Tea Party funds Obama as Hitler/Lennon message, walks it back

[seireikhaan]

Someone lost their marbles when they authorized payment for This Billboard. Either the Tea Part isn't doing much of a job of oversight of its chapters, or they wanted to try this to test the waters on whether people thought it would fly. Regardless, it doesn't reflect very well that they would pay for such an offensive advertisement. Perhaps the strangest statement out of it was from one of the Tea Party coordinators:

John White, an Iowa coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, said that he can understand the North Iowa group's perception that Obama is "Hitler-esque," but he thinks the billboard is offensive and unproductive. White said that he planned to discuss the matter with national tea party officials.

So Obama's "Hitler-esque", but its offensive to go out and compare him to Hitler?


Sign has since been taken down by the chapter.

[Beskar]

Was tempted to post this, thanks for doing it.

Though, "National Socialism" was only a name and Obama is no where near a socialist. Even Margret Thatcher is more of a Socialist.



I was tempted to put up George Washington as well, for the Irony, but I couldn't be bothered.


Edit: It is also Lennin, not Lennon. Though Lennon also advocated change. Also, even the Billboard advocates change. Ultimately, it is stupid.

[Gregoshi]

Edit: It is also Lennin, not Lennon. Though Lennon also advocated change.

Lennin/Lennon. To-may-to/To-mah-to. I suspect it wouldn't really matter to folks who put up the billboard.

[Centurion1]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

ok

[Beskar]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

Agreed.

[CountArach]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

Deal.

[Askthepizzaguy]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

I hear that!

[Louis VI the Fat]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

Works for me.

[Gregoshi]

Great! Let's all have some tea, shall we?

[Askthepizzaguy]

TEA BAG the LIBERAL DEMS

BEFORE THEY TEA BAG YOU!!

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

ok

Agreed.

Deal.

I hear that!

Works for me.

Now you all look like Liberal jerks, well done boys.

Seriously though, Obama has a personality cult, great oratory and a carefully cultivated (and hence cultic) image in common with both Hitler and Lenin. The Billboard is also historically grounded, all three men have offered "change" and two have not delivered, and yes it does work even better with Thatcher, she also shares all those traits with Hitler.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Now you all look like Liberal jerks, well done boys.

Seriously though, Obama has a personality cult, great oratory and a carefully cultivated (and hence cultic) image in common with both Hitler and Lenin. The Billboard is also historically grounded, all three men have offered "change" and two have not delivered, and yes it does work even better with Thatcher, she also shares all those traits with Hitler.

Seriously though, [fill in the name of a politician] has a personality cult, great oratory and a carefully cultivated image.

What in the blue heck are you talking about? People with mustaches are just like Hitler and Stalin too....

Did you know that Hitler and Stalin were men? My goodness, all men are Hitler.

[a completely inoffensive name]

This thread has made me lol multiple times.

On topic: The billboard shows how out of touch the tea parties philosophy is with the majority of moderate Americans. As the tea party gets bigger, the message is pressured to be toned down. As the message is watered down, the political punch and attention it gets is reduced. As the attention is reduced, the tea party then fails to get new members and slowly dies off. By the 2012 election cycle the tea party will be very marginalized, by their own success and by the undermining of Republicans who are threatened and attacked by tea party members competing against them.

[Hosakawa Tito]

The Tea Party isn't an actual nor unified political party. It's a movement of disaffected people who are disgusted with the Republicans & Democrats. They have their fringe groups much like the mainstream political parties and apparently at least one hails from Iowa.

[rory_20_uk]

Seriously though, Obama has a personality cult, great oratory and a carefully cultivated (and hence cultic) image in common with both Hitler and Lenin. The Billboard is also historically grounded, all three men have offered "change" and two have not delivered, and yes it does work even better with Thatcher, she also shares all those traits with Hitler.

What politicians don't have a carefully cultivated image?
Politicians offer one of two things: status quo or change.

So, broadly 50% of politicians ever fit the bill.

[Subotan]

It is stupid but let's not act like liberals have done far worse.

I reluctantly agree

Now you all look like Liberal jerks, well done boys..

As opposed to conservative jerks?

Seriously though, Obama has a personality cult, great oratory and a carefully cultivated (and hence cultic) image in common with both Hitler and Lenin. The Billboard is also historically grounded, all three men have offered "change" and two have not delivered, and yes it does work even better with Thatcher, she also shares all those traits with Hitler.

Your description of what Obama, Lenin and Hitler all have in common is basically what all successful politicians have in common. People like them, they have a carefully controlled public image, and they often get elected on the basis of "the current government sucks let's try something new".

The comparison the Tea Party makes with Obama and Lenin/Hitler stems from ignorance about what socialism and Nazism actually mean, rather than any meaningful comparison of economic policy.

[Beskar]

Does that mean you voted for Hitler, PVC?

David Cameron = Cult of Personality, Promise of Change, etc.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Though, "National Socialism" was only a name

People need to appreciate this more. Just because it has "socialism" in the name doesn't mean it is left-wing. Is state capitalism right wing just because it has "capitalism" in the name?

Hence why I facepalm at the BNP being put to the left of Labour on the political compass. Ramming all the policies into one left-right scale doesn't do justice to how many dimensions there are to all the different ideologies.

[gaelic cowboy]

Ramming all the policies into one left-right scale doesn't do justice to how many dimensions there are to all the different ideologies.

It is silly this political compass thingy fullstop bloody thing should be banned for polluting the minds of otherwise sensible people

[HoreTore]

In what alternate universe did Lenin have a personality cult before he attained power...?

Only a tiny group of people even knew what he looked like.

[rory_20_uk]

From the first speech when he borrowed a worker's cap to not look like the well-heeled ex-Parisian German stooge he was onwards.

Bolsheviks (majority) beat the Menchaviks (minority).

[Centurion1]

A guy forgets two letters and you jackals jump all over it.

Let's not act like liberals HAVEN'T done far worse

[Centurion1]

A guy forgets two letters and you jackals jump all over it.

Let's not act like liberals HAVEN'T done things just as bad.

[Lemur]

Let's not act like liberals HAVEN'T done things just as bad.

Gotcha!

[gaelic cowboy]

[HoreTore]

From the first speech when he borrowed a worker's cap to not look like the well-heeled ex-Parisian German stooge he was onwards.

Bolsheviks (majority) beat the Menchaviks (minority).

Yes, the communist party knew who he was.

The rest of the Russian population couldn't recognize him on a photo.

[PanzerJaeger]

First of all, as has been mentioned, the OP seems to be unaware that the Tea Party is not, in fact, a singular, organized entity.

Second, enduring eight years of Bush=Hitler hysterics from the Left, including some of the most inane, bat- crazy conspiracy theories I've ever heard, puts this obscure little incident into some perspective.







And my personal fav... BUSH knocked down the towers in some sort of Reichstag-esce power grab!!1

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Ahh PJ added some more...oh well.

****

I suppose we ought to show the flipside after jumping on cent like that.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Does that mean you voted for Hitler, PVC?

David Cameron = Cult of Personality, Promise of Change, etc.

I'm going to go with answering this one as a stand in for everyone.

Yes, you're all right but.....

Maggie and Obama both cultivated messianic or near-messianic images, whereas Cameron (for example) only went as far as "the other side sucks, come home to us".

Obama runs on a different order of magnitude, and that's deliberate - in exactly the same way as with Hitler it was deliberate.