GOP Failure of Leadership on Tea Partier Abuse of the Holocaust

by Michelle . · 2009-11-12 14:52:00 UTC
Topics:

The use of Holocaust imagery and rhetoric by the GOP's so-called Tea Party Patriots has progressed from annoying to downright disgusting.

Last week, several House Republicans joined right-wing ideologue (er, Representative) Michelle Bachmann for a 5,000-person strong protest of Obama's health care reform in front of the US Capitol. Directly in front of the speakers, which included House Minority Leader John Boehner, was a 5-by-8 foot sign with a famous image of a pile of dead bodies from a Nazi concentration camp and the words, "National Socialist Healthcare, Dachau, Germany, 1945." No one condemned the horribly disrespectful use of the tragic image, and many even denied seeing it when confronted after, despite numerous eye witness and photographic accounts that place the rather large sign in plain sight of the podium.

The Anti-Defamation League, National Jewish Democratic Council, and others are calling on Republicans to put an end to the vile abuse of Holocaust imagery by their constituents. ADL sent a letter to Boehner and several others condemning the failure of Republican leadership on the "inappropriate and profoundly offensive" use of Nazi symbolism athealth care protests. Bachmann issued a belated statement essentially agreeing that the incident was distasteful, calling the incident "regrettable" but failing to apologize for neglecting deal with -- and thus implicitly supporting -- the issue when it arose at the rally she organized last week. And as Rep. Steve Israel commented, "It shouldn't have taken peer pressure, media inquiries or national outrage to get Rep. Bachmann to take a stand in defense of Holocaust victims."

The Dachau poster is not a lone example, but represents an increasingly distasteful penchant for health care-Holocaust comparisons by GOP stalwarts. That the trend has progressed as long as it has is a testament to irresponsible and reprehensible Republican leadership -- and it only does a disservice to their cause, as legitimate criticisms ofhealth care reforms get lost in the crowd of hyperbolic poster slogans.

In respect of the 12 million lives lost in the Holocaust, it is time to put an end to this, yesterday.

[Photo from ProgressOhio's Flickr stream, Creative Commons license.]

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
PREVIOUS STORY:
11/11 Impressions
NEXT STORY:
A letter from Bettina Siegel, "Pink Slime" petition creator

COMMENTS (3)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.