Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
An Ohio Republican congressional candidate says his decision to dress in a Nazi uniform as part of a historical reenactment was not wrong or insensitive.
Rich Iott (second from right in above photo) wore the costume, he says, as part of historical reenactments he undertook with his son to educate the public:
"I don't see anything wrong about educating the public about events that happened. And that's the whole purpose of historical re-enacting," Iott told the Associated Press.
Iott is pushing his luck on this one. While I can understand the need for actors in a movie to put on the horrible Nazi uniform, I'm not sure an individual needs to wear one for a reenactment.
With New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino being accused of making racist and homophobic remarks, the Tea Party and Republicans are now being associated with prejudice. Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida cited Iott as an example of GOP candidates with extreme views.
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She said Iott was part of a "a disturbing trend in the corrupt and pretty despicable recruiting job they've done."
"Those are their top-tier candidates that are in their Young Guns program," Wasserman Schultz added. "If that's the choice that Republicans are offering, then I think Democrats are going to be successful because they'll be represented by people that they know."
"My first reaction was shock, my second reaction was dismay, my third reaction is disgust, from what I've seen," said Marcy Kaptur, the incumbent Democratic lawmaker who Iott is challenging.
Even Republicans are distancing themselves from this one.
"You know good and well that I don't support anything like that," said Eric Cantor, the House Republicans' No. 2 leader, who is Jewish.
The AP writes:
Iott said he has been involved in re-enactments on and off for roughly 35 years. He said he has dressed as an American soldier for World War I and World War II re-enactments, as well as a soldier from each side of the Civil War. Iott said he could not recall when he and his son joined the Wiking group but that he was no longer involved.
"Never, in any of my re-enacting of military history, have I meant any disrespect to anyone who served in our military or anyone who has been affected by the tragedy of war, especially the Jewish Community," Iott said in a statement Saturday. Actually, people are disgusted with politicians who try to sweep inexcusable actions under the table.
Then maybe he shouldn't have put the uniform on.
There are better ways to educate young people about the horrors of the Holocaust than to put on a Nazi uniform. The volume of films, books and educational materials about that awful event are too numerous to list. That's where kids should be pointed to if they want to learn about what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
My teachers didn't come to school with white hoods and flaming crosses to teach me about the KKK. No one needs to be whipped or forced to pick cotton to learn about the atrocities of slavery.
And this just reinforces some of the comments and attitudes coming from Tea Party events. A lot of the criticism of President Barack Obama also seems based on race-baiting and xenophobia: Obama is a Muslim, his ideas are based on those of his radical Kenyan father, health care reform is just more welfare for blacks.
People who participate in perpetuating these hateful ideas need to be called out.
"His failure to apologize is particularly shameful and desecrates the memory of all victims of the Nazis, Jew and non-Jew," Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said in a written statement.
Iott even pulled the old "my best friend is Jewish" trick to try and prove that dressing as a Nazi means nothing and accused Cantor of political grandstanding:
"What Cantor did is exactly the illustration of why people are disgusted with politicians," Iott said. "He made comments and took a position that was good for him at the time, regardless of whether it was good for anyone else or good for the voters."