What Does Sarah Palin Know About Curt Schilling’s Nazi ‘Fetish’?
Sarah Palin is known as someone who sticks to her guns, both literally and figuratively. When she rushed to the defense of former baseball player and ESPN analyst Curt Schilling earlier this week, the outspoken conservative didn’t leave any ambiguity in expressing her support for the suspended broadcaster. As reported by Inquisitr, Schilling stirred up copious amounts of controversy when he posted a tweet comparing Muslims to Nazis. Although Schilling deleted the tweet amidst a swift torrent of public backlash, he was suspended from his gig at ESPN, invoking the ire of Sarah Palin, who blasted ESPN and “PC police” via a post on Facebook.
Although Palin’s public support of Schilling seemed like an odd alliance at first blush, the former vice presidential candidate explained that the two have a common foil in sports network ESPN, referencing some offensive comments made about her during an interview with Mike Tyson in 2011.
But despite Sarah Palin’s spirited defense of Curt Schilling, the ex-MLB star is still raising eyebrows with other online posts that reference Nazis, albeit in a different context to the above-noted comments regarding adherents of political Islam.
Boston.com noted that Curt Schilling posted photos of his large collection of World War II memorabilia on Facebook earlier this year, including numerous items bearing the Nazi swastika. A number of the items appear to be rare and unique, including uniforms worn by Hitler’s personal bodyguards. Omer Bartov, a professor at Brown University and an authority on genocide, evaluated Schilling’s photos for Boston.com.
“I’ve noticed that there is some kind of fetish with Nazi uniforms … If these people only knew how much innocent blood was spilled by the wearers of these elegant uniforms they might take pause. Or not.”
For his part, Curt Schilling replied to an inquiry from Boston.com, denying that he is a Nazi enthusiast.
“[It’s] not a Nazi collection. It’s a collection of World War II stuff.”
While Sarah Palin hasn’t commented about Schilling’s collection of Nazi memorabilia, she has her own history invoking the Nazis in the course of political discussions. During the peak of debate regarding the Affordable Health Care Act, NBC News noted that Palin and numerous other conservatives likened certain components of the law to the euthanasia campaigns of Nazi Germany. Sarah Palin has also likened radical Muslims to Nazis on a number of occasions, including a speech she made at CPAC earlier this year.
Curt Schilling’s suspension remains in effect, as Sarah Palin appears to have moved on to the next big thing. She interviewed GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for One America News Network on Friday night and Trump closed the interview by praising Sarah Palin as a “terrific person.”
[Image courtesy of Getty Images/Mark Wilson, Scott Olson]
