Good piece, emp.
I think anyone remaining among the left ought to take a look at how readily they eat their own (Jesse & Al on Obama, the press on Will Smith), and run far, far away.
Smith's point was, as you said, a valid one. For all of our perceptions of evil, nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks "hey, let's see how evil I can be today". The shameful thing about the left is that they refuse to see ANYTHING valid about Hitler, which is the most convenient way to bring about another Hitler ("those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it").
A few years ago, we began collecting a children's book series from an out of print and highly politically incorrect author, Madeline Brandeis. It began when we read a BRILLIANT book of hers called "Little Tony of Italy". The book is written at a very easy to read level, and details a young Italian orphan who is taken in by a family and helped into Mussolini's youth corps (the name of it escapes me at the moment). It contains a chapter where the father sits young Tony down and tells him the history of Italy, and the national pride that Mussolini was restoring through the fascist movement.
For everyone who has ever wondered WHY Mussolini came to power in the first place, because they never saw life through the eyes of an Italian in the 30's, this book was a breath of fresh air. It answered questions teachers CANNOT answer, for fear of losing their jobs, but that NEED to be answered so that we avoid repeating the same mistakes.
I'm fairly certain that's why it is out of print now, though. We don't want to teach our children to THINK!