Walks like a duck

Ohio Senate candidate Rich Iott has created a lot of waves since Atlantic Magazine outed him as a Nazi re-enactor. His initial reaction was to term the dress up as a historical exercise, akin to civil war re-enactments and an activity that he chose to engage in with his son. I have followed the story closely, visiting the Wiking website, the cyberspot for the re-enactors celebrating the proud and glorious legacy of the Waffen SS unit.

Something didn't quite square right for me viewing the website, looking past the boilerplate saying that the members of the unit did not follow the tenets of Nazism. These folks looked a tad too comfortable in their jackboots and delivering their paeans to the departed stormtroopers. There is this also:

Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a "New and Free Europe", free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, 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. 

Could it be that Nazism was bad, but maybe not as bad as Communism so we should give the Nazis a pass? H-m-m-m. Of course, Rich Iott's campaign website has the customary testament from the "jewish friend" saying what a great guy he is and plays down the whole firestorm. I was ready to move on until I heard about Iott's remarks on Anderson Cooper last night. Iott wonders "who are we to judge these men?"

"I think that they thought they were fighting for their homeland," Iott said. When pressed further, he replied: "I don't think we can sit here and judge that today. We weren't there the time they made those decisions."


According to TPM, Iott also contended that "this particular unit was one that was never charged with war crimes," though Cooper pointed out that one member was recently charged with the murder of 58 Jews. Iott replied: "The war on the eastern front was extremely brutal on both sides. Nobody was lily-white, that's for sure. Horrible things that happened on both sides."

So now we have come full circle from I dress up like this for my kid to drawing a moral equivalence between the axis and the allies and sugarcoating the extermination of jews in the Final Solution.

Again from TPM: Iott called "what happened in Germany during the second World War one of "the low points in human history," but defended the Wiking Division when Cooper referred to them as collaborators: "I don't know that I would put that label on them. They were doing what they thought was right for their country. And they were going out and fighting what they thought was a bigger, you know, a bigger evil."


Blaming the "Bolsheviks" has always been a code phrase for Nazis to justify their actions. Substitute a different word and it takes on more clarity. Of course, in today's Grand Old Party, this might be just enough to get him elected.