The update is almost better than the original story. The AJC headlines, Rep. Broun regrets linking Obama, Hitler. Well, duh!
Georgia Congressman Paul Broun Tuesday backed away from comparing the policies of President-elect Obama to those of Hitler or a Marxist dictator. …
“I regret putting it that way,” Broun told WGAC radio in Augusta. “I apologize to anyone who has taken offense at that.”
Broun acknowledged that he called Obama a Marxist at a Rotary Club meeting in Augusta last week. In an Associated Press interview Monday night, he went further, charging that an Obama campaign proposal for a civilian national security reserve corps would be like the security forces of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Read on for quotes from his defenders. Here’s the 10-minute audio clip of the apology on WGAC. The AJC’s Jim Galloway has a rough, partial transcript. The trigger for Broun’s concerns came in this July speech by Obama in which he called for a civilian national security force to take some of the national security burden off the military.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who faces a run-off Dec. 2 with Democratic challenger Jim Martin, distanced himself from the remarks. “I commend President-elect Obama on his historic election,” said the senator, “I do not agree with him and I do not believe that type of political rhetoric is appropriate.”
RELATED: David Neiwert points to the Texas state education-board member who fears that Obama is secretly plotting with Muslim terrorists to destroy America, “Those are my personal opinions and I don’t think the language is questionable.”