I checked the comments, and it is remarkable how many of ER's posts contain one of those two words.

About a quarter of the usage struck me as mere insults, and I would say to ER about that: Dude, cut back on the N- and F-words, please.

But the rest of time, in ER's case, and almost always when used by others, myself included, we're either referring to "The Nazis", the real historical ones; or using "fascist" to make a serious point about the behavior of various groups. I think that there's a strong argument to be made that most of the time, "fascist" and "Nazi" are being used properly around here

My trip down memory lane brought me to an earlier expression of my feelings on the matter:

When is it okay to compare somebody today with Nazis?

Your question as phrased, Frank, pretty narrowly asks about ad homineum attacks, which pretty much answers itself. Hitler was an individual, you can only call an individual “Hitler”. It’s personal, and just more trash politics.

But I continue to believe that it’s intellectually valid to compare a person or group’s chosen strategies, tactics, and beliefs, with those of the German National Socialists, and any other historical political figures or groups. There’s no more objective reason to be outraged by a comparison to the political tactics of Nazis than a comparison to Imperial Romans or the medieval Medicis. (Yeah, lots of subjective emotional reaons, of course, but it’s rational discourse I’m after here, not gut-purging.)

To say that somebody has taken a page from Joseph Goebbels is usually just an observation of everyday fact. Hell, watch 15 minutes of commercial TV and you’ll see half a dozen homages to The Master of Propaganda. And we all know the Big Lie lives la vida loco during every campaign season. Outrage over that comparison strikes me as a smokescreen to obscure guilt…in fact, as a fine example of the Big Lie itself.

Bowser presented an example of the kind of analysis that I think is legitimate. The history of the Nazis’ rise to power is almost completely characterized by ruthless dirty tricks and dogged attempts to destroy democracy from within, aided and abetted by a complacent population. If we’re forbidden from examining present-day political tactics for signs of the same sort of attacks on the system, aren’t we just asking for the same sort of trouble?

Maybe the Emperor is fully dressed, but we have to be free to take a look and make sure. Bowser may be wrong, but as soon as he can’t ask his questions, he’s proven right.

So on the broader question of whether it’s legitimate to compare the actions of people today with the actions of the Nazis of the past, yes, I think it is. It has to be, lest history repeat itself.

But when it comes to name-calling, I call Hank Williams Jr. an asshole for calling anybody “Hitler”.