References to Nazis invade 2004 campaign

By Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press

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Republicans said the Bush video illustrated a "coalition of the wild-eyed" backing Sen. John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee. It included two clips originally found on the Web site of MoveOn.org, an anti-Bush group.

Those clips compared the president to Hitler. The ad showed images of Bush with text saying, "God told me to strike at al-Qaida," before turning to images of Hitler with the words, "And then He instructed me to strike at Saddam." The submission ended with the words "Sound familiar?" on a black-and-white screen.

MoveOn.org leaders swiftly removed the clips from their Web site and renounced them. But Republicans charged at the time that MoveOn.org stepped over the line by allowing its Web site to contain such material.

A Kerry aide denounced Bush for including the Hitler images in the new video.

"It doesn't have any place in the campaign," spokesman Phil Singer said. He called the Bush video "remarkably insensitive to the sacrifices of the millions of people who lost their lives during Hitler's reign of terror."

Eli Pariser, executive director of the MoveOn Political Action Committee, said, "The Republicans know full well that this 'Hitler' ad was never sanctioned or aired by MoveOn."

The Bush campaign's online spot begins with clips of former Vice President Al Gore assailing the Bush administration. "How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison," Gore shouts during a public speech.

It cuts to an image of Hitler, followed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, filmmaker Michael Moore and Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., all bashing Bush. There are more clips of Hitler, Gore and then Kerry, before the screen cuts to the words, "This is not a time for pessimism and rage." Video images of Bush follow.

A disclaimer was added to the beginning of the Web spot yesterday afternoon to explain that the video contains "remarks made by and images from ads sponsored by Kerry supporters." The disclaimer also accuses Kerry of failing to denounce those who have compared Hitler to Bush.

The Bush campaign stood by its video, which was posted prominently on its Web site and e-mailed to 6 million supporters.
 
"This Web video captures the anger, hatred and vitriol that emanates on a daily basis from John Kerry's campaign coalition," spokesman Steve Schmidt said.

Schmidt noted that Gore on Thursday used a reference to Nazi Germany in an anti-Bush speech in Washington, D.C. Gore accused the administration of working closely "with a network of rapid response digital brown shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors. ... "

"Brown shirts" is a phrase commonly used to describe Hitler's paramilitary thugs.