Swastika Equivalence: It's Six of One, 600 Dozen of Another

The Detroit Free Press today had this quizzical observation:

Conspiracy theories ran amok last week over who was responsible for the “Hitler guy” parad­ing around at U.S. Rep. John Dingell’s rowdy town hall meeting Aug. 6 in Romulus.

Jamar Penn, 25, was identified as the one carrying around an oversize-photo of President Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache. He man­aged to appear in a majority of news accounts about the event.

Left-leaners were convinced Penn was evi­dence of a fascist streak in the opposition to the health care plan.

For anyone out there who supports the Obama health initiative and is alarmed by the “Fascist streak” in the opposition, can you explain for me how insulting something one deeply opposes by comparing it with Nazism is evidence that one has a fascist streak?

Why would a Hitler-loving Fascist show his contempt for someone by creating a banner with his enemy’s image made up to resemble his idol and hero?

By the way, for a useful retrospective on recent comparisons of political opponents with Hitler, see Bush as Hitler, Swastika-Mania: A Retrospective , and A Short Walk Down Memory Hole Lane.