Holocaust Comparison?

Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele has come under fire (not the Dick Cheney kind of fire, though), for comments to the Baltimore Jewish Council that were perceived by some as over the lines of propriety. His comments:

You of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool.

Apparently, some found that comment to be unbelievably offensive, and they shot off their own comments in response. From WPost:

His remarks brought immediate condemnation from U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a leading Democrat in the race, whose wife was in the audience, and from others who were there.

"If the lieutenant governor was drawing a comparison between stem cell research and human medical experimentation during the Holocaust, he must understand the pain this kind of analogy would inflict on survivors and their families," said Arthur C. Abramson, the Baltimore Jewish Council's executive director.

"We absolutely reject any comparisons between ethical and lifesaving medical research and the horrors committed by the Nazis in their evil drive to create a master race," Abramson said. "We welcome any clarification Lieutenant Governor Steele can offer about his remarks."

Now, I personally agree with SIW's assessment that this is a pretty inoffensive Holocaust comparison:

The guy didn’t use the word “Holocaust,” didn’t bring in the general oppression and murder of the Nazis, and didn’t utilize the broader horror of the Holocaust to make his point. It’s absurd to make this into a Jewish issue.

However, I am beyond offended by Steele's attempt to compare stem cell research to something as objectively gruesome as the Nazi's human experimentation - but not because I find the Holocaust comparison to be the problem. His extremist views against embryonic stem cell research are what make me ill, not his purported lack of sympathy for Mengele's victims (which is far from evidenced by his statement).