FL GOP Candidate Allen West Stands By Gestapo Remark

David Streeter — August 25, 2010 – 11:04 am | Abusive Holocaust Rhetoric | Election 2010 | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Florida Republican House candidate Allen West (R-FL) is standing by his decision to compare campaign trackers to the Gestapo.  West originally said:

I know here today we have a representative from the Florida Democratic Party and he is here to film me and his whole purpose of filming me is to take what I say and allow other people to distort it so they can misrepresent me. ... You know if we allow those Gestapo-type intimidation tactics to prevail in the United States of America what happens to our liberties? What happens to our freedoms?

West’s campaign spokesman defended the remark and brazenly declared, “We’re not apologizing for it.”

Representative Ron Klein (D-FL), who West is challenging, said of West’s comments:

Allen West has shown reckless disregard and appalling disrespect to Holocaust victims and survivors. ... By peppering his speeches with references to the Gestapo and Nazis, Allen West demonstrates how despite his claim to be a student of history, he fails to comprehend the enormity of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime.

A reporter for The New Times has summarized West’s consistent record of abusive Holocaust rhetoric:

A former history teacher, West shouldn’t be scolded for this episode so much as he should be ashamed of constantly invoking Nazi Germany in making some hyperbolic point.

He’s compared Obama campaign events to Nazi rallies. He has accused Obama and Pelosi of Gestapo tactics. Obama’s desire for a civilian army reminded West of Hitler’s brown shirts. The Second Amendment right to bear arms, West says, is what keeps America from turning into Nazi Germany. He has compared the modern media to the Nazi propaganda machine. He’s even compared an entire religion—Islam—to Nazism.

NJDC joins Klein in condemning West’s horrendous remark. As we have consistently said, abusive Holocaust rhetoric has no place in our political discourse and it should be condemned by all.

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