A Fool And A Hypocrite

By now you have heard of Rick Santorum’s idiotic comments in the well of the Senate in defense of altering a Senate rule. If you haven’t, here they are again in all their glory:

“It’s the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942.” He said Democratic protests over Republican efforts to ensure confirmation votes would be like the Nazi dictator seizing Paris and then saying, “I’m in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city. It’s mine.”

By itself, likening your colleagues to Adolf Hitler is offensive enough, but it just gets better and better. I offer you, Rick Santorum, two months ago, chastising Robert Byrd for making Nazi references on, of all things, the FRIGGING FILIBUSTER:

A pair of Jewish groups Wednesday accused U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., of making an outrageous and reprehensible comparison between Adolf Hitler’s Nazis and a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering. And U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, has called for Byrd to retract his remarks.

Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin denied that the senator had compared Republicans to Hitler. He said the reference to Nazis in Byrd’s Senate speech Tuesday was meant to underscore that the past should not be ignored.

“Terrible chapters of history ought never be repeated,” Gavin said. “All one needs to do is to look at history to see how dangerous it is to curb the rights of the minority.”

Santorum, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, called for Byrd to retract his statement.

“Senator Byrd’s inappropriate remarks comparing his Republican colleagues with Nazis are inexcusable,” Santorum said in a statement yesterday. “These comments lessen the credibility of the senator and the decorum of the Senate. He should retract his statement and ask for pardon.”

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said yesterday that Byrd’s remarks show “a profound lack of understanding as to who Hitler was” and that the senator should apologize to Americans.

Consistency, the hobgoblin of…