Lady L
10-16-2009, 04:04 AM
The Republicans have once again recruited Hitler to their campaign against the reforms initiated by their Democratic rivals. The National Republican Congressional Committee used a popular online social network this week to promote a video in which Hitler appears to endorse House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Using the social networking Web site Twitter, the NRCC posted a link to a video, with the message "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers"
In the clip, phony subtitles attached to a scene from the 2004 Hitler biopic Der Untergang (The Downfall), appear to have Hitler praising Pelosi and voicing disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama's revisions to his socialized medicine plan.
Democrats, especially Jewish Democrats, did not find this at all amusing.
Making the video wasn't especially difficult - it is a common pastime for internet users to play around with the subtitles of this particular clip. Dozens of videos using a clip from the original film, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, have been posted online with subtitles discussing a wide range of topics.
The movie recounts the last ten days of Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker. The scene in question depicts Hitler, pointing to a map, surrounded by his generals who are afraid to tell him the truth regarding his situation. In the film, it is in this scene that Hitler realizes that he has lost the war.
In the GOP video, Hitler becomes angered, screaming "What the hell are the Democrats doing?"
"At least I have Pelosi on my side. What's wrong with them?... I socialized medicine overnight and everything's going great... Like Pelosi, I don't give a s**t about the American people."
John Randall, charged with the NRCC's Twitter feed, removed the tweet in the wake of severe protest on behalf of Democrats, and apologized. "We saw the video this morning and thought, like other parodies, that it was funny. In 20-20 hindsight, we realized it was in poor taste and pulled it down... I don't want anyone to think we're comparing Democrats to Nazis and to Hitler."
The president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, David Harris, told Haaretz that the Republicans' use of Nazi symbols in campaigns against democrats has crossed the line. "It has to stop," he said.
"We've tracked at least 40 examples of use of the Holocaust analogies and this deeply offensive portrayal of the Democratic Party leadership as Nazis by some prominent Republican figures. This rhetoric reached unprecedented level of bad taste, like the recent 'tweet' that shows Speaker Pelosi and Hitler as buddies," Harris added.
"In their apology, RNCC spokesman said that they thought it was funny. For most people I know, not only Holocaust survivors and Jews, it doesn't seem funny. If they think it's funny, they just don't get it. This sort of comparison is not acceptable, it's profoundly offensive and it has to stop," he concluded.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1120809.html
QmYyNeCalmk
Using the social networking Web site Twitter, the NRCC posted a link to a video, with the message "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers"
In the clip, phony subtitles attached to a scene from the 2004 Hitler biopic Der Untergang (The Downfall), appear to have Hitler praising Pelosi and voicing disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama's revisions to his socialized medicine plan.
Democrats, especially Jewish Democrats, did not find this at all amusing.
Making the video wasn't especially difficult - it is a common pastime for internet users to play around with the subtitles of this particular clip. Dozens of videos using a clip from the original film, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, have been posted online with subtitles discussing a wide range of topics.
The movie recounts the last ten days of Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker. The scene in question depicts Hitler, pointing to a map, surrounded by his generals who are afraid to tell him the truth regarding his situation. In the film, it is in this scene that Hitler realizes that he has lost the war.
In the GOP video, Hitler becomes angered, screaming "What the hell are the Democrats doing?"
"At least I have Pelosi on my side. What's wrong with them?... I socialized medicine overnight and everything's going great... Like Pelosi, I don't give a s**t about the American people."
John Randall, charged with the NRCC's Twitter feed, removed the tweet in the wake of severe protest on behalf of Democrats, and apologized. "We saw the video this morning and thought, like other parodies, that it was funny. In 20-20 hindsight, we realized it was in poor taste and pulled it down... I don't want anyone to think we're comparing Democrats to Nazis and to Hitler."
The president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, David Harris, told Haaretz that the Republicans' use of Nazi symbols in campaigns against democrats has crossed the line. "It has to stop," he said.
"We've tracked at least 40 examples of use of the Holocaust analogies and this deeply offensive portrayal of the Democratic Party leadership as Nazis by some prominent Republican figures. This rhetoric reached unprecedented level of bad taste, like the recent 'tweet' that shows Speaker Pelosi and Hitler as buddies," Harris added.
"In their apology, RNCC spokesman said that they thought it was funny. For most people I know, not only Holocaust survivors and Jews, it doesn't seem funny. If they think it's funny, they just don't get it. This sort of comparison is not acceptable, it's profoundly offensive and it has to stop," he concluded.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1120809.html
QmYyNeCalmk