Democratic and Jewish organizations are pushing House Speaker John Boehner to return donations from a “Nazi enthusiast” who ran for Congress last year but was defeated in part because of the revelation he wore a German SS uniform while taking part in several Nazi re-enactments.
Rich Iott, who ran as a Republican for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District seat last year against incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur, donated $2,400 to Boehner’s campaign, reported Washington Jewish Week
“Clearly Boehner is so desperate for campaign cash or so removed from reality that he is accepting money from a Nazi enthusiast who insults the memory of six million Jews who died during the Holocaust and our nations’ veterans who sacrificed to defend our freedom,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The National Jewish Democratic Council, a left-leaning group, said Boehner has a “responsibility to repudiate Iott’s behavior by returning the money or, better yet, donating it to a Holocaust charity.”
“Boehner-the most powerful Republican in America and the third person in the presidential succession line-owes American Jews and WWII veterans an explanation as to how he can continue to associate himself with Iott, given his widely-known disturbing behavior,” said NJDC President and CEO David A. Harris.
At the time, Iott said his appearance in a Nazi uniform was as a “re-enactor” and that it helped him “bond with his son” who also was a World War II “re-enactor enthusiast.”
FOX News has reached out to Speaker Boehner’s office for details on this story, and although they do not deny the contribution, Boehner’s communications team has declined to comment.
(Source: Fox News)
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4 Responses
Historical reinactors, whether they dress up as Nazis or Medieval knights or Romans or whatever, are not showing support for what they are dressing up as. Reinacting is a respectable hobby. They are showing interest in history, not support for whatever movement was popular 70 or 700 or 2000 years ago.
do u know how many southerners dress as confederate soldiers are they all racists? plus Prince Harry in England like his great uncle is a Nazi sympathizer
If you go to some of the “conventions” of reinactors (all periods present), you’ll find people dressed up as barbarians, pirates, medieval warrior, Romans (a lot of those) — it’s a “living history” project, not a political statement.
P.S. – Prince Harry as a teenager was wild, like most kids. He thought it was a cool costume. NO one said he was very good on history. I’ld ignore his great-Uncle (who spent the war safely stashed out of harm’s way to avoid the need of executing him as a traitor), and focus on his grandfather who played a part in the decision not to surrender when a rational person might have done so (the Germans were offering very good terms, and their army was 20 miles away). One should note that unlike most children of American elites (just check the families of all the current candidates for President), he’s been serving the the War on Terror not in a desk job.
While I agree with the above sentiments, who wants to bet what the reaction of commenters would be if this happened with a Democrat? Yea, y’all would be screeching bloody murder.