You'd think after Eric Cantor and the Young Guns (which would make a great band name) disassociated themselves from bad Nazi-impressionist Rich Iott that the GOP would have been content to leave him to electoral defeat.
You'd be wrong:
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to campaign for House Republican candidate Rich Iott on Saturday in Toledo.
Photos showing Iott dressed in Nazi-style clothing threw his campaign into the spotlight earlier this month. But Boehner did not return the $5,000 contributions he made to the candidate, and Iott's campaign said there was no reason to.
Boehner represents Ohio, so I wonder if this one of those "I still love my crazy racist uncle" things. Iott's not a Nazi, of course, he just is willing to put the whole genocide thing aside because other than that the Third Reich's military prowess was so badaSS. And Boehner doesn't seem to have a problem with venerating war criminals either, so why not help a guy in need?
Electorally, though, it doesn't make much sense. Iott's district is historically Democratic, and Nate Silver gives him essentially Calvinist odds of success. Surely Boehner's political heft could be better spent in a competitive race where his presence could make a difference.
Sehr interessant.
[UPDATE: In the interest of avoiding what Jim Fallows calls ignorant incurious certitude, a quick Googling provides something of an explanation.
Leader Boehner will be rallying Republican volunteers at the Lucas County Victory Center to support the local Republican Party's get-out-the-vote efforts. Boehner has been on the road headlining rallies for Republican candidates in Ohio and across the country, and he'll continue his busy campaign schedule into the final weekend before Tuesday's referendum on Democrats' jobs-killing policies.
So just to be clear, it is an Ohio thing. I still note that John Boehner thinks Democrats' jobs-killing policies ought best be resisted by an SS LARPer.
UPDATE UPDATE: Forgot to tip my hat to absurdbeats for the Fallows link, which I had not yet read.
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Excellent post.
ReplyDeleteMy ever-so-humble opinion is that the odious little Catholic misfit from southern Ohio should be officially renamed Sir Bohner, John of Orange.
Borrowing some usage from Paul Fussell, Bohner is a prole doing a poor masquerade of an upper-class player. He nothing but a corporate errand boy, lapping up more donations from TARP beneficiaries than any other politician while excoriating Obama for the very program from which he receives funds, which was, of course, spawned by the GOP.