# Broun: I'm not sayin' he's Hitler, but... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160 "2008-11-11T05:11:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/61 "2008-11-12T06:46:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So, who gets to be Hitler and who gets to be Rohm? Bush could play a dual role as Hindenburg and Rohm. Otherwise, Karl Rove. Sarah Palin can play Leni Riefenstahl. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/62 "2008-11-12T06:52:39Z")
The character of Ernst Rohm would require some extensive research, a considerable investment of time. Rohm wasn’t built in a day, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/63 "2008-11-12T12:39:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hmm. I always heard that quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt (addressed to Queen Elizabeth II when Eleanor visited shortly after her coronation by most accounts, though most sources agree she was paraphrasing Cardinal Spellman’s notes when reserving a room at the Vatican Hilton). Damn it, I was drinking coffee! ETA: I didn’t actually do a spit-take, but the coffee kind of went up my nose. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/64 "2008-11-12T14:50:00Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Damn it, I was drinking coffee! > > ETA: I didn’t actually do a spit-take, but the coffee kind of went up my nose. I now coin the phrase “snort-take”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/65 "2008-11-12T14:54:01Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The character of Ernst Rohm would require some extensive research, a considerable investment of time. Rohm wasn’t built in a day, you know. **elucidator** , to the wall. **'luci** , to the wall please. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/66 "2008-11-12T15:07:19Z")
> [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](#): > > [Not anymore.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Fascism) You’ve got to understand; Freepers take this book to be divine, revealed truth and read it with greater fervor than they do the Bible. Wow. I’d have killed to see that interview with John Stewart mentioned in the Wiki article. Or maybe not killed, so much. Maybe I’d have just rounded dissenters up and put them into forced labor. I’m not a savage, or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/67 "2008-11-12T15:15:12Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Wow. I’d have killed to see that interview with John Stewart mentioned in the Wiki article. > > Or maybe not killed, so much. Maybe I’d have just rounded dissenters up and put them into forced labor. I’m not a savage, or anything. Look it up, then. I’d do it myself, but I’m late for class at the moment. The Daily Show’s website has an _excellent_ search function. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/68 "2008-11-12T15:28:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > This is why we need a politics forum. A pit thread every time a politician says something that someone doesn’t agree with is starting to get old. > > Not that I agree with this guy or anything, but Godwin’s law is kinda dumb, and I’m sure we could talk about what he said without all the snark and namecalling. What he said _was_ snark and namecalling. > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Wow. I’d have killed to see that interview with John Stewart mentioned in the Wiki article. It wasn’t very good. Mostly pretty terse. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/69 "2008-11-12T15:29:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Bush could play a dual role as Hindenburg and Rohm. > > Otherwise, Karl Rove. > > Sarah Palin can play Leni Riefenstahl. Well, remember what happens to Rohm in the Night-of-Long-Knives scenario. [draws thumb across throat] ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/70 "2008-11-12T19:52:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Well, remember what happens to Rohm in the Night-of-Long-Knives scenario. [draws thumb across throat] Was it because she’s a lesbian? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/71 "2008-11-12T22:52:11Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Was it because she’s a lesbian? [Not exactly, but . . .](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Rohm#SA_leader) > [@](#): > > SA intimidation contributed to the rise of the Nazis, breaking down the electoral activity of the left-wing parties. But the SA’s reputation for street violence, heavy drinking, and quasi-socialist radicalism was a hindrance. > > Another hindrance was the more or less open homosexuality of Röhm and other SA leaders such as his deputy Edmund Heines. [1] > > In 1931, the Munich Post, a Socialist newspaper, obtained and published Röhm’s letters to a friend in which Röhm discussed his sexual affairs with men. This resulted in a national scandal. The Nazis claimed that the letters were forged.[citation needed] Many writers have suggested Röhm and Heines allowed or encouraged SA promotions on the basis of sexual liaisons with themselves and other SA leaders. This was in spite of the official Nazi policy which condemned homosexuality. For example, SA Gruppenführer Karl Ernst had been a bouncer at a homosexual nightclub. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/72 "2008-11-12T22:57:08Z")
As P.J. O’Rourke pointed out, nobody has sexual role-playing fantasies that involve dressing up as a liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/73 "2008-11-12T23:36:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > As P.J. O’Rourke pointed out, nobody has sexual role-playing fantasies that involve dressing up as a liberal. So, were the SA the _liberal_ Nazis? I’m pretty sure they wore khakis. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/74 "2008-11-13T11:59:01Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Except that Bush joked about how he’d like to be a dictator. And said “there ought to be limits to freedom.” And locked people up for years without charges or access to representation, and claimed the authority to do the same to anybody he wanted to, including you. Little things like that. Otherwise, you’re right; it’s just like that. Right. I wonder if this idiot in Georgia ever voiced those concerns about how Bush and cronies were operating. A slow and steady tearing down of our constitutional freedoms is something to be concerned about. That’s pretty ignorant and irresponsible crap coming from an elected official. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160/75 "2008-11-13T16:50:07Z")
> [@Camus](#): > > Simply having the largest party in the Reichstag wasn’t the goal point for being chancellor. At the time Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933, no party had a majority. Hitler lost the presidential election to Hindenburg the year before and it was only when several other parliamentary coalitions failed that Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to form one with the Nazis along with Hitler’s demands to be made chancellor. > > Anyway, the point is that Broun was dead-wrong when he said Hitler was elected, in any way, shape, or form. That just means he was as elected as anyone ever gets in a parliamentary democracy. You create the executive that can hold the confidence of the house, and in a fragmented, multiparty situation, that may involve a concession such as appointing a coalition party’s leader prime minister (or chancellor, in this case). It happens from time to time in most parliamentary democracies. Technically he wasn’t elected – no head of government in a parliamentary democracy is – but the house that allowed him to command its confidence was elected. > [@elucidator](#): > > As P.J. O’Rourke pointed out, nobody has sexual role-playing fantasies that involve dressing up as a liberal. I do! _crickets chirp_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broun-im-not-sayin-hes-hitler-but/472160.md?page=3)