“Any sort of conspiracy theory strikes me as odd, and the anti-semitic stuff especially so,...”
Well Ford did have his own newspaper at one time, the Dearborn Independent and he even published a multi-volume bookset called The International Jew.
“Weren’t the two mutually congratulatory at least at one point?”
Good question. I am certainly going to have to look into it. I would be curious to see what Ford thought of National Socialism in the 30’s. Was he like Charles Lindbergh? Did he have contact with the Germans and the party? Damn you for making me more curious. I have better things to do, but it will gnaw at me until I know. LOL!
I guess in the end, regarding Ford & Hitler, does it really matter? At least in the U.S. the number of people holding such views is small. I will tell you one thing, I find posts and posters like that really tend to creep me out. I am sure he is unique and NOT representative of typical Ron Paul supporters.....at least I hope not. Most of them seem nutty enough without being anti-semites as well.
My own usual, but not very informative, answer to such a question generally runs "Well, whatever his supposed ideology, Hitler was a homicidal maniac, sometimes raving, and whoever else we're talking about probably wasn't -- probably just some degree of resentful and confused."