Pennsylvania Union Thug Calls Santorum "Hitler"

There's a basic rule in politics - the first one to call the other guy "Hitler" loses. In Pennsylvania, the name caller was the local AFL-CIO thug:

The president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO said Wednesday he was wrong to have referred to Adolf Hitler while criticizing Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.

"When I think about his votes against working families, I get angry and I said something I shouldn't have," Bill George said in a statement issued in response to criticism from Santorum's campaign and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

In a story Sunday in The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News, George commented on the contrasting styles of Santorum, a conservative firebrand who is the Senate's No. 3 Republican, and his low-key challenger, Democrat Bob Casey. George said Santorum feeds off negative passions and lacks true charisma.

"Some see him as Hitler, 'I'm right' and 'we have to go kill them' and 'the hell with the poor and the working class and we have to protect the rich," the newspaper quoted George.

The quote drew a belated response Wednesday from Santorum's campaign, which drew attention to it in an e-mail to reporters, and Dole, who called upon Casey's campaign to denounce George's "outrageous" remark.

To be fair, Santorum made the mistake of using the Hitler analogy back during the Dem filibuster battle in 2005. He was wrong then, and the union thug was wrong now.