Ohio Tea Party Candidate is a Nazi Re-Enactor
That video is a 2009 recruitment video for the Wiking German Re-enactment Group in Ohio. This is a group that TeaBircher Rich Iott hangs with in his spare time. They get together on weekends and holidays and recreate history -- the German side.
Iott's statement is certainly reassuring:
They have to take it in context. There's reenactors out there who do everything. You couldn't do Civil War re-enacting if somebody didn't play the role of the Confederates. [This] is something that's definitely way in the past. ... [I hope voters] take it in context and see it for what it is, an interest in World War II history. And that's strictly all.
And this is how I know he's full of it. I'm going to share my own personal experience here. I was married to a Confederate Civil War Re-enactor for 10 years, and it is far more than an "interest in...history." They choose the side they're sympathetic with, for starters. They research the period, the uniforms, the attitude, and the social climate surrounding the period. They don't just re-enact it. They live, eat, breathe and admire it.
They will argue strategy, tactics, nitpick historical authenticity, and political implications for hours. It's costly, requires not only an investment in weapons but also in authentic costumes and other pieces. You can find them scouring antique shows looking for photos, letters, memorabilia, and other pieces of that time period.
