Liberal Fascism

Not only does Barack Obama, as uncovered by Patrick Ruffini, try to communicate to residents of Germany in the German language he also (as Dr. Melissa Couthier sagely observes) uses images of himself in profile just like Adolf Hitler did.

If I were to engage in guilt-by-association grounded in Obama campaign iconography, I would probably have observed that his campaign aesthetics seem to have something in common with socialist realism, but it takes all kinds I guess. Couthier:

Not only is this a political flier meant to influence American voters via the Deutchland, it is seriously unnerving propaganda. What are the Obama people thinking? This is nuts.

Surely we can all agree that something is nuts here. Meanwhile, I wouldn't want to alarm Dr. Couthier too much but up on the White House website I found this photo of George W. Bush posing as Hitler. Not only that, but it appeared under the headline "Supporting a Compassionate Society" and as Jonah Goldberg has pointed out, compassionate conservatism is the newest and most insidious form of liberal fascism.

Comments

This may be my favorite thing ever on the internet.

Posted by Leo | July 23, 2008 2:52 PM

And if it were Russia and the flyer were in Russian, then presumably we would be discussing the striking (striking!) formal and tonal affinities to Constructivist graphic style and the way it makes Obama look exactly like Stalin. Unnerving really.

Also, what is up with referring to Germany not as "Deutschland" when Germany is standard usage in English (just as we say Finland and not Suomi), but "the Deutschland", as if it were a battleship of buttfucking socialists ready to violate our sons and daughters after dosing them with MDMA?

Posted by Cino da Pistoia | July 23, 2008 2:53 PM

So besides opposite colors, the text, and everything about Obama and his campaign, it's eerily similar to Hitler! Afterall, it's profile picture and they have "serious" expressions! Scary!

Posted by Nicholas Warino | July 23, 2008 2:54 PM

And what do these knobs have to say about this?

Posted by Zap Rowsdower | July 23, 2008 2:54 PM

Thank you for your insight, Dr. Couthier, Chiropractor.

Posted by no name | July 23, 2008 2:54 PM

But wait... lets see what McCain's very English poster looks like:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205288.php

Posted by bubba | July 23, 2008 2:54 PM

Cino, I think Couthier is under the impression that it's "the Deutschland" like "the Rhineland," "the Sudetenland," that kind of thing.

Posted by tomemos | July 23, 2008 2:58 PM

If there's one thing Big H would be proud of, it's a black man inviting the world to peace.

Posted by Negro Please | July 23, 2008 2:58 PM

Cute! She even misspelled Deutschland!

Posted by gfw | July 23, 2008 2:59 PM

Apparently John McCain's team thought "War is Peace" was copyrighted and came up with the next best thing.

Posted by Not as stupid as Will Allen | July 23, 2008 2:59 PM

Also, better toss all the change out of your pockets... only Sacagawea's not in full profile.

Goddamnit... I knew FDR was a fascist commie.

Posted by bubba | July 23, 2008 3:02 PM

As I have always thought, Nazis are the n*ggers of the world.

Posted by tomjones | July 23, 2008 3:04 PM

Barack Obama is lying when he says he's a poor man's Tayshaun Prince. He's really a poor man's Dirk Nowitzki. Konservative sind hoffnungslos. Kugel don' t-Lüge!

Posted by joejoejoe | July 23, 2008 3:06 PM

MattY seems to be getting into the real ThinkProgress spirit (even more than in the past) with things like this. Doesn't BHO in fact have a budding PersonalityCult? Isn't it dangerous that no one who is given access to him bothers to point out his long series of lies and misleading statements?

Hopefully MattY's replacement here will consider those topics more worthy things to discuss than posts like this.

Posted by TLB presents ObamaTestDotCom | July 23, 2008 3:09 PM

What sort of person "immediately" calls to mind obscure pictures of Hitler?

Posted by Ethel-to-Tilly | July 23, 2008 3:10 PM

How about this?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/images/mccain-peaceposter-blog.jpg

Hitler or God?

Posted by David in NY | July 23, 2008 3:12 PM

As a historian of Russia and modern Europe, let me pipe in:

These profile shots were popular across the political spectrum in the first decades of the 20th century, because they suggested progress, movement, change, a sense of the future now. And yes, they also give a sense of change and forward-thinking to Obama. If there is any knock on the aesthetic, its that it was often used to promote one ideology or another... but Obama is pretty much a post-ideology candidate.

Posted by Greg Stroud | July 23, 2008 3:15 PM

I think Couthier is under the impression that it's "the Deutschland" like "the Rhineland," "the Sudetenland," that kind of thing.

She comes across as kind of poorly informed in that regard.

Posted by Elvis Elvisberg | July 23, 2008 3:18 PM

Also --

Obama, like Hitler, gives speeches to large crowds of people.

Obama, like Hitler, stands upright.

Obama, like Hitler . . .

You get the point.

Posted by MrTimbo | July 23, 2008 3:21 PM

Somewhat OT but judging by the german on the poster they must be expecting a huge crowd. People are being asked to take public transportation.

Wish I could go.

Posted by leo (from chicago) | July 23, 2008 3:22 PM

Funny how Mr. Foreign Language Education Obama has invitations to his event printed up in German. Hopefully he'll have the manners to address the crowd in their language, too, since the fliers would otherwise amount to false advertising. ;)

Posted by MarkG | July 23, 2008 3:26 PM

Whenever I see White, it always reminds me of Black... the color choice differences aside.

Posted by lampwick | July 23, 2008 3:26 PM

Doesn't BHO in fact have a budding PersonalityCult? Isn't it dangerous that no one who is given access to him bothers to point out his long series of lies and misleading statements?

TEH STOOPID!! IT BURNS!!!one!!!eleven!!

The right's complete lack of self awareness would be comical if it weren't so pathetic.

Posted by Mark D | July 23, 2008 3:29 PM

I wonder what the flyers looked like when Ronald Reagan paid tribute to the sacrifice made in WWII by members of the S.S.?

Posted by lampwick | July 23, 2008 3:29 PM

It's funny that in years past Republicans could brag about an enthusiasm gap. In 2000 Republicans were all psyched up to go vote for GWB. Now that the enthusiasm gap goes the other way, it's a dangerous "PersonalityCult".

My very conservative aunt from Alabama kept a framed photograph of George W. Bush in the place of honor on her wall. Let me know when this sort of thing starts to happen with Obama and I'll welcome any and all snark on the subject.

Posted by Rob Mac | July 23, 2008 3:31 PM

By a shocking coincidence, Obama and Hitler's faces are both lit from some source in front of them and have normal human features that cast shadows. Also, both posters have colors in them.

Very unnerving.

Now let's play some Obama speeches and some Hitler speeches now if you listen you will note that in both cases there are crowds.

Posted by peenworm | July 23, 2008 3:32 PM

MarkG: I like "Mr. Foreign Language Education," but I think I'd prefer "Mr. Literate" or "Mr. It's No Shame to Know About the World."

Also, there's going to be a translator there, you clown. ;)

Posted by tomemos | July 23, 2008 3:33 PM

I didn't see Hitler; I immediately thought Optimus Prime.

http://www.fanboy.com/images/transformers-poster-big01.jpg

Posted by el duderino | July 23, 2008 3:36 PM

Hitler was frowning representing the resentment that drove him into office. Obama was smiling representing the hopefullness that drives American politics. I would think this difference was important.

Posted by Craig | July 23, 2008 3:40 PM

As for the posters in German, well I think that simply shows good manners and breeding... he is after all a guest.

Posted by Cornfields | July 23, 2008 3:41 PM

Also, there's going to be a translator there, you clown.

Suppose Big O's translator will have to speak to the assembled the way old Spaniard Chuckie Five spoke to his horse. =)

Posted by MarkG | July 23, 2008 3:42 PM

Funny how Mr. Foreign Language Education Obama has invitations to his event printed up in German.

How is that funny?

Posted by Tyro | July 23, 2008 3:46 PM

The wonderful thing about the wingnutosphere is that they're evidently utterly convinced that Obama is simultaneously both Adolph Hitler and Neville Chamberlain.

Look out! President Obama is going to capitulate to himself!!

Posted by Pesto | July 23, 2008 3:48 PM

Obama was smiling representing the hopefullness that drives American politics.

Huh? Looks to me like he's squinting with his mouth open, representing his hankering to deliver empty rhetoric via PA system under bright spotlights.

Posted by MarkG | July 23, 2008 3:48 PM

Does anyone know where I can buy a copy of the Obama German poster - I think it will be an interesting keepsake for my kids.

Posted by Russell | July 23, 2008 3:49 PM

"Not only does Barack Obama, as uncovered by Patrick Ruffini, try to communicate to residents of Germany in the German language he also (as Dr. Melissa Couthier sagely observes) uses images of himself in profile just like Adolf Hitler did."

Obama also breathes air and walks on two legs, JUST LIKE ADOLF HITLER DID!

Posted by Tim in SF | July 23, 2008 3:51 PM

My girlfriend took a profile photo of me at the beach back in June - just looking at that pic makes me want to goosestep down the Champs Elysee, tuck my pants into my boots and pound two liters of schnapps. Lucky for me Dr. Clothier has set me straight - all future photography of me and my bowling shoes will be conducted STRAIGHT ON.

Posted by edsbowlingshoe | July 23, 2008 3:55 PM

Right wing nuts are hilarious: dude is both a Commie and a Nazi, all at the same time. Amazing.

Posted by Garuda | July 23, 2008 3:57 PM

Pesto - that comment was classic.

Posted by edsbowlingshoe | July 23, 2008 3:57 PM

Wow, I can't even believe this is real. This is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard or read. Seriously.

Posted by robert | July 23, 2008 3:59 PM

To my eye the Obama poster owes nothing to Nazi iconography and quite a bit to constructivism, the Russian movement of the 1920's that has been very influential in poster art since then.

Posted by Bloix | July 23, 2008 4:04 PM

Imagine. Advertising an event in the native dialect. The audacity of it.

Is this really the best the right has to offer? Sad, really.

Posted by Gob Bluth | July 23, 2008 4:07 PM

Pesto wins the thread!

Posted by JK | July 23, 2008 4:24 PM

Why did that poster "immediately call up" some obscure Hitler flier for Clouthier? Is it on her refrigerator or something?

Posted by Fordig | July 23, 2008 4:30 PM

I noticed on Dr Clouthier's websites that she's in fact a chiropractor. She also calls the progressive blogoshpere the 'nutroots.' So this begs the question, would Dr Clouthier perform a happy ending on my aching nutroots.

Posted by manu | July 23, 2008 4:34 PM

BHO 2.0 = Barack Hitler Obama????

Posted by sorg | July 23, 2008 4:38 PM

You've all got it all, terribly wrong!

You think Doc Clouthier and her gang of truth brigaders is making mountains out of molehills just for entertainment? Laugh at your own peril, you fools!

The wingnutcrackers are our friends, only trying to save us from ourselves and the country being ravaged by pie-in-the-sky dreams. You see, only they can see through the facade of this Commie-Nazi, and can connect the dots for those of us blinded by our crushes--woman or man--on this poseur!!!

If only these same fine folks had spent so much time "putting two and two" together about George W. Bush, we might have around 4000 of our young people still walking around today...

Posted by Ella in NM | July 23, 2008 4:43 PM

What happened was that Clouthier saw the Obama poster in German and immediately saw it as a good opportunity to compare Obama to Hitler. So she went looking for Nazi posters that might look vaguely similar and said "Look at the Nazi iconography! Isn't it creepy!"

Posted by blah | July 23, 2008 4:43 PM

Important Warning
for those who have been drawn unsuspectingly into the use of bread:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!

6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

7.Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.

11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

Posted by EVIL BREAD | July 23, 2008 4:50 PM

Wow, I can't even believe this is real. This is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard or read. Seriously.

Hold onto your seat, Robert. The right-wingnutosphere is just gettin' warmed up.

Posted by LFC | July 23, 2008 4:55 PM

BHO 2.0 = Barack Hitler Obama????

Posted by sorg | July 23, 2008 4:58 PM

Wow! You got Dr. Couthier. What a coup Yglesias.

Honestly, who the hell is Melissa Clouthier? I've never once heard of her.

Next time conservatives make hay out of some cherry picked comment on Democratic Underground I hope you shut your pie hole.

Posted by Mark Adams | July 23, 2008 4:59 PM

Important Warning
for those who have been drawn unsuspectingly into the use of bread:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!

6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

7.Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.

11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

Posted by EVIL BREAD | July 23, 2008 5:00 PM

Important Warning
for those who have been drawn unsuspectingly into the use of bread:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

4. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

5.Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

6. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

7. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

Posted by EVIL BREAD | July 23, 2008 5:07 PM

It's bizarre, but all the right wing blogs are talking about this. You read comments talking about socialist realism. All of the sudden they're fucking reactionary Clement Greenbergs?

Posted by thompsaj | July 23, 2008 5:38 PM

This is also related to Ruffini's whine, but some design-savvy blogger notes that Obama's invitation gives tribute to the Bauhaus style. This is the great post: http://meaningfuldistractions.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/md-exclusive-obamas-berlin-flyer-not-messianic-pays-tribute-to-german-design/

Posted by TehQuotient | July 23, 2008 5:45 PM

Hitler also wore pants! Wake up, you liberals! Obama is clearly out there wearing pants just like Hitler did!

Look, if you are going to copy Hitler, everyone knows you should copy his torture techniques and legal justifications for dictatorial executive powers. What you do not do is take a picture of yourself in profile!

Stupid liberals.

Posted by jim | July 23, 2008 5:54 PM

to quote phil gramm:

"in a way, we've sort of become an ideology of whiners."

and bedwetters.

Posted by lonesomerobot | July 23, 2008 6:37 PM

http://k43.pbase.com/o4/11/415611/1/61129405._5302952d.jpg

Posted by brenna | July 23, 2008 6:37 PM

Jonah Goldberg (a.k.a. "The Doughy Pantload") must have a semi-chubby over this. It's just the brand of stupidity that's right up his alley.

Posted by LFC | July 23, 2008 6:39 PM

Russell asked where he could buy a copy. Can't help you there, but you can print out your own from http://www.barackobama.com/images/berlin/berlin_03.pdf

Posted by OriGuy | July 23, 2008 9:08 PM

What is this right-wing fascination with Hitler? Is this the only part of history you stayed awake for? Or is your entire historical education reduced to the History Channel and old John Wayne movies.

Just because something is in German, doesn't make it "Nazi". Handel's Messiah was written by a German. Does that make Jesus a Nazi, even if he was Jewish?

Posted by AxelDC | July 23, 2008 9:38 PM

This is gut-thumping hilarious. Move over, Dr. Colbert...

LMFAO

Posted by James | July 23, 2008 10:48 PM

"Just because something is in German, doesn't make it "Nazi". Handel's Messiah was written by a German. Does that make Jesus a Nazi, even if he was Jewish?

Posted by AxelDC | July 23, 2008 9:38 PM"

By right-wing logic these days, Handel = Jewish = not a Christian = atheist = cultural elitist = liberal = liberal fascist = Nazi! So yes, the right-wing blogosphere probably think Handel was a Nazi. And a communist. And a gay Muslim Mexican with the middle name "Hussein."

Posted by Reality Man | July 24, 2008 12:01 AM

Thing it reminds me most of is the franz ferdinand debut album cover, as well as various concert and festival posters you see, especially european summer festivals..inexplicably.

Posted by Jesse | July 24, 2008 12:26 AM

Thing it reminds me most of is the franz ferdinand album cover, as well as various concert and festival posters you see, especially european summer festivals..inexplicably.

Posted by Jesse | July 24, 2008 12:33 AM

The diagonal angularity and high-contrast photo-imaging of the Berlin Obama poster derive from constructivist graphic design, rooted in the Lenin-era Soviet Union, picked up by progressive graphic artists in Central Europe (e.g., Bauhaus school) and the New Deal-era U.S.

Here's a rather whimsical example, P. Miziakin's "Let's Build a Dirigible Fleet in Lenin's Name," from 1931:

http://www.ils.unc.edu/~gerogers/jomc222/daij1.html

Whether the left-wing roots of the Obama poster are any more comforting than its alleged resemblance to Nazi graphics, this micro-tempest should be a reminder that right-wingers aren't to be trusted on art history.

Posted by allbetsareoff | July 24, 2008 3:38 AM

Come on now really? His eyes aren't even facing up he is just looking straight ahead. She needs to go read Susan Sontag's critique of Leni Riefenstahl's 'Fascist Aesthetic'

http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/33dTexts/SontagFascinFascism75.htm

-Roland Barthes

Posted by jsco | July 24, 2008 5:36 AM

Another Matt post giving space to what is arguably utterly lunatic right wing conspiracy theory.

By the way, referencing Leni Riefenstahl, I wonder if Jodie Foster is EVER going to get her Riefenstahl movie off the ground. Given the criticism the Jewish groups have already unleashed against her for even considering it, I doubt it.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 24, 2008 5:50 AM

"Thing it reminds me most of is the franz ferdinand debut album cover, as well as various concert and festival posters you see, especially european summer festivals..inexplicably."

It's not inexplicable at all (and it's probably not the debut you're thinking of but the follow up). FF are big fans of constructivist Alexander Rodchenko, whose portrait of Lilya Brik is used as part of the album cover (and by several other bands). Rodchenko (and the constructivist aesthetic) has been mimicked by graphic designers for decades. There's something of an Art Deco feel to the Obama version, though. It's a really, really good design.

Posted by Ginger Yellow | July 24, 2008 7:14 AM

Amazing what you see if you stare at clouds long enough.

Posted by Todd Dominey | July 24, 2008 9:24 AM

You are mean and scary your self or chicken scared somehow every time a fly passes you think its an Aeroplane. Obama is far below Hittler ---Hittler wanted to destroy the whole world directly from his campain. Obama thinks he can cue the world -- but depends on whether he wins the election.... that right is with the American voters----but it is the American voters who pushed him to the stage by claiming " He has no internationa experience --He does not know how to greet" Mrs Clinton said this. McCain counted his days since he last went to Iraq and asked him to go and get the knowledge from the Generals etc --- He is naive (seems like - it means stupid -knows nothing --go and learn?) Ha but as he is learning -- in a class McCain sent him ---> he follows behind with a whip ---> like our old Headmasters would do... "Movie star! Loved by Press! Speaks in Germany! I care about Jews and Israel! He is a socialist! I am jealousy of the attention given to my student!....bla-bla-bla"
Let the Michelle's mama baby boy ....bla bla...

Posted by mean_or_mean | July 24, 2008 1:23 PM

Check this stuff out.

Go to google image search and put in obey obama.
http://images.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&q=obey+obama&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

Now THOSE things look like Soviet era propaganda posters.

Posted by deek | July 24, 2008 5:10 PM

I'll personally mail a $50 check to anyone who can tell me what mean_or_mean actually wrote above.

And who's "Hittler"?

Posted by jvill | July 24, 2008 9:19 PM

Is it really true that no one here can see how a normal person would get very concerned when an inexperienced, relatively unknown political entity begins drawing unusually large crowds with speeches largely devoid of anything more specific than, "We can remake the world"? I've listened to several Obama speeches. The race speech was one for the history books, a rare glimpse of a politician who not only sees the world in highly nuanced way, but dares to speak about it in the same way. But it told me nothing about his political agenda. I listened to the speech today in Berlin. Great speech, inspirational, visionary, except that it was given by someone who wants to be the President. I heard a man who was implicitly embarrassed to be an American, despite his explicit statement to the contrary, who gave credit to every country in the world except the U.S. for all the good things that have happened globally, and stubbornly refused to admit that the U.S. can or has done anything good in the world. The Germans didn't "come together" with us to rebuild Europe. They had our will imposed upon them because they lost a war against us. The U.S. played the biggest role in the rebuilding of Europe after WWII, but you wouldn't know it by listening to that speech today. If you got your history from Obama, you'd have a different conception of the world altogether. And all this after spending several days in the same region where we are at war, discussing what his strategic plans might be in a similar situation! Unbelievable hubris! Stunningly naive! Blatently offensive! And the crowds keep swelling...

Posted by Byron Griffith | July 24, 2008 10:47 PM

Maybe McCain can go to Germany and tell them "All your base are belong to us" and you can find happiness again, Byron.

In the meantime, if something doesn't change in Afghanistan NATO is going to go down in history as the most powerful military alliance to ever exist and it would fight one war in Afghanistan and lose and crumble into dust.

You *really* need a new set of priorities.

Posted by Ed Marshall | July 24, 2008 11:37 PM

Although I didn't know of the Hitler comparison, today's main photo of Barack Obama waving to the crowd looked odd. Sometimes a wave is just a wave, but in this case, the AP photo in The Fresno Bee and on ABC's website has been reversed. Note the backwards ANGOLA banner in foreground. Subtle?

Posted by Faux Fighter | July 25, 2008 9:04 AM

Holy sh*t, Mean_or_mean is dr. Bronner! I love your soap!

Posted by bs | July 25, 2008 10:44 PM

bs, you win the internets.

I was all gonna fuck it all up with a riff off Francis E. Dec, Esquire but you came correct.

Posted by Ed Marshall | July 25, 2008 11:00 PM

Taking the mickey out of a blonde who has a bra size larger than her IQ is rather cruel...

Posted by Exile | July 26, 2008 6:30 AM

You guys know, right, that the Nazi party actually banned sans-serif type? Most of the early 20th-century sans typefaces (like Futura, which is the one on the shiny side of your iPod) were designed by left-wing types at the Bauhaus (Renner, Tchischold, Breuer).

If you wanted to make an argument like this, you would argue that the poster resembles the work of Soviet artists like El Lissitzky. (An image below, if the software allows it).

Posted by Nick Valvo | July 26, 2008 1:55 PM

Mr. Yglesias seems unaware that John McCain's former political endorser, Pastor John Hagee, mass-marketed, in 2003, a version of the viciously anti-Jewish "Protocols of The Learned Elders Of Zion" conspiracy theory...

In terms of the specifc art-work Mr. Yglesias cited, a more apt historical comparison might be to Soviet political art of the 1920's and 1930's and also to other pop-art political posters, across Europe, of that period.

Oh well - this is, after all, just the internets.

Posted by Bruce Wilson | July 27, 2008 12:03 AM

Mr. Yglesias seems unaware that John McCain's former political endorser, Pastor John Hagee, mass-marketed, in 2003, a version of the viciously anti-Jewish "Protocols of The Learned Elders Of Zion" conspiracy theory...

In terms of the specific art-work Mr. Yglesias cited, a more apt historical comparison might be to Soviet political art of the 1920's and 1930's and also to other pop-art political posters, across Europe, of that period.

Posted by Bruce Wilson | July 27, 2008 12:35 AM

This Hitler/Obama comparison is really ridiculous.

A BLACK man, speaking about "tearing down the walls between races, religions and peoples", receiving a huge applause by a people which, only 70 years ago, cheered to racist white leaders who proposed the exact opposite. Doesnt't that make you think? Don't these morons even realize how absurd their analogies are?

And then, JFK was a Nazi. He said "ich bin ein". I can show you a hundred speeches where Hitler used the words "ich", "bin" and "ein". Much like Obama is a Nazi, because his profile was on a flyer, much like Hitler's profile was on a flyer.

Seriously, I know America has one of the worst education systems in the entire Western world, infamous in Europe and East Asia. But you Americans ain't THAT stupid, are you?

Posted by Sim | July 28, 2008 9:47 AM

Ed,

Brilliant reponse. I'm not a McCain man, so I wouldn't know, but has he stated he would take all of German's military bases by force? Doubt it. But nice try with the false dichotomy.

And if NATO fails in Afganistan, how does that support Obama's committment to change the world through alliances?

Byron

Posted by Byron Griffith | July 28, 2008 2:06 PM

Dr. Couthier should learn when to shut her trap.

Of course, I'd say that with all due respect, but since she exhibits none herself (accusing Obama of being equivalent to Hitler) I cannot be bothered to exhibit any respect either.

Posted by Nick Heer | July 28, 2008 2:31 PM

Dr. Couthier should learn when to shut her trap.

Of course, I'd say that with all due respect, but since she exhibits none herself (accusing Obama of being equivalent to Hitler) I cannot be bothered to exhibit any respect either.

Posted by Nick Heer | July 28, 2008 2:33 PM