Reading the Pictures: And the Tea Party's Been Calling Obama a Nazi!

Iott 3rd from left in both photos

"I've always been fascinated by the fact that here was a relatively small country that from a strictly military point of view accomplished incredible things. I mean, they took over most of Europe and Russia, and it really took the combined effort of the free world to defeat them. From a purely historical military point of view, that's incredible."

-- Rich Iott, the GOP/Tea Party Congressional candidate - Ohio 9th District

Barely having had time to stash Christine's broomstick, the GOP has now got another Tea Party skeleton to bury somehow. It turns out Mr. Iott, or "Reinhard Pferdmann" (his "German alter ego"), has been an avid member of a group that dresses up like Nazis and acts out the exploits of a particular SS Panzer division.

You have to read the Atlantic article (Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi?). It's a classic. ...It was a father-son bonding thing, but he stopped because the son got bored?

I could talk about the wallpaper in the first shot, or about the guy in the kilt and knee socks. In the second shot, I could point out that the guys don't seem nearly as happy, the tall guy looking downright depressed. Still though, what better example of the clueless and shameless candidates from the far-right this election cycle than Mr. Iott in uniform, the candidate -- even after two passes explaining himself -- apparently not having any sense that there's something wrong.

I'm not sure how GOP headquarters goes about undoing this one, but I'm fairly certain about one thing. I doubt we'll see any commercials with Herr Iott claiming, "I'm you."

----------

For a breakdown of the latest visual spin plus the best in photojournalism, visit BagNewsNotes (and follow our Twitter feed here).

 

Follow Michael Shaw on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bagnewsnotes

Comments

[Velvetus]

09:05 AM on 10/12/2010

Golly gosh! Halloween is almost here.....I can't *wait* to dress up like someone complicit in the death of 6 million Jewish people!

[7thcavman]

06:28 PM on 10/11/2010

"Come on people, were just having a little fun. All we do is dress up like SS storm troopers, make a few prank phone calls to some local Jewish folks, have a couple snitzels and watch that comedy Schindler's List over a couple beers, nothing serious." Rich "the Fueher" Iott.

[ESerafina42]

05:42 PM on 10/11/2010

Also of course, if a re-enactor chose to dress as a member of the Red Army (our ALLIES against Hitler), the right would be portraying him as a dyed-in-the-wool Communist, not just someone who *might* harbor some sneaking sympathies for authortarianism.

[NYCexile]

05:22 PM on 10/11/2010

You all remember "Cowboys & Indians"? This is the same thing, just for adults with disposable income. A fair bit, if you look up how much some of the uniforms and gear cost.

In these things, 'somebody' has to play the Bad Guys. That is all that is going on here.

"Desparate times call for desparate measures."


You guys sure are desparate.

[Eveningson]

06:14 PM on 10/11/2010

I always thought that "desperate times called for desperate measures.". But if you insist then Desparate it is...

[nikky]

06:17 PM on 10/11/2010

if you think this is for fun just wait these people are coming out of the woods and crazy as loons

[KenMoore]

05:14 PM on 10/11/2010

I could buy into the "He's a WWII re-enactor" IF he hadn't said things like the SS unit was facinating, and not saying anything derogatory about the Nazis, in general. This guy, and his kid and buddies, really don't seem to understand that Nazi Germany worked through torture, murder, and intimidation, not only of foreigners, but their own populace.
It was, and still should be, an example of the extreme evil that mankind is capable of. Not of somthing to emulate or encourage, for ANY reason.

[advocatusdiaboli]

05:01 PM on 10/11/2010

Two things bear mentioning here: 1) Not all Germans and German soldiers were Nazi party members--just as not all US soldiers are Republicans or Evangelical Christians, 2) the German Army in WW2 was the best in the world at the time--they were defeated mainly because of Hitler meddling in pushing too many fronts and the US industrial capability (volume). They had the better quality but too few people and materiel, so the Allies beat them with mediocre quality and quantity once US manufacturing might joined the war. So any serious student of military history gives tremendous respect to the German Army of WW2 regardless of the politic and ethics of the party in power there.

[dlpr]

05:38 PM on 10/11/2010

Another thing to bear in mind is that the unit that Iott was re-enacting was a Waffen SS unit where much of the rationale you mention does not apply - the ideology was fundamental. Also, while many ordinary people were conscripted into the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht was hardly as pure as many who make these arguments like to portray. As to their ultimate defeat, interesting that Russia is not mentioned at all.
The Fins were arguably better but I don't see too many re-enactment groups portraying them.
And, of course, almost all of that better quality equipment was made with slave labor.

[Eveningson]

06:48 PM on 10/11/2010

All members of the SS, as a group, were found guilty of war crimes at Nuremburg. Sometimes the weight of atrocity is simply too much. I doubt that you will find many people in Russia that will use words like respect when describing their attitude toward the SS. I am not sure many American soldiers of Jewish descent would either.

The SS had a better tank (built by slave labour) strong defensive points (built by slave labour) and good tactical direction. The SS were also fanatics and ideologically indoctrinated to hate, something the Americans only learned individually when dealing with the Japanese. The German soldier was also fighting for his home with the ferocity born from knowing that they had done terrible things and hoped to not have the face the fiddler should they lose. Soldiers of the Heer, the regular guy ended up hating the fanaticism of the SS. Most SS divisions nonetheless did their best to surrender to the Americans. Those that surrendered to the Russians were all killed. Very few SS soldiers returned home from Russian captivity. Yet even with this fear, the SS lost. They were defeated in battle by your so called low quality Americans and the rabble that is often described to be the Red Army.

[dlpr]

07:04 PM on 10/11/2010

All correct. Would only add that units like Wiking were the last dead-enders as, along with their ideological fanaticism, they knew they had no home to return to - being non-German they knew they would be pariahs in their home countries. Paradoxically, as in the battle for Berlin, these units fought on after German equivalents had surrendered or fled.

[Eveningson]

04:35 PM on 10/11/2010

5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" . was a particularily notorious German Waffen SS division recruited from foreign volunteers mainly from Scandavia but also included members from the Netherlands and Belgium. Among this bunch figured Dr. Mengele, the "Doctor Death" famous for his experiements on Jewish prisoners.

Wiki had this to say about one example of "Wiking" atrocity "...Members of the (Wiking Division..).... led by Obersturmführer Braunnagel and Untersturmführer Kochalty, assisted Einsatzgruppe A in rounding up Ukrainian Jews. Witnesses report that the Jewish victims were forced to run a gauntlet formed by soldiers who would beat them as they passed, and when they reached the end of the gauntlet, Einsatzgruppen officers murdered them ....

Many other such horrors have been recorded. ..Read in particular Eleonore Lappin "The Death Marches of Hungarian Jews Through Austria in the Spring of 1945" which records different atrocities committed, even at the end of the war when all was obviously lost, by this grotesque group of men.

Several of the Wiking members, on their return to Scandavia were judged and ultimately executed by their own countrymen......

[rgateman]

04:34 PM on 10/11/2010

I've seen folks doing Civil War re-enactments and never thought that maybe they were wanting to have slaves and plantations and such. But how do you re-enact anything about WWII? Tanks and planes and fake machine guns? Sitting around a table giving out fake orders to an imaginary military on toy radios in bad German accents? lmao wth?

[freedom007]

04:29 PM on 10/11/2010

The best part of this election cycle is watching how desperate the dems are becoming.

[rgateman]

04:37 PM on 10/11/2010

witches and nazi's and teabaggers oh my! lol

[cyphanatic]

04:28 PM on 10/11/2010

I thought the Democrats were all about people's rights? What ever happened to Mr. Iott's rights to reenact WW2 as whatever army he wants? You may not like it, but that doesn't mean you are free to do what the media is doing to him.

[tedmore123]

04:50 PM on 10/11/2010

You're right! Reenacting WW2 as Nazi's is SOOOOOOO patriotic too.

[cyphanatic]

05:39 PM on 10/11/2010

You are exercising your right to be ignorant about reenacting WW2. Thank a vet!

[Angie Tyne 1]

07:28 PM on 10/11/2010

He has every right to do it. I fully support his rights.
What you are mistaking is that he is not free from criticism. I have every right to not vote for him.
Freedom of speech is not freedom from the consequences of that speech.

[jedwightn]

04:21 PM on 10/11/2010

What a bunch of sick phucks!

[maumeeone]

04:14 PM on 10/11/2010

As a resident of Ohio's 9th District, let me tell you a little about Herr Iott...This is a case of a bored, poor little rich boy. That his name is Rich is merely coincidence....Nevertheless, After having inherited a large, locally-based regional supermarket chain (known as Foodtown), Mr. Iott decided it was time to sell it to an out-of-state company that had no business whatsover buying another grocery chain. Maybe he was bored. Don't know. Don't care. Now that would be bad enough in and of itself. But that's not the end of the story...After selling to the out-of-state company (Michigan's Spartan Chain), the entire Foodtown chain was slowly left to die on the vine by its new owner. This ultimately led to the demise of approximatley 5,000 good-paying jobs. The kicker in all this is that Richie Rich is touting himself as a, wait for it...JOB CREATOR!!! Yes, you read that right! Now we find that he also loves to play soldier on the weekend, sometimes dressed as a Nazi because he finds them soooo fascinating. I know one thing for sure...This voter doesn't find them even the least bit fascinating. And Rich Iott even less so. Contemptible, but definitely not fascinating!

So I say, RE-ELECT MARCY KAPTUR TO CONGRESS! She's not Nazi, nor does she play one in her spare time...

[cyphanatic]

04:11 PM on 10/11/2010

I can't believe people are even hating the guy in the kilt. It wasn't a reenactment, it was a dance for reenactors. The kilt was part of a gag. You guys just hate, hate and hate without considering any possible reasons for what you see. Shameful.

[ZenBastard]

04:41 PM on 10/11/2010

You want to talk about hate, junior? Go to this website:

http://web.archive.org/web/20051001063230/reandev.com/taliban/

read what's been said & then we'll talk hate.

[cyphanatic]

05:38 PM on 10/11/2010

Oh... extreme right wingers use hate so that means it's ok for the left too. Gotcha. Makes perfect sense now. Listen up JUNIOR -- this "eye for an eye" crap is why America is in the shape it's in.

[dlpr]

04:54 PM on 10/11/2010

Hate? I saw 2 comments about the kilt not being "accurate". Rather thin skinned reaction, no? Perhaps more shameful is not considering all the possible reasons for Iott's apologist (for the Nazis, not himself) comments. Sure, he's free to play Nazi if he wants to. If he runs for office, it's also fair that people ask how far his admiration of the Nazis goes. Truly shameful to elect someone with suspected Nazi sympathies without vetting those suspicions.

[Imno Genius]

03:52 PM on 10/11/2010

Any Genius who is apologizing (see below posts) for this numbnut in any way should be ashamed of yourselves and should, maybe, spend more time reading and less time on Huff Po.

[Garioch]

03:45 PM on 10/11/2010

I could talk about the bloke in the kilt all day. If you ever want an example of how the kilt should not be worn that would be up there. It's the wrong length, he has it on squint, he has no kilt pin and the socks are both the wrong colour for the shoes and the wrong type for a kilt.
Don't even start me on the problems with the uniforms the faux Germans are sporting.