WV Sen Candidate: Smoking Regs The 'Same Thing' As Nazis Forcing Jews To Wear The Star of David

West Virginia Republican and senatorial candidate John Raese has caused a bit of a stir by equating anti-smoking regulations in a West Virginia county to the Nazis forcing Jews to wear the Star of David.

“I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke free environment. This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. Ok?” Raese said.

“Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody’s lapel, remember that? Same thing,” he added.

Watch Raese make the analogy via YouTube:

“I don’t want government telling me what I can do and what I can’t do because I’m an American. But in Monongalia County you can’t smoke a cigarette, you can’t smoke a cigar, you can’t do anything,” Raese said.

“And I oppose that because I believe in everybody’s individual freedoms and everybody’s individual rights to do what they want to do and I’m a conservative and that’s the way that goes,” he added.

Naturally, some critics have accused Raese of being  just a tad over the top.

"No, this is not a standard line, nor a misstatement.  It is a loss of freedom," Raese said in a statement addressing his critics, according to Politico.

"As Ronald Reagan once said, there is no such thing as partial freedom, there is only freedom."

This is Raese's fourth bid for the U.S. Senate and he aims to unseat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

(H/T: HuffPo)