Arguably the most inflammatory member in Congress, GOP Rep. Allen West (FL) outdid himself yesterday by comparing the Democratic Party to the Nazi party. Bristling at a new poll revealing that Americans blame Republicans for Congress’s inability to function, West invoked this slur:

“If Joseph Goebbels was around, he’d be very proud of the Democrat Party, because they have an incredible propaganda machine,” West told reporters during House votes Thursday afternoon. “Let’s be honest, you know, some of the people in the media are complicit with this and enabling them to get that type of message out.” [...]

“But let’s be very honest,” he added. “You have the president, who has an incredible megaphone and a platform, and he has people all across this country believing that the only people on Capitol Hill are House Republicans. He’s not talking anything about his controlled Senate. So, it’s a great propaganda machine. And I have to give him kudos for being able to leverage that.”

Goebbels was Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945 and was known for openly exploiting “the lowest instincts of the German people” like racism, xenophobia, and economic insecurity to engender a zealous anti-Semitism.

The National Jewish Democratic Council asked West to “apologize sincerely and immediately. As we have said repeatedly, invoking the Holocaust to make a political point is never acceptable and should be condemned by all for the sake of the memory of those who were lost.” Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) also blasted West in a personal letter, demanding that he “help raise the level of congressional discourse in a vigorous debate.”

West, as if realizing the extremity of his words, then peremptorily blamed reporters for “taking my words and twisting it around.” “What I’m talking about is a person that was the minister of propaganda. And I’m talking about propaganda,” he said. “Once again, you guys will take whatever I say and you will spin it to try to demonize me or demagogue me.” After all, he’s the victim here.

Last year, Ohio millionaire Rich Iott marked the demise of his campaign against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) with the revelation that “he likes to pretend he’s a Nazi,” defending his Nazi reenactments by stating he was “fascinated” with “a relatively small country that from a strictly military point of view accomplished incredible things.” Of course, most Republicans — let alone Ohioans — found this repulsive. The Republican Jewish Coalition “strongly commended Republican Party leaders for moving swiftly to sever ties to Ohio congressional candidate Rich Iott.”

However, it seems House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) didn’t completely cut those strings. After the controversy broke, Boehner stood up next to Iott at a Republican Get Out The Vote rally last year. Then, this February, Iott donated to $2,400 to Boehner’s campaign. Iott also contributed $1,000 to the campaign to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s (R) Senate campaign. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) called on Boehner and Mandel, who is Jewish, to return the contributions:

“The time is long overdue for Mandel to return the money, or better yet, donate it to a Holocaust memorial. If Mandel continues to keep Iott’s money then he, like House Speaker John Boehner — who stumped for Iott and received a contribution from him recently as well — will continue to give Iott a pass for his disturbing involvement in Nazi reenactments. Failure on this basic test of political courage cannot be an option for any elected official.

The NJDC said they purposefully waited months before calling out Mandel to give him a chance to “act responsibly.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who is also Jewish, rebuked Iott’s behavior last year. He and Boehner — and apparently Mandel — “parted ways” when it came to dealing with the Nazi reenacter, Politico reported at the time.

Republicans in the Massachusetts state House have proposed a package of ethics reform that include making lobbyists wear badges to identify themselves when in the Statehouse. The proposal comes after former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (D) became the third consecutive Bay State speaker to be convicted of or plead guilty to felony charges when he was found guilty on seven counts of federal corruption charges earlier this month. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

But the head of the powerful House Rules Committee John Binienda (D) finds the ethics reforms “revolting,” telling reporters that making lobbyists wear badges is just like what Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust:

“The idea of the badge by lobbyists to me, I kind of find that revolting,” Representative John Binienda, a Worcester Democrat, told the State House News Service in article posted this morning. “Hitler during the concentration camps tattooed all of the Jewish people so he would know who was Jew and who wasn’t, and that’s something that I just don’t go along with.” [...]

“I know who the lobbyists are when I go out there,” said Binienda.

Binienda immediately apologized for the remarks, which were first published this morning, saying he made a grossly “inappropriate analogy.” “No comparison can be made between the Nazi regime and a rules proposal made by members in good faith. I apologize to the sponsors as well as the people of Massachusetts for my words,” he said. The Anti-Defamation League New England had called for him to apologize this morning.

Yesterday, several members of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, marched in Claremont, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to protest illegal immigration. Prior to the march, the Contra Costa Times reported on the group’s motivations:

“We will have a lot of flags, our signs and a bullhorn,” said Jeff Hall, Southwest States regional director of the organization. “We’re going to be heard and let it be known we’re against illegal immigration … we believe in free speech. We’re going to make our voices heard.” [...]

Hall said he wants “a white nation that doesn’t have multiculturalism forced on them.” According to the group’s website, its “core beliefs include defending the rights of white people everywhere, preservation of our European culture and heritage, strengthening family values, economic self-sufficiency, and reform of illegal immigration policies, immediate withdrawal of our national military from an illegal Middle Eastern occupation and promotion of white separation.”

In an interview with ABC7, Hall claimed that the march “is not about hate, it’s about us identifying with our own culture.” Watch ABC7′s report:

Raymond Herrera, founder and president of the Claremont-based anti-immigrant group We the People, condemned the march and stated that he is opposed to all racist organizations, including one of the nation’s most prominent Latino civil rights groups which he compared to the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, his own website proclaims, “The invasion of millions upon millions of foreigners, uninvited and without notice to the United States is a far greater threat to our national security, national interest and general welfare than Saddam Hussein and Iraq have ever been.”

Last week, the Wonk Room reported that three alleged white supremacists were arraigned in connection with the brutal beating of two Mexican nationals in San Francisco. The city’s District Attorney, George Gascón, indicated that “the investigation has revealed an increase in local white supremacist activity, mostly coming from people living outside of San Francisco.”

Yesterday, members of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement gathered in front of the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Court Building in Phoenix, AZ to protest a federal judge’s decision to block several provisions of the state’s controversial immigration law, SB-1070. Pollice had to interfere with tear gas and pepper spray when a group of counter-protesters clashed with the neo-Nazi march. Watch ABC15′s coverage:

Yesterday’s march is yet another example of the increasing participation of white supremacist groups in the SB-1070 immigration debate. This past summer, the East Valley Tribune reported that that “[w]hite supremacist activity is on the rise in Arizona.” Bill Straus of the Anti-Defamation League said of SB-1070, “It does seem like the distance between what most of us would consider the extreme fringes of political thought and the mainstream of political thought, it seems like that distance has shrunk.”

It’s not surprising that SB-1070 has attracted extremism. The lawyers who are credited with authoring it are employed by an organization that has reportedly accepted $1.2 million in donations from the Pioneer Fund, “a foundation established to promote the genes of white colonials.” The law’s sponsor, state Rep. Russell Pearce (R-AZ), has faced criticism in the past for cozying up to local neo-Nazis. He even endorsed one of “Arizona’s leading neo-Nazis,” J.T. Ready, when the he ran for City Council in the spring of 2006.

Meanwhile, a recent poll revealed that many Arizonans think the immigration debate has “exposed a deeper sense of racism in our community.”

This past weekend, anti-immigrant activists staged rallies in three different locations: “anti-amnesty” protesters gathered in Farmers Branch, TX, Tea Party members rallied at the border in Arizona, and neo-Nazis marched down the streets of Knoxville, TN. The three separate, but related protests illustrate how the white supremacist movement has latched onto the immigration issue.

As proponents of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law insist that their support of the law has nothing to do with race, they can’t deny that for some people it boils down to “white people who are not afraid to stand up,” as one Tennessee rally attendee noted. Watch coverage of the Tennessee rally:

At the neo-Nazi rally in Knoxville, protesters proudly displayed swastikas. One demonstrator explained the motivations guiding the march: “Federal economic policies are unsustainable. Our country is going broke. Stop giving away our jobs to countries that hate us. Secure our border. Put race and nation first.” The rhetoric in Farmers Branch and Arizona was not remarkably different.

In Hereford, AZ, where approximately 400 Tea Party activists gathered yesterday, Tucson radio host proclaimed, “[i]nstead of finding bugs in our beds, we’re finding home invaders.” Cindy Kolb, “a border activist” who attended the gathering screamed over the border fence, said “[w]e don’t like illegals hiding under bushes when our kids wait for the school bus. This border needs to be secure.”

The Farmers Branch rally was organized by the Salt Lake City-based Americans Against Immigration Amnesty, which states on its website, “Many of those seeking amnesty refuse to assimilate to our culture or language and refuse to respect our citizens and laws. Rather, they demand we assimilate to them and their culture, teach our children their language and shamelessly fly their country’s flag over ours.”

Meanwhile, a recent poll revealed that many Arizonans think the immigration debate has “exposed a deeper sense of racism in our community.” The Wonk Room has extensive coverage of this weekend’s anti-immigrant events.