May 19, 2010: Gingrich: Obama Administration as Big a Threat to America as Nazis, Soviet Union; Jewish Association Protests Equivalence

The American Jewish Coalition logo. [Source: The New Jew (.com)]The American Jewish Coalition (AJC) urges the Republican Party leadership to condemn former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)‘s assertion that the Obama administration’s policy agenda is as “great a threat to America as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.” Gingrich, a paid Fox News commentator, made the statement in a recently published book, To Save America; in interviews promoting the book, he has called the Obama administration a “secular socialist machine” similar in fashion and beliefs to the Nazi and Soviet regimes. The AJC’s executive director, David Harris, says: “By invoking the current administration in the same breath as two murderous totalitarian states, Newt Gingrich has drawn a foolish and dangerous analogy. Gingrich’s linkage not only diminishes the horror of the Holocaust, it also licenses the use of extremist language in contemporary America.” Gingrich has said he is not drawing moral distinctions, but has gone on to say that because of the Obama initiatives, “we are going to be in a country which no longer resembles America.” Harris says: “It is vital that the Republican leadership say clearly that such analogies are unacceptable. Unfortunately, as the recent controversy over the new immigration law in Arizona also demonstrates, demonizing political opponents as Nazis is becoming all too common in American political debate.” [Media Matters, 5/16/2010; American Jewish Coalition, 5/19/2010] On Fox News, Chris Wallace asks Gingrich if his claim isn’t “wildly over the top.” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, calls Gingrich’s comments “sick,” “shameful,” and “so over the top,” and adds, “I hope you apologize.” [Media Matters, 5/16/2010; Media Matters, 5/20/2010; Media Matters, 5/20/2010]