Katrina Vanden Heuvel has a good piece in the Washington Post today entitled "Update Our Insults: New Names to Call" (March 26, 2006; Page B03). It begins:
"Here's a modest proposal for improving national political discussion: Stop equating our opponents with famous dictators, their chief executioners, police apparatus or ideologies. I'm all for learning from history, but times are hard enough in American politics -- with war, threats to national security, the greatest divide between rich and poor in our history and deep cultural divisions. Present differences deserve to be described in contemporary terms. The purpose of public speech is not just to restate anger but to clarify the principles and evidence that fuel it -- in ways that invite discussion, not inhibit it."
This reminds me of Dave Barry's advice about how to win arguments:
"Compare your opponent to Adolf Hitler. This is your heavy artillery, for when your opponent is obviously right and you are spectacularly wrong. Bring Hitler up subtly. Say: 'That sounds suspiciously like something Adolf Hitler might say' or 'You certainly do remind me of Adolf Hitler.'"