'Outrageous' Santorum Cries Hitler All the Time

'Evil' metaphors landing candidate in hot water
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 22, 2012 4:44 AM CST
Now Post Burns Santorum for 'Crying Hitler'
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during a campaign rally at the El-Zaribah Shrine Auditorium, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Phoenix, Arizona.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Rick Santorum's evil metaphors are not playing well: While the Drudge Report berated Santorum for warning that Satan is after America's soul, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post is now skewering him for hinting that there's a Nazi in the White House. Santorum compared the 2012 election in a weekend speech to that time when Americans didn't act against Adolf Hitler because they thought he was a "nice guy." The "obvious implication—later denied by the candidate—was that Santorum is some modern-day Churchill and President Obama is der Fuhrer," writes Milbank. "It was outrageous and yet, for Santorum, routine."

Santorum defended his comments by saying that his "World War II" metaphor is "one I've used a hundred times." That "is not an exaggeration—and that's Santorum's problem," grouses Milbank. "Nazi comparisons are the most extreme form of political speech; once one ties his political opponents to the most deplorable chapter in human history, all reasoned argument ceases. Yet this is where Santorum exists, in a place of binary extremes of good and evil, where his political foe isn’t just wrong but adheres to a phony theology not found in the Bible," he adds, referring to Santorum's attack on Obama last week. "When used on Ahmadinejad or the Muslim Brotherhood, the Nazi talk is provocative, but defensible," writes Milbank. "When used on an American president and a rival political party, it shows an alarming lack of perspective." (More Satan stories.)

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