Massachusetts

MA Dem Apologizes For Comparing Lobbyist Badges To Holocaust Tattoos

Jillian Rayfield | June 30, 2011, 11:42AM

Massachusetts State Rep. John Binienda (D)

Massachusetts state Rep. John Binienda (D) apologized Thursday for comparing a proposal to make lobbyists wear badges when talking to lawmakers to Adolf Hitler's forced tattooing of Jews during the Holocaust.

"Yesterday, I made an inappropriate analogy regarding a proposed change to the House Rules," he said in a statement. "No comparison can be made between the Nazi regime and a rules proposal made by members in good faith. I apologize to the sponsors as well as the people of Massachusetts for my words and look forward to working with the sponsors on these proposals."

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Fox News

How Glenn Beck And Fox News Successfully Painted AZ Shooter As Hitler, Marx Devotee

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2011, 10:45AM

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck

Within hours of the shooting spree in Arizona, conservative blogs lit up with the news that the suspect, Jared Loughner, was an aficionado of Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto. A Hitler/Marx devotee, the logic went, is someone too idiosyncratic or crazy to be part of any mainstream political movement. Some went further, and cited the information as proof that Loughner was the sort of big-government liberal they had nightmares about.

As with so many of these fast-propagating conservative memes, this one got its start on Fox News.

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Lamar Alexander

Alexander: Unlike Tea Partiers, Shooter Read Marx, Hitler, And Burned U.S. Flag

Brian Beutler | January 9, 2011, 10:22AM

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

On CNN Sunday morning, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) sought to deflect blame for yesterday's attack in Arizona away from the Tea Party.

Twice, unsolicited, Alexander highlighted facts about the culprit that clash with tea party norms.

"What we know about this individual, for example, is that he was reading Karl Marx, and reading Hitler, and burning the American flag," Alexander said. "That's not the profile of a typical tea party member if that's the inference that's being made."

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Across the Nation, Vigils Held for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords]

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KY-SEN

Rand Paul's Long History Of Hitler Fear-Mongering (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 22, 2010, 6:20PM

Rand Paul (R) with Adolf Hitler (inset)

Rand Paul, Republican nominee for Senate in Kentucky and all-around tea party uber-star, has a penchant for predicting the demise of the United States government and its replacement. And often, he's used the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler's fascist regime as an example to illustrate his point. It's not that Paul thinks any particular politician alive today is Hitler -- or even Hitler-like -- but Paul's reasonably sure that unless something changes soon, America's financial desperation will put some sort of new Hitler-like regime just around the bend.

Earlier today, Paul's Hitler-is-coming meme grabbed headlines when it made an appearance in GQ's fat new profile of Paul and his campaign in Kentucky (you might remember the GQ piece for the pre-release excerpt which led to the truly amazing Aqua Buddha mini-scandal.)

I emailed the Paul campaign to ask about Paul's theory that an American Hitler was on the way -- I have yet to hear back. It was the same story the last time we highlighted Paul's Hitler warnings, in May. Back then, we only had one.

That's no longer the case. Trusty TPM intern Jon Terbush and I spent the afternoon combing through old Paul public appearances to find other references to Hitler and his potential re-emergence on the American political scene. We found quite a few.

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KY-SEN

Rand Paul Suggests Economic Decline Could Lead To A New Hitler

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 22, 2010, 2:02PM

KY Sen. candidate Rand Paul (R)

More goodness from Jason Zengerle's tasty profile of Rand Paul in GQ: The Republican nominee for Senate in Kentucky just wants you to know that, with the way things are going these days, a new Hitler could be in America's future at any moment.

It's probably a good idea to keep an eye out for that, folks.

Here's the long quote from Paul that Zengerle snagged on the trail with the candidate:

"In 1923, when they destroyed the currency, they elected Hitler. And so they elected somebody who vilified one group of people, but he promised them, 'I will give you security if you give me your liberty,' and they voted him in. And that's not to mean that anybody around is Hitler, but it's to mean that you don't want chaos in your country. And we could have chaos, not just because of the Democrats, but because the Democrats and the Republicans have all been spending us into oblivion. And having a massive debt runs the risk of chaos at some point. Not tomorrow, maybe not next week--I mean, I can't even predict the stock market six months from now. But I think that a country is in danger that spends beyond its means and lives beyond its means. And I don't ever say it started with President Obama. I think it started long ago."

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