CHUTZPAH WATCH…. Even during an election cycle with some truly breathtaking Republican candidates, Ohio’s Rich Iott seemed to stand out. Iott, recruited by the NRCC to take on Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in Ohio’s 9th district, hadn’t made much of a name for himself, until we learned he spent years dressing up as a Nazi for recreational purposes.
The story seemed to run its course a couple of weeks ago. The NRCC put some distance between Iott and the party, and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) denounced Iott’s recreational habits on national television.
But House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), the would-be Speaker, has a very different approach.
House Minority Leader John Boehner will campaign this weekend with Rich Iott, the Ohio Republican congressional candidate who found himself embroiled in controversy several weeks ago when photos surfaced of him dressed in a Nazi SS uniform.
The Iott campaign confirmed to the Huffington Post that the two will appear together at the Lucas County Republican Party headquarters. It is, if nothing else, a risky stop for Boehner to make just days before the election.
Iott’s chances at winning the seat were seemingly downgraded after photos of him dressed in Nazi garb surfaced.
The Atlantic‘s Josh Green, who broke the Iott story in the first place, talked to Boehner’s office, which had no qualms about Boehner’s role at the campaign rally.
Boehner just doesn’t care anymore. He assumed that Republicans will thrive on Tuesday no matter how offensive their campaigns, and he may very well be right.
The DCCC’s Ryan Rudominer responded, “Not only has John Boehner recruited, embraced, and financed a disgraced Nazi enthusiast running for Congress, but now Boehner is pouring gasoline on the fire by holding a campaign rally with him. Unbelievably, this comes on the heels of John Boehner also embracing an Ohio congressional candidate being sued for attempted rape and sexual assault, and another who has ties to an organized crime syndicate that brands women like cattle. Thumbing his nose at our nation’s veterans, women, and people of the Jewish faith, all the while refusing to stand up for basic American values in order to try and win an election, apparently this is what Boehner meant when he said, ‘We’re not going to be any different than what we’ve been.’”
Josh Marshall added, “I don’t surprise easily. But who exactly told Boehner or someone on Boehner’s staff this would be a good move on the weekend before election day?”
This is what overconfidence looks like.
