Beyond the shared enthusiasm of the Führer and all US Presidents (with the possible exception of Warren Harding) for mass murder as an appropriate expression of national policy, I've never seen any particularly close affinity between Adolf Hitler and the current White House incumbent, but the Republican National Committee seems peculiarly sensitive on the matter.

At the end of the first week in January the RNC lashed out furiously at the Democratic website MoveOn.org for including in its competition for robust campaign ads for 2004 a couple that offered Bush/Hitler comparisons.

One shows Hitler, speaking in German, with a voiceover translating the lines as "We have taken new measures to protect our homeland.... I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator." Then, as Hitler continues to speak, the voiceover says, "God told me to strike Al Qaeda, and I struck them." The visage of A. Hitler becomes that of G. Bush.

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