Conservatives declare the word 'Forward' to be European and Marxist and stuff

Suspicious ... So apparently conservatives have found their next hot conspiracy theory, given that it's been picked up by both Fox News and the Washington "Bat Boy" Times. Here's the National Review version, which is the most to the point:

'Forward,' that is. I knew that sounded awfully familiar. From Wikipedia:

Vorwärts ('Forward') was the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany published daily in Berlin from 1891 to 1933 by decision of the party's Halle Congress, as the successor of Berliner Volksblatt, founded in 1884.

Friedrich Engels and Kurt Tucholsky both wrote for Vorwärts. It backed the Russian Marxist economists and then, after the split in the Party, the Mensheviks. It published articles by Leon Trotsky, but would not publish any by Vladimir Lenin...

Vorwaerts lives on today as the house organ of Germany's leftist SPD; you can read all about its illustrious history here (in German).

And if you don't think David Axelrod doesn't know this, you really ought to think again.

All right, so here's the portion of our political day dedicated toward that most ancient of political questions: "Are you shitting me? I'm pretty sure you're shitting me."

The specific premise is that using a word suggesting progress in the frontfacewardish direction is Marxist, and is like pre-Hitler Germany, and that this is not coincidental or batshit crazy because David Axelrod no doubt intended to link the campaign to scary European Marxism as a secret message to conservatives that Obama was all secretly European and Marxist and stuff. I think. It might instead be suggesting that what's needed to clean this rampant Marxism up is a good old fashioned Hitler, but we'll give the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Oh, and you could point out that the word "forward" seems to come up in lots of situations that do not seem especially Marxist. But that would be cheating. And very naughty:

Did the scared wittle Frightwingers fear Bush's "FORWARD Strategy of Freedom" READ https://t.co/... @vjmfilms @PoliticAlBor @rsmccain
' @eagle17765 via web
Personally, I like this new campaign slogan, because I fully expect Mitt Romney to counter it in the reflexive, knee-jerk anti-Obama way that has defined the entire party ever since the suspicious Marxist Kenyan ProbablyMuslim was first elected'and Mitt Romney standing at the 2012 Republican National Convention in front of a towering sign reading Backward! is quite possibly entertaining enough to justify this whole thing.