Radical leaders in world history do prey on the fearful and naive, to institute agendas that squander/squash human freedom, but is this an effective way for the Tea Party (in north Iowa) to express so? It certainly has garnered a lot of attention (unsurprisingly):
The Associated Press has this:
(AP) —A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is being condemned by other tea party activists.
The North Iowa Tea Party began displaying the sign in Mason City last week.
The sign includes photos of Obama, Nazi leader Hitler and communist leader Lenin with the statement: “Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive.”
North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson says the sign highlights what the group argues is Obama’s support for socialism. He says the pictures might be overwhelming the intended message.
Shelby Blakely, a spokeswoman for the national Tea Party Patriots, says the sign isn’t appropriate. She says her group opposes any comparisons of Obama to Hitler or Lenin.
The White House declined to comment.
I'd like to know what my readers think of this. Another Black Conservative points out that a full 55% of Americans believe Obama and that the billboard isn't all that shocking.
Mason City, Iowa residents - have you seen this billboard and what do you think?
UPDATED: I hate linking HuffPo but they have this:
The co-founder of the roughly 200-person group said the billboard was intended to send an anti-socialist message. But Bob Johnson admitted Tuesday that the message may have gotten lost amid the images of fascist and communist leaders.
"The purpose of the billboard was to draw attention to the socialism. It seems to have been lost in the visuals," Johnson said. "The pictures overwhelmed the message. The message is socialism." He said he didn't know of any plans to remove the sign.
But others in the tea party movement criticized the sign.
"That's just a waste of money, time, resources and it's not going to further our cause," said Shelby Blakely, a leaders of the Tea Party Patriots, a national group. "It's not going to help our cause. It's going to make people think that the tea party is full of a bunch of right-wing fringe people, and that's not true."
Update II: (by Proof) Smitty over at The Other McCain posted an update that the billboard has been removed.
Posts
"That's just a waste of money, time, resources and it's not going to further our cause"
ReplyDeleteI agree, only it's worse than a waste. We need to persuade people of the wrongness of his policies. Making the comparison to despots and dictators doesn't make the point and could very well alienate the people we need to reach most.
Proof - As much as I loathe the Obamanation, I have never referred to him as Hitler, Lenin, or Stalin...
ReplyDeleteBut, he is a statist and is pushing to squash individual freedom. I think you are right though - the Hitler reference is off-putting in the least.
I might do it as satire to make a point, such as the poster I did, "Ein Folk, Ein Reich, Ein Bumbler", but to seriously compare an American liberal statist to a murderous dictator goes beyond hyperbole in my book.
ReplyDeleteAgain, that's not saying you cannot note any similarities, but it is a false equivalence, such as we chide the liberals for doing all too often.
Obama is not Hitler.