Congressman’s ‘brown shirt’ comment criticized; Dems want repudiation of Rush
A Democratic congressman's use of Nazi imagery to describe protesters at town hall meetings is drawing criticism from both the Republican Jewish Coalition and the National Jewish Democratic Council. But the NJDC is noting similar rhetoric is coming from the right as well, including Rush Limbaugh's comparison yesterday of the Democratic Party to the Nazi Party.
Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) told the Columbian that he'd be conducting “telephone town halls” with voters instead of appearing in person:
Baird said he's using the new system because he fears his political opponents may be planning "an ambush" to disrupt his meetings, using methods Baird compared to Nazism.
"What we're seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics," Baird, D-Vancouver, said in a phone interview. "I mean that very seriously."
RJC executive director Matt Brooks said he found it “very troubling that a member of Congress would resort to such inflammatory and offensive rhetoric.”
“Obviously public opinion is shifting dramatically away from the Democrats' health care reform legislation and rather than face the citizens of his district openly, Congressman Baird would rather try to stifle discussion and make inappropriate Nazi references about his constituents.”
NJDC president David Harris agreed that Baird's remarks were inappropriate.
“We think all Holocaust comparisons used in politics are wrong and unfortunate on both sides of the aisle,” said Harris. “We've been careful to say over the years that nobody should be engaging in Hitler comparisons, Nazi comparisons.”
But Harris then went to note, though, that many of those comparisons had been coming from activists on the right, noting, as examples, this Obama protester holding a swastika sign at a town hall meeting last week and comments on Thursday by Rush Limbaugh that “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate" and his comparison of Democrats and Nazis
“It needs to stop,” said Harris, and “it's time for the Republican Party to stand up and say enough is enough.”
The Democratic Party is now calling on the top Republican Jewish lawmaker to repudiate Limbaugh's remarks. Here's Ron's brief:
"Rush Limbaugh's comparison of the Democratic Party to the Nazi Party in World War II is as disgusting as it is shocking," said a statement Thursday from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Limbaugh's use of the Nazi swastika in attempting to make a tasteless political comparison has no place in the public discourse. Just this past weekend, Minority Whip Eric Cantor said that the GOP 'needs' Mr. Limbaugh. He should immediately condemn Limbaugh's hateful rhetoric in the strongest possible terms and encourage Republican Members to do the same."
The reference to Cantor (R-Va.), who is Jewish, arose out of an interview in Ha'aretz; Cantor has in the past said that polarizing figures such as Limbaugh should not dominate the Republican discourse. In the Ha'aretz interview he was making clear that he still feels Limbaugh and other hard-liners have a place in the party.
Limbaugh launched his attack Thursday after U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decried the use of swastikas by protesters at town hall meetings aimed at explaining Obama administration health care proposals. Although it is clear from Pelosi's remarks that she is not likening the protesters to Nazis -- she is instead decrying how the protesters liken Democrats to Nazis -- Limbaugh accuses Pelosi of likening Republicans to Nazis.
"She's running around now claiming that we're Nazis, that not only are we an unruly mob but that people are showing up wearing swastikas," he said.
Limbaugh then makes a case for Democrats being close to Nazis, citing as examples a truck driver who in 1997 appeared in Congress to back a Clinton-era tax plan and who as a a teenager had tattooed a swastika on his arm. Limbaugh also says the symbol for the Obama health care plan resembles Nazi imagery.
U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who founded the Institute on the Holocaust and the Law, called on Republicans to denounce Limbaugh's comments.
"The Holocaust taught us that silence in the face of evil expression becomes acquiescence to evil," Israel said. "And what Limbaugh said is pure evil."
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David Harris should power down. References to nazi imagery when talking about opponents comes from the left not the right. Additionally, Rush Limbaugh is a very pro-israel guy. Has anybody who listens to his program will attest. Brian Baird is definitely not a pro-israel guy. And in fact comes down on the side of Hamas. It would be nice if the NJDC worried a little more about the 6 million LIVE Jews in Israel
@Bill Pearlman.."Rush Limbaugh is a very pro-israel guy” Agreed..That is why he took this typical change the issue focus on victimizing approach..Problem is it backfired.
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Peter and Suzanne
08/07/09 05:20 PM
Here’s an excerpt from a very well written article:
“I’m sure Democrats in California and elsewhere don’t view themselves as Nazis. But there are some uncomfortable parallels. The Nazis were socialists. The official name of their party was the “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei,” which we know as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. And the similarities?
The Nazis supported euthanasia. Democrats and their judicial operatives support euthanasia, even when it’s against the family’s wishes. When you finish here, check out the Terri Schindler-Schiavo story.
The Nazis supported human experiments by doctors and scientists. At Nuremberg, 20 Nazi doctors were brought to justice for human experimentation at the Dachau, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Yet Democrats in America have nothing but contempt for Christians and others who see ethical problems in human embryo experimentation.
Nazis supported eugenics in the hope of “breeding a better race.” Democrats have resisted efforts in Congress to control cloning and genetic engineering, which will ultimately be tried on people by scientists who see themselves as above ethical dilemmas.
The Nazis supported gun control. According to Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, “the Gun Control Act of 1968 was lifted, almost in its entirety, from Nazi legislation.”
The Nazis were masters of propaganda. We call it “spin.” They had a plan for Christmas and other religious holidays: “The Nazis set about establishing their own rituals and holidays immediately after taking power. This interesting article from the party journal for such matters discusses what to do with existing holidays and rituals, most of which had a Christian basis. It suggests that holidays such as Christmas can be given new content, turning them into Nazi holidays rather than religious ones.” Kwanzaa or Christmas? Spring Break or Easter?”
I would add they were also very anti-smoking and pro-abortion, and demanded in their 1925 platform the “nationalization of all trusts, and profit sharing of large industries, increase in pensions.” And also:
“In order to make it possible for every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education, and thus the opportunity to reach into positions of leadership, the State must assume the responsibility of organizing thoroughly the entire cultural system of the people. The curricula of all educational establishments shall be adapted to practical life. The conception of the State Idea (science of citizenship) must be taught in the schools from the very beginning. We demand that specially talented children of poor parents, whatever their station or occupation, be educated at the expense of the State.”
“ The State has the duty to help raise the standard of national health by providing maternity welfare centers, by prohibiting juvenile labor, by increasing physical fitness through the introduction of compulsory games and gymnastics, and by the greatest possible encouragement of associations concerned with the physical education of the young.”
“Newspapers transgressing against the common welfare shall be suppressed.”
“It fights against the Jewish materialist spirit within and without, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our folk can only come about from within on the pinciple: COMMON GOOD BEFORE INDIVIDUAL GOOD
“ In order to carry out this program we demand: the creation of a strong central authority in the State, the unconditional authority by the political central parliament of the whole State and all its organizations.”