New York, NY, December 16, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed "outrage and dismay" at a statement made by U.S. Rep. Allen West (R-FL), blaming reports of public disaffection with Congressional Republicans on propaganda promoted by Democrats.  Rep. West told reporters in the House, "If Joseph Goebbels was around, he'd be very proud of the Democrat Party, because they have an incredible propaganda machine.  Let's be honest, you know, some of the people in the media are complicit with this and enabling them to get that type of message out."

In a letter to Rep. West today, the League noted that this was not the first time he has used a Nazi analogy to make a political point.

"We were deeply dismayed by Rep. West's remark comparing the Democratic Party's attempts to articulate views to the American people through the media to the efforts of the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor.  "Such outrageous Holocaust analogies have no place in our political dialogue.  They are offensive, they trivialize real historical events, and they diminish the memory of the six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust."

In its letter, the League urged Rep. West to apologize for his words before they cause further harm.  "It is high time to excise analogies to Nazi and Hitler from the political vocabulary," Mr. Foxman wrote.  "It doesn't serve us as Americans, and cheapens our political discourse."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.