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December 14, 2007
Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment on Ballot in Florida
It’s been a banner year for Florida’s Religious Right. In 2006, activists failed to get enough signatures to put their anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot (despite help from the Republican Party), and its favored candidate for governor lost the GOP primary, leading one conservative commentator to declare that “the once-mighty ‘organized’ Christian-conservative voting bloc is no longer intact.”
The last few months have been a different story. In September, dozens of national religious-right activists converged on Fort Lauderdale for the Values Voter Presidential Debate, including Don Wildmon, Phyllis Schlafly, and Rick Scarborough. Even more headliners came to the state just days later for the Family Impact Summit, including Tony Perkins and Richard Land. All the attention must have paid off: Florida 4 Marriage succeeded in gathering enough signatures to put an anti-gay marriage amendment on the 2008 ballot.
Meanwhile, a CBN report warns of the threat of the “gay agenda” in Washington State, which recently passed a domestic partnership law, and in California, where anti-gay activists are in a frenzy over a recently-passed law that bars schools from promoting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. While this protection is already in effect when in comes to discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, according to “700 Club” host Pat Robertson, when it comes to gays it’s a matter of “trying to recruit more of the straight population.”
Posted by Ezra at 5:39 PM | Permalink
Apocalyptic Televangelist John Hagee in Hot Water over Book
Not the one where he apparently blamed Jews for their own persecution, but the one where he apparently says it was Jesus' fault.
Posted by Ezra at 3:06 PM | Permalink
December 13, 2007
WorldNetDaily Publisher Attacks Megachurch Pastor
Farah rages against Rick Warren even as pastor gives the right-wing web site a generous interview.
Posted by Ezra at 1:59 PM | Permalink
Robertson Sees Self in Huckabee—But Still Prefers Giuliani
Conservative Christian activists in Iowa are playing a key role in the sudden success of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, through groups like the Iowa Christian Alliance, the Iowa Family Policy Institute, and now the Iowa Pastors Coalition. It was Pat Robertson’s quixotic presidential run in 1988 that first developed the Religious Right as a political force in that early-caucus state—indeed, the Iowa Christian Alliance used to be the Christian Coalition of Iowa, a chapter of the national group Robertson founded after the campaign with his hard-won mailing lists.
So it’s hard not to compare Huckabee’s rise to Robertson’s strong second-place finish in the caucuses (ahead of George H.W. Bush, the eventual nominee). Huckabee, like Robertson ordained as a Baptist minister, shares Robertson’s views on social issues, and he even had a brief career in televangelism, working for culture warrior James Robison.
But the connection between the two men will apparently stop at that, since this year, Robertson has already endorsed Rudy Giuliani, citing terrorism as reason to ignore differences over abortion and gay marriage.
So when Robertson brought commentator Dick Morris on the “700 Club” Tuesday to wax nostalgic over how similar Huckabee’s run is to Robertson’s, the two were sure to bring it back in the end to the importance of eventually nominating Giuliani.
Posted by Ezra at 1:28 PM | Permalink
Update: Other Border Vigilantes Dismiss Huckabee-Endorsing Minuteman
Yesterday we wrote that Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist’s endorsement of Mike Huckabee might be more of a hand up for the struggling anti-immigrant activist than for the cresting presidential candidate, given Gilchrist’s troubles maintaining leadership of his own group, much less a movement.
Sure enough, other anti-immigrant groups are rushing to dispute Gilchrist’s relevance. Chris Simcox, who split with Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project in 2005 to form the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, rushed out a mass e-mail dissing his rival:
No National Minuteman Group has endorsed Mike Huckabee. One individual Minuteman has personally endorsed him. For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the nation's largest Minuteman organization, is a 501(C)4 non-profit organization and cannot and does not endorse any candidate for public office. MCDC is not associated with Mr. Jim Gilchrist, who today endorsed Mike Huckabee for president. Jim Gilchrist’s erstwhile Minuteman Project is itself an organization which by its own representations as a non-profit civic group cannot legally endorse candidates. It does not have any volunteers who observe illegal border activity. It has no border fence building projects. Jim Gilchrist here speaks only for Jim Gilchrist, he does not speak for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, nor is he nationally representative of most patriots in the "Minuteman movement" – who under no circumstances could ignore the failed record nor endorse the duplicitous “plan” recently rolled out by candidate Mike Huckabee. The national media needs to recognize that Jim Gilchrist’s endorsement is his own personal statement, nothing more.
Another splinter group, the Patriots Border Alliance, called the endorsement “at best disturbing.” Group leader Bob Wright said, “[Huckabee’s] past rhetoric about the goals of Minutemen everywhere has been vicious — parroting the tired and discredited foolishness that an American citizen's desire to see the law enforced is somehow racist or xenophobic." A group called Americans for Legal Immigration also sent a mass e-mail warning against Huckabee.
Posted by Ezra at 1:25 PM | Permalink
'War on Christmas' Heats Up in Nebraska ... Or Something
Local youth stabs inflatable Santa-hat-wearing SpongeBob lawn display. No word yet from the Catholic League. Developing ... UPDATE! "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Hanukkah" mayhem on the subway. It takes a Muslim to bring holiday cheer.
Posted by Ezra at 10:25 AM | Permalink
A Reverse Religious Test?
What does Mike Huckabee need to get Religious Right leaders and voters to rally around his candidacy? Apparently, all he needs is to have his right-wing views and record criticized by “elite secularists”:
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington, DC, says Huckabee is being subjected to the same reverse religious litmus test that was applied during judicial confirmation hearings between 2003 and 2005.
"Senator Charles Schumer of New York said that he was opposed to some of these nominees of the president because of their 'deeply held personal beliefs' and those beliefs coming from their faith -- in particular, regarding abortion and seeing it as wrong," Perkins points out. "So we see a reverse religious test being applied [saying essentially] that anyone who has a vibrant Christian faith that impacts their life will have to choose between that faith and serving in public office -- and that, simply, is wrong."
Perkins says "elite secularists" are trying single out Huckabee because of his evangelical Christian faith, and are attempting to "make him look scary" to the public because he, among other things, rejects evolution, believes in the Bible, and trusts in Jesus Christ. But such efforts, the evangelical leader suggests, may only serve to generate more support for Huckabee in the conservative Christian community.
"I think there's a clear understanding and an attitude [about this] among Christians," says the FRC president. "They're simply tired of the elites who belittle their beliefs and attempt to rob them of every public reflection of their faith -- and I think this could backfire."
As always, whenever a Republican is questioned about his or her views and record, the Right’s immediate response is to impugn the motives of those who dare to point them out and accuse them of harboring everything from anti-Latino prejudice and flagrant anti-woman bias, to anti-Catholic bigotry and basic racism.
If Perkins was professionally invested in seeing anti-Christian persecution at every turn, he’d know that it is not “elite secularists” who are making Huckabee look scary – it is Huckabee’s own views that those with HIV should be quarantined and that “homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle” that is doing that.
But if Perkins thinks that this sort of thing will help Huckabee with voters, Huckabee himself doesn’t seem to hold out much hope that the Religious Right elite will ever get over their reluctance to endorse him, even though he is a “true soldier for the cause”:
[Huckabee’s ads] also caught the attention of big-time figures in evangelical Christianity, many of whom have refrained from supporting Huckabee’s candidacy. This failure has puzzled and angered the governor. At the Olive Garden he spoke with bitterness about Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. ‘‘Richard Land swoons for Fred Thompson,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know what that’s about. For reasons I don’t fully understand, some of these Washington-based people forget why they are there. They make ‘electability’ their criterion. But I am a true soldier for the cause. If my own abandon me on the battlefield, it will have a chilling effect.’’
The following week, at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, Huckabee won the roomful of grass-roots evangelicals but failed to gain any significant endorsements from evangelical leaders. ‘‘The evangelical leadership didn’t, and perhaps still doesn’t, perceive Governor Huckabee as a winner,’’ Charles Dunn, dean of the school of government at Regent University, told me. ‘‘But more and more, it appears that the leadership is not in touch with its followers.’’
This indictment extends to the founder of Dunn’s own university, Pat Robertson, who has endorsed Rudy Giuliani. It applies equally to the National Right to Life Committee, which is with Fred Thompson; and to the Rev. Bob Jones III, Jay Sekulow, head of the American Center for Law and Justice (the evangelical counterpart of the A.C.L.U.), and Paul Weyrich, the conservative activist who helped build the evangelical movement, all of whom are supporting Mitt Romney. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, is still on the fence. ‘‘I just don’t understand his neutrality,’’ Huckabee told me one day at the end of October in Des Moines. ‘‘I’d be an obvious choice for his endorsement. We’re old friends. I love him and I love his wife, Shirley. I just don’t know how to explain it.’’
Posted by Kyle at 9:31 AM | Permalink
December 12, 2007
Huckabee Embraces Washed-Up Minutemen Leader
While Tom Tancredo continues his efforts to push the Republican presidential race further and further towards anti-immigrant extremism, it’s important to remember that the candidates who are following his lead are the ones with a chance of winning the party’s nomination. Rudy Giuliani is attacking Mitt Romney over his landscapers, and Romney is running an ad in Iowa attacking Huckabee over past support of education programs for undocumented immigrants.
Not to be outdone, Huckabee apparently borrowed his immigration platform from an anti-immigrant group, the Center for Immigration Studies. And this week he announced a surprising endorsement: Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minutemen border vigilante movement. Lest anyone forget that Huckabee is the far-right candidate who’s “not angry about it,” the former governor said at the press conference, "I'm not angry at anyone. I'm angry at the government. I'm not angry immigrants want to come here."
Gilchrist, whose Minuteman Project split from Chris Simcox’s Minuteman Civil Defense Corps back in 2005, has been struggling since his own board ousted him over alleged financial mismanagement, and the extent to which he remains an influence over the fractious Minuteman phenomenon is unclear.
So while Gilchrist may give Huckabee some kind of anti-immigrant credibility among the right-wing base, it may be that Huckabee is giving a much greater boost to Gilchrist. Huckabee, whose “nice guy” persona contrasts starkly with the armed-and-dangerous image of the Minutemen, even went out of his way to apologize for perceiving the vigilantes as fringe activists:
"There are times when I, probably in the early days of the Minuteman, I thought, 'What are these guys doing . . . what are they about?' " he told Gilchrist during their press conference in Iowa. "I confess, I owe you an apology for even questioning why in the world you guys would do it. As all of us have seen, the federal government has failed to secure the borders -- they failed to bring a policy that is good for everybody involved."
With such generous pandering in play in this election cycle, anti-immigrant activists and groups are likely to stick around. Indeed, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (like the Center for Immigration Studies, part of John Tanton’s network of anti-immigrant “grassroots” groups) is planning to bring right-wing radio talkers to Iowa just days before the caucuses, as the group releases a report purporting to show “rapidly escalating costs resulting from illegal immigration” in the overwhelmingly white state.
Handily, the Southern Poverty Law Center has just published an article on FAIR’s connections to racist hate groups. Now, if we could only get it into the hands of Republican presidential candidates …
(Image from Noam Scheiber at The New Republic.)
Posted by Ezra at 6:35 PM | Permalink
No "Buyers' Remorse" for Huck Backers
The Financial Times quotes Huckabee-backer Rick Scarborough: "He says many of his colleagues are starting to feel 'buyers' remorse' [for backing other candidates]. 'It's hard for some of my colleagues to admit their mistake,' he says. 'But if he wins Iowa and does well in South Carolina, you will start to see leaders of this community line up behind him ... 'What Huckabee has is something that all the money in the world can't buy: ordinary folk volunteering their time because they believe in him. These are people who don't have Ivy League degrees or political connections but they have a vote - and that's all that matters.'"
Posted by Kyle at 4:25 PM | Permalink
Thompson Scores Blackwell
Fred Thompson's campaign announced that he has received the endorsement of Morton Blackwell: "Blackwell is well known in conservative circles as the Founder and President of the Leadership Institute, an educational foundation, which trains young conservatives for leadership in the political sphere. Prior to founding the Leadership Institute, Mr. Blackwell was Barry Goldwater's youngest elected delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. He was a national convention Alternate Delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1968 and 1976, and a Ronald Reagan Delegate at the 1980 national convention. He currently serves as a Virginia Republican National Committeeman."
Posted by Kyle at 4:21 PM | Permalink
Romney Hit On Stem Cells
CNS News reports that some on the Right are not impressed with Mitt Romeny's views on stem cell research: "Wendy Wright, president of the conservative Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service that Romney's position 'shows a need for more education.'"
Posted by Kyle at 4:15 PM | Permalink
Huck’s God Talk
As we noted last week, Mike Huckabee has been complaining that he has been subject to an “unusual level of scrutiny” because of his religious beliefs. But since his current campaign strategy seem to be largely based around playing up his standing as a “Christian Leader” it only seems fair – even his ideological allies admit as much:
Huckabee sometimes has bristled at questions about whether he would use the presidency to impose his religious views. But even some of Huckabee's longtime friends say he invited such questions by running an ad that promotes him as a Christian leader.
"If a candidate makes his faith a part of his campaign, it is fair game," said Richard Land, who has known Huckabee for 28 years and is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
So it should come as no surprise to him that people are taking a look at his record and finding this like this:
"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."
With that sort of approach to government, it only makes sense that Huckabee would use his use his government position to promote his religion, as he did when he was lieutenant governor – though he had to wait until then Governor Jim Guy Tucker was out of the state to do it:
Clerics, ACLU hit 'Christian' week in Ark.
The Commercial Appeal
3 February 1994
Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee's proclamation of a Christian Heritage Week cheapens and trivializes the true meaning of being a follower of Christ, several theologians said Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the proclamation part of a national attempt by the religious right to prove America was founded as a Christian nation, but the group said it will take no action.
Huckabee, acting governor during Gov. Jim Guy Tucker's absence, signed documents in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday declaring the week of Feb. 27 to March 2 Christian Heritage Week in Arkansas. He said he was "somewhat surprised if not startled" that anyone would oppose the action.
"When I took the oath of office in this state, my hand was placed on a Bible, my oath was made, 'so help me God,' the very document we sign here says 'in the year of our Lord,' " Huckabee said. "I don't think any of us need to fear there is some inappropriate action taken when we simply acknowledge that which our forefathers did when they created this country and declared our independence that . . . all men and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."
Tucker distances self from Christian week
The Commercial Appeal
4 February 1994
Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said he rejected a request to proclaim a Christian Heritage Week but had no authority to stop Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee from doing it.
"We were asked to make such a proclamation several months ago, and I declined to do it because I didn't think government should be in the business of promoting any one religion over the other," Tucker said Thursday.
"This is obviously something Lt. Gov. Huckabee feels very strongly about. But under our state constitution, as we know from painful experience a year ago, the lieutenant governor is free to do what he wants to do."
When the governor of Arkansas is out of the state, the lieutenant governor is acting governor and has all the governor's power.
Christian Heritage Week wasn’t the only time Huckabee invoked God to push his political agenda – in fact he had a tendency to do so on a variety of public policy issues – as he did when he dismissed those who care about the environment:
ENVIRONMENTALISTS DECRY HUCKABEE `DEMAGOGUERY'
Associated Press
25 April 1998
Gov. Mike Huckabee engaged in "demagoguery on a scale beyond that normally seen in the course of public debate" when he said environmentalists were worshiping nature instead of its creator, a group of environmentalists says.
Representatives of 44 state environmental groups, organized by the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, signed a letter to Huckabee on Thursday asking him to re-evaluate his position on the environment. Six of those signing the letter spoke to reporters Thursday at the panel's office in Little Rock.
"I was astounded that someone who made it to a prestigious position like that wouldn't have more common sense," said Katy Elliott, coordinator for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Students for Environmental Awareness. "I love nature, but I don't worship it."
In a speech Monday to the Arkansas Farm Bureau, Huckabee said he was a conservationist, not an environmentalist.
"I believe God made us and God made the earth. He gave us the privilege to use and enjoy the resources but never to worship them," Huckabee said. "To me environmentalists are those who worship the things that He made rather than He who made them."
Huckabee responded to the criticism by saying that hadn’t meant to insult environmentalists, merely “those who could be considered `radical' or `extreme' environmentalists.” But that didn’t stop him from, a few months later, equating his opponents with the Devil:
Governor's 'devil' remark leaves Arkansas lawmakers unsettled
Associated Press
22 November 1998
Gov. Mike Huckabee says he's surrounded by the devil, prompting some Arkansas lawmakers to wonder if he was referring to them.
In an article from a church publication, Mr. Huckabee was quoted saying that "as a pastor, I was surrounded by the things, the people, the language and the architecture of God. As governor, I'm surrounded by the devil."
The article, circulated at a Legislative Council meeting Friday, dealt with how Mr. Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, relies on his Christian faith more as governor than as a minister.
…
The article also quoted Mr. Huckabee saying he got into politics partly because "the people who were driving public policy had a world view that would never work because it was basically humanistic."
Huckabee’s response this time around was to claim that he was talking about this like poverty and illiteracy, not referring to legislators as “the devil,” and accused anyone who had that interpretation of “jumping to absurd conclusions."
As long as Huckabee is out on the campaign trail crediting God for his rise in the polls and as long as his supporters are suggesting that “God may be sending us a lifeline” in his campaign, the way he uses his faith to gain and wield political power will continue to receive scrutiny.
Posted by Kyle at 12:34 PM | Permalink
"Non-Partisan" Huckabee Rallies Delayed
As we reported a few weeks ago, a gaggle of right-wing Mike Huckabee supporters are poised to begin a series of non-partisan voter registration rallies in Iowa.
Among those scheduled to take part are Rick Scarborough (who has endorsed Huckabee), Janet Folger (who has endorsed Huckabee and is co-chair of his Faith and Family Values Coalition), the Iowa Family Policy Center (whose president, Chuck Hurley, has also endorsed Huckabee and is also a member of his Iowa Pastors Coalition) and Redeem the Vote (whose president, Randy Brinson, has been working closely with Huckabee in Iowa.)
But rest assured, the events are “completely nonpartisan” – or so said Rick Scarborough when he discussed the events with Janet Folger on her radio show last week:
“[Our goal is to get] people who love Jesus to register and then vote their values – not as Republicans nor Democrats – but as follower and sons of God and Jesus Christ. If we can get them to do that and then present to them what the candidates believe, I just happen to believe that the majority of them will vote right.”
For those who want to know what the candidates believe, Folger suggested they check out the Values Voter Debate, which just so happens to be the event she organized and where she declared Huckabee “the David among Jesse’s sons” after he trounced the other candidates in the straw poll.
As Scarborough explained:
“Far too few [preachers] are involved in politics … but this is an election where you can say one of them is running for president and we need to see that God is raising up pastors … God is calling for men of God to take their place in leadership of this nation … Preachers need to go to their pulpits and encourage your people to do the righteous thing, to vote their values. And then by example, you just say ‘I’m registered, I’m going to vote’ and then step around in front of that pulpit and say ‘I’m not saying this as pastor of this church’ and tell them what you believe about the candidates.”
So you can see: the efforts of Huckabee’s supporters are entirely non-partisan.
But for now, questions regarding the intent of those carrying out this endeavor are moot, as the rallies have become bogged down by weather and mechanical problems:
Last week we reported that we would be touring Iowa this week on a statewide bus tour. I regret to report that due to problems with the bus, coupled with the weather in Iowa, we made the decision to postpone the trip until a better time. At the time of this writing, there is still a discussion of going to Iowa and conducting some of the scheduled tour stops without the bus. If the tour goes forward we will send out a special report to communicate the schedule and solicit your prayers.
Posted by Kyle at 12:15 PM | Permalink
Pat on Northwest Floods: I Warned You
On Monday’s “700 Club,” the show looked at the devastating storms that have wracked the Pacific Northwest, and recalled Pat Robertson’s warnings on the show from 2006. After a private retreat, Robertson announced (on the January 5, 2006 “700 Club”) what he said God had told him about the coming year. Perhaps inspired by Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami that hit Indonesia, Robertson listed off all kinds of natural disasters: “earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, the coasts will be lashed by storms and disasters …” Robertson called it “the birth pangs of a more glorious order.”
Of course, it’s 2007 now, not 2006, but nobody’s perfect. Watch:
What else did Robertson predict for 2006? A “successful conclusion” to the Iraq war, “inconclusive” midterm elections, the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and the retirement of a “liberal” justice, and a strengthening of Bush’s and the Republican Party’s power in Washington. Well, Alito was confirmed, anyway.
Robertson also made his retreat at the beginning of this year, and while 2007 is almost over, there are still a couple weeks left for what Robertson said God had in store for us:
I don’t know if it’ll be in the fall or September or later on, but it’ll be the second half somehow of 2007. There will be some very serious terrorist attacks. The evil people will come after this country and there’s a possibility – not a possibility, a definite certainty - that chaos is going to rule. And the Lord said the politicians will not have any solutions for it. There’s just going to be chaos. … It’s going to happen. I’m not saying necessarily nuclear, the Lord didn't say nuclear, but I do believe it'll be something like that, that'll be a mass killing - possibly millions of people, major cities injured. I hope I’m wrong and I hope people will pray and that won’t happen, but nevertheless that seems to be what’s coming up. And then the Lord said he will restrain the evil people, but he will not restrain them necessarily initially. And, you know, He doesn’t have to restrain people.
More specifically, Robertson warned that “their targets are New York, Washington, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles.”
UPDATE: On Wednesday’s show, the weather-obsessed Robertson responded to recent ice storms by suggesting it might be God’s punishment for hosting talks between Israelis and Palestinians:Posted by Ezra at 9:23 AM | Permalink
The New Christmas Tradition
Once again, with the Right’s bogus “War on Christmas” rhetoric in full swing, members of Congress have stepped up to do their part – just as they did last year – and passed a resolution in the House “Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith”:
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;
(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;
(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.
It is nice that the resolution decries the persecution of Christians here in the US, even if such persecution exists only in the minds of right-wing activists.
Posted by Kyle at 9:07 AM | Permalink
December 11, 2007
More Praise for Huckabee
Peter LaBarbera, like Stephen Bennett before him, praises Mike Huckabee for saying AIDS victims should have been quarantined: "Mike Huckabee is right to reject the liberal media's talking points on homosexuality. We need more -- not less -- debate on why HIV/AIDS has been singled out as a politically protected disease, and why it gets such a huge percentage of taxpayer funding vis-à-vis other diseases."
Posted by Kyle at 5:07 PM | Permalink
Keyes Gets Some Love
Overcoming past slights, Alan Keyes will be participating in the the upcoming The Des Moines Register Presidential Debate: "Confirmed candidates for the Republican debate on Wednesday, December 12 are: Ambassador Alan Keyes; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Rep. Duncan Hunter; Arizona Sen. John McCain; Texas Rep. Ron Paul; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo; and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson."
Posted by Kyle at 5:02 PM | Permalink
Trouble at Regent
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Regent University’s School of Psychology and Counseling is plagued by "turmoil [that] has led to the exodus of respected faculty members and sent morale plummeting among many students in the master’s degree counseling program."
Posted by Kyle at 4:58 PM | Permalink
Huckabee Consistent When Convenient
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee recently took a shot at rival Mitt Romney for having changed his political positions:"I think people should judge Mitt Romney on his record. Is he consistent? Does he say and believe the things now that he said and believed before? That's what ought to be the criteria.”
When confronted over the weekend by his 1992 comments about people infected with HIV calling on the federal government to “take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee said, "The one thing I feel like is important to note is that you stick by what you said" and that while he might say things differently today, “I don’t run from it, don’t recant from it.”
That concern about consistency apparently didn’t extend to his much more recent position on federal government policy toward Cuba. In fact, it only took a couple of hours for him to reverse course when it looked like his previous position might cost him some votes, according to a Miami Herald story about the GOP candidate debate hosted by television network Univisión:
Although the candidates kept it polite on stage, Fred Thompson's campaign circulated press clippings from 2002 in which Huckabee called for an end to the trade embargo with Cuba. In a letter to President Bush, Huckabee wrote at the time: ``U.S. policy on Cuba has not accomplished its stated goal of toppling the Castro regime and instead has provided Castro with a convenient excuse for his own failed system of government.''That stance is bound to rile many Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, who believe that the embargo helps undermine Fidel Castro's repressive regime.
Huckabee is certain to face questions about the embargo at a Monday morning press conference in Miami, where he is expecting an endorsement from Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, one of the most prominent Cuban-American Republicans in the state.
Caught off guard, Huckabee's campaign said two hours after the debate that he had since changed his position on the embargo after consulting with Cuban-American leaders. ''He's committed to vetoing any legislation that lifts sanctions on Cuba,'' said Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart.
Posted by Peter at 4:12 PM | Permalink
House Races to Play on Immigration Fears
In districts with few Hispanics, writes E.J. Dionne.
Posted by Ezra at 10:11 AM | Permalink
December 10, 2007
Anti-Gay Scholars Hit Political Road
The Religious Right looks to Maggie Gallagher and Robert George for intellectual cover when arguing that same-sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to marry, but whatever credibility they have as independent scholars will be put to the test by their new venture, the National Organization for Marriage.
Gallagher, president of the low-key Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (and perhaps most famous for taking money from the Bush Administration while promoting its marriage policy), and George, a Princeton professor, started NOM in order to lobby against marriage equality for same-sex couples and to campaign against legislators connected to the issue. The group ran this billboard in Massachusetts before the state’s 2007 election (image via Good As You):
The group is airing a radio ad in New Jersey against a bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry, featuring a child saying, “God creating Adam and Eve? That was so old-fashioned.” Although the bill, entitled “Civil Marriage and Religious Protection Act,” explicitly states that no religious group would be required to sanction any marriage (a requirement the First Amendment prohibits anyway) , the NOM ad hits on public fears that marriage equality for same-sex couples would imperil churches, stating, “They also want to penalize traditional New Jersey churches with threats to state tax exemptions and adoption licenses.”
The claim that giving equal marriage rights to same-sex couples would threaten religious liberty has been a common tactic on the Right. It was the theme of last year’s “Liberty Sunday” rally, and a mailing from the Family Research Council warned that New Jersey would soon “force homosexuality on our houses of worship.” According to Gallagher, who helped develop the notion of the supposed religious persecution that would ensue with marriage rights, the idea is the linchpin of NOM’s approach:
I founded NOM with Princeton Professor Robby George because we recognized that, if nothing changes, state legislatures are going to begin to pass laws to redefine marriage and that our churches, charities, schools and other organizations were going to be persecuted by state governments as a result.
Gallagher is no fool: Inculcating a fear that churches will be forced to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples is one of the most effective ways to convince people to oppose marriage equality. A survey from the Center for American Values in Public Life found that support for marriage equality for same-sex couples increased dramatically among all groups with the assurance—like that contained in the New Jersey bill—that churches would not be required to perform marriages:
(LGBT Issues slides, page 22.)
Posted by Ezra at 6:05 PM | Permalink
Get Together with Dog and BOND
Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, declares that Dog the Bounty Hunter is not racist and announces a book signing: "The Los Angeles based nonprofit organization BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, will host a Book Signing for Duane "Dog" Chapman's book 'You Can Run But You Can't Hide', as well as a Christmas toy giveaway for kids on Saturday, December 15, at 11:30a.m.PST."
Posted by Kyle at 3:08 PM | Permalink
Terri Schiavo Day
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and Priests for Life have announced "the establishment of the 'International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters' ('Terri's Day'), to be observed each year on March 31, the date of Terri's death."
Posted by Kyle at 3:02 PM | Permalink
Praise Be to Huckabee
"Former homosexual" Stephen Bennett praises Mike Huckabee's remarks on quarantining AIDS victims and calling homosexuality "an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle," saying he is "holding true to his firm moral convictions on homosexuality ... This is a real man of integrity."
Posted by Kyle at 2:57 PM | Permalink
TVC Commends Condi
The Traditional Values Coalition reacts to Ambassador Guest's resignation by hailing Condoleezza Rice: "Secretary Rice is to be commended for taking a principled stand on the importance of granting marriage benefits only to those who are actually married. “Ambassador Guest was clearly attempting to have the State Department grant marriage benefits to homosexual couples. If he had succeeded, it would have had a ripple effect throughout the federal government.”
Posted by Kyle at 2:44 PM | Permalink
Playing the Victim
Concerned Women for America’s Janice Shaw Crouse comments on Mitt Romney's "faith" speech, saying "The hostility and distrust of Evangelicals far exceeds that faced by the Mormons," while Gary Cass, Chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, calls on Romney to "renounce the historic Mormon hostility to Christianity."
Posted by Kyle at 2:37 PM | Permalink