Just Ever So Slightly Misunderstood

Ohio GOP House candidate Rich "My Hobbies Include Waffen SS Re-enactments" Iott gets out his shovel and "manages" the hole he's in deeper a few dozen miles as he attempts to "clarify" his position to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Rich Iott, a Tea Party favorite running for election in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, explained his position during an interview on CNN's "AC 360" Monday night.

Iott participated in World War II re-enactments for several years in the past decade and created a German alter ego. He has said he started participating in the events as a way to bond with his son. Iott has also participated in Civil War and World War I re-enactments.

"The whole purpose of historical re-enacting is to educate people one-on-one," Iott said. "And that is done by going out and participating in re-enactments."

When asked whether he thought the men being impersonated were "valiant men," Iott said, "I don't think we can sit here and judge that today. We were not there the time they made those decisions. Were there bad people? Absolutely. Were there atrocities committed? Absolutely there were. There are people that want to deny the Holocaust ever happened in this country and around the world."

The website for Iott's re-enactment group -- which impersonates members of the 5th SS Panzerdivision, Wiking -- does not mention the Holocaust directly.

According to Wiking's website, it is a nonprofit group with a "common interest in the German side of the war and want to tell the story of the average combat soldier of the German military."

"Racism or any type of embracement of Nazi ideology of any kind is strictly prohibited by this re-enactment unit," the website reads.

So his position is "Well the Nazis were bad, but really not everybody in the German military was bad, in fact some of them were really great guys, you know, the kind of guys you'd want to hoist a lager with or burn down a village with during Kristalnacht."

Guys, the 5th Panzerdivision was not really friendly.  They were an SS dvision, deep into the weeds as far as the atrocities during the holocaust went.  There's nothing really admirable about them, and reenacting the only moderately nauseating stuff and holding them in high regard for the times when they weren't exterminating people and committing genocide doesn't exactly make you a good person, dig?

Rehabilitating the image of Nazi SS troopers as a father and son bonding exercise?  That's this guy's idea of "fun"?  And he wants to be a Congressman after this?

Awesome.  But no, there's nothing disturbing about Tea Party candidates.  Why do you ask?