Rush Limbaugh flunks Graphic Design 101

Hot on the the heels of the Obama-as-the-Joker poster that has mysteriously turned up on freeway walls in L.A. and on the Internet, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Thursday compared the logo of the president's healthcare reform plan with the graphic design of Hitler's Nazi symbol. Reproduced here, both designs are juxtaposed on Limbaugh's website.

"[You] will find that the Obama healthcare logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo," Limbaugh asserted to his listeners. "I'm going to show you people watching on the Dittocam this, and there you are: The middle frame is the Obama healthcare logo. At the bottom is an official Nazi logo, eagle and everything, spread wings, or bird with spread wings."

Limbaugh also urged listeners to visit a website called "Sweetness & Light," where conservative blogger Steve Gilbert, who was involved with the swift boat veterans campaign against Vietnam War hero John Kerry in 2004, compared the two designs. Gilbert claims that the "similarity" is apt because Obama is following Hitler's Nazi plan for "cradle-to-grave nationalized healthcare."

There's just one hitch: Asserting a resemblance between the two logos is like saying Limbaugh resembles Gary Busey because both men have two eyes, a nose, a mouth and a drug addiction. Obama's healthcare logo includes no eagle, Roman symbol of imperial authority, and it has no swastika, the bent-arm cross designed by Hitler himself as the emblem of National Socialism. Instead, the Obama design surmounts the red, white and blue landscape of his presidential campaign logo with a caduceus, the winged staff entwined with serpents that derived from the rod of Asclepius, son of Greek god Apollo. An ancient symbol of healing, the rod is often used as a medical logo. So the Obama design shows a medical symbol above the American landscape.

Make that two hitches: The claim that Nazism embraced healthcare is obscene.

So much for Graphic Design 101. No imperial eagle, no swastika, false messaging -- but other than that, darn close!

--Christopher Knight

Credit: rushlimbaugh.com

Comments

[Ron]

Rush would know about Nazi's. He sort of looks like Goebles doesn't he? Spreading lies over the airways, the man has no shame. He claims to be a patriot but inflames some of the public that listed to his dribble to go to town hall meetings and prevent public exchange on one of our countries greatest needs, health care. But why should Rush care about the millions that have no health care,he has what he wants. That's right Rush, keep spewing your hateful mantra and flush all of your faithful listeners right down the toilet with you.

[Bingo]

"Limbaugh also urged listeners to visit a website called "Sweetness & Light," where conservative blogger Steve Gilbert, who was involved with the swift boat veterans campaign against Vietnam War hero John Kerry in 2004..."

Uh oh...the odious (and obligatory) "swiftboat" connection. Will the left never get over the Kerry smackdown by a handful of Veteran Patriots?

Never heard of Steve Gilbert nor his involvement with the Swiftvets, but he has certainly gained credibility with this revelation.

Thanks for the tip.

[Janey]

Similar does not mean identical. They look similar!

[Ernest A. Canning]

I believe the AMA utilizes a virtually identical symbol of healing.

Rush and other hard-right commentators meet the definition of "American fascists" presciently provided by former VP Henry Wallace in a 04/09/1944 NY Times Op Ed:

"The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money and more power."

“They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjugation."

When Rush & his ilk try to label progressives as Nazis, they are simply projecting their own anti-democratic thinking onto to those who do not agree with their narrow world view.

[Millard]

"Vietnam War hero John Kerry..." Hahaha Funny, I must've missed your column on Family Guy having a Nazi wearing a McCain-Palin button, and McCain was a REAL hero, not a hero by virtue of shooting a 14-year-old Vietnamese boy in the back. Hahaha. Oh, you can do all the conservatives-are-Nazis you want, but Democrats can bring up a "very close personal friend" as they did in 1997, Daschle, and find the guy has a swastika TATTOO and it's not news. In fact, fellow "Vietnam war heroes" cannot even criticize a John Kerry.

What pap.

[mlp]

Excuse me, you all, but as a graphic designer I was floored by the identical compositions of the Obama design and the Nazi design. It's only the details that are different. The administration really ought to understand that not all Americans are as historically ignorant as they are and that they are continuously giving the impression of solidarity with regimes that throughout history have bee OUR ENEMIES. If you can't see the similarities between these two designs then you are BLIND.

[Michael]

Just one more example as to how wacky right wing nuts like Rash Lamebrain have become. New Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota put it succinctly in his book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" a few years ago. Limbaugh is less fat now, I guess. I hope women listeners of this kook realize that he once said that "Women's liberation is a way for plain or downright unattractive women to gain equal footing in the workplace..."

[busboy33]

similarities . . . let's see:

both designs have wings above a circle. That's it.

differences . . . let's see:

Healthcare wings are not part of a bird. Circle in healthcare logo is flag stripes, representing hills of the Heartland. Body of healthcare symbol is a caduceus, which has never, ever, ever been thought of as a symbol of the Nazi Party.
Nazi logo has no caduceus. Nazi circle is a wreath. Nazi circle contains swastika.

. . . so I guess they're totally similar, right?

As Tim noted above, you can make the same "comparison" to the Marines logo:
http://www.wpclipart.com/armed_services/Marines/Logo_USMC.png
even more connection, since the Marines and the Nazis use a bird, looking left, with outstreched wings. Both birds appear to be eagles. Both birds are grasping the circle in their talons. Clearly, the Marines are far more obviously a tool of National Socialism.

To the commenters here agreeing there is a connection:
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS?

[Wayne]

Thanks to Rush, we can now keep track of how many brain dead folks their are following that fathead.

[MIlton Chapman]

I remember when Rush Limbaugh used to say he would not retire from radio until all Ameicans agreed with him. He's moving in the opposite direction. Does that mean he will retire when nobody agrees with him? C'mon El Rushbo, keep getting weirder and weirder.

[Esoteric Knowledge]

Correction: I ment Nationalization/Social Democrats...not Liberal Democrats. Social Democrats are not even in the American Political system.

Little Psychopath Rush is simply psychologically projecting Conservative ideals onto someone else when he talks about Nazis. Who is the party with the fascist motivations and values? Conservatives not Liberals.

Yes we will bring up conservatives-are-nazis all we want, and you will ignore the debate all you want since you know your going to lose if you go past kindergarden-level thinking...Coward. Millard is a good example of psychopathic behavoir.

[BillyBilly]

"Rush would know about Nazi's. He sort of looks like Goebles doesn't he?"

Assuming you meant Joseph Goebbels, no, Goebbels was a skinny little guy. Looked much more like Rahm Emmanuel, actually.

http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/18813.gif
http://www.fanpix.net/picture-gallery/700/1057700-rahm-emanuel-picture.htm

[Vorarlberger Blogger]

If you compare the nazi swastika logo with the Obama healthcare reform plan, you will love to youtube: corporate symbolism and government symbols

[DRH]

"The claim that Nazism embraced healthcare is obscene"

Regardless of whether it is "obscene", it is true. You might want to read (as an example) "The Nazi War on Cancer" by Robert N. Proctor.

[DRH]

@busboy33 -

Here's the problem with your superficial comparison : the "cirlcle" in the Marine "logo" is the world, on which an eagle is perched.

The Nazi and Obama logos both feature a bird-shape attached to personal symbols - Hitler's personally-designed swastika and Obama's personally-chosen campaign symbol. No such personal symbol exists for the Marine Corps.

Now go clear table 6.