Cohen Levies Charge

Representative Steve Cohen has gotten in trouble for comparing Republican arguments on health care to Nazi propaganda on the floor of the House.  Part of his speech:

[The Republicans] say it's a government takeover of health care--a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeate the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it-- and you had the Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again.  We heard on this floor: government takeover of health care.

When asked about this rhetoric, he first said there was no apology required, though he was sorry people were offended.  He noted this was only a small part of a seven-minute speech--seeing it in context is necessary.

The next day, he pulled back a little further, apologizing directly, but still pretty much standing his ground:

I regret that anyone in the Jewish community, my Republican colleagues or anyone else was offended by the portrayal of my comments. My comments were not directed toward any group or people but at the false message and, specifically, the method by which it has been delivered.

So Republicans aren't like Nazis, just their message and tactics.

I still can't get over how people can so causally compare others to Nazis.  Even if the Republicans had said something obviously wrong, there's simply no excuse for it.

I guess I gotta go back to my flow chart to help politicians with their rhetoric:

1. Should I compare [the issue at hand] to [something the Nazis did]?
2. No