Why we vote: Tea Party Nazis

When it comes to political bickering, the Nazi card gets tossed around the blogosphere more than a Hacky Sack at Bonnaroo. But it's hard to avoid using the N-word when you have a candidate who actually dresses up and performs military re-enactments as a Waffen-SS soldier.

Meet Rich Iott, a Republican, Tea Party-backed candidate for Ohio's 9th district. Iott is a millionaire former-CEO of Food Town Supermarkets and Boy Scout. Iott also likes to play Nazis with his friends every so often.

The Atlantic's Joshua Green revealed the candidate's connection to Wiking, a group of World War II re-enactment enthusiasts. (Kind of like Comic Con, for old war nuts.) Problem is, they enjoy re-enacting the other side, specifically the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, an actual Nazi division that fought for Hitler's domination of Eastern Europe.

Oh, and there's pictures:

Wonderful.

The Wiking Web site stresses that "members of reenactment groups listed here, are in no way affiliated with real, radical political organizations." But this is what Rich Iott told The Atlantic about those brave Nazi soldiers he enjoys emulating so much:

"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."

Also, as TPM points out the Wiking site gives a revisionist historical account of the atrocities in Eastern Europe - mainly by avoiding that whole thing about the Jews.

What's happening here?

This whole Tea Party revolution was supposed to give us 'average guy' non-politicos like Joe the Plumber (who, btw, was not a licensed plumber; does not have the first name Joe; nor did he either own a business, or make over $250,000 - as he claimed). But instead of Johnny Patriot we're getting Lyndon LaRouche: a candidate in Delaware who may or may not have been a witch, one in Nevada who urges citizens to take up arms against the government, and an uncertified opthamologist in Kentucky who would like to start charging seniors $2,000 deductibles for Medicare.

I think we can speak for the Tea Partiers themselves when we say: "This is not change we can believe in!"