A pro-gun rights campaign video (above) from Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as “Joe the Plumber,” is stirring up controversy with a reference that ties gun control to the Holocaust.
The ad shows the congressional candidate in target practice, taking aim at various fruits. His voice intones: “In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939-1945, 6 million Jews and 7 million others, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated… I love America.”
The video was posted by the campaign on YouTubeand its Facebook page, though it does not appear on the candidate’s website.
The incumbent for the ninth district of Ohio where Wurzelbacher is running, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, has served in Congress since 1983. She called the ad “peculiar” and labeled her competitor “out of step with the vast majority of people,” while appearing on Daily Rundown Thursday.
“Most people in the region that I’m privileged to represent and live in—which he does not; he does not live in the 9th district—care about jobs. They care about how we keep the automotive recorvy going, the boom in agriculture, in biofuels, in natural gas drilling,” she said. “They want to hear about expansion of our ports, our rail, airports. They want to hear about the future. He’s talking about years ago and I’m not quite sure what relevance that has to the jobs of today.”
Wurzelbacher has defended the ad, telling Politico that those who are offended by it “are probably serving a political agenda.” The National Jewish Democratic Council called for its removal, arguing that “using the memories of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust to make a political point is never appropriate, under any circumstances.” Wurzelbacher, a native of Ohio, became known as “Joe the Plumber” after asking then-candidate for president Barack Obama a tax policy question on the 2008 presidential campaign trail. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain took up his cause and Wurzelbacher was catapulted onto the national political scene. More Lean Forward headlines:
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