Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock warned that the possibility of U.S. bankruptcy will push the country the way of Nazi Germany during a speech on Saturday.
In the 1930’s during the Great Depression and under the pressure of the Treaty of Versailles, the National Socialist Party showered the poor with bread and put millions of unemployed to work with government programs before leading the entire world into war.
“Over the next several years, every time a program began to fall apart, Mr. Hitler’s party was very, very good at dividing Germany by pointing to this group or that group,” Mourdock continued. “First they went after their political opponents. Then they went after the aristocrats. Then they went after the trade unionists. And ultimately, of course, they went after the Jews. They deprived them of their property, their rights, their citizenship, and for millions their humanity. Because they were bankrupt!”
Jewish groups immediately condemned Mourdock’s comments, according to the Indy Star.
“[It’s] deplorable to suggest that a nation in debt is somehow one step away from perpetrating crimes reminiscent of Nazi Germany,” vice president of the council Stephen Klapper added.
One prominent Republican, however, defended Mourdock.
“I think he was showing what could happen to a nation that has a citizenry that believes life is hopeless, that there is no way out. I don’t think at all he was comparing Obama to Hitler under any circumstances, but the political environment that could create a government that relied on a charismatic leader, rather than the freedoms that the country has,” Allen County Republican Party Chairman Steven Shine, who is also Jewish, told the Star.
The term-limited Mourdock made his remarks as part of a farewell speech. He is barred from seeking re-election by law and appeared to choose to make his fiery comments since a media campaign cannot affect his future political prospects. In 2012, he lost a race for an Indiana Senate seat after Democrats and their media allies uncharitably misconstrued comments he made about rape and abortion to push their “War on Women” meme.
Democrats who benefit electorally from both spending programs and racially-charged politics furiously denounced Mourdock — but in the face of Mourdock’s resignation, could only helplessly vent.
“I have an important lesson for Richard Mourdock,” Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody sneered. “Your exit as a publicly-elected officeholder in Indiana couldn’t come any sooner.”
Mourdock also drew on the historical symbolism of D-Day’s 70th anniversary and the current colossal $17.5 trillion in national debt — $15 trillion more than the U.S. accumulated by the end of World War II after crushing the Third Reich and its Axis allies at the tail end of the Great Depression.
The crowd of GOP delegates, 1,700 strong, rose for a standing ovation after Mourdock finished his speech.
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