Separated at Birth

I was reading an article in TLS about the efforts of the Allies in world war two to explore the psychology of Hitler and the Nazis, and the piece included a portrait of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's closest aide and the co-author of Mein Kampf. In 1941, Hess had boosted a Luftwaffe plane and parachuted into Scotland, after which, instead of negotiating peace between Germany and Great Britain, which had been his fantasy, he was locked up and exposed to psychoanalysis. He was a key source for these efforts, of course, which was why the portrait. Well, I have to say he looks uncannily like Mitt Romney--like separated at birth. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this.

Of course, the fact that he looks just like the number two Nazi has no bearing whatever on Mr. Romney's politics, which are certainly to the left of Herr Hess's. The only similarity I can see between the characters of the two men are a substantial self-regard and a reluctance to take responsibility for the negative effects of the policies each was responsible for. That said, despite the resemblance (and it would be interesting to see Mr. Romney in Nazi regalia, just to check it out) we should be careful to distinguish the perfectly decent corporate mogul from the loathsome fascist sycophant, the devotee of the worst regime in European history.

Here's the image:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nbZNrkKG60E/TihXrmCKT3I/AAAAAAAAAVM/jhVCMDgFEJo/s1600/RudolfHess-01s.jpg