The Inevitable "Oliver Stone Puts Hitler 'Into Context'" Post

We first mentioned Oliver Stone’s upcoming Showtime history as conspiracy theories miniseries when it first announced back in August. As Hugh Hewitt joked at the time, “I’d like to thank Oliver Stone in advance for enough material to fuel 50 radio shows.”

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Let the mayhem begin:

Director Oliver Stone’s upcoming Showtime documentary miniseries “Secret History of America” promises to put mass murderers such as Stalin and Hitler “in context.”

“Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy — these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history,” Stone told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour in Pasadena.

“Stalin has a complete other story,” Stone said. “Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect … People in America don’t know the connection between WWI and WWII … I’ve been able to walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view. We’re going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions … Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated.”

* * *

“He’s not saying we’re going to come out with a more positive view of Hitler,” emphasized professor Peter Kuznick, the lead writer on the project. “But we’re going to describe him as a historical phenomenon and not just somebody who appeared out of nowhere.”

Stone said that conservative pundits will dislike the show.

“Obviously, Rush Limbaugh is not going to like this history and, as usual, we’re going to get those kind of ignorant attacks,” said Stone, who also also compared the experience of sympathizing with war criminals to making his “W” movie about George W. Bush. “I’m trying to understand somebody I thoroughly despised.”

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Yeah, you gotta watch out for those crazy nutters who don’t think that JFK was killed by a combination of Lyndon Johnson, the CIA, the  joint chiefs of staff, and Richard Nixon all colluding behind the scenes.

As Sister Toldjah puts it, rounding up additional reaction from the starboard half of the Blogosphere, “Oliver Stone plans to rehab Hitler’s, Stalin’s reputations – at the expense of America’s.”

Of course, Stone’s show should enjoy support from both Jon Stewart and Pat Buchanan — the two men’s worldviews aren’t as distant as they first seem.

Update: Or as Greg Gutfeld puts it, “Me? I don’t care if Adolf’s mommy never loved him, or the maid made fun of his willy. I had similar problems, and I still didn’t kill six million Jews.”

Update: A pair of debarkation queries from Allahpundit:

Exit question one: Anyone not think his “contextualization” of an economically depressed Germany turning to populist political terror is going to end in some sort of half-assed tea-party analogy? Exit question two: Why does Stone assume that only conservative pundits will object to trying to understand Stalin’s and Hitler’s “point of view”? Not saying he’s wrong, but I’d love to hear him explain.

Has anybody seen Rod Blagojevich and Stone in the same room together, given both liberals’ penchant for wild dissembling while the cameras roll?

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