On Glenn Beck, Ben Stein, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama's plan to deliver his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at Denver's Invesco Field, stated that he did not "like the idea of Senator Obama giving his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 wildly cheering people." Stein further stated: "Seventy-five-thousand people at an outdoor sports palace, well, that's something the Fuehrer would have done."
Every now and again, I run across something so mind-numbling stupid and inflammatory that it almost leaves me speechless. Ben Stein used to be something close to funny, but now he's simply proven once again how much he hates the idea of democracy- or at least the version of democracy that doesn't fit with his preconceived notions about "the way things oughta be".
Now we have Stein comparing Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. I'm not certain I could come up with anything more thoroughly offensive and disgusting if I put my mind to it. Let's face reality, though; Republicans understand that there's no way they're going to be able to defeat Obama on the issues. Obama is articulate, well-informed, highly intelligent, and able to intelligently explain his positions. John McCain just simply can't keep up. He knows it, and his supporters know it...so what we're left with is a collection of attack dogs like Ben Stein who feel perfectly justified in leveling whatever scurrilous charge happens to pop into their pointy li'l haid.
Frankly, Stein should be ashamed of himself, but like most highly partisan Republicans, shame doesn't seem to be part of his vocabulary. He's smart enough to understand what sort of inflammatory power such baseless comparisons hold for those who prefer voting Republican to thinking.
It's difficult to believe that such an ostensibly intelligent individual could be trying to smear Barack Obama by creating an association with Adolf Hitler. Then again, in Stein's case, that's very likely exactly the imagery he's trying to invoke. He's no doubt well aware that John McCain is less a candidate than a liability for the GOP...much like John Kerry was for Democrats in 2004. And he knows that McCain is going to need all the (considerable) help he can get. If it takes Ben Stein using Obama's name in the same sentence with that of Adolf Hitler, so be it.
Whatever it takes...because winning isn't everything- it's the ONLY thing.
VOTE REPUBLICAN! IT'S EASIER THAN THINKING!!!
