It’s not a Godwin’s Law violation to compare someone to Hitler if they praise Hitler is it? A state senator in New Hampshire had an interesting conversation with a constituent advocating for mental health funding:
In light of this huge wave of cuts, Sharon Omand, a community health care center manager and resident of Stafford, New Hampshire, called her state senator Martin Harty (R) recently to request more funding for community mental health programs and for the homeless. Omand was shocked by Harty’s response. The state senator told her “the world is too populated” and that there are too many “defective people.” When Omand asked what should be done with these “defective people” that are mentally ill, Harty suggested sending them to Siberia, something that he said Hitler was “right” to do:
Barrington Republican Martin Harty told Sharon Omand, a Strafford resident who manages a community mental health program, that “the world is too populated” and there are “too many defective people,” according to an e-mail account of the conversation by Omand. […]
Harty confirmed to the Monitor that he made the comments to Omand. […]
Omand says Harty then stated, “I wish we had a Siberia so we could ship them all off to freeze to death and die and clean up the population.” Omand said Harty appeared to be serious. After Omand responded that his idea sounded like what Adolf Hitler did in World War II, Omand said Harty responded, “Hitler did something right, and I agree with (it).”
When the GOP Speaker of the House in New Hampshire was asked about these statements, he said this:
Harty has not apologized for making his comments. Republican State House Speaker William O’Brien said that “at Harty’s age [90 years old], he has earned the right to say what he thinks, but ‘he needs to appreciate that as a representative, he will be held to a higher standard.’”
It was actually Stalin that sent people to Siberia but the phrase “Hitler did something right and I agree with” is not a phrase that should be uttered by anyone, anywhere. It felt dirty just to type it.
As criticisms go, that’s weak. O’Brien thinks that when you’re 90 you’ve apparently earned the right to praise Hitler and advocate for eugenics, but you really shouldn’t. Just to remind you – the Holocaust Museum killer James Von Brunn was 88 when he took a weapon to the museum and killed a museum guard.