Pressure Grows On House Republicans to Condemn Anti-Semitic Signs

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:06 pm

As House Republicans continue to play blind, deaf, and dumb, various Jewish organizations came out today and condemned the anti-Semitic signs that were visible during yesterday’s tea bagger protest of healthcare reform in Washington, D.C. Elie Wiesel said, “This kind of political hatred is indecent and disgusting.”

Here are the signs:

Photo via Politico:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Photo from Think Progress:

Mark Weitzman of The Simon Wiesenthal Center said, “Using the victims of the Holocaust in the debate over health care is a cheap and disgusting abuse of history. It reflects only the ignorance and callousness of those who cannot debate an issue on its merits and should be immediately repudiated by all responsible parties. Both the memory of the victims of the Nazis and the American public deserve better.”

The National Jewish Democratic Council called the signs outright anti-Semitism, “Today’s G.O.P. “Tea Party” on Capitol Hill opposing health insurance reform invoked disgusting Holocaust imagery and outright anti-Semitism. Top Republican Party leaders including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) stood before a crowd that included a banner protesting health care reform and displaying corpses from the Holocaust. Yet another sign charged that “Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds”]. Such vile invocations of Nazi and Holocaust rhetoric have been condemned in recent weeks by rabbinic movements, The Interfaith Alliance, and The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants.”

The group also called on House GOP leaders to condemn the signs, “The time has come for Boehner, Cantor, Pence and other G.O.P. leaders — especially those who were present today — to condemn these disgusting comparisons and anti-Semitism. They must tell their base once and for all to cut out this despicable pattern of Holocaust imagery and rhetoric.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner must be legally freaking blind, because his spokesman told Politico, “Leader Boehner did not see any such sign. Obviously, it would be grossly inappropriate.” This see no evil, hear no evil approach was the same reaction that GOP leaders had when these types of signs started popping up at McCain/Palin events during the general election last fall.

The Republican Party is completely unaware of the fact that the party extremists are the reason why their party is shrinking. Bring anti-Semitic signs to a Capitol Hill protest is not the action of a big tent party. The GOP is now courting a small group of fringe radicals who are more obsessed with being ideologically pure than politically relevant.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association