GOP House Candidate Pretends To Be A Nazi

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_10/026048.php

GOP HOUSE CANDIDATE PRETENDS TO BE A NAZI.... I don't generally begrudge politicians' leisure habits. We all have hobbies and various recreational activities we enjoy, and who's to say which leisure pursuit is better than the other?

That said, when a congressional candidate chooses to spend his weekends pretending to be a Nazi, just for the fun of it, there may be a problem. Josh Green had this rather remarkable scoop.

An election year already notable for its menagerie of extreme and unusual candidates can add another one: Rich Iott, the Republican nominee for Congress from Ohio's 9th District, and a Tea Party favorite, who for years donned a German Waffen SS uniform and participated in Nazi re-enactments.

Iott, whose district lies in Northwest Ohio, was involved with a group that calls itself Wiking, whose members are devoted to re-enacting the exploits of an actual Nazi division, the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, which fought mainly on the Eastern Front during World War II. Iott's participation in the Wiking group is not mentioned on his campaign's website, and his name and photographs were removed from the Wiking website.

When contacted by The Atlantic, Iott confirmed his involvement with the group over a number of years, but said his interest in Nazi Germany was historical and he does not subscribe to the tenets of Nazism.

Now, I've heard about Civil War re-enactments, and I'm certainly not inclined to criticize those who "fight" for the South in these make-believe scenarios to be slavery-loving traitors. But Iott dressing up like a Nazi isn't quite comparable.

Indeed, reading Green's piece, it seems Iott and his fellow Nazi re-enactors had a certain admiration for Hitler's Germany, and its fight against "Bolshevist Communism."

In fairness, it's worth emphasizing that the re-enactors' website includes a disclaimer noting that they "do not embrace the philosophies and actions" of the Nazis, and "wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities which made them infamous."

On the other hand, Iott's little troupe also said it exists in part to "salute" the "idealists" and "front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS" and their "basic desire to be free." It also characterizes Wiking volunteers as "valiant men," overlooking the minor detail that they also rounded up Jews to be slaughtered.

Green spoke to one historian who noted, "These guys don't know their history. They have a sanitized, romanticized view of what occurred." Another scholar said, Iott and his buddies have an understanding of World War II that is "so unhistorical and so apologetic that you don't know to what degree they've simply caught up innocent war memorabilia enthusiasts who love putting on uniforms."

Iott is not, by the way, just some weirdo who managed to somehow win a GOP primary -- he's a member of the NRCC's "Young Guns" Program and a party favorite against incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D).

I know Republicans are likely to have a very good year, and will likely even take back at least one chamber of Congress. But I continue to marvel at the caliber of GOP candidates who'll be on the ballot this fall. Win or lose, many of these major-party nominees are a national embarrassment.

—Steve Benen

[Cirque du So-What]

1. The whole idea of a 'disclaimer'

is negated by their unabashed admiration for a fascist regime's shock troops.

[The Straight Story]

2. two girls I worked with in the 90's were re-enactors, revolutionary war

Along with their boyfriends. One of them played the british - does that mean she wants us all to be ruled by a king?

People dress up like nazi's all the time in movies.

Re-enacments need at least 2 sides, so someone is going to have play the bad guy.

What next, will someone call me a nazi for having mein kampf on my nook? What if I collect historical memorabilia from that time and had a nazi flag laying around?

I care about policy, they can dress like hitler and piss in their wheaties before they eat them and I don't care all too much - just vote the right way like we hired you to, cause if you don't, that's a firing.

[babylonsister]

3. You're right, not 'necessarily' a bad thing, BUT this is the

passage I have a major problem with...

Iott's little troupe also said it exists in part to "salute" the "idealists" and "front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS" and their "basic desire to be free." It also characterizes Wiking volunteers as "valiant men," overlooking the minor detail that they also rounded up Jews to be slaughtered.

I can't even wrap my mind around it.

[The Straight Story]

4. He lost my vote at the (R) part :) but yes, it seems he might be a little overzealous

There is difference in appreciation and emulation.

[leveymg]

5. The "appreciation" part is enough for me.

Let's put it this way, if he was just playing a part in some Hollywood production of a WW2 battle, no harm. But, if this guy dresses up as a Nazi storm trooper on a regular basis, there's something seriously wrong with him in my book.

[Dark]

7. Reinactment isn't a bad thing by itself. Reinacting an SS unit, however, is rather disturbing, as

they were the ones who rounded up the Jews and performed most of the atrocities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS

They were also responsible for executing Nazi leaders who upset Hitler. The Gestapo (German secret police) were part of the SS.

[frazzled]

8. Playing a Redcoat and playing an SS Stormtrooper are radically different things

Especially when the web site of the Nazi enactors is as disturbing as this one was (read the whole article).

There are also some huge differences between Revolutionary War or Civil War enactments and World War II enactments: the first two wars took place on battlefields right here in the United States. Historical reenactments makes sense because they take place at local historical sites--which, by the way, bring tourists. World War II reenactments are just plain bizarre. These battles took place thousands of miles away across an ocean, not on U.S. soil. They are not commemorating a site, they are playing dress-up war pure and simple, and so the stakes are very different.

There are practical reasons to be one of the bad guys in the traditional Revolutionary War enactments. We used to live right in the area of "the shot heard round the world." Once, I think it was on Patriots Day, we were driving past the Minuteman National Park and remembered a reenactment was going on. We decided to stop and look around for fun. All of a sudden, we heard someone calling my husband's name, over and over. We couldn't find the source until we looked and saw it was a British reenactor, in full Redcoat regalia. My husband was stumped. Who in a British uniform could possibly be calling his name? All of a sudden he realized it was a student of his. What are you doing dressed up as a Redcoat? we asked him. He lifted his jacket and showed us a camera he'd rigged to his chest. He explained that for the last two years he had been filming a documentary on reenactments in this way, traveling around the northeast to various events collecting live battle footage for his project. Cool! we said. But still, why a Brit instead of an American? It's very hard to get into one of the groups that play the Minutemen, he explained. There are waiting lists for years. But nobody wants to be a Redcoat, so I applied there and was accepted immediately.

I don't think this was the reason our candidate friend in Ohio decided to become a Nazi. He seems to really relish collecting Nazi stuff.

[11 Bravo]

6. Are you sure he's just pretending?

[KurtNYC]

9. right -- pretending is what 5 year-olds do n/t

[LeftishBrit]

10. Does he have to pretend?

[flamingdem]

11. he's right out of central casting! nt

[bullwinkle428]

12. Just one?