A Kansas House leader posted about a 'great quote from Hitler' on Facebook

A Kansas House leader seemingly praised the "profound" words of Adolf Hitler in a Facebook post Thursday. "Great quote from Hitler in the video," Speaker Pro Tem Peggy Mast (R) wrote on her Facebook page. "Please listen to it closely. His words are profound! Let's start using discernment."

Mast's post, however, didn't include any video or other media to "listen to," making her seeming praise for the Nazi leader all the more puzzling. House Speaker Ray Merrick's chief of staff, Christie Krieghauser, tried to get some clarification. "Sorry, I'm confused," she wrote on Mast's page. "What video and how is there a great quote from Hitler?"

Mast, who is the third-ranking Republican in the Kansas House, put up another Facebook post an hour later intending to explain herself:

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"Her intent was to compare Planned Parenthood, the country's largest reproductive health provider, to the Nazi leader," The Wichita Eagle reported.

Mast also shared an article from a pro-life Christian blog, which referenced anti-abortion activist Gianna Jessen quoting Hitler while testifying about Planned Parenthood before Congress. Jessen, during her testimony, apparently used this Hitler quote to compare Planned Parenthood's services to the Holocaust: "The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan."

Mast did not respond to The Wichita Eagle's requests for comment. She is not running for re-election.