CLUMSY

North Carolina Lawmaker Compares Lincoln to Hitler

In a debate over same-sex marriage.

A North Carolina lawmaker has come under fire for comparing Abraham Lincoln to Adolf Hitler in a debate over same-sex marriage on Wednesday. Republican General Assembly member Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County was engaged in a Facebook debate over legislation seeking to ban same-sex marriage in his state when his argument took a turn for the unexpected, local media reported. After arguing that North Carolina should ignore federal courts and uphold traditional marriage, Pittman wrote, “And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it?” But he didn’t stop there. “Lincoln was the same sort if [sic] tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional,” he wrote, referencing the 16th president’s actions to prevent the Southern states from seceding prior to the Civil War. Pittman has yet to clarify his comments, but North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin was quick to condemn the remarks. “Rep. Pittman and his ultra-conservative allies in the General Assembly have no sense of decency, no sense of shame, and no sense of historical fact,” Goodwin said in a statement, urging Pittman’s fellow Republicans to “immediately condemn these outrageous and offensive statements.”