Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Yeah, That's Right, Just Like Hitler:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_05_15-2005_05_21.shtml#1116573570
According to [1]RawStory.com, here's what Sen. Rick Santorum said in a
Senate speech:
And we shouldn't go mucking around in this institution and changing
the way we've done things, particularly when it comes to the
balance of powers between the three branches of government. And the
independence of one of those branches of the judiciary. We must
tread very carefully before we go radically changing the way we do
things that has served this country well, and we have radically
changed the way we do things here. Some are suggesting we're trying
to change the law, we're trying to break the rules. Remarkable.
Remarkable hubris. I mean, imagine, the rule has been in place for
214 years that this is the way we confirm judges. Broken by the
other side two years ago, and the audacity of some members to stand
up and say, how dare you break this rule. It's the equivalent of
Adolf Hitler in 1942 "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How
dare you bomb my city? It's mine." This is no more the rule of the
senate than it was the rule of the senate before not to filibuster.
It was an understanding and agreement, and it has been abused. . .
.
A CNN story confirms at least part of the quote: "The audacity of some
members to stand up and say 'How dare you break this rule' . . . .
It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, 'I'm in Paris. How
dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine.'"
The precise nature of the equivalence with Hitler, I regret to say,
escapes me. And in the absence of such equivalence or at least a very
close similarity, it seems to me to be both unfair and in bad taste to
compare your adversaries to Hitler, even when the analogy -- a rather
weak analogy, as I mentioned -- is simply to his hubris rather than to
his atrocities.
Thanks to reader Victor Steinbok to the pointer, and to Mike Godwin
for [2]helping us understand all this.
References
1. http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/santorum_hitler_519
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
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