Brenda Barton, Arizona Legislator, Explains Why She Compared Obama To Hitler

GOP Lawmaker Doubles Down On Obama-Hitler Comparison

A Republican state legislator in Arizona is continuing to press her case that President Barack Obama can be compared to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

State Rep. Brenda Barton (R-Payson) told the Arizona Capitol Times Monday that she believes Obama is leading the United States in the same way that Hitler led Germany. She claimed that Obama is "dictating beyond his authority," citing Obamacare and gun control. The comments to the Times came hours after she called Obama "De Fuhrer" in a post on her Facebook page while discussing the federal government shutdown.

Barton said Obama is leading America down a slippery slope away from a constitutional democracy toward an imperial dictatorship and the people of America should be aware. She said murdering millions of Jews, gypsies and gays wasn’t the only thing that happened in Nazi Germany, and America under Obama is looking a lot like the early days of Germany under Hitler.

“It’s not just the death camps. (Hitler) started in the communities, with national health care and gun control. You better read your history. Germany started with national health care and gun control before any of that other stuff happened. And Hitler was elected by a majority of people,” she said.

Barton explained that stories of federally owned roads and boat ramps closing, along with a possible eviction from a house on federally owned land, prompted the comments.

She did not return a message left by The Huffington Post seeking comment on her comparison. Comparing Obama's and Hitler's health care policies has been popular among tea party members seeking to block the federal health care law.

Barton continued her attacks on Obama and the government shutdown on her Facebook page Monday night after speaking to the Times. She noted that Obama is ignoring requests from the "elected House of Representatives" to defund Obamacare. She also posted a CNSNews.com story about Catholic military chaplains facing arrest for offering sacraments and questioned if Obama was only threatening Catholics. In addition, Barton called on Arizona residents to call county sheriffs and ask them to reopen federal parks in the state.

Barton has not posted on Facebook since Monday night.

Arizona state House Minority Leader Chad Campbell (D-Phoenix) is calling on Barton to stop comparing Obama and Hitler. He said he is getting calls from World War II veterans and relatives of Holocaust survivors voicing their outrage at Barton and her comments.

"Trying to justify these comments is beyond reason," Campbell told HuffPost. "You can think what you want of President Obama or any president. But to compare him or any elected official to the single worst person in the history of the world is mind blowing."

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