This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.
By Alissa Greenberg @Alissaleewrites
Comments on the pending deal between the U.S. and Iran by Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee have sparked controversy after he compared the deal to “marching [Israel] to the door of the oven.”
Huckabee’s comments to the conservative website Breitbart, an apparent reference to the Holocaust that would seem to equate U.S. President Barack Obama with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, immediately drew criticism from across the aisle.
U.S. Representative for Florida and head of the Democratic National Committee Deborah Wasserman-Schultz called for an apology for what she called “cavalier analogies” to Nazi death camps. The National Jewish Democratic Council echoed that call, saying in a statement, “Republicans have fallen over themselves to speak out against Donald Trump’s outrageous rhetoric on immigration and veterans. Will they now do the same and speak out against this unacceptable attack against President Obama that smears the memory of Holocaust victims … or will they stand by in silence and implicit approval?”
Huckabee is one of a dozen Republican candidates from the political elite who have been blindsided by the campaign of real estate magnate Donald Trump, whose raucously populist campaign has propelled him to the top of most polls of the 16-horse race. Huckabee told Fox News at the weekend he’d been essentially saying the same things as Trump for years.
Huckabee’s camp, however, chose to support his stance, highlighting the remarks in a series of tweets on Sunday:
Tell Congress to do their constitutional duty & reject the Obama-Kerry #IranDeal –> http://t.co/SaIyuq4w01 pic.twitter.com/2rFJgdDHhV
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 26, 2015
Tell Congress to do their constitutional duty & reject the Obama-Kerry #IranDeal –> http://t.co/SaIyuq4w01 pic.twitter.com/2rFJgdDHhV
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 26, 2015
Ayatollah Khamenei's Iranian Martyr Foundation rep: "We have manufactured missiles that allow us…to replace Israel…with a big holocaust"
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
Ayatollah Khamenei's Iranian Martyr Foundation rep: "We have manufactured missiles that allow us…to replace Israel…with a big holocaust"
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
"It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region." – Ayatollah Khamenei http://t.co/tMBfHPHZk2
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
"It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region." – Ayatollah Khamenei http://t.co/tMBfHPHZk2
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
"If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." – Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
"If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." – Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015
Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote on the deal, which would trade nuclear proliferation limits for loosened economic sanctions.