GOP 'Young Guns' House Nominee Loves Playing Nazi Dress-Up

What this year's crop of insane GOP/Teabagger candidates had lacked, so far, was really only a Tea Party-backed Republican nominee hand-selected as one of Eric Cantor's "Young Guns" who also spent all his spare time dressed up like an actual Nazi Waffen SS soldier playing German Invasion in the woods around Toledo. And now, the story of the GOP Resurgence is complete, because the dress-up Nazi has been located. Meet Rich Iott, your new teabagger congressman from Ohio!

Joshua Green ofThe Atlantic  brings us this charming tale of a man who simplyloveshistory, that's all:

Iott, whose district lies in Northwest Ohio, was involved with a group that calls itself Wiking, whose members are devoted to re-enacting the exploits of an actual Nazi division, the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking .... Iott confirmed his involvement with the group over a number of years, but said his interest in Nazi Germany was historical and he does not subscribe to the tenets of Nazism. "No, absolutely not," he said. "In fact, there's a disclaimer on the [Wiking] website. And you'll find that on almost any reenactment website. It's purely historical interest in World War II."

Whatever, Hitler.

It only took a day for this very promising Nazi candidate to beremovedfrom Eric Cantor's heroic "Young Guns" group of 40-and 50-something GOP creeps chosen to be the Republican Party's sexy new face:

Until last night, the GOP included the candidate, Rich Iott, on a list of promising potential members called Contenders -- a notch below their so-called Young Guns. Now he's gone, without a trace.

You can get away with a lot in conservative politics these days, but it turns out spending your weekends dressed as a Nazi, celebrating the brave Waffen 5th SS Panzer Division is still a bridge too far.

Haha, Talking Points Memo, always with the jokes. [ The Atlantic / TPM ]