Bob CollinsAmerica’s politicians cannot legitimately be expected to solve serious problems facing the country until they can grasp a concept they should have by now: Nothing good comes from invoking Hitler in your messaging.
The latest example comes from Rep. Randy Weber, a Texas Republican, who tweeted about the embarrassing lack of U.S. representation at last weekend’s unity rally in France.
The Obama administration had already teed the ball up for Weber since a demonstration of U.S. support was the sort of obvious response to last week’s attacks that presidential advisers — have we noted lately that Obama’s chief of staff is from Stillwater? — can make in their sleep. Only the most die-hard of administration fans was still clinging to the notion that the lack of a U.S. representative wasn’t embarrassing to the country by the time an administration spokesman acknowledged as much yesterday afternoon.
But Weber went nuclear, instead.
Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn't do it for right reasons
— Randy Weber (@TXRandy14) January 13, 2015
How much did Weber overswing? Keep in mind up to that point, a conservative Texas Republican and Jon Stewart were on the same side.
“How could the U.S. not be there when representatives of such beacons of freedom and lack of censorship as journalist-punishing Russia was there? Journalist-jailing Turkey was there. Egypt… ’nuff said,” Stewart said. “Palestinian cartoonist-jailing Israel was there. And of course, our greatest ally, Saudi Arabia, was there — although a little out of breath having just days ago flogged a blogger.”
Notice the lack of a Hitler reference in Stewart’s keep-cutting criticism, congressman?
Just as it was dozens of times in the last six years in which Hitler was invoked in political debate in Washington, the reaction was swift and immediate.
“For the record, it took six days for a member of the 114th Congress to compare the president to Hitler,” Bloomberg’s David Weigel noted. The 111th Congress hadn’t even been gaveled in when a member did this.”
So today, Weber trotted out the tired apology.
“I need to first apologize to all those offended by my tweet. It was not my intention to trivialize the Holocaust nor to compare the President to Adolf Hitler. The mention of Hitler was meant to represent the face of evil that still exists in the world today. I now realize that the use of Hitler invokes pain and emotional trauma for those affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust and victims of anti-Semitism and hate.
The terrorist attacks in Paris should remind us of the evil that still exists. Hitler was the face of evil, perpetrating genocide against six million Jews and millions of other victims. Today, we are facing the evil of Islamic extremists who are attempting to instill fear and murdering the lives of innocent people from Paris to Nigeria to Jerusalem and all over the world. The President’s actions or lack thereof is my point of contention. Islamic extremists have shown they are not going away, and instead are hungry for more blood.
After World War II, the world made a commitment to ‘Never Again’ allow terror free reign. As demonstrated by the Paris Peace Rally, we must all –Christians, Jews, Muslims, leaders around the world and those willing to fight for freedom – unite and stand strong together against radical extremism in any form.
Related: Why Obama didn't march against terrorism in Paris, and why critics think he should have (Vox).
