hear any Hitler talk for awhile. Awhile was one day.
Welcome to the great state of North Carolina. You'd also think that after the bathroom law disaster that they finally climbed out of, North Carolina legislators would try to lay low and dial back the crazy. Think again.
A few of their reps tried to push a bill that would have restored the state's ban on same-sex marriage. When told that the Supreme Court had already settled this and he should get over it, State Representative Larry Pittman came back with this:
"And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional."
Oh Larry...you're not only not over same-sex marriage but you have issues with the South losing the Civil War. Then you needed to bring Hitler into the conversation.
Larry, let me help you out here. Abe Lincoln is considered one of our greatest Presidents. If we were playing Family Feud and the question was "Name our greatest President" and there was only one answer on the board, the chances are Steve Harvey would say "Show me Lincoln" and the bell would ring. Not to mention, Larry, that you just compared a guy from your own political party to Adolf Hitler.
That's two Hitler comparisons in two days. Anyone looking for the hat trick...anyone?
Now let me give you politicians a pro tip on how to stop this...drop the word HITLER from your vocabulary. It's that simple. Forget he ever existed. Every time you use his name, you end up going down a path from which there is no return. Every. Single. Time. And when you try to make excuses and dial it back, you just make it worse...again every single time. It always leads to an apology that looks disingenuous.
Seriously, take this advice. I wouldn't do you wrong. You're welcome in advance.
Here's another piece about our current administration. How can you tell when they're lying?
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