Bush and Hitler

The Republican National Committee is complaining about advertisements comparing George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler that were posted briefly on on MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" web site, which invites people to submit their own creative TV spots criticizing the Bush administration's performance. MoveOn has responded that the ads were submissions to their contest and that it is "deliberately and maliciously misleading" to accuse MoveOn of "sponsoring" them. "None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund," states MoveOn founder Wes Boyd. "They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members." The finalists in the contest include some clever submissions. If nothing else, the contest is an interesting way to break down the barrier between advertiser and audience. (Is comparing Bush to Hitler worse than leading Republican strategist Grover Norquist's recent comparison of the estate tax to the Nazi Holocaust?)