With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Radio host suggested Obama is a socialist, co-host offered up Holocaust allusion

On the September 3 broadcast of San Francisco radio station KSFO's The Lee Rodgers Show, Rogers said of Takeru Kobayashi, six-time winner of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York, "Just eat, eat, eat, and you gain no weight. Oh, there is no justice. God needs to take a hand in this." Co-host Tom Benner, known as "Officer Vic," agreed and added: "Even things out. Wait, that's socialism, I'm sorry. Forget it." Rodgers replied, "Well, you're right, you're right. Well, under Barack Obama, then, it'll probably be done." He continued: "Oh, lordy. Bring us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. ... Free of the stifling stupidity of liberalism, which disguises slavery as benevolence. That's -- that's the program for the Obama campaign, by the way." Benner replied: "Arbeit macht frei." Rodgers then said, "Yeah. Make more of them dependent on the government."

The German phrase "arbeit macht frei" translates to "work makes one free" and was written on the gate at the entrance to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
Read entire article at Media Matters (liberal watchdog group)