by Sally Jo Sorensen
Not all Hutchinson Leader readers agree with the assessment of Kitty Werthmann's ideas shared by Yvonne Piker in Speaker warned of perilous path.
Darwin resident Chris Leonard writes in Comparison to Nazis insulting:
In the Oct. 11 Leader, Yvonne Piker wrote glowingly about her experience hearing the touring speaker Kitty Werthmann in Hutchinson earlier that week. Ms. Werthmann lived in Austria during the Nazi occupation before and during World War II and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s. I had occasion to meet her while she was in town and she is a very nice lady. The parallels she attempts to draw between the Nazi regime and the present day United States, however, I find specious and, frankly, insulting to the memory of the victims of the Nazis and those who fought for the cause of democracy and freedom from oppression.
She uses the tragedy in her past to rail against a vision of the present that simply does not exist. She compares the worldwide depression to our current economic difficulties, which are real but in no way comparable to the global hyperinflation and desperation that characterized the 1930s. She cites the secularization of public education and equal rights for women as horrible legacies of Hitler when, in fact, these are both fully consistent with our own founding Constitution and have served to make America greater and more free.
Bluestem scrutinized Werthmann's claims in McLeod County Republican event: the hills are alive with the sound of Eagle Forum's Kitty Werthmann comparing Obama & Hitler.
Also noted: Emily Gruenhagen, wife of State Representative Glenn Gruenhagen, promoted the speaker for the McLeod County Republicans, as well as two events sponsored by Camp America, a Wright County-based Tea Party-like group.See post Wife of state rep Gruenhagen promoted three events for speaker who compares Hitler & Obama.
As we observed yesterday, if a DFL party unit brought in a speaker who compared any Republican elected official to Hitler, we'd likely hear howls from the right. That the spouse of a Republican legislator played a role in promoting a speaker who demonizes the president this way leaves us shaking our head.
Photo: The audience at the McLeod County Republican-sponsored Kitty Werthmann talk in Hutchinson. via McLeod County GOP twitter feed.
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