Practical Application of the New Civility Movement

Yeah, that civility initiative is goin' real well:

A House Democrat compared Republicans to one of the most reviled Nazis during World War ll– ignoring efforts on both sides of the aisle to tone down the political rhetoric.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, used a late night House floor speech Tuesday to hit Republicans for what he called "lies" about a government takeover of the health care system, and evoked Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

"They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie, just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually people believe it," he said.

That should really help the healing. The best part? As CNN's aptly named Dana Bash reports, Cohen doubled down today:

In a telephone interview with Cohen Wednesday he stood by his comments.

"I didn't see anything wrong with it. Goebbels was the great propagandist of probably the 20th century, and his whole theory was if you tell the lie over and over again people will believe it," Cohen told CNN.

Dude does seem be lacking a bit of self-awareness, now doesn't he? Breathe deep the cognitive dissonance:

"I don't think I was comparing the Republicans to Goebbels. I was saying that lies are lies and Goebbels was the great perpetrator of lies and that's a danger, and if you look at Goebbels you can see the lie that he told about Jews which he constantly did, became considered fact in Germany that the Jews were evil, and people got involved and didn't stand up."

But fear not -- Cohen is certain he is remaining true to the president's call for civility:

"I think civility is not lying, and if you can't come up and say that somebody is lying when they're lying, then the lie becomes the truth. That's not uncivil to say somebody lied," he said.

That would explain why Rep. Joe Wilson was celebrated for his statement last year, of course. On the bright side, Cohen does have some reassuring news for those of us who worry about all these lying Goebbels acolytes who are apparently roosting in the halls of Congress:

But, after several questions about the appropriateness of evoking a Nazi to make that point, Cohen did say that "there are no Nazis in Congress, there are some liars, but no Nazis."

Well, I feel better now.