Eric Cantor Seeks Distance From Rich Iott, GOP Candidate Who Dressed In Nazi Garb

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sought on Sunday to quickly and clearly distance the Republican Party from a GOP candidate whose past participation in Nazi re-enactments surfaced this weekend.

In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Cantor (the lone Jewish Republican in the House) said he "would absolutely repudiate" Rich Iott, the Republican nominee for Ohio's 9th District who apparently had an affinity for donning a German Waffen SS uniform.

"What we have got now is a new crop of young leaders energized to go to Washington for the right reasons," said Cantor. "Now Debbie [Wasserman Schultz, Cantor's co-panelist] went and launched into her attacks as to some of the reports about candidates that are running, particular the one in Ohio having to do with Nazi re-enactment. She knows that I would absolutely repudiate that and do not support an individual who would do something like that."

At this point Wasserman Schultz urged Cantor to actually articulate his repudiation. "I'm doing it right here," he replied. "I'm doing it right here Debbie. You know good well that I don't support anything like that."

Iott's past involvement in Nazi re-enactments, first reported by The Atlantic, may well constitute the largest discomfiture for the Republican Party in a cycle in which a number of candidates have done or said discomforting things. The Ohio Republican has defended himself by insisting his participation in the events was done for "purely historical interest in World War II." But the defense has done little to assuage GOP leadership. Once listed on the Republican Party's site of "Contenders" (a ranking/prioritization of candidates that was just below the "Young Guns"), Iott's name was removed altogether once the photos of him surfaced.

The Democrat in the race, incumbent Marcy Kaptur, already seemed likely to hold the seat. Iott's quick sink seems likely to seal the deal.

Comments

[bellabeach]

01:56 PM on 10/12/2010

Eric Cantor....all it brings to mind is empty suit!!

[reveal5]

09:56 PM on 10/11/2010

Kinda' puts a whole new image to the "Young Guns."

[nananance]

09:56 PM on 10/11/2010

Nobody would dress up and pretend to be a Nazi or a Confederate if they didn't have some admiration of the people whom they are impersonating.

[gladhart1]

08:56 PM on 10/11/2010

Cantor is finally getting offended - but what about all those Hitler/Obama depictments - are those ok little Eric?

[AddyGmom]

09:51 PM on 10/11/2010

Cantor pretending offense only because he was challenged publickly----

[wmramlal]

08:52 PM on 10/11/2010

Eric Cantor like many other republicans thought that they could control the Tea Party and use them to do their dirty work.

I liken the Republican Party and the Tea Party to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, everything was going fine until the monster over powered the good doctor and decided to go out on his own.

The Republican Party approved the messages and condoned the actions of the Tea Party by their silence and financial support. Now some people view them as being bound together as one.

By now a memo has been issued by the Republicans informing people not to wear Klan robes and Nazi uniforms in public.

[concentric1]

08:50 PM on 10/11/2010

As a little girl growing up, I actually believed that the people who held positions of Congressperson and Senator were intelligent. Over the last ten years I have had a hell of an education about the stunning ignorance that pervades both houses.

[mytwocents02]

07:19 PM on 10/11/2010

Isn't Nazi what the Tea Party is? Cantor could quit or try redesigning the uniform if it isn't his style.

[FunctioningBrain]

07:43 PM on 10/11/2010

At the risk of getting slammed.....

While the baggers are certainly opposed to equality, it's wrong to compare a political party to the Nazi regime unless they actively support Nazi ideals. I detest it when Obama is the target, and it's no less wrong when baggers are target. Call them racists, because so many are. Call them heartless, they've earned it. But let's not minimize the evil of the Nazis by comparing them to everyone we don't like.

[wmramlal]

08:35 PM on 10/11/2010

FunctioningBrain

While I agree that we can not and should minimize the evilness of the Nazi Party, the Tea Party has embraced some of the same ideals that the Nazi Party did:
Spreading hate and discontent through the scapegoating of others
Racism
Heartlessness
that is why some people equate the Tea Party to the Nazi Party.
Homophobia

[lizard250]

06:54 PM on 10/11/2010

Any day a Republican candidate is photographed in Nazi uniform is a good day for Democrats.

[Eveningson]

07:02 PM on 10/11/2010

I doubt that it is a good day for anyone.

[Rooster Coburn]

09:28 PM on 10/11/2010

It's not really a "Nazi uniform" unless you believe that all of the soldiers who served in the Russian Army in WWII wore "Communist uniforms".

[CPAwADD]

09:47 PM on 10/11/2010

It's an SS uniform, not your garden variety German WWII uniform. Do you understand the importance of that distinction?

[lizard250]

11:02 PM on 10/11/2010

Had we been fighting the Communists in WWII, we might have called what they wore "Communist uniforms". But I think most US soldiers fighting in Europe didn't stop to parse words when trying to rid the world of National Socialism. So call a uniform of the Waffen SS whatever you like. The people who wore them considered themselves Nazis. To see a candidate for office in this country wearing one is an affront.

[bimplebean]

06:09 PM on 10/11/2010

Why is Lott's last name consistently not capitalized in this story?

[Eveningson]

07:37 PM on 10/11/2010

dunno.

[FunctioningBrain]

07:44 PM on 10/11/2010

Wondered the same thing.

[Truth In Voting]

04:47 PM on 10/11/2010

Hahahahahahaha.

Oh, NOW it's gone too far, only now has a Republican offended Eric Cantor's delicate senses?

[homer winslow]

04:44 PM on 10/11/2010

Interesting how the Teapublicans always accuse the other side of being what they actually are themselves.

[barrada nicto]

05:20 AM on 10/12/2010

It's a very effective propagandist ploy.

[homer winslow]

04:42 PM on 10/11/2010

They told him over and over to wait until he was elected to show his true colrs, but no, he wouldn't listen.

[blackmouth]

04:11 PM on 10/11/2010

Eric can't do anything but repudiate Mr Lott because it's suppose to be a secret that the GOP is really a fascist party.

[Andythelawyer]

04:04 PM on 10/11/2010

Next they will invite Cantor to play with them -- dressed up as a Treblinka "sonderkommando."

[Andythelawyer]

03:59 PM on 10/11/2010

Well of course Cantor wants distance between himself and these Nazis. He's Jewish and would rather not go the way of Jews who failed to put distance between themselves and Nazis last time around.