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March 14, 2008
The Confusing Rick Scarborough
Say what you want about Vision America’s Rick Scarborough, but when the man sets his mind to something, he sticks with it … at least until he’s had a chance to think about it and then changes course.
From his inability to decide whether he liked Alexandra Pelosi's documentary “Friends of God” to his ill-fated and seemingly defunct “70 Weeks to Save America Crusade,” Scarborough has a remarkable ability to announce grand plans one week only to watch them quickly collapse and to make bold declarations only to turn around a short time later and say the exact opposite.
For example, as part of his “70 Weeks" campaign, Scarborough planned on traveling Iowa in order to generate support for Mike Huckabee but had to reevaluate once his partner, Alan Keyes, decided to run for President. So then Scarborough scrambled to put together a different tour with fellow Huckabee-supporter Janet Folger, but then that folded due to mechanical and weather problems.
While many of the problems plaguing Scarborough’s operations appear to be beyond his control, his efforts to make an impact heading into November probably aren’t being helped by his tendency to constantly change his mind about just what those efforts ought to entail.
Back when the pundits were declaring Rudy Giuliani a lock for the Republican nomination, Scarborough was having none of it, declaring:
And we should be ready to go outside the Republican Party if it refuses to give us such a candidate. Christians must always remember that we are followers of Christ, not pawns of a party which often wants to dance with us before the election but then ditches us right after the final vote count.
But then, when his allies on the Right started to suggest that they might actually ditch the GOP, Scarborough flipped and began chastising them, telling them to “Grow UP!!!”:
I for one do not intend to sit idly by and allow evil to triumph because good men choose to do nothing--or worse, do the wrong thing. I have often said in speeches to churches, “the only thing worse than not voting, is voting without a clue as to what you are voting for.” When it comes time for the ‘08 elections, we must be armed with truth and determined to vote our values. If enough of us do that, we will get a president who will make the right choice when it comes to nominating judges. In ’08, it’s all about the judges! … We may have to hold our nose as we vote in ‘08, but we must and we will vote.
But then, a short while later, Scarborough changed his mind again, proclaiming that his work was not about “winning elections. It’s about honoring Christ”:
“I am not going to cast a sacred vote granted to me by the blood of millions of God-fearing Americans who died on the fields of battle for freedom, for a candidate who says it’s O.K. to kill the unborn,” he said. “I just can’t.”
Shortly thereafter Scarborough signed on with Huckabee’s campaign, and while his efforts in Iowa didn’t quite pan out as planned, he did manage to stump with the candidate in Texas. But then Huckabee dropped out of the race and Scarborough seemed to have dropped off the radar.
But today he reappeared to assure us that his position regarding supporting the Republican nominee has now morphed from won’t, to will, to back to won’t, to finally back to will:
My message from now till the election will be--we have a two party system in America for better or worse. Voting third party in my estimation is a waste of your vote, and we must never forget, every vote is two votes. You are voting for someone and you are not voting for someone else. That means that when you vote for someone you know cannot possibly win, you are adding strength to someone who will win and you may be withholding a vote for someone who could have won.
Politics is not church. In church we search for doctrinal purity as best we understand it, but in politics compromise is often the reasonable solution short of war or division. It is better to get 80 percent of what you desire than to get zero percent--which is what you get when you don't participate or you participate ignorantly.
I cannot tell you how to vote, but I urge you to vote. I urge you to be mindful that this is still a two party system and you and I must vote for the candidates and the party that best represent our values. The time to discuss the pros and cons of a third party effort is on November 5th, right after the election, when there is time to actually make a difference. I pledge to be at that meeting if it’s called, as it appears that both major parties no longer see conservative Christian as an asset--beyond getting their vote.
Do not lose sight of the goals which got us into this arena to start with: to end abortions in America in our lifetime; preserve marriage as the Bible defines it; preserve freedom by saving America as a sovereign and free nation; and increase the Kingdom of God on earth by being lights that shine in the midst of a crooked generation.
I am traveling every day to make that message known. Later today, I will be speaking in Denver, Colorado. Am I happy with the current field of candidates? Absolutely not! But am I going to sit home and sulk? Absolutely not! Beyond the presidency there are U.S. Senate seats, U.S. House seats, state elections and judges to consider, and when the church stays home or acts foolishly everyone loses.
Scarborough prides himself on being a “Christocrat” who is not beholden to the Republican Party. And nothing demonstrates that commitment to principle like incessantly waffling on whether or not to continue to support the GOP, and then deciding to do so while vaguely threatening to consider a third party option … but only, of course, after the election is over.
Posted by Kyle at 4:41 PM | Permalink
March 13, 2008
Slow and Steady
Slowly but surely, John McCain has been racking up endorsements from Religious Right leaders. Aside from scoring big with the likes of John Hagee and Rod Parsely, McCain has also been securing endorsements from figures like Gary Bauer and even Janet Folger.
At the same time, he is busy conducting outreach to many others, addressing the Council for National Policy and having some surrogates drop hints that he’d love the opportunity meet with James Dobson while sending out others to try and win over people like Tony Perkins.
And while the efforts appear to be paying off, it seems as if McCain still has a lot of work ahead of him:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) must work hard to reach out to evangelical voters to get them “excited” about his candidacy, a leading social conservative figure said Wednesday.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said a number of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s policies and actions in the Senate have rubbed socially conservative evangelical voters the wrong way, and he will need them and their “enthusiasm” to win the White House.
“It’s not automatic,” Perkins said.
…
Perkins suggested several approaches McCain can take to woo a crowd that might feel dissatisfied after supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and watching him drop out of the race.
McCain should “hold the Bush line” on banning federal funding for stem cell research, announce that he will appoint a “family czar” to show his commitment to families and be more vocal about his lifelong record opposing abortion rights, Perkins said.
“He’s never led on those issues, and he’s never seemed comfortable talking about those issues,” Perkins said.
But Perkins said McCain has a solid voting record on issues that are dear to socially conservative evangelical voters, and he can use that record as a “foundation” to reach out to them.
“I don’t think that that’s too big a stretch for him, but he’s going to have to work at it,” Perkins said.
Undaunted by the task head, the McCain campaign appears ready to ramp up its effort and fully intends to spend a lot of time wooing them in the months ahead:
Sen. John McCain will be spending a lot of face time in the coming months with top conservative leaders, in an effort to win them over one-by-one, top McCain strategist Charlie Black tells Newsmax.
“You have to go get the conservative leaders who have a following one at a time. [McCain] has been doing for several months, and has some very prominent conservatives on board now… We’re taking them one at a time,” Black told Newsmax this week.
Posted by Kyle at 4:50 PM | Permalink
Be Careful How You Pray
From their start as the “Moral Majority” through their as the “Christian Coalition” and all the way up to the “Values Voters” who supposedly returned President Bush to office in 2004, Religious Right leaders has long claimed the exclusive right to speak for people of faith in the political arena. In order to bolster that claim, the Right has developed an entire repertoire of attacks against those who might dare to disagree: complaining about perceived anti-religious bigotry, warning that Christians are under constant attack, demonizing and disrespecting other faiths, and accusing Democrats of attempting to dupe faithful Americans into abandoning the only political party that represents a “truly biblical worldview.”
Normally, such attacks were directly solely against Democrats, but they started to get used against Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith when he showed up on the presidential scene. The Right, not knowing know how to react to a Republican candidate who did not subscribe to a faith with which they were comfortable and familiar, began to flail about, giving rise to all sorts of speculation about whether rank and file right-wing voters could ever support such a candidate, allegations that other candidates were exploiting the issue for political gain, worries that Romney’s unique beliefs would somehow hijack the Right’s traditional messaging … even allegations that a vote for Romney was “a vote for Satan.”
Eventually, Romney was compelled to deliver a speech reminding voters that a religious test for candidates and office holders was prohibited by the US Constitution and proclaiming that “no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. “
The speech didn’t accomplish much and Romney was eventually forced to drop out of the race – and now the Right has been able to get back to what it does best: attacking Democrats.
Amid the strong showing that Barack Obama continues to make in the Democratic primaries, we have begun to notice that Obama’s proudly declared strong personal faith appears to be rankling some on the Right who see his talk of faith as a threat to their perceived hegemony and have begun striking back by attacking not just his positions or policies, but the nature of his faith itself.
Routinely, right-wing commentators have been attacking Obama’s church and declaring that his “Christianity [is] woefully deficient.” Just last week, Rob Schenck did an entire segment on Obama’s faith, suggesting that he might really be a Muslim despite the fact that he identifies himself as a Christian and even questioning Obama’s claim that he “[prays] to Jesus every night, wondering why he would “pray to Jesus” rather than “pray to God in Jesus’ name.”
Apparently, the mechanics of Obama’s personal prayer and his understanding of the Trinity are of great concern to people like Schenck and Mychael Massie who seem to think it is now acceptable to encourage voters to oppose a candidate or office holder based solely on how he or she exercises their personal faith:
Suffice it to say that his comments are objectionable on many levels, not least of which is because the fundamental construct for prayer is given in Matthew 6:6-9, and nowhere in same does Jesus say to pray to "Him." In fact, nowhere in all of Scripture are we told to pray to anyone save God Almighty Himself.
In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul writes that while God has given Jesus a name above all names, and that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and that every tongue should confess Him as Lord, this is done to the glory of God the Father. Paul, in verse six of the same chapter, writes that, "…in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God." He doesn't say make them known unto Jesus.
Is it possible Obama doesn't understand the meaning and order of the prayer the Lord instructed us to pray in Matthew 6:6-9? Does Obama presume Paul didn't mean what he said? Or does he place his biblical literacy above him whom God inspired? Perhaps Obama just doesn't understand the true nature and order of the Triune God – allowing that is the case, then it is incumbent upon him to revisit the definition of devout.
Jesus Himself references God the Father as "His God" and "my God." At no time and in no place does Jesus say pray to Him, but rather in John 16:14-28, He instructs the exact opposite.
So word to the wise: if you consider yourself a Christian, you’d better bone up on the details of how to pray properly because otherwise the Right is going to accuse you of being a posturing, ignorant phony whose faith is fundamentally illegitimate.
Posted by Kyle at 10:13 AM | Permalink
March 12, 2008
Oklahoma Republicans Cheer Anti-Gay Speaker
Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern became a national celebrity over the weekend, after the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund posted an audio clip of her expounding on the supposed “homosexual agenda”: “I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam,” said Kern.
According to Oklahomans for Equality, Kern has been expressing similar anti-gay views for years, and she apparently has no plans to change course:
Kern said Monday she plans to take this issue as far as it goes and will not apologize for her statements. "If it costs me my seat that's OK," she said. "I'm going to stand up for what is right."
And apparently Republicans in Oklahoma are behind her: Kern said she received a standing ovation from fellow GOP legislators in a closed meeting on Monday.
Religious-right activists have been pushing idea for years that there is a nefarious “homosexual agenda” behind political efforts for equal rights for gays and lesbians, usually taking the form of “indoctrinating” children or shutting down churches. So it’s no surprise that when pressed to back up her rant, Kern provided as “proof” links to statements by the usual far-right activists—such as Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality—claiming that politically active gays are part of a conspiracy to “gain power” and “promot[e] homosexuality among young people.”
Posted by Ezra at 6:03 PM | Permalink
Huckabee Hints At Future Plans
From a blog post by the former candidate: "Of course, I will be working hard to elect GOP candidates this year--from Senator McCain all the way down to helping with candidates at the state level. I will also be creating an organization that will help us focus on activating people around the nation to take a stand and become citizens who are both informed and involved in America's future. We will have more details about that soon. "
Posted by Kyle at 2:09 PM | Permalink
Stein to Show "Expelled" to FL Lawmakers
From the Miami Herald: "In the latest evolution battle, pop-culture figure Ben Stein will show his new documentary challenging mainstream science to Florida lawmakers Wednesday as they consider legislation that makes it easier for teachers to question Darwin's theory in science classes. The legislation, like Stein's documentary called 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,' has been bashed by critics as a front for advancing the agenda of biblical creationists who want to sneak religious teachings into the classrooms."
Posted by Kyle at 2:04 PM | Permalink
Dobson's Worries About the Right's Future
James Dobson addressed the National Religious Broadcasters Convention and wondered what would become of the Religious Right in the future considering that most of its currents leaders are aging or passed: "It causes me to wonder who will be left to carry the banner when this generation of leaders is gone. The question is, will the younger generation heed the call? Who will defend the unborn child in the years to come? Who will plead for the Terri Schiavos of the world? Who's going to fight for the institution of marriage, which is on the ropes today."
Posted by Kyle at 1:58 PM | Permalink
"Even Fair Tax Co-Founder Didn't Support Huck"
So reports Matt Lewis: "Robert McNair, co-founder and Finance Chairman of the Fair Tax was actually a major donor to Romney, Thompson, and Giuliani -- but I can't find where he donated a dime to Huckabee."
Posted by Kyle at 1:48 PM | Permalink
Protect Your Money From Your Liberal Kids!
That seems to be the mission of DonorsTrust, a right-wing investment firm founded by people from the Capital Research Center and the Heritage Foundation. From a recent email pitch: "We love our children, our grandchildren, and our families. But that doesn't mean we always see eye to eye with them. Sometimes we just have a difference of opinion on trivial matters. Other times it becomes quite obvious that they do not share our fundamental understanding of the world and the way it operates. That's why our clients use DonorsTrust. They love their families but know they can rely on DonorsTrust to carry out their charitable intent. DonorsTrust erects a protective boundary, which means our clients' successor advisors will never be able to support the likes of Greenpeace or MoveOn.org."
Posted by Kyle at 9:36 AM | Permalink
March 11, 2008
Declaring Victory
If an anti-gay campaign falls in the forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
For two years, the American Family Association has operated a boycott of Ford Motor Company for its gay-friendly employment practices and its advertising in gay magazines. And AFA has not been shy about taking credit for the automaker’s financial woes.
“For the 13th month out of the last 15, the boycott of Ford Motor Company by AFA and other pro-family groups has helped cause Ford to lose sales,” the group bragged last June. “Ford continues to financially support homosexual groups despite the massive sales drop and a loss of millions for the company’s stockholders,” it warned in July. In January, AFA founder Don Wildmon asserted that a “significant amount” of Ford’s decline in sales was “a direct result of the boycott.”
Nevertheless, industry analysts have seen Ford’s continuing financial woes as the result of factors such as gas prices, market changes, workforce aging, and management—and not as a direct result of “its commitment to the homosexual agenda,” as AFA put it. Instead, reports focused on Ford’s “Way Forward” plan (released before AFA’s boycott), which announced large downsizing and projected profitability in 2009. The right-wing Media Research Center issued a report accusing “the media” of being “strangely silent” about the boycott.
Yesterday, AFA announced that it was declaring victory and ending the boycott, asserting that, based on AFA’s own “monitoring,” Ford had met its conditions on donations to gay and lesbian non-profits and gay-oriented advertising. “Flinch! Ford finally bends,” trumpeted the right-wing World Net Daily. Ford, on the other hand, denied that it had made any changes in policy:
Ford said in a statement that its principles haven't changed, but that it has reduced overall advertising and charitable spending in recent years because of losses in North America. Ford lost $2.7 billion in 2007.
"We are committed to treating everyone fairly and with respect, including our dealers, customers and employees," the company said. "Ford will continue to market its products widely to attract as many customers as possible and make charitable contributions to strengthen communities to the extent business conditions allow."
If AFA is to be believed, we can expect Ford Motor Company to make a dramatic recovery in the coming months. Then again, it could be that AFA simply gave up, as Daniel Blatt predicted just a month ago:
Let the AFA attribute the decline of Ford to its drawing attention to the company’s pro-gay policies. But other corporations have adopted similar policies and not suffered like the American automaker. The AFA may claim that it hasn’t targeted them, but I would wager that if it had, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Americans are more concerned about a product’s quality than they are about the domestic partnership policies of the corporations than produce it.
Realizing this, expect the AFA to drop its boycott against Ford as it did the campaign against Disney. It will probably claim that it made a point, but it really won’t have made much of a difference.
Posted by Ezra at 6:12 PM | Permalink
Bush Gives Shout Out to Dobson, Limbaugh
President Bush addressed the National Religious Broadcasters Convention and vowed to veto the Fairness Doctrine if it ever reaches his desk: "We know who these advocates of so-called balance really have in their sights: shows hosted by people like Rush Limbaugh or James Dobson, or many of you here today. By insisting on so-called balance, they want to silence those they don't agree with. The truth of the matter is, they know they cannot prevail in the public debate of ideas ... But I'll tell you this: If Congress should ever pass any legislation that stifles your right to express your views, I'm going to veto it."
Posted by Kyle at 3:54 PM | Permalink
Janet Folger: Sheep
For the last several months, Janet Folger dedicated her life to helping Mike Huckabee try to secure the Republican presidential nomination, hosting the Values Voter Debate where she anointed Huckabee the "David among Jesse’s sons," serving as co-chair of his Faith and Values Coalition, praying for bad weather to keep voter turnout down, and even launching a front-group to attack Mitt Romney and John McCain.
All along she warned that Huckabee was the only acceptable candidate in the race and the only one who could keep the Right out of prison while declaring that McCain was unacceptable because he:
Pushed "campaign finance reform" that would put a gag rule on citizen groups like Wisconsin Right to Life, who McCain sued when they suggested people actually contact their senators to let them know how they felt about the filibuster on judicial nominees. He was also one of the gang of 14 who kept the filibuster alive. He also voted against the Marriage Protection Amendment.
Folger made clear that only "sheep" would support McCain, while the principled "shepherds" were intent on backing Huckabee:
We heard the mantra, "A vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain!" Interestingly, the same people who said that are now saying, "Don't vote for Huckabee. Vote for McCain!" Really? Support the guy who wants to force us to fund medical experimentation on human beings like Joshua and Rachel Hubbard – who were themselves once frozen embryos. Real human beings. Just older than they were when they were shoved in a freezer and vulnerable to policies like those of Sen. John McCain. Just because someone shoves children in the freezer doesn't mean they're no longer human beings in need of adoption. "Thou shalt not kill" doesn't say "unless they're really small and discarded by people who don't want them." If you found a kid locked in a closet, would you justify performing medical experiments on him before taking his life because he "was going to die if nobody let him out of that closet anyway?"They are rallying to the very guy who wanted a two-month gag rule prior to an election on all of us who want to inform people about what Congress may be doing – like forming a gang (of 14, for example) to block good judicial nominees.
Ann Gimenez, whose husband Bishop John Gimenez, a true Christian leader who just went on to his reward, said, "This is not the time to lose our moral compass. Take a stand for righteousness, and don't deviate from it." Good advice.
There are sheep, and there are shepherds. Sheep follow the pundits, the polls, political expediency and promised perks. Shepherds follow principle. Gov. Mike Huckabee is such a man. So are those who stand on principle with him.
Well, now that McCain has secured the nomination and Huckabee has dropped out, Folger has suddenly abandoned all her talk of sheep and shepherds and declared that the prudent, principled thing to do is to vote for John McCain:
To those thinking about "sitting it out," or "supporting a third party" now, consider an analogy. We are facing a burning building. There is a day-care center full of children burning down and we have three options before us.A. We have a candidate named John who will rescue most everyone in that building. He hasn't pledged that he'll get everyone out just yet, but the vast majority of those kids are going to be carried out alive with his pro-life policies and judges.
B. Or you can protest (with a third-party candidate). Pick up a sign and march because you didn't get the candidate you wanted chanting, "Rescue all the children! Rescue all the children!" while the building burns and all the children die.
C. Or you can sit it out. Don't endorse. Don't vote. And Clinton or Obama will deadbolt the fire exits and rip out the sprinklers. They will then lock arms and prevent any of us from entering the building to rescue the children inside. They will also prevent notification of parents whose children are about to be burned alive.
If I were the one in the burning building, I know what I would want you to do. Either we protect nearly all of the kids or none of the kids. Oh? But you think in four years we can come back and teach everyone a lesson? Really?
For Folger, it seems that principle and political expediency are one-in-the-same, which explains why the various web ads her RoeGone front-group put together attacking McCain have now been taken down.
Posted by Kyle at 10:57 AM | Permalink
March 10, 2008
Do The Dobsons Agree?
Last month, James Dobson made clear that he would never, ever, under any circumstances vote for John McCain and even seemed to be seeking to enlist a million others to join him in his boycott.
He then cravenly endorsed Mike Huckabee, but by then it was too late and Huckabee eventually dropped out and Dobson hasn't been heard from since.
Now comes news that Dobson's wife Shirley, chairman of the National Day of Prayer, is launching an "election prayer campaign":
For 16 years, Mrs. Shirley Dobson has served as chairman of the National Day of Prayer (NDP). This year, she has added another campaign — a call to seek God’s guidance for the elections.“As long as God is on His throne, there is always hope,” says Mrs. Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder and Chairman Dr. James Dobson.
She spoke with CitizenLink about the two critical prayer campaigns.
1. What is so important about this election?
I believe our country is at a crossroads. Whoever is elected president will play a pivotal role in determining the future of our country. It’s imperative people go to the polls and elect a candidate whose leadership will reflect a moral and principled perspective.
Mrs. Dobson is aware that her husband explicitly rejected McCain because he does not "reflect a moral and principled perspective" and blasted both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for their "virulently anti-family policy positions," isn't she?
If so, how exactly are voters supposed to "follow God’s instructions" and elect the right candidate when her husband is busy telling the country that none of the current candidates are acceptable?
Posted by Kyle at 4:03 PM | Permalink
Hutcherson and the Legacy of MLK
It appears as if Ken Hutcherson's crusade against his daughter's school continues. As we noted previously, Hutcherson was invited to speak at his daughter's high school on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which did not sit too well with some staff because of his anti-gay views. The school apologized for the controversy but Hutcherson was having none of it and demanded that the teachers involved lose their jobs.
And that was the last we had heard of it until Hutcherson showed up on the Wallbuilders Live radio program today to discuss his on-going feud with the school, which has now broadened to include attempts to shut down the school's Gay-Straight Alliance and end the school's participation in The Day of Silence.
On and on Hutcherson and host Rick Green went, complaining about supposed double standards and anti-Christian bigotry, leading Hutcherson to declare that the teachers at the school who oppose his anti-gay views and activism ought to thank their lucky stars that he has found Christ and is no longer violent:
What it shows is the power of God to control his son. Before I became a Christian, if a white guy looked at me wrong, he was beat up. That's the reason I went out for football, so I could hurt white people legally there in Alabama. I was a much better baseball player than football, but you hit someone with the baseball while they're running to first base, people didn't like that. But you could hit them on the football field and knock them out and they patted you on the back.
But those days are past - supposedly:
If they don't fire these teachers, I'm going to sue 'em and I'm going to ask them for their dreams. And then they're going to mess around and laugh and I'm going to take their tongue out.
Considering that Hutcherson is the sort to threaten to tear out tongues and rip the arm off of any man who dares to hold the door open for him and "beat him with the wet end," it is a bit of a mystery as to why anyone would think he would be a good choice to discuss Martin Luther King and his legacy of non-violence.
Posted by Kyle at 3:44 PM | Permalink
Dobson Gives Thumbs Up to "Expelled"
The New York Times reports that the pro-Intelligent Design film "Expelled" isn't being shown to critics, but is being shown to Right Wing leaders: "Paul Lauer, head of Motive Marketing, which is handling publicity for the film, said that critics were not invited mostly because the film was not polished enough for professional scrutiny. He said that his company, which also marketed the 2004 film, 'The Passion of the Christ,' is reaching out to conservative leaders. For example, Mr. Lauer said, Mr. Stein personally showed 'Expelled' to James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, which has a big following among right-wing Christians. (Mr. Dobson gave the film a thumbs-up.)"
Posted by Kyle at 1:28 PM | Permalink