Springtime August for Hitler

Boy, everything's coming up Hitler these days (and will be in at least a couple of later posts).

First, here's one of the teabagger mob (or whatever you want to call them) saying "Heil Hitler" to an Israeli Jew who's expressing pride in his nation's health care:



The teabagger's mock whining at the end is really something, too. Not only do these people not care about reality, they're not very nice (which should come as a shock to absolutely no one).

Next up, here's Barney Frank being awesome:



This is just lovely (hat tip to Blue Gal). Quoth the Tbogg:

Best Wonkette comment:

The “oh shit, I just became a youtube celebrity for the wrong reasons” look on her face was priceless

I think America just had its Joseph Welch vs the Teabaggers moment. Finally.

Finally, via Mike's Blog Roundup, there was a great New York Times article last week calling out the death panel bullshit and naming names. It also noted The Washington Times' Nazi "euthanasia" op-eds. I wrote about this on Sunday, and first learned of The Washington Times pieces through the February Sadly, No post I linked, but I had missed the NYT article. It's nice to see some good mainstream media accounts on this. Now if only this can become the norm. As Matthew Yglesias writes:

It’s days late, but this article from Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times on the “death panel” smear is quite good, and even a strong headline “False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots.” Beyond the headline, the article is solid. In particular, it stays appealingly first-order and just explains that this business isn’t true, who started it, who’s spread it, and what they’re trying to achieve.

The real test, however, goes beyond any one article or one reporter. What can be devastating to a person’s national reputation is when a consistent narrative develops around them as being dishonest or ignorant or what have you. Is Chuck Grassley going to be able to run around Iowa telling outrageous lies about an issue he’s allegedly an expert in and maintain his reputation as a serious, sober-minded, centrist dealmaker? If he is, then there’s really no deterrent force to lying.

Exactly. Grassley's shown himself to be a conscienceless scumbag with the death panel crap, but he also has a colossal ego and is one the key opponents to health care reform. He wants to vilify a good provision, important reform and wants to be the center of attention? Fine. Shine the spotlight on him and expose him for what he is.