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GOP candidate defends speech at Nazi gathering
The point of his talk was to target pornography sales, Zirkle says.

NANCY J. SULOK
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Tony Zirkle, Republican candidate for 2nd District U.S. representative, said he is willing to talk to any group that invites him, and that's why he addressed a weekend gathering in Chicago of the American National Socialist Workers Party.

The occasion was a celebration of the 119th anniversary of the birth of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Photos on http://www.Overthrow.com, an ANSWP Web site, show Zirkle at the podium in front of the larger-than-life portrait of Hitler, flanked by an American flag on one side and a Nazi flag on the other. Swastika banners hang on the wall, and other head-table guests are wearing swastika arm bands.

The ANSWP did not return two telephone calls Monday seeking comment. An answering machine message at the group's headquarters in Roanoke, Va., describes ANSWP as "the largest and most active pro-white organization in America.''

During a news conference Monday afternoon, Zirkle said he accepted an invitation to address the group to spread his anti-pornography message.

An account of the gathering on http://www.Overthrow.com says "Zirkle spoke on his history as a state's attorney in Indiana, prosecuting Jewish and Zionist criminal gangs involved in trafficking prostitutes and pornography from Russia and the Zionist entity.''

Local Republicans were quick to condemn Zirkle's participation in the event.

"I cannot believe that in 2008 anyone could think so backwards,'' Luke Puckett, another 2nd District GOP candidate, said in reaction to Zirkle's comment.

Chris Riley, Republican Party chairman for St. Joseph County, said he found Zirkle's comments "nauseating and repulsive."

Zirkle said he feels he was misunderstood. His real mission, he said, is to rid the country of pornography, and that's what he was saying at the ANSWP gathering. So how did his comment about Jews fit in?

"Most of the male porn stars were Jewish at the beginning," Zirkle explained.

Now the male porn stars are mostly black, he claimed, and the women who appear in pornographic works tend to be "young, white, Christian women."

If people think he is targeting the Jews, he said, they are misinterpreting his position. He is targeting, Zirkle said, the "porn dragon" that inspires Jews to get involved in pornography.

Jewish men are culpable for running the business end of the pornography business, he said, but young white women are guilty of starring in it.

He spoke at the ANSWP program, Zirkle said, to educate and inform the gathering about Christian virtues. If we don't learn from history, he said, we will repeat the mistakes of the past.

The references to prosecuting Jewish and Zionist gangs, Zirkle said, come from his days as a deputy under former St. Joseph County Prosecutor Chris Toth.

Toth took a pornography case against the Little Denmark adult bookstore to a grand jury in February 2001. The grand jury handed down a 19-count indictment against the owner of Little Denmark, but a jury trial later in the year acquitted him.

Community standards were at issue. Zirkle said he thinks the judge erred when he instructed the jury that if a community tolerated an adult business, that meant the community was accepting of it.

"I don't think it's a settled issue for our community,'' he said.

The Chicago event was not the first time Zirkle has raised controversy on issues of race. In an interview in early March with the Kokomo Perspective, Zirkle raised the idea of segregating different races in separate states.

Riley, the Republican chairman, said he condemned Zirkle's comments at that time, too.

This time, Riley said, "To see him standing in front of that flag and in front of that monster (Hitler) kindled deep emotions within me."

He said the Republican Party does not accept Zirkle as a member. He said he plans to take steps to make sure Zirkle is not admitted to Republican events or otherwise allowed to associate with the party.

"Nazism, socialism and fascism are polar opposites of what the Republican Party stands for," Riley said.

The party has been consistent in condemning Zirkle's philosophy of racial intolerance, he added.

Zirkle worried that his message will be misunderstood and people will attack him. The point he was making, he said, is that pornography is evil and is undermining society in many ways, from health care to social relations to family life.

To punctuate his message, he shredded an original copy Monday of Penthouse magazine from September 1969.

Staff writer Nancy J. Sulok:
nsulok@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6234