The sound and the fuhrer

Dallas Morning News: Stop it. Stop it this instant.
No more Hitler images. No more brown-shirt references.
It doesn't matter who started it. It doesn't matter who perpetuated it.
It doesn't matter how badly either party wants to win this election or how much its partisans dislike the guy on the other side.
For those who've missed all the yelling, the Bush campaign has a Web ad that tars the Kerry forces as "the coalition of the wild-eyed." In addition to film clips of agitated Democrats, the spot offers glimpses of two ads submitted months ago to a contest run by MoveOn.org, which likened the president to the Nazi dictator.
Bush followers say the ads -- which MoveOn yanked after a few days from among the 1,500 entries on its site -- fairly represent Democratic fanaticism. Kerry supporters say his campaign had nothing to do with the original ads, while the Bush campaign has everything to do with keeping them in public view. Further, the Kerry-ites say, the Bush spot, by juxtaposing Al Gore, Howard Dean and Adolf Hitler in what looks like a spit-slinging derby, draws a subliminal connection between the Democrats and the Nazis.
Frankly, my dear, when it comes to the nuances of the thing, we don't give a damn.
Holocaust survivors
Every political party, interest group or individual should retract any and every Hitler image or reference, regardless of where it originated. Both sides should apologize -- if not to each other, to survivors of the Holocaust and World War II.
This cheap, tawdry brand of politics is an insult to the suffering and the sacrifice that ultimately triumphed over one of the greatest evils the world has ever known. No person in American public life today is comparable to Adolf Hitler. No party running candidates for office is comparable to the Nazis.
Hitler was an apostle of hate. Sixty years after his death, his image still evokes hate -- only hate. Hate is a corrosive. To use Hitler's image is to throw acid on the foundations of our body politic.