he also said blood libel.Remember when Sarah Palin said Blood libel all hell broke loose
http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2011/01/despicable-dem-j-street-congressman-steve-cohen-tn-invokes-the-holocaust-compares-republicans-to-naz.html DESPICABLE DEM: J Street Congressman Steve Cohen (TN) Invokes the Holocaust, Compares Republicans to Nazis
Tell me again how J Street is not evil? They helped get this guy elected... in a Tennessee district that is known for being the state's only African-American-majority district. Just where you'd look for a "pro-israel, pro-peace" kinda guy, right?
ABC News via The Hill:
.... In an extraordinary outburst on the House floor, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) invoked the Holocaust to attack Republicans on health care and compared rhetoric on the issue to the work of infamous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
“They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels," Cohen said. "You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. And Congressman Cohen didn’t stop there....
Just imagine what he might have said, had we all not been recently chastised by the president to raise the level of civility in our public discourse.
I guess it didn't do us any good at all that AIPAC brought Cohen along to Jerusalem (and Ramallah) as part of a congressional delegation back in 2007.
And don't forget, In 2008 he was the bright bulb who compared Obama to Jesus and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate.
Cohen was also one of the 100 Congressmen who refused [or neglected] to sign the Cantor-Hoyer letter in support of Israel, if you remember that.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/01/abc-news-jonathan-karl-reports-the-newfound-civility-didnt-last-long-political-rhetoric-in-congress-doesnt-get-much.html Say What? Democrat Compares Republicans to Nazis
January 19, 2011 1:02 PM
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JON KARLABC News Jonathan Karl reports:
The newfound civility didn’t last long. Political rhetoric in Congress doesn’t get much nastier than the words of one House Democrat during the debate on repealing the health care law.
In an extraordinary outburst on the House floor, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) invoked the Holocaust to attack Republicans on health care and compared rhetoric on the issue to the work of infamous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
“They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels," Cohen said. "You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. And Congressman Cohen didn’t stop there.
“The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it--believed it and you have the Holocaust. We heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover," Cohen said.
Cohen made his comments late last night, but they have attracted no attention because his speech was made to a virtually empty House chamber with no reporters around to watch.
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2011/01/19/2742630/doesnt-steve-cohen-read-jta Doesn’t Steve Cohen read JTA?—UPDATE
By Ron Kampeas · January 19, 2011
We had the local yokel GOP guy from Michigan during the most recent election cycle who thought it was okay to call someone Goebbels just because you don't agree with him.
We certainly covered last week's Sarah Palin-blood libel business up the wazoo.
And now Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) goes for a twofer and uses both terms on Republicans during the latest health care debate:
From Chas Sisk's blog at the Tennessean:
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen brought up Joseph Goebbels’ theory of the big lie in remarks last night on the House floor that accuse Republicans of deliberately distorting the debate over health care reform.
“They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels,” Cohen said in a speech to a nearly empty House chamber that was picked up today by ABC News. “You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it.”
Cohen, the only Jewish member of Congress from Tennessee, goes on to cite the example of the “blood libel,” the false claim that Jews use the blood of children in the preparation of matzoh bread.
Seriously, if Democrats are going to maintain credibility after all their attacks on Palin last week, someone needs to carpet Cohen, pronto, for his rhetoric.
Same goes for J Street, which chastised Palin -- although what her remarks had to do with its mission, I don't know -- and which endorsed Cohen.
UPDATE: That was fast. The National Jewish Democratic Council just rebuked Cohen:
The National Jewish Democratic Council criticizes the comments of Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) which compared Republicans to the Nazis and unfortunately reintroduced the Holocaust into the health care debate. As we have said repeatedly, invoking the Holocaust to make a political point is never acceptable—on either side of the aisle. Cohen’s comments and similar comments made by others are not helpful as our leaders and citizens conduct a joint effort to advance civility in our political discourse. We implore Cohen and all our leaders to choose their words carefully as we move forward.
Even though Cohen is a leading progressive figure, the vast preponderance of abusive Holocaust rhetoric still comes from the right-wing. We hope that if there are future uses of abusive Holocaust rhetoric from either side of the aisle that political leaders will stand up and condemn those statements and reiterate calls for civility.
Here by the way is the video, from ABC's The Note:
UPDATE 2: J Street thinks Cohen should apologize:
J Street strongly opposes the use of Holocaust imagery and Nazi metaphors in American political debate. We have spoken out strongly in the past when it was used by those who we oppose politically, and we also ask our friends to refrain from using such language.
We call on Congressman Cohen to apologize for these remarks, and urge him and all American political leaders to refrain from the use of such imagery in the future.