John Raese sticks to his guns: Anti-smoking laws are just like the Holocaust

Next stop, Holocaust John Raese, candidate for Senate from West Virginia and carpetbagger extraordinaire (yes, the guy with the pink marble driveway) is also just a wacko.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Raese compared anti-smoking signs in Monongalia County to a key part of the Holocaust, which killed millions of Jews. [..]

Raese, a Morgantown industrialist, spoke at the dinner about how he doesn't want government telling him what he can or can't do "because I'm an American."

"But in Monongalia County now, I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke-free environment," Raese said. "This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. OK?

"Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody's lapel, remember that?" Raese said. "Same thing."

Yes, exactly the same. Because Monongalia County wants the rest of the community to shun and persecute owners of smoke-free businesses. And undoubtedly any business owner who fails to post the no-smoking sign will be shot on sight. Or maybe the county is trying to make it easier to identify business owners when it comes time to exterminate.

Ok, so West Virginia is, arguably, a tobacco state. But, really, Raese?

"I can't find anything in my statement and during my speech that wasn't true," Raese said in a telephone interview.

He later added, "I'm not apologizing to anybody or any organization. It's my perfect right to make a speech about meaningful subject matters in this country."

Maybe Raese isn't his own best fact checker.

(Seneca Doane wrote about this yesterday, noting that it coincided, most unfortunately, with "Holocaust Remembrance Day.")