Democratic Congressman Compares Republicans To Nazis On House Floor (VIDEO)

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) spoke before a largely vacant House floor Tuesday night and referred to Republican efforts to repeal health care reform as a Nazi-like endeavor.

"They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels," Cohen said, speaking of the notorious Nazi propgandist. "You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing."

Cohen continued to compare the GOP to Nazis as his rant went on.

"The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again. And we've heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact -- non-partisan, Pulitzer prize-winning, 2009, St. Petersburg Times -- said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover," Cohen said.

WATCH (via ABC News):

Comments

[AntiRethuglican]

02:01 AM on 01/23/2011

Bravo Rep. Cohen-BRAVO!

[olerealist]

11:06 PM on 01/20/2011

RE: Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
I grant that his remarks were regrettable and over the top.
HOWEVER, for more than a decade the Repub’s as a political party have waged a war to make the wealthiest 5% of our population reign totally supreme over the middle class. Their policies gradually and some times not so gradually are grinding down and grinding down our middle class aided by such things as “Citizens United” (US Supreme Ct).

These rightist politicians must come to realize that their policies and tactics are like unto locking down the lid on a kettle of boiling water, sooner or later boom. We are heading toward becoming a national oligarchy as was feared by Pres. Ted Roosevelt (a Republican). If you would rip of the benevolent disguise off many powerful Republicans, you would see somebody who dangerously resembles a fascist. They more resemble Tom Delay than Howard Taft.

[Lindyb Oggs]

08:58 AM on 01/21/2011

Cohen represents a district the resembles Sheila Jackson Lee's and Cynfia McKinney's, and now he has proven that his election was not a fluke.

[olerealist]

11:26 AM on 01/21/2011

This is just to make a correction of a certain error in my (Sreve Cohen( comment.
I should not have said "Howard". I should have said "ROBERT TAFT".

[OliverTwist]

09:55 PM on 01/20/2011

He was OK on Goebbels. But his comments on the Holocaust ignore the critical importance of about 1900 years of prior Christian vilification of the Jews.

[ModerateVoiceofReason]

09:46 PM on 01/20/2011

My ex wife's father and mother were concentration camp survivors.
I usually vote Democrat, however I don't consider the Repubs as Nazis.
I know about true Nazis. To say that people who have differing opinions from yours are similar to truly horrendous people trivializes history.

[wardropper]

10:44 PM on 01/20/2011

I'm afraid the truly horrendous people in the Republican Party lack only the right environment in which to blossom into exactly what Cohen indicated.
The Nazis didn't suddenly wipe out millions in concentration camps.
They started by spreading lies and intimidating individuals before they came to power.
Small beginnings which appealed to hidden prejudices in their own countrymen and women.

Of course in today's America, what he says is strictly an exaggeration, but if we are to take seriously the victorious Allies' vow in the face of Nazi atrocities - "Never again!" we must also take seriously the matter of recognizing the beginnings of such tendencies.

I am pretty convinced that those tendencies are with us today.

[bbriani3842]

11:21 PM on 01/20/2011

The Nazi rode the waves of hatred toward the Jews that existed in the countries they conquered -- remember, the Poles, Hungarians and Ukranians were more than eager to assist.

The Nazis were the figurative match that ignited the pools of gasoline that were there long before they arrived.

I don't think the Reps are anywhere close to Nazis. . .but they certainly aren't representative of the America that Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln -- or even Jackson and T. Roosevelt envisioned.

[meneghin]

11:29 PM on 01/20/2011

I agree entirely with what you are saying. Your message needs to be repeated ad infinitum until everybody in the US has heard it. For those who don't believe it, because they bought the republican lies, hopefully they are smart enough to check it out and accept the truth.
Hope it's not too late.

[meneghin]

12:07 AM on 01/21/2011

Mr. Cohen doesn't seem to be trivializing history at all, if anything he shows a good appreciation of it. Mr. Cohen is drawing attention to the fact that the republicans are using similar tactics and, as you know, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck the rules of syllogism would suggest that it cannot be a chicken.

[Lahonda]

09:28 PM on 01/20/2011

_R@T_Fooking_ is what I believe it was called in Nixon's day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/washington/14rove.html

[bluejoni2525]

09:03 PM on 01/20/2011

He happens to be right !!!

[CajunSpectre]

07:53 PM on 01/20/2011

The repeated lying is also out of the Karl Rove playbook. Look at what the Swift Boat Liars for Bush did to the Kerry presidential campaign, repeat the lie enough and eventually, people believe it.

[bbriani3842]

11:21 PM on 01/20/2011

Christ -- Look what he did to McCain in 2000!

[Hazelnut101]

07:36 PM on 01/20/2011

He called the gop/rightwing repeated lies to the carpet...They have told the same lies over and over and the fools are following like maggots to dead meat....eating the lies up as truth.
It's a shame not more people are called out for the lies. Thank You Cohen for have the courage to do that.

[Patriot Games]

07:07 PM on 01/20/2011

Jewish sentiment for the Holocaust is "Never Again" If we are not reminded from time to time will we remain vigilant?

[MsMarchHare]

06:37 PM on 01/20/2011

*facepalm*

[bbriani3842]

11:22 PM on 01/20/2011

Don'tchya mean:

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[corsair1917]

06:23 PM on 01/20/2011

Maybe if he had said this earlier, Sarah Palin might have learned what a BLOOD LIBEL is.

It might have been the wrong use, which Ed Schultz asked him about 6 times if he regretted saying it -- even though he said yes all the previous 5 times he asked - but with the rhetoric and the hateful things being said about those who voted for and passed health care reform, I am not sure he was that off the mark.

[silentknight65]

05:42 PM on 01/20/2011

All kidding aside, I have read William Shirer's book "The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich" four times.
(in my 52 year lifetime) This Senator is not making this up. The Republican Party is behaving EXACTLY like the Germans did in the book! Those Tea Party rallies over health care could have been Nazi rallies in 1933. The parallels between Germany 1933 & USA 2008-09 is almost scary.

Once there was a country in the midst of a deep economic recession. They had a Democratically elected President who was quite popular, but times were hard and people wanted immediate results. The President could not fix his broken nation overnight. A group of self-serving rabble-rousers decided to take advantage of this unrest; They began a campaign of lies, intimidation, vandalism, propoganda, and organized rallies of hatred, inciting the crowds to hysteria; they eventually succeeded in getting elected into power and, subsequently, destroyed the nation.
If any of this sounds familiar, (and it does indeed sound like the Republican backlash over Health Care Reform) rest assured I am not referring to recent-day events. The above scenario took place in pre-Nazi Germany 1933.
Are we going to be repeating that history right here in America? Let's hope not!

[StopThePlanet]

06:47 PM on 01/20/2011

You are correct except for giving Obama the benefit of the doubt that he really was sincere about fixing this country.  His actions since he has been in office betray his indifference to the plight of the average American.

[Lahonda]

09:32 PM on 01/20/2011

He cannot rule by fiat, as Bush did. It won't hold.

[OneTop]

05:36 PM on 01/20/2011

There is no question that the GOP have been and are prone to saying the same unproven, falsehoods time and time again as an integral part of their political strategy.

Setting that aside, the Nazi reference has so many connotations associated with it, that it's use by the Senator was only inflammatory.

He could have effectively made his point without adding more hyperbole to the national political debate.

[whirledgonecrazy]

05:45 PM on 01/20/2011

I think he effectively made his point with the reference. He didn't call anybody a Na.zi, but he did compare the strategies and they are similar, it's true. I don't have a problem with it myself.

[meneghin]

09:05 PM on 01/20/2011

We all know that everything can be done differently and possibly better, but how do you suggest we stop the republican lies? Should we kindly remind them (and not only them but all liars) that they are supposed to tell the truth? In the meanwhile millions of Americans are buying the lies and the damage is done irreparably.
The senator is not lying and his parallel is strong but effective and correct. I hope it wakes up a lot of people.

[jerzygurl]

05:29 PM on 01/20/2011

It's a shame Mr. Cohen didn't take the President's Tucson speech to heart.

[whirledgonecrazy]

05:48 PM on 01/20/2011

At least it's true though, unlike the blatant lies from the right (Obama wasn't born here; death panels; government take over of health care; etc). He said they employ the same propagandist strategies of repeating a lie over and over until people think it's the truth and that it's dangerous. I agree with Steve and fully expected the right to react like this to the truth.

[Jstplnefedup]

05:56 PM on 01/20/2011

it does not make any difference whatsoever. The repub's are not Nazi's. It is and was a stupid thing to say.
Numerous political campaigns and slogans use the same type of propaganda. The Nazi's weren't the first to use it, just the most famous.
There is no defense for this type of garbage he is spewing.

[intolleft]

08:42 PM on 01/20/2011

I am sure there will be multiple "that's different' reasons.

[fiberoptimist]

05:07 PM on 01/20/2011

I agree with him 1000%.