“But in speaking about this, I should not have mentioned the hostility of tyrants, like Hitler, to unions,’’ Brown said. “I don’t want my mistake to distract from the critical debate in Ohio, and I apologize for it.”
By doing so, Brown is trying to defuse a controversy sparked by a Senate floor speech he delivered Thursday when he said “some of the worst governments that we’ve ever had, do you know one of the first things they did? They went after unions.’’
“Hitler didn’t want unions, Stalin didn’t want unions, (former Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak didn’t want independent unions,’’ Brown said.
Brown then quickly added that he was not “comparing what’s happened to the workers in Madison or in Columbus to Hitler and Stalin.’’
“But I am saying that history teaches us that unions are a very positive force in society that creates a middle class and that protects our freedom,’’ he said.
Poitico.com, the Washington website and newspaper, quickly posted part of Brown’s speech. Republicans then sent the Politico article to news organizations.
Brown, a two-term Ohio secretary of state and former congressman, has received strong backing from organized labor in virtually all of his campaigns.
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