Argumentum ad Hitlerum

Argumentum ad Hitlerum: A lazy man's use of historical analogy that only serves to short circuit discussion of a topic. "The resort to Hitler to end discussion on everything from capital punishment ('well, Hitler deserved it, didn't he?') to vegetarianism ('it didn't improve Hitler's character, did it?')." See Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil (1998), xxii. For hilarious discussion of Glenn Beck's uses of Nazi analogies, see this clip from the Daily Show.