Chris Collins, the Republican county executive of Erie County, New York, appears to have seriously damaged his profile for any statewide race — with a joking comparison of the state Jewish Democratic state Assembly Speaker to Hitler, and saying that he might be Anti-Christ.
The Buffalo News reports that Collins, who is exploring a run for governor, made some interesting comments about Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at the county Republican dinner this past weekend:
Collins has already apologized for what he called “a poor joke,” delivered during a speech at the county Republican Party’s annual fundraiser in the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
That’s when the county executive referred to French seer Nostradamus’ prediction that the world would experience three Antichrists in conjunction with the Apocalypse, whose origin is the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.
Collins then said it’s generally accepted that the first was Napoleon, the second Hitler, and that he was “pretty sure” the third is Silver, an orthodox Jew from Manhattan.
Collins released this statement on Monday:
“Saturday night, I made a poor joke regarding the Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver. I want to extend my sincerest apologies to him for my comments. I have placed a call to the Speaker’s office to offer my apologies directly.
While we may disagree strongly on policy matters, my statement had no place in our political discourse and I am truly sorry to both the Speaker and to anyone else who I may have offended.”
Collins spokesman Grant Loomis told TPM that Collins’ statement was not meant to be serious: “It was a joke, it was not a part of the prepared remarks. Ot was a joke that was regrettable, and the county executive has apologized.”
