Perspective

Bret Stevens thoughtfully addresses the absence of thought (knowledge, history, wisdom ... I could go on) displayed by the Bush=Hitler crowd:

"The absence of proportion stems, in turn, from a problem of perspective. If you have no idea where you stand in relation to certain objects, then an elephant may seem as small as a fly and a fly may seem as large as an elephant. Similarly, Mr. Blumenthal can compare the American detention infrastructure to the Gulag archipelago only if he has no concept of the actual size of things. And he can have no concept of the size of things because he neither knows enough about them nor where he stands in relation to them. What is the vantage point from which Mr. Blumenthal observes the world? It is one where Fallujah is 'Stalingrad-like.' How does one manage to see the world this way? By standing too close to Fallujah and too far from Stalingrad. By being consumed by the present. By losing not just the sense, but the possibility, of judgment."

It has been my experience that many on the left are either totally ignorant of history, or - and this is by far the worst - selective about history. Ask them to lay out a case for Bush = Hitler and they won't be able to do it (except possibly some ridiculous comparisons - Bush invaded a country and so did Hitler QED). They have a passion for their politics, a passion that many believe is a justification for their cause. Unfortunately, the majority of them are too intellectually lazy to actually explore the foundations and dogma of their beliefs. The few that do end up being pilloried as neo-conservatives.