Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, courted controversy last week after he emailed a member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) asserting that union members are communists and likening calls to raise revenues by taxing the top 2 percent of Minnesotans to the rise of Hitler in Germany and Fidel Castro in Cuba. The email prompted a sharp rebuke from MAPE, which asked Hackbarth to explain his comments.

MAPE member Robin Seifert sent an email to Hackbarth regarding the current budget impasse between Republicans and Gov. Mark Dayton that said, in part, “Please tax the richest 2% of Minnesotans. Ask them to pay their fair share.”

To that, Hackbarth replied:

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from folks? All, similar letters to yours.

Are you a Union member? If so, are they the communist [sic] giving you this propaganda?

Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, of Fidel Castro?

Hitler rose to power using and blaming the jews [sic] for the destruction of the German economy. Castro built his army of murderers by blaming the rich bankers and capitalist [sic] for destroying Cuba and taking advantage of the Cuban people. Hummmm?

MAPE executive director James Monroe shot back with his own letter asking for clarification:

While I appreciate your willingness to respond to your constituents, I am deeply troubled about what you wrote and ask you to shed light onto linking a public employee union with the rise of Adolph Hitler and murderous armies of Fidel Castro

Representative Hackbarth, do you really equate advocating for the middle class and Minnesota’s vulnerable citizens as communist propaganda? Do you really believe that when our members ask you to protect 140,000 Minnesotans from losing their MnCare benefits rather than having the richest two percent of Minnesotans paying their fairshare of taxes it compares to the rise of Hitler and targeting the Jews? When did supporting public services for battered women, crime victims and students in public universities become a fascist notion?

Here’s the full exchange:

57776600-Letter-From-MAPE-Executive-Director-Jim-Monroe-to-Representative-Tom-Hackbarth

While still a year out from Super Tuesday, Republicans in the northwoods held a straw poll over the weekend to gauge interest in the 23 Republicans rumored to be mulling a presidential bid or a campaign against Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2012. Beltrami County Republicans picked former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee for the GOP nomination while Rep. Michele Bachmann was the favorite to take on Klobuchar.

The straw poll was taken at the Beltrami County Republican convention, where 46 delegates voted. Pawlenty and Huckabee got 19.6 percent of the vote. Bachmann tied New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 8.7 percent, while Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney both got 6.5 percent. Donald Trump got 4.3 percent. Not a single vote was cast for Sarah Palin.

To take on Sen. Klobuchar in 2012, party activists liked Bachmann, giving her 21.7 percent. Pawenty and former state Rep. Marty Seifert tied at 15.2 percent, and former Rep. Tom Emmer got 13 percent.

The party also used the event to elect chairs. Tea party organizer Al Berkowitz, who was elected co-vice chair of the 7th Congressional District, quoted Hitler, according to the Bemidji Pioneer.

“I remind you of a quote from Adolf Hitler: ‘Give me a generation, and I own the country.’ Our children and grandchildren must remember that.”

Beltrami County encompasses Bemidji in the north-central part of the state.

Image: WCCO

The by-now-tired image comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler shouldn’t shock after its over-use during last year’s tea party anti-healthcare protests. But a streetside booth set up in Mound, Minn. — featuring Obama with a Hitler moustache — drew the attention of WCCO reporters.

A sign suggesting easy, drive-by impeachment — “Pull Over to Impeach Obama!” — was accompanied by a poster that showed the president with a Hitler moustache, but, as with many such Hitler/Obama comparisons, the activists’ intent isn’t to suggest that Obama’s evils rival those of the man who orchestrated the extermination of millions of Jewish people. No, Obama worked to reform healthcare.

“That is what Hitler and Obama have in common, they believe in killing what they call the end of life years,” a woman seated by the poster told WCCO, before hurling epithets at the camera operator. “You are full of lies and treason. You are the reason we are at war, you are the reason we are bankrupt and the reason Obama is president,” the unidentified woman shouted.

College student Nick Johnson noted the overblown Nazi comparison.

“I am growing up in Bush’s America, and I saw stuff like that all the time for Bush, I didn’t like it then and don’t like it now,” he told WCCO. “That’s ridiculous. Obama hasn’t killed one person; Hitler has killed millions.”

The couple wouldn’t identify themselves, but did indicate they’re tied to the Larouche Action Committee.

CCHC’s fundraiser will feature Maria Anne Hirschmann. Hirschmann compared President Obama’s administration to the rise of Hilter’s Nazi Germany. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Hirschmann has said, “Obama, like Hitler, is ‘a charismatic leader who promises full pocketbooks.’ Obama’s pro-choice stands, she writes, resembles those of Hitler, who ‘brought abortion to a systematic level and declared the killing of unborn babies a national duty.’”

Hirschmann also told the Gazette, “He could pave the way for a future Antichrist. Obama scares me because he has no record and people flock to him. Hitler also had no record, people flocked to him and both wrote a book. Christians laid flat and Hitler came to power, just like with Obama.”

Citizen’s Council on Health Care, a conservative outfit that lobbies against government involvement in the health care industry, is bringing Maria Anne Hirschmann, a former Hitler Youth turned evangelical Christian (complete with her own ministry), to Minnesota for its $100 a plate “Freedom Celebration Dinner” on Nov. 9.

Hirschmann stirred controversy this spring when she was tapped to speak at the Air Force Academy, a government institution, in Colorado Springs. Her previous public statements led to outcry from a variety of groups and the subsequent cancellation of her speech.

Hirschmann compared President Obama to the rise of Hilter’s Nazi Germany. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Hirshmann has said, “Obama, like Hitler, is ‘a charismatic leader who promises full pocketbooks.’ Obama’s pro-choice stands, she writes, resembles those of Hitler, who ‘brought abortion to a systematic level and declared the killing of unborn babies a national duty.’”

The Gazette continued:

In her April 2009 newsletter, Hirschmann states she is not comparing Obama to Hitler, rather she sees “trends in America that led Germany into disaster…” She goes on to ask, “Is this unlimited new spending and reckless printing of paper money similar to the economic recovery of Nazi Germany? Yes, it is and it made the German people jubilant because Hitler turned the economy around within four years. Nobody saw that the next four years prepared for World War II, and within 12 years most of Germany was in ashes and Europe nearly destroyed.

Following the cancellation of Hirschmann’s speech at the Air Force Academy, the Gazette interviewed her:

BARNA: You’ve been a critic of President Barack Obama

HIRSCHMANN: Obama is the result of a trend in America that is going away from the Judeo-Christian ethic. Obama is a socialist, one step from communism.

He could pave the way for a future Antichrist. Obama scares me because he has no record and people flock to him. Hitler also had no record, people flocked to him and both wrote a book. Christians laid flat and Hitler came to power, just like with Obama.

Obama is the result of the secular news media brain washing America. The media put Obama into power. He is so inexperienced …

Other statements by Hirschmann have raised eyebrows, as well. For instance, she sees the global war on terror as a Christians-versus-Muslims conflict. “Islam is a religion that believes it has a calling to make the world Muslim and do it violently and nonviolently — whatever way to spread Islam will be done,” Hirschmann told the Colorado Springs paper. “If the U.S. military does what God tells them, he will bless America,” she said.

Hirschmann’s speech at the Citizen’s Council on Health Care fundraiser will be titled “What Does it Mean to Be Free?”

Photo: LilDebbie

The message on a Minneapolis street corner Wednesday was unmediated: VIVA IRAN. That and dozens of other slogans of the Iranian protest movement were carried on signs and on the mercifully cooler air that wafted through downtown, where a crowd of as many as 200 people gathered in a semicircle for urgent call-and-response chants.

Free free elections! Stop stop deception!

After 10 days of TV, Twitter and YouTube, participation in a live, local protest was a bracingly direct way to express and observe the passions and ideals being bravely paraded on other streets a half a world away. The demonstrators’ main communication was to each other, though there were occasional appeals to “our brothers and sisters in Minneapolis” and a few supportive honks from passing cars.

Iran Iran, fight fight! Iran Iran, we hear you! Iran Iran, never give up!

Most appeared to be Iranian-Americans. If the size of the local community with family ties to Iran is correctly guessed at 3,000, perhaps one-twentieth of them had found their way to the Hennepin County Government Center plaza for the noon rally and stayed through a brief shower that arrived at that hour.

I am Neda Neda! We are all Neda!

Beyond that, no generalizations held: men, women, youngsters, people with canes, some wearing the movement’s trademark green. Most held one kind of sign or another, from a simple hand-lettered “I AM NEDA” (in reference to the young Iranian woman whose shooting death in Tehran has gripped YouTube viewers worldwide) to photos of street protests in Iran and a large green banner with the name of Iranian President Ahmadinejad crossed out.

Ahmadinejad is a Hitler! Down with dictator!

Tina Soltani of Maple Grove, wearing a green scarf, said she came to the demonstration to support the people of Iraq. It’s no longer about the elections, she said, but how the government is dealing with the protest movement there.

“My mom was part of the [Iranian] revolution,” said Soltani, herself born and raised in the United States. “They weren’t revolting for [Iran's current regime]. The were revolting against the king … for democracy.”

Other governments have to keep up the pressure on Iran, Soltani said. Though she understands the hesitation to meddle, she sees world opinion as critical to the protesters inside Iran.

“If they give up, the government wins,” she said. But if the people have the world’s support, “the government for sure will fall.”

Daniel MacInnes said he had also attended two previous but smaller protests in Minneapolis: one in Uptown that he helped organize and another on the University of Minnesota campus. He was impressed both by the larger size and the makeup of today’s turnout.

“To see the Iranian-American community running it, this is really crucial,” MacInnes said.

MacInnes, a blogger, said he keeps up with local Iran-related events via a Twin Cities message board at the Why We Protest web site and other social media.

Another event is tonight at the Mayday Bookstore in Minneapolis, where St. Catherine University economics professor Nasrin Jewell will speak on “Coverage of the Election in Iran and the Role Played by Western Media and Governments.” Women Against Military Madness has more information.

I would be Hitler… Well, you know, you get to call of the New Deal. I’d like to call off the Holocaust, you know, World War II, the Anschluss… But I’d keep the Volkswagen.

One spelling-challenged voter from Blue Earth went mostly with Democrats, but added in a few write-ins for down-ballot races, from “Snake River Peace” for Soil and Water supervisor to “O.J. Simson,” “Amy Whinehouse,” “Hitler,” “A Hairy Asshole” and, in an apparent reference to TV’s “Judge Judy” Scheindlin, “Judy Shinlun.”

A Farmington voter also showed up to support Democrats like Barack Obama, Al Franken and House District 36B DFLer Bev Topp, but seemed to break from party affiliation supporting each of The Three Stooges, as well as Farmington mayoral contender, “Nickel Bag,” in other races.

This ballot from Lake Edward showed an official vote for Dean Barkley, later x’d out to show support for write-in candidate Norm Coleman.

Already noted by the media, here’s a Fridley voter who turned the entire ballot into an electoral poem of sorts (pdf). A diatribe about campaign advertising, it concludes, “If I get beat down with political ads… I’d rather have Nick D. Pab for president. Ha ha ha ha.” Curiously, the voter turned out on the busiest election day ever, but cast no votes for actual candidates. A detail:

A St. Louis Park voter seemed confused about his or her Soil and Water pick, jotting the note “both either or else no one.”

There could be a candidate named “Don Johnson,” but I’d prefer to think the “Miami Vice” star merited this write-in:

Here’s a vote for Al Franken that seems to use the lesser-of-evils logic: “Just because he is on democratic ticket.”

“Me” gets the nod over Mark Uglem for Champlin mayor:

And finally a voter who really likes Sen. Coleman. Or really doesn’t.