John Boehner To Appear With Candidate Who Likes To Wear SS Uniforms
Add this to the list of things you really shouldn’t be doing the weekend before Election Day:
I’d thought Richard Iott had been put out to pasture after news broke that his main hobby was Nazi reenacting. After that Rep. Eric Cantor (R) denounced him. And then everything pretty much went down hill from there when he started saying that he didn’t think we were in a position to judge the SS soldiers who did all the cool stuff on the Eastern Front.
But apparently Iott is out of the dog House. And back in John Boehner’s House.
This Saturday John Boehner is going to appear at a special pre-election rally with Iott in Toledo.
From the Iott campaign website …
RALLY WITH LEADER BOEHNER
Oct 30, 2010
When: Saturday, October 30th 8:30 am – 9:00 amWhere: Lucas County GOP Victory Center, 10 S. Superior St, Toledo
Calling all Iott Volunteers! Please join us for this very special pre-election rally with House Minority Leader, John Boehner. What a great way to start off our pre-election weekend. Please wear any Iott gear you may have! Should you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to call 419.324.[xxxx]
I don’t surprise easily. But who exactly told Boehner or someone on Boehner’s staff this would be a good move on the weekend before election day?
File this under “Incredibly Stupid Things Politicians Do”
No one cares Doug. You have what appears to be a non-partisan blog…but it is antyhing but….buth then again no one cares.
Michael,
From where did you get the idea that I am claiming to be “non-partisan” ?
Ah, I miss the old Doug…. on his own site, he would have filed this under the tag “dumbasses”. And quite right, too!
Condensing hours of cable blather into the single word “dumbass” was the greatest thing at BelowtheBeltway.com.
C’mon, Doug… call it!
Perhaps I need to do that John.
Boehner is a dumbass.
Iott ? I’m not quite sure what word best describes a guy who likes to dress up like an SS officer.
Well, this isn’t surprising at all, nor should it be to anyone. (I’m trying to imagine the conversation in the cloakroom):
Boehner, Cantor take different approaches on Nazi reenactor:
“Please wear any Iott gear you may have!” Copywriter humor.
I honestly still don’t understand the issue with this guy doing WWII reenactments. It’s no different that the guys who dress up as Confederates for Civil War Reenactments. He isn’t glorifying what the SS did in the holocaust.
VV, do some googling on it. I didn’t pay much attention, but apparently he’s also said some things that were positive about the SS. I don’t know how much to read into the comments, but it certainly wasn’t smart to say.
I honestly still don’t understand the issue with this guy doing WWII reenactments.
He belongs to a group that reveres the Waffen SS. That’s really creepy, dude.
He isn’t glorifying what the SS did in the holocaust.
No, they just kind of ignore the holocaust, but they are certainly glorifying what the SS did in the war.
Still don’t understand why some people might have a problem with this?
“Still don’t understand why some people might have a problem with this?”
Yes
Ever play a computer war game based on WWII and play the German Side? If so, by your description, then your in support of what the Nazi’s did.
Ever play a computer war game based on WWII and play the German Side? If so, by your description, then your in support of what the Nazi’s did.
Apparently you didn’t read what I wrote, because getting together on the weekend with a group of people who devote a lot of time and energy into pretending to be Nazis, who they explicitly “salute” as “valiant men” and “idealists” who just wanted to be free, is a lot different than playing a video game. If I fire up Call of Duty on my computer, I am not putting on a Nazi uniform and joining a group of people who glorify a Waffen SS division.
If you don’t see the difference between the two, you’re a moron.
As a teenager Every other Tuesday night me and a group of friends would get together and use miniatures to recreate battles from WWII. Part of that process is reading about and learning about the units and what they did in the war.
There is also a group of civil war reenactors in town who several times a year get together and put on a display at the county fair grounds, sometimes the elementary schools even make a field trip out of it, which isn’t much different that what Richard Iott is doing, the difference being which war it was.
Part of that process is reading about and learning about the units and what they did in the war.
Did you also put stuff up on the internet about how great you thought the Nazi soldiers were?
There is also a group of civil war reenactors in town who several times a year get together and put on a display at the county fair grounds, sometimes the elementary schools even make a field trip out of it, which isn’t much different that what Richard Iott is doing, the difference being which war it was.
I think people who revere the Confederate Army and spend a great deal of time pretending to be part of it are just as creepy, and would never vote for one of them. Which war it is does make a difference, however, as there are still people alive who survived the Holocaust and fought in WWII, so dressing up as a Nazi and talking about how great those Nazi soldiers were is all the more distasteful as a result.
Thanks for your steadfast defense of people who glorify the actions of some of the worst scum to ever walk the Earth. It’s been illuminating.
“Did you also put stuff up on the internet about how great you thought the Nazi soldiers were?”
Since we are talking about the late 80’s and early 90’s that would have been rather difficult. Had the internet been available to me in rural Iowa at the time I would have more than gladly posted images from the battles we played out and discussed things like tactics, armor, and what it was like to fight in the war. It’s all part of learning about the history.
“Thanks for your steadfast defense of people who glorify the actions of some of the worst scum to ever walk the Earth. It’s been illuminating.”
Dressing up in the uniforms of WWII combatants to get an understanding of what it was like to participate in the war and to understand history is not glorifying the vile actions of the Holocaust.
Had the internet been available to me in rural Iowa at the time I would have more than gladly posted images from the battles we played out and discussed things like tactics, armor, and what it was like to fight in the war. It’s all part of learning about the history.
That’s not what I asked.
Dressing up in the uniforms of WWII combatants to get an understanding of what it was like to participate in the war and to understand history is not glorifying the vile actions of the Holocaust.
Come on, stupid. Scroll up and read what they put on their website, since you obviously didn’t bother to before. Tell me they are not glorifying the soldiers of the Waffen SS. Here, I’ll make it easy for you:
thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
They don’t just want to understand history. They revere those Nazis. That’s just sick.
That statement in no way glorifies the holocaust it is a very factual statement. Even soldiers on the loosing side of a war are making the ultimate sacrifice for their country and they should be remembered for that, and no that doesn’t mean we forget about the evils that some of the committed.
That statement in no way glorifies the holocaust it is a very factual statement.
And I never said it did. Nice strawman.
Even soldiers on the loosing side of a war are making the ultimate sacrifice for their country and they should be remembered for that, and no that doesn’t mean we forget about the evils that some of the committed.
Some of them? So these were the good Nazis? Tell it to the Hungarian Jews these fine patriotic men of the Wiking division slaughtered when they already knew the war was lost.
– “The death marches of Hungarian Jews through Austria”
When you’re done, kiss my ass, you Nazi apologist.
“When you’re done, kiss my ass, you Nazi apologist.”
Personal attacks are not really necessary. I am in no way attempting to apologize for the horrors that were caused by Nazi’s. I simply understand that not every solider that wore the uniform was guilty of committing those crimes just like not every solider who wore the Confederate uniform is guilty of rounding up and killing escaped slaves, or that every solider who wore the uniform of the Union Army is guilty of the horrors were committed against the Native Americans.
Reenactments are about understanding how solders on the field lived, what equipment they used, their vehicles, and tactics, and no it’s not any way meant to gloss over the evils of war, the horrible things that are committed by all sides, in every war that has ever happened and ever will.
Oh, and just to note, as a gay man who has studied the history of World War II for some time, I’m painfully aware of the events of the holocaust and what the Nazi’s did to people like me. I’m also aware of the fact that when Allied Solders liberated the concentration camps, those who had been incarcerated in those camps becuase they were homosexuals were often not freed and were still considered to be criminals. In fact the Anti-Gay Nazi laws didn’t get repealed in Germany until 1994.
Personal attacks are not really necessary.
I take the Nazis personally. They killed members of my family in the camps. You want to tell me how some of them were really good folks. That’s sick. I don’t give a shit if you don’t want me to take that personally.
I simply understand that not every solider that wore the uniform was guilty of committing those crimes just like not every solider who wore the Confederate uniform is guilty of rounding up and killing escaped slaves, or that every solider who wore the uniform of the Union Army is guilty of the horrors were committed against the Native Americans.
And what you don’t seem to understand is that this reenactment group glorifies the actions of a specific SS division that committed acts of unconscionable evil, some of which are detailed above. You ignore that.
no it’s not any way meant to gloss over the evils of war
Yet that is exactly what they do, as I’ve already pointed out. You can’t defend their words, and you can’t defend the actions of the division they glorify, so you come back with vague notions that war is awful and everyone is culpable. This is exactly what Nazi-apologists and historical revisionists do. And it’s evil, designed to clear the way to perpetrate more evil. You are now a part of that. Congratulations.
I don’t really care what idiot Nazi-apologists do with their free time, but if they want to be elected to the US Congress, I’ll be damned if I’m not going to oppose them. If you had a conscience, you would too.
“I’ll be damned if I’m not going to oppose them. If you had a conscience, you would too.”
I oppose him because he is a Republican.
“And what you don’t seem to understand is that this reenactment group glorifies the actions of a specific SS division that committed acts of unconscionable evil, some of which are detailed above. You ignore that.”
Your ignoring the whole point of reenactment groups.