GOP must condemn 'indecent, disgusting' tea party signs

National Jewish Democratic Council to GOP: Condemn those Nov. 5 Capitol Hill “Tea Party” Holocaust imagery/anti-Semitism signs

Today’s G.O.P. “Tea Party” on Capitol Hill opposing health insurance reform invoked disgusting Holocaust imagery and outright anti-Semitism. Top Republican Party leaders including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) stood before a crowd that included a banner protesting health care reform and displaying corpses from the Holocaust. Yet another sign charged that “Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds” [sic].

On his twitter feed Friday afternoon, Elie Wiesel said: "This kind of political hatred is indecent and disgusting."

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Politico: "Leader Boehner did not see any such sign. Obviously, it would be grossly inappropriate."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center also decried the signs as "a cheap and disgusting abuse of history.” Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Government Affairs, said “It reflects only the ignorance and callousness of those who cannot debate an issue on its merits and should be immediately repudiated by all responsible parties. Both the memory of the victims of the Nazis and the American public deserve better.”

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) attacked the same issues in a video he posted on YouTube, calling out the rally’s organizer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):