Will this augment our chances of losing the electoral page in Cordray’s playbook? Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has actually made no secret of his intention to return to the Buckeye State to run for governor. He left the CFPB and is now in the races claiming that Ohio GOP lawmakers are… Nazi collaborators? Apparently this is due to the 2011 budget cuts where Republican state lawmakers didn’t do enough to roll back or something. This completely makes them Nazi collaborators (via Questioner from Cincinnati):
Let’s get this straight: If you are a local Republican elected official in Ohio and you do not publicly stand up to Governor Kasich and the Legislature over local government funding cuts, you are like a Nazi collaborator. This is some twisted logic. ??https://t.co/Lg9ZHnaWWd
— Jason Williams (@jwilliamscincy) June 26, 2018
Cordray made the comparison while criticizing Republicans across the state for failing to stand up to GOP Gov. John Kasich and the Legislature for making local government funding cuts in 2011.
The 45-second video shows that working together to solve problems is not the “philosophy” of Governor Kasich and House Republicans. Cordray wonders why locally elected Republicans across the state “are not speaking out on this issue.”
Cordray then added: “Someone told me last month that they were ‘Vichy Republicans,’ which I didn’t quite understand. “I think it’s ‘Vichy France’ in World War II, those who came through and collaborated with the Nazis.”
Standing next to an ornate wreath hanging on the wall, Cordray raised both hands as he said, “Vichy Republicans.” Several people in the audience could be heard laughing.
Cordray did not mention Trump, whose critics have compared him to a Nazi.
Mike Gwin, a spokesman for Cordray, said: “Rich believes Ohioans deserve elected representatives who will stand up for what is right, even if that means going against members of their own party. In expressing this opinion, he regrets that he repeated someone else’s inappropriate comparison.”
Well, obviously not because he made another Nazi comparison this month while campaigning in Newark, Ohio (via Free lantern):
The remarks by Cordray, the Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio, were made during a conversation with supporters during a June 15 campaign stop with Licking County Democrats in Newark, Ohio.
“I will say that, as I said, the tone you set in government and leadership matters,” Cordray said. “I mean, right now the White House is setting a tone that is completely contrary to everything I have come to understand about America. You know, trying to find people to blame and blame? It’s like Nazi Germany.”
“I mean, I don’t want to speak too strongly about it and I don’t want to compare it to the Holocaust, but we’re trying to find people that we can knock down, drag out, blame and say, ‘It’s their fault, not our fault,’” Cordray said. “It never builds people up, knocking someone else down. When our children do it on the playground, we tell them, ‘Stop it.’
It’s not in the GOP’s interest, but stop with the shoddy, poorly made and historically illiterate stuff, Rich. They are a total disaster. They are low energy. And they are the epitome of half ass. The Left beat Nazism to death. If you are for middle class tax breaks, you are a Nazi. If you want strong borders, you are a Nazi. If you voted for Trump, you are a Nazi. We are all deplorable – and in 2016 we still won, and in a state where Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. I’m not sure this is the right line of attack. The Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board recently wrote that Cordray probably should drop this line toonoting that it’s entirely possible that nothing will come of it – or it will become something that will stay on the cycle for weeks, comparing it to Romney’s 47 percent remark – or, more aptly, the Bain Capital ad that has been marinating in the Akron area.
However, it looks like the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree regarding Ohio Democrats and their penchant for Nazi references. In 2011, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) likened GOP efforts to stop union as a Hitler-style political maneuver (via Hill 3/3/11):
Senator Sherrod Brown (R-Ohio) took to the floor of the Senate… to defend unions, saying they are opposed by dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
Brown said unions have unfairly faced attack from Republicans and conservatives who are forcing workers to oppose each other in states like his where governments are taking action on anti-union legislation. While he said he wasn’t making a direct comparison, Brown said “some of the worst governments we’ve ever had” were anti-union.
And it only took Brownie 24 hours apologize. All things considered, Democrats will probably still make them, so grab some popcorn while everyone gets into the meat grinder.
