In the heat of America�s many debates, �Nazi� and �fascist� are among the epithets too often hurled. Last week, for example, Rush Limbaugh compared Adolf Hitler to Pres. Barack Obama, saying each �ruled by dictate� and claimed to represent �the will of his people.�

Limbaugh added that Hitler �was called the messiah. He said people spoke through him. Do you know the very first law that Hitler ordained?  The very first law was about how to cook lobster. They were to be boiled. That was deemed to be the least painful way. . . . Now does this sound like what any conservative president has ever done, or does it sound like what liberals are doing all over this country?�

The logical flaw here: Concern for the welfare of lobsters is not an unfailing indicator of Nazi sympathies.

Not long after Limbaugh said that, I received an e-mail from Glenn Greenwald, the left-wing polemicist who writes for Salon. He pointedly reminded me that I had criticized MoveOn.org (and others) when they compared Bush to Hitler. Would I now be consistent and criticize Limbaugh on the same basis?