EJ MONTINI

Rep. Schweikert compares unions to Nazis ... really

EJ Montini
opinion columnist
Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert

Among the many things that Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert should know is that an American politician (or anyone else) must never, ever, EVER compare Americans (or anyone else) to Nazis.

Nazis are in a cruel class all their own.

I would hope that Schweikert actually does know this.

Yet he it did it anyway. In this instance, he compared labor unions to Nazis.

The congressman's comments were reported online by The Washington Post.

Speaking on the House floor during a debate over President Obama's Pacific Rim free trade trade deal, which is opposed by many unions, Schweikert said, "Some of the crazy things I'm seeing put out in the media by big labor, the willingness to make up stories, to make up facts -- Goebbels would be proud of them."

Would he really?

Goebbels, as you probably know, was the Reich minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany.

Schweikert is wrong about Goebbels. For saying something so ugly and inflammatory I'd guess that the Nazi propaganda minister would have much more reason to be proud of ... Schweikert.

Unlike his constituents in Arizona.

The National Jewish Democratic Council condemned the comments in a statement that reads: "The name 'Joseph Goebbels' has no place in the important policy debates facing our nation. To invoke the man responsible for some of Hitler's most heinous anti-Semitic propaganda in discussing the millions of hardworking American union workers is simply outrageous. Rep. Schweikert owes the labor community and the American Jewish population an apology, and we strongly suggest he reconsiders his choice of words in the future."