Last Call

It's not really paranoia if they really are out to get Obama, you know.

At the How To Take Back America Conference last weekend, conservative speaker Kitty Werthmann led a workshop called “How to recognize living under Nazis & Communists.” Announcing the panel in a column preceding the conference, talk show host Janet Porter gushed how Werthmann’s description of Austria in the 1930s is a “mirror to America” today — noting “They had Joseph Goebbels; we have Mark Lloyd, the diversity czar.” The room was packed over capacity to hear Werthmann, who grew up as a Christian in Austria and serves as Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum South Dakota President.

During her session, Werthmann went through a litany of examples of how President Obama is like Adolf Hitler. She noted that Hitler, who acted “like an American politician,” was “elected in a 100% Christian nation.” Although she failed to once mention Antisemitism or militarism, Werthmann explained how universal healthcare, an Equal Rights Amendment, and increased taxes were telltale signs of Nazism. Werthmann also warned the audience:

If we had our guns, we would have fought a bloody battle. So, keep your guns, and buy more guns, and buy ammunition. [...] Take back America. Don’t let them take the country into Socialism. And I refer again, Hitler’s party was National Socialism. [...] And that’s what we are having here right now, which is bordering on Marxism.

Well, alright Zandar, you say, but these people are mad, fringe lunatics. Surely the GOP is keeping a safe distance from people advocating armed revolt against the government given our recent history over the last 20 years.

You would of course be COMPLETELY WRONG.

Werthmann noted that her Nazism speech is gaining popularity. She not only has delivered it to several tea parties, but has been asked by “a group of bankers” to address them this month.

Before the event, ThinkProgress asked Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), one of several Republican members of Congress also speaking at the conference, to autograph Werthmann’s DVD about National Socialism. She happily obliged:

Bachmanniac again. Anyone else surprised? Well, who else was there, you ask? How about World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah, conservative pain in the ass Phyllis Schlafly, GOP Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, and GOP Congressmen Steve King, Tom McClintock and Tom Price...and Joe The Plumber!

It's a Hollywood Squares of squares who hate Hollywood. And Obama. And anyone who isn't exactly like them.

But don't dismiss them as harmless cranks. These guys mean business, folks. The GOP is backing their play with the Pretty Hate Machine. Who will it set off next, and how many people will be hurt or killed when it happens?

Keep that in mind.