Landes refuses to make apology
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Del. Steve Landes speaks Aug. 29 in Fishersville...
Watch video of Del. Steve Landes' speech at a Republican picnic Aug. 29 in Fishersville, where he compares the White House to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That portion of Landes' remarks begins...
TNV File photo
Del. Steve Landes speaks recently at Ridgeview Park, where he was presented the 2009 legislator of the year award from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Prodded by his Democratic opponent and three local party chairmen, Del. Steve Landes, R-Weyers Cave, refused Thursday to apologize for comments he made at a Republican picnic last month comparing White House tactics to those used by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
“I’m not going to apologize for speaking my mind,” Landes said. “The last time I checked the First Amendment protected my political speech.”
Landes said his comments were taken out of context when they surfaced last week in a report by The Washington Post. Landes provided a full video clip of his remarks that is posted on NewsVirginian.com.
“When you’ve got a White House that’s keeping names of people that don’t agree with them, that reminds me of what went on in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany,” Landes said during a roughly 15-minute talk Aug. 29 at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church in Fishersville.
Greg Marrow, Landes’ challenger in the 25th District, demanded an apology from Landes in a letter issued to him and forwarded to local media Thursday. The letter was also signed by Democratic chairmen Chris Graham of Waynesboro, Tom Long of Augusta County and Lowell Fulk of Rockingham County.
“To associate the duly elected President of the United States who won in November of last year with 53 percent of the popular vote, to Adolf Hitler who threw the entire world into war and persecuted and murdered millions of people, is an insult to our democratic process and the United States of America,” the letter said.
“We therefore call on you to recant your ill considered and divisive words, and issue an immediate public apology to the President of the United States, to this country, and to the constituents of the 25th District to whom you took the oath of elected office to represent and serve as a member of the Virginia General Assembly.”
Kris Coratti, a spokesman for the Washington Post, said the comments were reported “for a weekly feature that typically runs later in the week and our reporter was in attendance and recorded the speech. The story otherwise speaks for itself.”
Landes told a group gathered for the GOP picnic that he’d spoken with a Waynesboro woman who told him she feared posting Republican signs in her yard and affixing bumper stickers to her car. “And they’re afraid because they’re afraid their neighbors are going to tell on them,” Landes said.
Applause broke out when he followed with the reference to the White House and the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Beneath the applause, Landes can faintly be heard saying, “And that’s exactly what’s happened.”
Landes said he never mentioned President Barack Obama or anyone who works in the White House.
Marrow dismissed this: “When you mention the White House, you are talking about the sitting president,” he said.
Landes contended the fears he cited are real. On four or five occasions in the past couple of months, he said, he has been told by Republicans in Waynesboro that they are afraid “that the other side is using intimidation.”
During months of campaigning, Marrow said, he has knocked on hundreds to thousands of doors and “I have heard no comments … about fear of Republican signs or bumper stickers .”
“He’s making these implications and there is no intimidation out there,’’ Marrow said. “It’s egregious and I have an issue with him implying that. I want proof. I don’t want to hear ‘what I heard while I was canvassing.’ That’s conjecture. That is absolute conjecture.”
Still, Landes said, “the White House is checking on whether they support the president.”
Specifically, he said, groups related to and in the White House are tracking what is being said about the White House. That, he said, deters people from participating in the political process.
Fears in conservative corners have grown since Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, posted a blog last month on the White House Web site directing people to e-mail . reporting “fishy” information spread through e-mail and on the Web about health care reform.
“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there …” the Aug. 4 White House blog reads. “These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to .”
The White House directed requests for comment to a staffer who did not respond.
Reader Reactions
True Patriot,
First of all, Landes’s First Amendment rights don’t end when he appears at a public function. You say his commenst are supposed to represents his voters… well, perhaps they do. Or are you saying they have to represent ALL his constituents, that any public comment has to be so watered down as to offend no one?
Second, I believe Chris Graham has the right to say just about anything he wants (we all know there are certain legal limits, such as threats), but at the same time you are also responsible for the consequences. If anyone’s comments were over the top, they were Graham’s. He disagrees with Ms. Parshall’s stands on issues like abortion, homosexuality, faith, etc. There is room in society for civil discourse. I don’t have to agree with YOU on any or all these issues, but if I don’t, I don’t start comparing you to a Nazi mass murderer.
Try as you might, there is NO justification for Graham’s comments.
Finally, when someone is in office (or has endorsed someone for office), their enemies search for every tidbit of information from the distant past. “You said 30 years ago that blah blah blah.“ Then they use that to destroy the person. If David Duke endorsed some conservative for office, you can be certain that a liberal would pick up on that and the media would be asking the candidate if he denounces Duke for his stands and comments.
Perhaps that’s allright. We are, after all, known by the company we keep. And Greg Marrow is known by the company he keeps, rhetorically speaking: Chris Graham.
I think any reasonable adult would see that Graham’s comments were hateful and uncalled for. And if Marrow wants to cheerfully accept the endorsement of that man, so be it. But he gets to wear Chris Graham around his neck for the rest of the campaign.
Listenup,
No I don’t see anything wrong with Graham’s comments per se and here is why. Chris Graham the journalist is entitled to his opinion, this is america after all, and god knows that “news” sources like Foxnews have no problem projecting their opinion.
Where I would have a problem is if Graham were to attack a person as the official voice of the Waynesboro committee or if he were to attack the president of the United States.
Lets fast forward to the Landes thing.
1st, Landes attacked the POTUS, a man duly elected by the people of this great country, not some little known hate speaker.
2nd, Unlike Graham, Landes was speaking in the capacity of Delegate and elected state official.
His comments are supposed to “represent” his voters. His public speech trying to associate Obama with Hitler was way over the top, not relective of most of his constituants, and truly a reaching act of desperation. He should be ashamed of his public display of disrespect and foolishness.
Because of his position, Landes’s comments were far more serious and inapproriate than Chris Graham’s.
But then again, when has Landes ever been concerned with the opinions and concerns of the voters?
True Patriot,
Do you see nothing wrong with Greg Marrow accepting the endorsement of Chris Graham, who, as the chairman of the W’boro Democrat Party, compared a Christian talk show host (who was in the area) to Heinrich Himmler? Were Graham’s actions acceptable? Should Marrow renounce that endorsement?
Hey navydudette,
1st, if you were a real man then you would have joined the Coast Guard or Air Force, so the fact that you spent 2 years in the Navy 30 years ago before being kicked out does not make you a Navy “dude.“ It just makes you a loser.
2nd, Landes’s white, christian supremist beliefs are not “true” as you state. They are outdated and desperate, like the GOP in general.
As a 10 year military veteran I demand that you change your screen name. Your opinions are an extreme insult to those of us who actually served, and who still serve today.
in my opinion Landes has proven himself time and time again in his speeches and voting record to be a corporate sponsored, white christian supremist. Not what we need in government. It suprises the heck out of me that he is still in office. Is that area/district that stupid?
“listenup” Graham does that as he has no factual rebuttal..he must be French, surrender and run away a lot! Landes told the truth just Joe Wilson did…the sanctimonious hypocrisy shown by the racist, regressive, leftwing nuts here and elswhere is astounding. For 8 years, they hurled some of the most vile, venomous comments against not only George Bush, but also his wife and daughters. All of a sudden, they’re shocked at Landes and Wilson? Sheesh…it’s said the truth hurts, so I guess the RRLW nuts are in agony! Heh, heh, heh….
Mr. Graham keeps talking about a Republican “attack agenda.“
Two things: 1., I’m not Republican. I support the Constitution Party. 2., it was Chris Graham who attacked Janet Parshall. It was Chris Graham who attacked Steve Landes (Greg Marrow was merely a Johnny come lately).
If there’s any attacking going on, it’s coming from the Waynesboro Democrat Party HQ.
It’s interesting that Mr. Graham throws out accusations, then won’t answer any of the questions put to him.
I don’t know if I’m Steve Landes that I want listenup defending me. But then again, I’m doubting seriously that the Steve Landes who wastes your tax dollars chasing down liberal boogiemen would seem to mind.
The attack agenda of Republicans like listenup and Landes mirrors what we’ve seen from GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, who blames all of society’s ills on homosexuals and women who work outside the home and others who don’t hew the strict fundamentalist religious line.
This gets better the more we read.
Mr. Graham says: “As a Christian, I am proud of the fact that I stood up to denounce her hateful diatribes against the mainstream of those in our faith.“
Question: are you saying that pro-abortion advocates (like Barack Obama who voted repeatedly against a “born alive” law in Illinois) are “the mainstream” in your faith? And the pro-homosexual/transgender (which includes drag queens) supporters are “the mainstream” of your faith? And those who DON’T believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father are “the mainstream” of your faith? And those who oppose social conservatism are “the mainstream” of your faith?
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