In proving that Godwin’s Law applies to struggling Democrat campaigns just like it applies to the Internet, the Mary Burke campaign has decided to flash some swastikas in some ads that are encouraging people to vote for Mary Burke. Here is the ad in question, and it’s just as ridiculous as you might think it would be:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K74nXfUDhDI[/youtube]

Here’s the basic gist of the ad – Gary Ellerman, the chairman of the Republican Party for Jefferson County and one of the sources for the revelation that Mary Burke was fired from Trek bicycles, had some images of swastikas on his Facebook page. The connections the ad draws are as follows: Scott Walker pals around with Ellerman, Ellerman has swastikas on his Facebook page, therefore Walker is probably a Nazi or at the very least a Nazi sympathizer.

The desperation of this ad is pretty self-evident on its merits, but there is another problem Mary Burke might want to consider about what this ad says. As the ad itself indicates, Ellerman did not have the swastikas on his Facebook page because he is pro-swastika. He included the swastikas in the process of criticizing various groups by associating with them with the swastika. In other words, the swastika is used as an attack image, not as a promotion of nazi-ism.

If using a swastika in this way is enough to make one a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer then Mary Burke is a Nazi or at least a Nazi sympathizer. After all, Mary Burke has used a swastika in a paid ad that she has placed on television. If it doesn’t matter that Ellerman was using the swastika to criticize someone then it likewise doesn’t matter that Burke was using the swastika to criticize someone. The sauce for the goose is good also for the gander.