Bush-Hitler

What Does The Republican National Committee Not Want You to Know About The Comparisons Between Hitler and Bush?

Both men--like all human beings--began life at the beginning.

Adolph Hitler was born into a lower middle class family in 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria.

George Walker Bush was born into a wealthy family in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Both men had affectionate mothers.

Hitler's mother Klara when she was a young woman:

Bush's mother Barbara when she was a little girl:

Both men were mediocre students in school.

16 year old Hitler as drawn by a classmate:

Hitler was denied entrance to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. For years Hitler tried to become a painter and struggled in obscure poverty. One of Hitler's paintings:

Bush was a legacy entrant to Yale University. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1968.

Both men served in their country's military.

When World War I broke out Hitler, an Austrian citizen, volunteered to serve in the German army. He won the Iron Cross Second Class and the Iron Cross First Class--similar to the U.S. military's Bronze Star and Silver Star--and was wounded in combat.

During the Vietnam War Bush joined the Texas National Guard. Even with this light and relatively safe duty he found it inconvenient to perform his duties and failed to report to his post in Alabama.

Both men failed in politics during their first attempt.

After World War I ended in 1918 Hitler struggled for years as the leader of an obscure political party. Hitler at a Nazi Party meeting in 1924.

Bush unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Republican Party candidate in 1978.

Both men lived off the largesse of wealthy patrons.

Hitler was a vegetarian, a teetotaler, and a non-smoker. Here he relaxes in his Munich apartment in the early 1930's.

After his National Guard non-experience Bush obtained an MBA from Harvard. His father's friends helped him with business ventures such as ownership in the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Both men were arrested by the police.

Hitler was arrested for participating in a failed coup against the Bavarian government in 1923. He was given a five year sentence to Landsberg, a minimum security prison. He only served 6 months. Here he is being feted by visiting friends while in prison in 1924.

Bush was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol in 1976.

Both men had their lighter moments.

Hitler relaxes in the Alps with his pet German Shepard in 1932.

Bush with his family in 1990.

Both Hitler and Bush became heads of state after failing to win a majority in their respective national election. Both men had powerful allies who manipulated the country's legal system to bring them to power. In both cases these powerful allies thought their man was completely under their control.

Hitler won only 37% of the German votes in the 1932 election. He was appointed Chancellor by Paul von Hindenburg, the figurehead President of Germany in 1933.

Bush lost the 2000 popular election by over 500,000 votes. He was given the electoral victory when the United States Supreme Court refused to allow a recount of the votes from the state of Florida. Florida was controlled by Bush's brother Jeb. The United States Supreme Court justices of 2000.

Both men were catapulted to authority by a terrorist attack against their government.

Hitler seized emergency powers after a foreign terrorist was blamed for setting fire to the German parliament building in 1933.

Bush seized emergency powers after foreign terrorists crashed air planes into the World Trade Center buildings in 2001.

Hitler came to power over a Germany that had massive unemployment and was the laughing stock of Europe. Bush came to power over an America that had unprecedented prosperity and enormous international respect. After 4 years Hitler ended the unemployment and made Germany a military power in Europe. Bush lost the most jobs since the Great Depression of the 1930's and has made America the most hated nation in the world.

Both men used the emergency to create a police state.

Hitler opened special camps for those he thought were enemies of Germany. These were shrouded in secrecy. The average German knew only that the camps existed but not details of what went on within the camps's fences.

Bush opened special camps for those he thought were enemies of America. These camps also were shrouded in secrecy. The average American does not know what happens inside these camps.

Both men had people sent to their camps without the right to counsel and without the consent of any court.

In Hitler's camps terrible things happened that the German people only learned about at the end of World War II and after Hitler's death.

In Bush's camps things happen that we are not allowed to learn about.

Both men lied to their people to justify an unprovoked attack on another country.

Hitler speaking before the German parliament at the beginning of World War II.

Bush speaks to the United States Congress before the Second Iraq War.

Both men used their diplomats to make a mockery of international legal institutions.

Hitler here is seen with Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop and the Japanese Ambassador. Ribbentrop helped Hitler to effectively destroy the League of Nations.

Bush's Secretary of State, Colin Powell, helped Bush to emasculate the United Nations.

Both men had their country's military engage in aggressive war in defiance of international law.

The German military in Russia. The United States military in Iraq.

However during his first four years of power Hitler did not start a war. He waited until he could end unemployment and bring Germany to a level of prosperity that could support war. It was during his next four years that he started a war and began the mass murder of people he considered the enemies of Germany.

Both men prematurely declared victory early in their war of conquest.

Hitler celebrating the "easy" fall of France in the Summer of 1940.

Bush celebrating the "easy" fall of Iraq in the Spring of 2003.

Both men claimed to liberate conquered peoples from a murderous tyrant.

Hitler claimed to "free" Russia from the evil Jozef Stalin, the Russian dictator who murdered millions of Russians in the 1930's. Russians "liberated" by the German military.

Bush claimed to "free" Iraq from the evil Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator who murdered thousands of Iraqis. An Iraqi child "liberated" by the United States military.

Sic Semper Tyrannis.

Hitler desperate because of the defeat of the German military in the Spring of 1945 forced children to fight for him. When that did not work he committed suicide.

Hitler violated all the standards of human decency and betrayed the German people.

At the end of Hitler's 12 year reign foreign armies ruled over a ruined and devastated Germany.

During the next four years of his administration will George W. Bush evolve into an American Hitler?

8 2004 by Harold Edwards