Washington wannabe talks to Nazi meeting

Congressional candidate Tony Zirkle

A Washington, D.C., wannabe has taken the opportunity afforded by the 2008 election campaign to speak to a meeting of the American National Socialist Workers Party, which lists a "nazi.org" address on its website.

And Tony Zirkle, a candidate in Indiana's 2nd congressional district race, is defending his recent appearance in Chicago as an opportunity to witness to the needy about his Christian faith.

In a statement on his campaign website, Zirkle said he was "cracked up" by a reference on MSNBC to his being the "world's 2nd worst person after Bill O'Reilly."

"What cracks me up is that he showed the picture of me presenting the Gospel book, 'The Desire of Ages' to the National Socialists. You know that America and its liberal dominated media have become morally bankrupt when you are called the second worst person in the world for trying to present Jesus to a group the media claims is filled with hate," he said.

"So, let me get this straight. The liberal media believes that evangelizing Nazis is more evil than suicide bombers, child rapists, drug dealers, murders, torturers and yes even porn-pimps. Maybe those national socialists have a point that WWII was really about liberalism and communism dominating the world and that it was an assault on Christian civilization. Was the bipolar Churchhill (sic) possibly deceived? Was America? Didn't General Patton say that we should have been fighting the Russian communists instead? How many people died after WWII because of the new communist threat that Patton said we should not have tolerated. On the other hand, communism gave us Russian brides and capitalism gave us porn stars. Oh, that's tmi (too much info). Maybe asking these questions (sic) will get me ranked No. 1," he wrote.

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The group he addressed, the American National Socialists, on their own website, describe themselves as "NOT 'monsters' as portrayed by the systems controlled media – we are White men and women who care deeply for the future of our children in a decadent, corrupt world gone mad. A world where decency is 'wrong' – and 'perversion' is more than 'acceptable' – why, it's a preferred 'lifestyle choice'!"

According to the Michigan City, Ind., News-Dispatch, Zirkle has come under fire from a GOP primary opponent, Luke Puckett of Goshen.

Puckett spokesman Kyle Bailey told the newspaper Puckett was in "disbelief" when he saw a story about the visit. It detailed Zirkle's speech to the assembly, which reportedly was planned not only to honor Adolf Hitler's birthday, but to "fight America's economic collapse and reinvigorate the white working class."

The newspaper said Hitler's birthday was observed with a cake with a photo of Hitler and the words "Seig Heil."

"I can't believe, in 2008, someone could have such backward opinions," Puckett said.

He, Indiana, the GOP, and Christians also came under fire on the Internet. And also earned some praise.

On a forums page run by WSBT-TV in South Bend, Ind., "WP-NYC" said: "WOW – reading all the hate out there in the middle of the country makes me VERY happy to be an intellectual elite living in NYC. You in-bread (sic) idiots deserve this guy. Thank the Universe that you dolts can't afford to live here so we don't have to deal with your disgusting backward anti-intellectualism. Where is your god now?"

"typical politician" said, "Zirkle is a sicko. But so is Obama for handing $23,000 to Pastor 'I Hate Whites' Wright. What's the difference? One is a nazi lover the other is a white people hater? Same-o Same-o."

"You people are really ignorant on here," said "icdumbpeeps." "This guy is a total bigot and digs Nazis … HELLO! What does he have to do bite the head off a chicken for you all to get it!"

"I said it before and I'll say it again! The winning ticket combination; Obama/Zirkle 2008! Talk about diverse! I hear Zirkle can already promise Obama 6 states!" added "a local political strategist."

"It seems to me Zirkle is far more appealing to us democrat hard working middle class folk. He cares about workers and families while the Republicans too often talk about tax cuts when probably the bottom half of wage earners pay little or no federal taxes," said "Democrat Independent."

Added "neocon," "zirkle went and gave a speech to them. About Jesus. He didn't go and HOLD TALKS with them. No, that's what obama wants to do with the iranians. He wants to go and hold talks with the holocaust deniers."

"If you feel it is necessary to put hitler's picture with zirkle on your tv news cast, why don't you put it with obama, too, since he wants to go talk with iran's leaders and they deny the holocaust and want to wipe the jews off the face of the earth, just like hitler. Yea, i can't wait to see the picture of hitler alongside b. hussein obama," added "yo."

Zirkle told the newspaper he didn't know enough about the group to either favor its ideals or oppose them.

"This is just a great opportunity for me to witness," he said of his Christian faith.

Zirkle told the newspaper the group asked him to speak to discuss the effect of pornography and prostitution on young, white women and girls.

His opponents in the primary are Puckett and Joseph Roush of Plymouth.

He's lost primaries twice before to former U.S. Rep. Chris Chocolo on a campaign of eliminating pornography and prostitution.

"I told (Channel 16, WNDU in South Bend) in the beginning that I'd speak to any group that wanted me to speak," Zirkle told the newspaper.

"I'm keeping my promise. I'll speak to any group. (The National Socialist Workers Party) was interested in the targeting of white people for prostitution," he said.

Even his own party disavowed him.

"The 'R' next to Tony Zirkle's name does not stand for Republican. It stands for 'repulsive,'' Chris Riley, of the St. Joseph County GOP, told WSBT-TV. "The Republican Party stands for two basic principles: individual freedom and government accountability. Nazi socialism and fascism is the polar opposite…"

The Chicago meeting by the National Socialists was to honor the 119th anniversary of the birth of Hitler, the Nazi leader whose goals for an improved world focused on eliminating those he thought were not of a superior race. He's blamed for Germany's institutinalized killing industry that cost an estimated six million people their lives in World War II.

Some of the reaction was succinct:

"What a freaking nutball he is! I am a Republican and the party needs to boot his butt out of the door," said Bill on the television forum.

"That man is nuts! He is an embarrassment to the human race!" said Marj.

On a blog for the National Jewish Democratic Council, Kevin Ducoff noted, "This is a story so incredible, even I couldn’t make it up."

Zirkle also has raised eyebrows with other comments. He told the Kokomo Perspective earlier that Christians need a presence in the Middle East, along with Jews.

"We have a Jewish there but we don't have a Christian state. If we continue along the path we are going the Christian presence in the Middle East is going to be systematically wiped out completely," he said.

When the newspaper suggested desegregation has worked in the United States, he responded, "Well has it? African Americans in Indiana have 80 percent out of wedlock birthrate. Fifty percent of all African Americans between 18 and 25 are in the criminal justice system. Is it working? I don't know…"

Other congressional candidates have raised eyebrows with their speeches, too.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., told a group of atheists during the last congressional campaign the actions of the Bush administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks remind him of the Nazis' use of the burning of Berlin’s Reichstag parliament building in 1933 to expand their power.

Ellison, before Atheists for Human Rights, told the Minneapolis-based group, "You'll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists."

The congressman talked to the group of over 100 meeting in the Southdale Library in Edina about a number of topics – impeaching Vice President Cheney, Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence, the war in Iraq and the 2001 attacks by al-Qaida.

Speaking of the destruction of the World Trade Center and the damage to the Pentagon, Ellison said, "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted."

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