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April 4, 2008
Anti-Gay Legislator Plays the Victim
At least a thousand people attended a rally in the Oklahoma capitol for state Rep. Sally Kern, who recently became a right-wing celebrity after ranting about how gays are a bigger threat than terrorism. In her speech, Kern called homosexuality “the death knell for this country,” warned of a sinister “gay agenda” of indoctrinating “two year olds” and “infiltrating city councils,” and associated gays with “deadly” diseases. Unsurprisingly, the legislator has been catching some flack for her over-the-top anti-gay broadside, but according to Kern and her supporters, criticism of Kern (including angry e-mails, “many of them filled with profanity and vulgarity”) is proof of the persecution of the Religious Right.
From the Oklahoman:
"I told the people when I was running for this office that I was a Christian candidate and that I believed we were in a cultural war for the very existence of our Judeo-Christian values,” said Kern, who was elected to the House in 2004. "This situation proves that I was right. We are in a cultural war; this is for real.”
Concerned Women for America’s Matt Barber, who has helped promote Kern as a right-wing hero and who recently cited blood donations as proof of the “gay agenda” Kern warned against, said Kern had been the victim of “tremendous assault” by “homosexual anti-Christian hate groups.” After the rally, he portrayed this “persecution” as biblical:
People with traditional values who value God's design for human sexuality will not be intimidated and bullied into silence. Political correctness can never trump truth. Sally Kern stood for truth, and she was hated for it. She was persecuted for Christ, but the Body of Christ was there to lift her up.
Likewise, Kern herself claimed the mantle of St. Paul in his imprisonment by the Romans:
"This is not about me," Kern said at the rally, which spilled over from the first floor rotunda to the building's second and third floors. She is the wife of Olivet Baptist Church pastor Steven Kern in Oklahoma City. "It's about the church having the right to speak out for the redeeming love of Jesus Christ Who died to set us all free from sin. The Lord gave me a verse I've been claiming. Philippians 1:12, 'I want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel.'"
The Religious Right has long sought to claim that Christianity is under attack by nefarious forces in the form of whatever policies and politics it disagrees with, as a way to convince people to go along with its far-right platform. Presenting Kern as the victim of a “gay hate campaign” neatly deflects the obvious criticism that Kern, Barber, and the others have been waging their anti-gay “hate campaign” the whole time.
(Photo by Bob Nigh from Baptist Press.)
Posted by Ezra at 5:27 PM | Permalink
Paul Weyrich’s Penance
Back in the Fall of 2007, Gov. Mitt Romney was riding high, having barely won the Values Voter Summit’s straw poll and positioning himself as the candidate favored by both Religious Right Beltway-insiders like Jay Sekulow and outsiders like Lou Sheldon and Bob Jones. In fact, Romney was being pitched as the only alternative to unacceptable Rudy Giuliani, the unelectable Mike Huckabee, the unexciting Fred Thompson, and the unforgiven John McCain.
Romney’s efforts to position himself as the Right’s candidate of choice received a significant boost when, in November, he secured the endorsement of right-wing icon Paul Weyrich:
Today, Paul Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, announced his support for Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign to be our country's next President. Paul Weyrich is one of the premier leaders in the conservative movement, having founded the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
"As he travels across the country, Governor Romney has outlined a blueprint to build a stronger America rooted in our common conservative principles. With a clear conservative vision to move America forward, he will strengthen our economy, our military and our families. More importantly, he already has an exceptional record of putting conservative values to work. Because of his experience, vision and values, I am proud to support Governor Romney," said Paul Weyrich.
But over the coming months, Romney’s campaign failed to catch fire and he eventually dropped out of the race and Weyrich threw his support to Huckabee, whose campaign likewise failed to generate significant support and folded.
Since then, Weyrich appears to have done some soul-searching and has come to regret his support of Romney at the expense of Huckabee:
In a quiet, brief, but passionate speech, Weyrich essentially confessed that he and the other leaders should have backed Huckabee, a candidate who shared their values more fully than any other candidate in a generation. He agreed with Farris that many conservative leaders had blown it. By chasing other candidates with greater visibility, they failed to see what many of their supporters in the trenches saw clearly: Huckabee was their guy.
The extent of Weyrich’s remorse appears to be even deeper than anyone could have imagined, as he has now joined a group of former-Huckabee backers and other right-wing activists in warning McCain that picking Romney as a running mate would be “utterly unacceptable”
Conservative leader Paul Weyrich – who endorsed Mitt Romney’s presidential bid – has signed on to an open letter from more than two dozen movement activists to John McCain warning him not to select the former Massachusetts governor as his VP pick if he expects their support.
"If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down the ticket,” they write in a message posted online by a political action committee called “Government is Not God.”
The letter – topped by the headline “NO Mitt” — will run as a print ad in cities visited by McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, beginning with his Arizona stop this weekend.
How, in the course of just a few months, Weyrich went from citing Romney’s “experience, vision and values” as making him best-suited to be President to declaring that he is absolutely unqualified to serve as McCain’s running mate is utterly mind-boggling:
When a chief executive can violate multiple articles of the oldest functioning constitution in the world and disobey statutes he solemnly swore to defend and execute faithfully, then blame judges who never even asked him to intervene, he mocks the principle of limited government and the separation of powers. He robs Americans of their unalienable right to self-government, for which so many soldiers, sailors and airmen have died.
These are just two issues (there are more) that absolutely disqualify Mitt Romney as a viable Vice Presidential option. He would fatally harm your appeal to voters with deep constitutionalist and social conservative commitments.
If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down the ticket. For the sake of your election, the health of your party, and the future of America you must not allow the obvious electoral consequences of that to occur.
As citizens, activists, and leaders with our feet on the solid ground of real world Republican and Independent voters, it is our duty to alert you that the grassroots is nearing a point of breaking with Republican Party leadership on many issues, not the least of which is the relentless whitewashing of Mitt Romney as a so-called "conservative."
Posted by Kyle at 2:57 PM | Permalink
April 3, 2008
The Revelation Will Not Be Televised
Bill Sizemore, a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, probably knows as much as anyone about Pat Robertson and his multi-million dollar empire, having covered him for years and regularly breaking stories on everything from his outrageous statements to his murky business dealings.
Recently, Sizemore penned an insightful and informative profile of the Religious Right icon for the Virginia Quarterly Review that not only chronicles Robertson’s rise to fame and wealth but also serves as an excellent example of the sort of pieces Sizemore has done on Robertson over the years, which helps explain why Robertson hates him so much.
I spoiled Pat Robertson’s birthday.
I know, because he told me so.
On March 22, 2007, the day he turned seventy-seven, the televangelist and I sat eyeball-to-eyeball across the corner of a long table in a dark-paneled conference room at the Christian Broadcasting Network’s cross-shaped headquarters in Virginia Beach. Also at the table were two CBN lawyers and the editor, publisher, and lawyer from the newspaper I write for, the Virginian-Pilot. We had been summoned for a tongue-lashing over a story I had written about Robertson. It was a vicious piece, full of lies, he fumed—and what’s more, I had consciously timed its appearance to ruin his birthday. He demanded a retraction, a correction, an apology. If he didn’t get it, he implied none too subtly, he would sue.
“You guys are as crooked as a snake,” he sputtered. “I’ll have you all in depositions for the rest of your life.”
Sizemore explains how Robertson, son of a US Senator, set out to be a “sophisticated New York swinger,” only to jettison the lifestyle in pursuit of the “prosperity gospel,” the idea that believers will be rewarded financially for their faith in God … and, more importantly, their monetary donations to his servants such as Robertson.
The piece chronicles Robertson’s early days of speaking in tongues, casting out demons, fighting off Satan, and warding off hurricanes through his purchase of a bankrupt TV station in southern Virginia that eventually became the behemoth Christian Broadcasting Network. Along the way, Robertson developed close ties with now-disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker and slowly began transforming his growing ministry into a political force that culminated in his failed run for President in 1988 and the eventual birth of the Christian Coalition.
Sizemore also lays out Robertson’s shady business practices, noting how raised money for his charity Operation Blessing by promising to provide aid to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 … and then proceeded to use the operation to mine for diamonds in the Democratic Republic of Congo [formerly Zaire] for the benefit of his for-profit African Development Company. When Sizemore broke the story, Robertson was livid and when the two met years later, Robertson still had not forgiven him:
The publicity cost him a bundle, he complained, and the crowning indignity was the venture’s meager output. “We got one tiny little diamond!” he exclaimed.
Sizemore goes on to examine everything from Robertson’s ties to indicted Liberian war-criminal Charles Taylor to the founding of his Regent University Law School and the subsequent influence its 150 graduates had within the Bush Administration.
But perhaps the most interesting anecdote comes from Gerry Straub, a former “700 Club” producer, who explained how Robertson and his supporters believe that CBN had been chosen by God to “usher in the coming of my Son” and, as such, put in place a plan to televise Christ’s imminent return to earth:
In order to prepare for the imminent Second Coming—which Robertson believes will occur on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem according to biblical prophecy—he acquired METV (Middle East Television), a station then based in southern Lebanon that could broadcast into Israel. Straub was given marching orders to be ready to televise Christ’s return. CBN executives drew up a detailed plan to broadcast the event to every nation and in all languages. Straub wrote: “We even discussed how Jesus’ radiance might be too bright for the cameras and how we would have to make adjustments for that problem. Can you imagine telling Jesus, ‘Hey, Lord, please tone down your luminosity; we’re having a problem with contrast. You’re causing the picture to flare.’”
As Sizemore notes, it might be tempting to write Robertson off as a now-inconsequential relic, but to do so greatly underestimates Robertson’s continuing influence, as well as the legacy he has created:
Perhaps of most import for the nation and the world, he has pioneered a unique marriage between theology and politics. This is a man who ran for president because, he said, God told him to, but that brief campaign twenty years ago would be merely a footnote in American political history were it not for the potent legacy it spawned.
Robertson has never really left the political stage. He opines on world events daily on his TV show and regularly interviews national and world leaders. Presidential hopefuls give major speeches at Regent University, the school he founded, where former attorney general John Ashcroft is on the faculty. Out of the ashes of the Robertson presidential campaign came an army of Bible-believing religious fundamentalists which has won a degree of political power unprecedented in modern times.
Posted by Kyle at 4:17 PM | Permalink
Dobson’s Dilemma
The Religious Right may still be kicking itself over its own politically calculated decision not to support Mike Huckabee, but that doesn’t mean that they are ready to climb aboard John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” … at least, not until McCain does a bit more groveling:
Some prominent conservatives say they remain disenchanted with the party's likely nominee. Sen. McCain isn't doing enough to persuade them of his conservative credentials, they say, or win them over to his side. Although the sentiment among conservative leaders is that they will vote for Sen. McCain come November, they aren't thrilled about the prospect.
…
In February, he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of some 6,000 Republicans. Last month, shortly after securing the nomination, he addressed a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a group of prominent Christian conservatives.
Conservatives mention both appearances as evidence of Sen. McCain's olive branch. But to get the party united and energized, Sen. McCain needs to talk more about "core values," including his anti-abortion record, says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. The senator needs to address social conservative issues "so that people get the impression and the understanding that those issues are of importance to him," Mr. Perkins said.
While McCain has, so far, personally addressed three purely right-wing audiences where he has constantly reminded them of the principles and positions they share, touted his conservative record, and told them what they wanted to hear, it doesn’t seem to be enough.
So McCain still has a lot of work ahead of him, as demonstrated by the exclusive statement James Dobson released to the Wall Street Journal:
"I have seen no evidence that Sen. McCain is successfully unifying the Republican Party or drawing conservatives into his fold. To the contrary, he seems intent on driving them away.
To my knowledge, he has not reached out to pro-family leaders or changed any of the positions that have troubled them. He still believes, for example, that federal money should be allocated for laboratory experiments with tiny human embryos, after which they would be killed when they are no longer useful. He continues to favor allowing each state to create its own definition of marriage, potentially giving the nation 50 different legal interpretations. It would create chaos within families.
On March 7th, the senator delivered a speech to influential members of the The Council on National Policy, during which he thoroughly disappointed and irritated many of those in attendance. By contrast, McCain spoke last week during to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on Foreign Policy, and reiterated his support for governmental intervention in the global warming debate, proposed shutting down Guantanamo, blamed the U.S military for torturing prisoners of war and promised to pander to our European allies before defending America's interests around the world. These policies frustrated conservatives, whom McCain seems to have written off.
One of his senior advisors asserted recently on Fox News that 'the right' can just go its own way, stating that McCain can win by attracting moderates and crossover Democrats. That seems to be the strategy. These are not the policies and pronouncements of a man who is seeking to 'unify the party.' Indeed, they appear to be fracturing an increasingly divided constituency. "
Just a few months ago, Dobson boldly declared that he would never support McCain, saying “I cannot, and I will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience.” Yet he has recently been hinting that he might be reconsidering this declaration and is now advising McCain to stop poking the GOP’s right-wing base in the eye, seemingly hoping that if he can get McCain to starting pandering to them on a few issues, he can ease his own conscience and support McCain without it coming across as a craven political calculation.
Posted by Kyle at 9:29 AM | Permalink
April 2, 2008
Far Right Defies Caricature
Two weeks ago we described the right-wing reaction to Barack Obama’s pastor as “generally promoting the idea that Obama is some kind of Manchurian candidate who secretly hates both America and white people.” The reference to “The Manchurian Candidate”—a novel and movie in which a political candidate was brainwashed into becoming a Communist assassin—was intended to highlight the absurdly sinister discussion of Obama’s relationship with his church.
But apparently we underestimated the Right’s absurdity: WorldNetDaily asks, “Is he America's political messiah – or a Manchurian candidate?”
In a few short months, the young and relatively unknown politician Barack Hussein Obama may very well be elevated to the presidency of the United States and command the mightiest military in world history.
Would the eloquent and charismatic Obama unite, inspire and renew a troubled nation, as tens of millions of voters passionately believe? Or is it possible he's a Manchurian candidate – harboring an ominous secret agenda few understand, a man destined to wreak havoc on America should he become president?
That's the question that is explored definitively in the April issue of WND's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled "THE SECRET LIFE OF BARACK OBAMA."
Among other tidbits, the feature promises to present “an intriguing case that Obama, a Muslim in his youth, may still be a closet Muslim.”
Posted by Ezra at 6:14 PM | Permalink
God Opens a Window for Vision America
For some time now, Vision America and its founder Rick Scarborough have been floundering about as they try to recapture the glory days of 2005-2006 when Vision America first burst onto the political scene and made a name for itself with its “Confronting the Judicial War on Faith” and the “War on Christians and Values Voters” conferences. Since then, its messaging has been, at best, confusing and its efforts to rally supporters have repeatedly run into problems, especially once his partner in the endeavor, Alan Keyes, decided to run for president.
But it looks like things are starting to turn around for the struggling organization, at least according to the latest Rick Scarborough Report:
When Alan Keyes decided to make a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in January, the decision effectively derailed our efforts to conduct weekly One Day Crusades to Save America--as our non-partisan efforts immediately took on a different appearance. As a result we released several pending dates and began seeking the Lord about continuing the effort. We did conduct a limited number of Crusades which we have reported on in this column.
Now we are again booking Crusades without Dr. Keyes. Upcoming events include major efforts in Dallas and Lubbock, Texas, and Jefferson City, Missouri … Vision America received word this week that we were the recipients of a significant grant for voter registration and mobilization efforts for this fall. We began hiring additional staff and gearing up for one of our most aggressive outreach efforts to date … God is opening doors faster than we can walk through them and we are constantly seeking His provisions.
Of course, the Lubbock “crusade” doesn’t take place until July and the Jefferson City event isn’t until October, so Scarborough has a lot of free time until then which he’ll presumably fill by headlining things like the Valley Family Forum’s “Salute to the Family” in western Virginia later this week.
Posted by Kyle at 2:25 PM | Permalink
Gore, Robertson and Sharpton Make An Ad
From The Virginian-Pilot: "[Al] Gore and his nonprofit agency, the Alliance for Climate Protection, are pitting odd couplings - think [Al] Sharpton and [Pat] Robertson - in a series of public-service announcements to draw attention to the environment. The $300 million campaign is expected to launch next week ... The public-service announcement - apparently Gore was directing - is meant to show that people who don't agree on much can still agree that the environment is important."
Posted by Kyle at 2:03 PM | Permalink
The Goldilocks Right Settles on a Candidate, After the Fact
It was at a Council for National Policy meeting back in September that the Goldilocks brigade of the Religious Right, led by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, threatened to break away from the Republican Party if Rudy Giuliani won the nomination. And the CNP meeting in March was one of John McCain’s first stops after securing the GOP mantle—continuing his pandering to the fringe.
Now, Warren Cole Smith of the conservative-Christian World magazine relates a tense scene from the CNP meeting:
Michael Farris of the Home School Legal Defense Association, an early supporter of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, chided the group for cold-shouldering his candidate until it was too late. Others, including Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, disagreed. The meeting quickly threatened to dissolve into accusations, rebuttals, and recriminations.
Then, venerable Paul Weyrich—a founder of the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the Council for National Policy (CNP)—raised his hand to speak. Weyrich is a man whose mortality is plain to see. A freak accident several years ago left him with a spinal injury, which ultimately led to both his legs being amputated in 2005. He now gets around in a motorized wheelchair. He is visibly paler and grayer than he was just a few years ago, a fact not lost on many of his friends in the room, some of whom had fought in the political trenches with him since the 1960s.
The room—which had been taken over by argument and side-conversations—became suddenly quiet. Weyrich, a Romney supporter and one of those Farris had chastised for not supporting Huckabee, steered his wheelchair to the front of the room and slowly turned to face his compatriots. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said, "Friends, before all of you and before almighty God, I want to say I was wrong."
In a quiet, brief, but passionate speech, Weyrich essentially confessed that he and the other leaders should have backed Huckabee, a candidate who shared their values more fully than any other candidate in a generation. He agreed with Farris that many conservative leaders had blown it. By chasing other candidates with greater visibility, they failed to see what many of their supporters in the trenches saw clearly: Huckabee was their guy.
Weyrich (much to Janet Folger’s delight) essentially validated Huckabee’s constant complaint about religious-right leaders not supporting one of their own. But with Huckabee gone, these activists (like Folger) appear ready to settle for McCain, at least for the sake of the Supreme Court, as Ohio activist Phil Burress put it:
With the election now just over six months away, he told the New Orleans gathering, "McCain wasn't my first choice, and I'm not sure about him now, but we've got a zero chance of getting a conservative Supreme Court justice out of either Clinton or Obama. I don't know whether we've got a 25 percent chance, or a 50 percent chance, or a 100 percent chance with McCain—but it's better than zero, and I'm going to do everything in my power to help get him elected. He's our best shot."
And what about Dobson, who led the bluff about abandoning the GOP, and whom McCain called an “agent of intolerance” back in 2000? Like the others, Dobson kept his distance from Huckabee, only endorsing the former Arkansas governor when it was basically too late—while reiterating that he would never vote for McCain.
Now Dobson—who voted for a third-party candidate rather than Republican Bob Dole in 1996—is apparently opening the door for McCain. “I will certainly vote,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“I think we have a God-given responsibility to vote, and there are all of the candidates and the issues down the ballot that we have an obligation to weigh in on and let our voices be heard.”
Dr. Dobson, speaking as a private citizen and not as a representative of Focus on the Family, as he always does when discussing political candidates, added that he “has problems” with all three major presidential contenders, especially the Democrats.
What’s the price? Dobson wants McCain to change his position on embryonic stem-cell research. “[Y]ou can't really call yourself pro-life if you're in favor of killing those babies,” he said. After McCain’s years-long courtship of the Religious Right, that doesn’t seem like much more to ask.
Posted by Ezra at 9:20 AM | Permalink
March 31, 2008
Here We Go Again
Just three weeks after the American Family Association declared victory in its boycott against Ford Motor Company, the anti-gay group has a new target: General Motors. From an e-mail alert titled “General Motors Supports The Gay Agenda”:
General Motors has made a decision to help promote the homosexual agenda. The automaker supports the gay agenda with advertising in homosexual publications and on the gay TV cable channel LOGO.
GM's Cadillac regularly places full-page ads in The Advocate, a magazine dedicated to pushing the homosexual agenda. The LOGO TV network carries programs promoting the lifestyle.
AFA is urging its activists to sign a petition that GM should “not involved in promoting an aberrant, anti-family lifestyle,” but that may be just the beginning for the boycott-happy group.
Posted by Ezra at 5:45 PM | Permalink
Pretty Good Deal
When Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America announced recently that he had discovered “proof” of the “gay agenda”—in the form of gays and lesbians looking for government jobs—we had a hard time taking him seriously. But vigilant anti-gay activist Brian Camenker is on the case, searching for intrigue in the appointment of a gay administrative judge:
Brian Camenker, a pro-family advocate in Massachusetts, is questioning why a prominent homosexual activist was appointed to judge, amidst controversy over a political donation and more than $120,000 in campaign funds.
The Massachusetts governor's council recently voted 6-to-1 in favor of appointing former state senator Cheryl Jacques as an Industrial Accidents Board Judge. Prior to her appointment, Jacques served as the president of the pro-homosexual organization the Human Rights Campaign. As president, she helped the HRC defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment. Jacques was also an outspoken proponent for homosexual causes as a state senator.
Opponents of Jacques claim the appointment is nothing more than a political payoff for the $500 dollars she donated to Governor Deval Patrick's campaign and the subsequent support he received from the homosexual movement. Opponents also question why Jacques still has $127,000 in campaign funds since she has not run for office for some time.
Leaving aside the issue of how one could pursue "the homosexual agenda" from the Industrial Accidents Board, Camenker raises some important questions, like: Is $500 all it takes to secure an appointment in Massachusetts? And to what positions will Gov. Patrick appoint the other 8,850 people who gave him $500?
Alternatively, Camenker—whose group MassResistance was recently labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center—could be focusing his attention on Jacques for some other reason.
Posted by Ezra at 5:44 PM | Permalink