[ClearCase_guy]

Your argument basically boils down to the idea that fascism isnt communism and therefore hitler was right wing.

A lot of leftist a make that point.

[ek_hornbeck]

My argument rests on the definitions of left wing and right wing that you would find in any dictionary, and the fact that in their own time fascists and nazis were regarded as reactionary (i.e. right wing) movements rather than radical (i.e. left wing) movements both by their sympathizers and by their enemies. The fact that fascism doesn't have much in common with libertarianism means nothing, by the same token Stalinism doesn't have much in common with anarchism, but few would deny that both anarchism and Stalinism are left-wing movements.

Consider who supported whom during the Spanish civil war. Francisco Franco was backed by the clergy and the aristocracy in Spain. He was also backed by Hitler and Mussolini. The labor unions and other left-wingers who opposed Franco were backed by Stalin. So either Franco and his supporters among the nobility and clergy were "leftist," or there's something rather odd about "left wing" Fascists supporting a reactionary governments in Spain and Latin America.

However, if you want to redefine the political spectrum (not to mention the historical record) to fit with what Jonah Goldberg says, there isn't much more that I can say.