LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles criticized MoveOn.org for accepting and posting ads comparing President George Bush to Adolf Hitler, Monday.
"Politics and preparing for a presidential election is one thing, but comparing the Bush administration's fight against al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein with the policies of Adolf Hitler is shameful, beyond the pale and has no place in the legitimate discourse of American politics," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center's founder and dean.
"Adolf Hitler was responsible for the greatest crime in the history of mankind -- the Holocaust. To compare Hitler to an American President is not only ludicrous, but defames the Holocaust."
MoveOn.org is an online U.S. advocacy group affiliated with MoveOn.org Voter Fund, which "will create and run powerful political ads in swing states to challenge President Bush's policies and his administration." It is currently running a contest on the ads.
"This ad is not about Democrats or Republicans -- it is about lies and a distortion of history," Hier said. "Move On.org has a responsibility to publicly repudiate such lies as do all political leaders."
The Wiesenthal Center is a Jewish human rights organization.
