A group of right-wing ‘bloggers, responding to President Gore referring to them as ‘Brown Shirts,’ have proudly donned the mantle and are featuring a logo on their sites which has a photo of Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Roehm on it. A swastika was on there as well, but was removed because it was ‘offensive to some.’ They wear the logo as a badge of honor and slam any naysayers by hiding behind a cover of ‘it’s only satire.’

They also say it’s in the tradition of gays calling themselves ‘fags;’ co-opting the insult robs it of its sting.

While I’m all for that (and it has the added benefit of taggin’ ‘em so you can immediately know they’re fascists without havin’ to read their claptrap), I wonder if they really know what they’re doing? I doubt it.

After all, surely any intelligent individual would pause and think long and hard before identifying (even in the cause of ‘satire’) with the movement which was principally responsible for the deaths of over 50 million people between 1933 and 1945. Right?