i've used this analogy before. back in the 30s, the spanish anarchists had a choice between stalin and hitler. as the war unfolded, this unfortunate choice was also before the various peoples of eastern europe, most notably the ukrainians. now, this is an interesting analogy for both scenarios for different reasons.

for the spanish, they picked stalin as the lesser evil. well, the other option was hitler, so what were they supposed to do? the authoritarian marxists certainly seemed better than the fascists, right? but, they quickly took over and in the end carried out the massacre that broke the movement and brought in franco. conclusion: a lesser evil calculation can and will backfire when the choice has it's own prerogatives. might clinton ultimately tear down what calls itself the left? so, might the alliance be self-defeating?

the ukrainians on the other hand picked hitler as the lesser evil over stalin. well, consider the holodomar. it's hard to criticize the choice. conclusion: lesser evil calculations are also subjective and often less obvious than some think.