March 2007

To “offset” social positions (temp link). E.g.: Steve Forbes endorses Giuliani.

Linked to Planned Parenthood, warns Pro-Life Waco.

Group turns 20; ceremony redefines “roast.”

It looks as if James Dobson is trying to back away from his attack on possible GOP presidential nominee Fred Thompson. 

In an interview with US News and World Report’s Dan Gilgoff, Dobson recently attempted to throw cold water on Thompson's candidacy because, in Dobson words, he doesn't "think [Thompson is] a Christian."  Since then, the people at Focus on the Family have apparently realized that it is just this sort of thing that lends credence to Dick Armey’s accusation that “Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies” and thus have decided to fight back the only way they know how: by blaming the media

In conclusion, we would caution friends of our ministry not to believe what they read about Dr. Dobson in the secular media today. Never in the 30-year history of this ministry has there been more reporting and outright distortion of his beliefs and teachings. It is apparent that those who represent a liberal worldview seek to marginalize him and confuse our friends. Anyone who ever has a question concerning what they read about Dr. Dobson or Focus on the Family is encouraged to contact us for clarification. The chances are they have been misinformed.

Gilgoff did not solicit Dobson’s view on this issue -- Dobson sought him out in order to undermine Thompson and praise Newt Gingrich. But now he isn’t happy with the results.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Dobson has been angry with the coverage he received in US News and World Report.  As Gilgoff explained in the introduction to his book - “The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War” – he first interviewed Dobson following the 2004 election for an article about the influence of so-called “values voters.” A few weeks later, when Gilgoff was working on a follow-up piece, he tried to contact Dobson again only to be denied an interview request because Dobson was upset that he had only received one quote in Gilgoff’s previous article.  

But Gilgoff went to Focus on the Family headquarters anyway and eventually scored a second interview with Dobson:

At the end of my second day in Colorado Springs, however, Dobson’s aide told me that he might grant an interview the following morning, my last at Focus headquarters. Representatives from Focus’s media relations department had been sitting in on all of my interviews with Focus staff, and thought my questions were well informed, and, more important, unbiased. I had passed a crucial test.

Gilgoff then went on to write an entire book about Dobson and his empire -  a book which must not have displeased Dobson too greatly, considering that he hand-picked Gilgoff as his outlet for getting the word out about Thompson.  Yet once Gilgoff reported that Dobson had questioned the faith of a potential Republican presidential candidate while praising a thrice-married adulterer, FOF responded by alleging a grand conspiracy by which the “secular media” seeks to “marginalize [Dobson] and confuse our friends.” 

Despite Dobson’s accusations, US News is standing by its initial report, saying the “piece was accurate and representative of the spirit of Dobson's comments.”

As the Washington Post reported yesterday, there is a new push afoot to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which “faltered a quarter-century ago when the measure did not gain the approval of three-quarters of the state legislatures.” 

That being the case, we will probably start hearing a lot from the Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly, who ironically established her reputation and career as a right-wing powerhouse by single-mindedly setting out to fight the ERA.

And judging by her appearance at Bates College yesterday, it appears as if Schlafly is already in full anti-feminism battle mode:   

For nearly two hours, she belittled the feminist movement as "teaching women to be victims," decried intellectual men as "liberal slobs" and argued that feminism "is incompatible with marriage and motherhood."

…

One came when Schlafly asserted women should not be permitted to do jobs traditionally held by men, such as firefighter, soldier or construction worker, because of their "inherent physical inferiority."

"Women in combat are a hazard to other people around them," she said. "They aren't tall enough to see out of the trucks, they're not strong enough to carry their buddy off the battlefield if he's wounded, and they can't bark out orders loudly enough for everyone to hear."

At one point, Schlafly also contended that married women cannot be sexually assaulted by their husbands.

"By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape," she said.

Although he had never held office before, when Bill Greene decided to run to replace Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Georgia), who died last month, he knew he would have at least two advantages: a ready audience of activists and donors from the mailing list of RightMarch.com, the Internet marketing tool he built, and support from some of the right-wing leaders whose missives he has enthusiastically distributed. And so in February Greene announced his candidacy to his “over one million supporters nationally” as an extension of the grassroots activism he has encouraged in the past:

Now, we have the chance to make YOUR voice -- the voice of grassroots, hard-working patriotic Americans -- heard even LOUDER...

... From the INSIDE of Congress!

Yesterday, I announced my candidacy as a Republican Candidate for Georgia's 10th Congressional District.

And this week, Greene passed along an endorsement from Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, who wrote that electing Greene is “a chance to finally make progress” on “keep[ing] our neighborhoods safe from drug dealers, rapists and potential terrorists.”

·  Bill has been a leader in the fight against illegal immigration as a grassroots activist, delivering millions of messages to Capitol Hill from constituents, demanding NO AMNESTY for illegals;

·  He has personally mustered with us on the U.S.-Mexican border as a volunteer with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, standing watch to report the illegals streaming unhindered across our officially undefended Arizona border;

Most importantly, given Simcox’s many problems with finances,

· Bill has helped us to raise tens of thousands of dollars for MCDC operations and projects, such as the Border Fence Project;

According to Simcox, Greene, who cut his political teeth working for GOP direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie, “has to have the financial firepower to blanket the local radio and television markets with a barrage of ads, as well as the ability to field an army of volunteers led by experienced staffers who know how to get out the vote. Add in the print ads and direct mail efforts to communicate with every likely voter in one of the largest districts in Georgia, and you’ll see why the Bill Greene campaign is facing HUGE expenses.”

In a column mulling the role of Evangelicals in the 2008 election, Bishop Harry Jackson claims that in recent years, they “voted their values” based on “gay marriage and pro-life concerns” – an assumption contradicted by the Center for American Values poll – but that now the Evangelical movement is undergoing a “political makeover.” One might guess that Jackson was referring to the dispute between the National Association of Evangelicals and religious-right activists (including Jackson) led by James Dobson over whether talking about climate change and torture distracts from the core mission of Christians. Instead, Jackson – who is a frequent Religious Right spokesman – sees that debate as part of a liberal conspiracy to undermine “the historic passion that the ‘moral majority’ has had for the issues of protection of life and guarding the traditional family”:

During this transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, a host of enemies are attempting to prevent an evangelical resurrection. A sophisticated, pincer strategy is being waged against them by two groups--–liberal Christians and the liberal press. Both groups fear that the sleeping giant will awaken with an attitude.

Of course, this concern by the Dobson group that outreach on alternate issues would distract from gay marriage, abortion, and abstinence education was not voiced during and after the last election, as the Religious Right’s definition of core issues of so-called “values voters” rapidly expanded to encompass most of the Republican Party platform, from the War on Terror to tax cuts and Social Security to a fear of “socialized medicine.”

So it is that the religious-right activists most closely aligned with partisan campaigns have made discrediting the National Association of Evangelicals a priority. One more example comes from Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a group founded in the early 1980s to counter criticism of Reagan Administration policies in Central America by the National Council of Churches and to create an ideological “renewal” in mainline protestant churches by painting the NCC as Communist sympathizers. Tooley invokes the IRD’s defining campaign against the National Council of Churches in describing the National Association of Evangelicals:

Conservative movement stalwart Phyllis Schlafly, scourge of the ERA and founder of the Eagle Forum, has made clear her dissatisfaction with the ideological performance of Republican presidential candidates. But Schafly apparently falls into the school of thought that the fierce competition among candidates for right-wing favor gives activists the opportunity to “get involved and try to change the candidates’ perspectives now,” as Richard Land put it. And so she told supporters in New Hampshire, the early primary state, “You have the opportunity here to work these guys over. … We’re trying to pin them down.”

And so the Eagle Forum published a list of questions for its supporters to ask candidates on the trail, ranging from Schlafly’s theory of “supremacist judges” to the John Birch-esque “North American Union.” She says her plan is working, according to “Swift Vet” co-author and fellow “North American Union” enthusiast Jerome Corsi:

Sen. John McCain's new attention to, and possibly new position on, illegal immigration is being credited to a grassroots program implemented by Phyllis Schlafly, who is training Eagle Forum leaders how to question presidential candidates on key national issues. …

In the 109th Congress, McCain co-sponsored with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, S.2611, a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill supported by the Bush administration that included provisions calling for "guest workers" and a "pathway to citizenship."

But after facing intensive questioning in Iowa about immigration issues, McCain is widely reported to be considering a change in his position, requiring illegal immigrants to return home before applying for citizenship, suggesting a compromise measure similar to that proposed by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. …

"What McCain probably has not realized," Schlafly told WND, "is that Eagle Forum has made sure that the grassroots are well informed about immigration and other issues. It may be a surprise to presidential candidates like McCain, but the Eagle Forum grassroots are not going to accept the typical politicians' platitudes."

WND asked Schlafly if she thought the questioning from Eagle Forum leaders was the reason McCain appears to have shifted his immigration position. "Yes," she responded, "because I doubt McCain has been asked these specific questions. The specific questions force the candidates to face up to the issues in a practical and meaningful way."

As of this writing, the Eagle Forum questionnaire is missing one prominent cause the group has adopted: its prediction of America’s impending Nazification.

It has been well-documented that the GOP’s right-wing base has been less than impressed with the crop of candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination. 

While some of the candidates have garnered support from a few right-wing leaders of varying status here and there, the recent controversy regarding General Peter Pace’s statement that homosexuality is immoral offers a telling example of the dilemma the GOP frontrunners are facing in trying to secure the Right’s support.  

Following Pace’s statement, right-wing organizations unleashed full-throated defenses and accolades for Pace, yet the Republican nominees, with the notable exception of Sen. Sam Brownback, universally declined to come to his defense. 

And that has not gone unnoticed by Vision America’s Rick Scarborough:

Senator John McCain declined to express an opinion, other than to say that the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy is working. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who claims to be a convert to the pro-family cause, said Pace should “show more of an outpouring of tolerance.” It has nothing to do with tolerance, but our government officially condoning evil.

…

The general response to Pace’s comments is the latest sign of this nation’s ongoing moral decline. Even a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for a presidential candidate to openly contradict the Bible, by declaring an act condemned therein “not immoral.”

…

America is sadly in need of renewal. Pray that there’s at least one candidate on the 2008 ballot who unabashedly embraces and represents Biblical values.

Scarborough’s anger over this might be cause for concern among those seeking the GOP nomination, especially since, as we noted last month, Scarborough and Alan Keyes are gearing up to launch a “Seventy Weeks to Renew America” project which seeks to “enlist 100,000 Values Voters … who will pray for national renewal and who will vote their Christian values on election day 2008.”  As Scarborough stated in his previous update:  

On March 19 I will convene a meeting with several key pastors from across the nation to discuss and pray for this national project.

That meeting must have been a rousing success, because the number of voters they are looking to mobilize has now doubled:

On July 4 of this year Vision America will embark on its biggest challenge to date, in an effort to move 200,000 Christians to vote their values in elections all across the nation. I believe that Christians need to be reminded that it is a sin not to vote, and that the absence of a clear moral leader at the top of the ticket is not an excuse to withdraw. Far too many Christians look at the magnitude of the problems in America and shrink back, thinking that there is nothing that can be done. We will be reminding Christians through our campaign - which we are calling "Seventy Weeks to Save the Nation" - that our duty is not to be pawns of a political party, but to be faithful to the Lord Jesus. We are working now to enlist 70 churches to host a "One Day Crusade to Save America" in their church.

Scarborough and company are apparently so pessimistic about their chances of getting a “clear moral leader at the top of the ticket” that they have all but given up and intend to simply “concentrate on local issues where our efforts can make an immediate and measurable impact.” 

“I talk to a lot of evangelicals and the only person who takes Pat Robertson seriously is Tim Russert.” So claimed Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, in a speech at a church in Westchester County, New York last week. Such pointed disavowals of Robertson by other religious-right leaders have occasionally followed the televangelists more absurd and incendiary comments – such as when he declared that Ariel Sharon’s debilitating stroke was God’s punishment for “dividing God’s land” and called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez – so you might think that Cromartie was responding to recent allegations that Robertson threatened a bodybuilder involved in lawsuit over Robertson’s “Age-Defying Shake,” or perhaps to Robertson’s warning today about Muslim politicians “taking over” the U.S. But Cromartie was trying to make the point that the televangelist, sometimes referred to as a GOP “kingmaker,” is increasingly marginalized.

But it’s hard to believe that. According to its web site, Robertson’s “700 Club” is available “in 95 percent of the television markets across the United States, the program is carried on ABC Family Channel cable network, FamilyNet, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and numerous U.S. television stations and is seen daily by approximately one million viewers.” His Christian Broadcasting Network garnered $166 million in donations from March 2005 to March 2006, and he is the second most well known religious figure in America.

If one needs more evidence of Robertson’s continued influence, especially on U.S. politics, just look at the Republican presidential candidates lining up to curry his favor. Sam Brownback and now John McCain have taken to the CBN airwaves to convince Robertson’s viewers of their conservative credentials. And both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are scheduled to speak at Robertson’s Regent University.

As John Green of the Pew Forum said, figures like Robertson “are moving off the stage, but they're by no means inconsequential. … They still have good reputations, particularly with evangelicals who are politically active. There are candidates who want to be seen with these people." As long as that’s true, it’s too early to declare Pat Robertson a political has-been.

For five months, we have been keeping an eye on Sen. Sam Brownback’s opposition to Janet Neff, nominated by President Bush to serve on the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan, solely because she attended a lesbian commitment ceremony in 2002.  

In that time, Brownback has engaged in a series of stalling tactics and issued constantly-shifting demands in an attempt to prevent her confirmation: first placing a hold on her nomination, then demanding that she recuse herself from specific cases, then calling for a second hearing, then saying he just wanted an opportunity to debate and vote on her nomination on the Senate floor, then warning again that he wanted her to face a second hearing.

Because of Brownback’s stalling, Neff and a dozen other nominees failed to receive a Senate vote during the last session of Congress and their nominations were returned to the White House. 

Well, President Bush has now renominated Neff and Brownback is back to pledging that he won’t place a hold on her nomination this time around:

Brownback spokesman Brian Hart said the senator would not place another hold on Neff. Brownback intends to ask Senate leadership for a floor debate on her nomination and an up-or-down vote, he said.

Whether or nor Brownback upholds this pledge remains to be seen, but considering that the Right is unimpressed by the current crop of GOP presidential hopefuls and that his primary concern right now is how to gather support his long-shot presidential bid, there is an obvious temptation for him to try and carve out a niche as the Right’s standard-bearer, which is exactly what he appears to be doing: 

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback introduced himself to state voters Monday as a "full-scale conservative" and made no apologies for his hardline stances against taxes, abortion and gay marriage.

Keep in mind that the only thing the Right seems to like more than fighting over judges is criticizing anything having to do with gays – and a battle over Neff could satisfy both of these urges. 

Perhaps in renominating Neff, President Bush has just handed Brownback an opportunity to rally the right-wing supporters that his campaign so desperately needs.   

AFA, Schenck, Mahoney defend Pace, warn against soldiers being “subject to … a political agenda.” Perkins: “… showers and bathroom facilities.” David Limbaugh: gays would “compromise” national security.

“Three is at least one too many,” declares Richard Land. Kristol bemoans loss of privacy in Gingrich confession.

At think tanks and schools, The New Republic reports.

A little over a week ago, the Associated Press took a look at the Christian Coalition and wondered whether it had any role to play in the 2008 election.  But despite the organization’s string of defections, its financial woes, and its overall decline since the departure of Ralph Reed, Coalition president Roberta Combs insisted that “when the primary comes around and we distribute millions of voter guides, we'll be a factor.” 

While the Christian Coalition might not be a key right-wing player in the upcoming presidential campaign, it appears to still be having some success on the local level – working to prevent passage of a bill in Georgia that would allow alcohol sales on Sunday:

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in January found that 68 percent of respondents statewide supported giving voters the chance to consider Sunday beer and wine sales at grocery and convenience stores. About 80 percent supported the concept in metro Atlanta. Only a little over half did so in South Georgia. Support dropped to under 50 percent in Middle Georgia, home of Gov. Sonny Perdue, who opposes the bill.

Other polls also show support for the bill, but critics say surveys don't reveal the depth of opposition to the idea in Bible Belt towns like Blackshear.

"Rural Georgia doesn't want this bill," Jim Beck, president of the Christian Coalition of Georgia, said after the bill passed a Senate committee last week.

"This matters to values voters. If you buy your groceries at Piggly Wiggly, you get your hair cut at the barber shop and you go to church on Sundays, this bill matters."

The Christian Coalition is expecting about 100 rural volunteers to show up today at the Capitol to lobby against the bill. Another group, the Christian Alliance, has been rallying ministers to fight the measure.

While the Christian Coalition may no longer have of an impact on who becomes the next president, at least the Georgia chapter will be able to claim credit for preventing people from purchasing alcohol on Sundays.  

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Mayor Lou Barletta made national headlines last year when he pushed through an ordinance cracking down on undocumented immigrants, not only setting penalties for employers who hire them but also fining landlords who rent to them $1,000 per day. “Illegal immigrants are destroying the city,” declared the self-styled “small town defender,” who also signed an English-only measure. “I don't want them here, period.” As this blog pointed out, this was a sudden transformation for Barletta, who just months before had cited “the region’s new ethnic and cultural diversity” as cause for Hazleton’s unprecedented economic boom and “urban rejuvenation.” As Barletta testified before Congress and appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs,” while cutting robocalls for Sen. Rick Santorum’s failed reelection campaign, his ordinance and copy-cat measures in other small cities began to tear apart communities.

How did Barletta come to decide on this dramatic course of action? Well, he poked around the Internet and found the website of Save Our State, run by Jim Turner, a “proud nationalist” who unsuccessfully pushed the measures in San Bernadino, California in order to ward off the threat from inferior cultures who would turn ours into a “Third World cesspool.”

This governance technique of finding model legislation by lurking on nativist Internet forums was one interesting fact revealed Wednesday during Barletta’s testimony in a federal lawsuit challenging the ordinances. Far more damning was Barletta’s inability to support his rhetoric accusing undocumented immigrants of “destroying the city”:

During five hours on the witness stand, Mr. Barletta said Hazleton is being ruined by violent crime, crowded schools and a clogged emergency room at the city's private hospital. He attributed many of the problems to what he called "illegal aliens," even though he admitted he had no idea how many such immigrants are in his city.

Lawyer Witold Walczak, of the American Civil Liberties Union, got the mayor to concede that he could not name a single instance where illegal immigrants had received service from Hazleton's fire department or health offic[e]. Mr. Barletta also was forced to admit he had no proof that illegal immigrants were the source of schools so crowded that numerous classes have to be taught in trailers. …

Mr. Barletta said crimes committed by illegal immigrants led to the controversial ordinances.  … Mr. Walczak, though, said Hazleton's own statistics show that illegal immigrants have committed only a handful of serious crimes. Of the 8,575 felonies in the city since 2000, about 20 were linked to illegal immigrants, Mr. Walczak said.

Barletta came back yesterday to face evidence of the lack of an immigrant crime wave:

 “When you have violent crimes committed, it takes away and chews at our quality of life. I don’t need numbers. These people,” he said, motioning to the opposing attorney, who have criticized his lack of statistics, “need numbers. The people in my city don’t need numbers.”

Yesterday we noted that Concerned Women for America was the first right-wing group to publicly condemn Rep. Pete Stark for admitting that he “does not believe in a Supreme Being.” 

Well, they have now been joined by the Traditional Values Coalition, who does CWA one better by not only blasting Stark, but lying about him as well:

In a display of open hostility to God, California Representative Peter Stark stood up on the Floor of the House on March 13 and declared his unbelief in God. “This is the first time in history that a sitting member of Congress has openly expressed his lack of faith in God,” said TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. According to Stark, “When the Secular Coalition asked me to complete a survey on my religious beliefs, I indicated I am a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being.”

Christian Seniors Association Executive Director James Lafferty notes: “It is sad but not surprising that the current Congress has produced this historic first – one of its members has denied God. The liberals in Congress want to throttle any school child who bows his or her head in prayer but they want to establish a right for liberals to bash Christians and berate God around the clock.”

Lafferty continued, “Congressman Stark’s statement is a very sad benchmark for America. It could be the moment which defines the decline of our country or it could be the spark which marks an important day. That would be the day that religious Americans stood-up to the liberal bullies who are so determined to use the power of government to silence prayer and every other religious expression of free speech.”

Of course, only in TVC’s fevered imaginations did Stark ever “[stand] up on the Floor of the House on March 13 and declared his unbelief in God.” 

In actuality, Stark merely did exactly what TVC quotes him saying above: he responded to an inquiry from the Secular Coalition for America. Since then, he has declined to comment further.   

That statement TVC quotes above was sent out by email by Stark’s office, not delivered on the House floor.

Elsewhere, the Christian Seniors Association, a TVC front group run by Sheldon’s son-in-law, issued its own press statement calling on members of Congress to fight back against Stark’s atheism:

It is time for religious members of Congress to push back.  A simple declaration of a belief in God by members of Congress on the House floor will be greatly informative for the American people.

…

This is a fight which is destined to be fought in America and we think it should begin today.

Apparently, a simple declaration of nonbelief is enough to incite TVC and its proxies to launch an all-out religious war.  

After the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Chicago Tribune that his support for barring gays and lesbians from openly serving in the armed forces was based on his belief, from his “upbringing,” that homosexuality is “immoral” and analogous to adultery, supporters of equality for gays were quick to criticize the nation’s top military officer for his prejudice-based promotion of public policy and for sending an inappropriate message to gays currently serving under his command. Not surprisingly, the Religious Right has come to the defense of Gen. Peter Pace, who has refused to apologize, and ambitious politicians are not far behind.

Concerned Women for America’s Matt Barber wrote that Pace “is to be commended for publicly expressing the common sense values shared by the majority of Americans, for having the courage to face down America’s self-appointed thought police and for his bold attempt to reign in our nation’s political correctness run amok.” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins declared that “Gen. Pace's job is not to be politically correct but to protect the nation and the well-being of our soldiers.” Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council said his group will “ask President Bush to support General Pace's right to stand by his convictions as he enforces the military code of conduct.” And Phil Magnan, director of a group called Biblical Family Advocates, issues a press release attacking gays as “licentious”:

"If there is any apologizing that needs to be done, it's by homosexual advocates who have drawn millions of young people, including soldiers into a destructive, immoral and unhealthy lifestyle."

"The homosexual community has sold the public their licentious lifestyle in the name of tolerance and freedom when they should be seeking to be freed from it. Ask the person dying from HIV if it was worth having hundreds of partners or if some of the millions who are enslaved to it would like to be free of it."

Others claimed that criticism of Pace was “clearly an effort to purge from authority anyone who dares represent the most basic tenets of a Judeo-Christian moral code,” as WorldNetDaily.com editor Joseph Farah put it. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth said of Pace critics, “Their idea of civil rights is that we can’t voice our moral beliefs about homosexuality. … If you say that homosexuality is wrong, they come after you; and, ultimately, we have to believe that they are going to want to ban [speaking out against] it, just like is happening in Canada, and England, and other countries.” The American Family Association is asking its supporters to send a letter to President Bush in support of Pace and in opposition to gays serving in the military: “I strongly oppose homosexual activists who want to force the military to approve their immoral lifestyle,” reads the letter template.

Already, one Republican presidential candidate struggling to gain momentum and distinguish himself among the Right has taken on the Pace cause. Sen. Sam Brownback circulated a letter in which he characterizes Pace’s justification of the military’s anti-gay policy as merely the expression of “his personal moral views.”

The moral behavior of members of the Armed Forces is of the highest importance, particularly during this time of war. The question is whether personal moral beliefs should disqualify an individual from positions of leadership in the U.S. military? We think not.

Club for Growth—the deep-pocketed group known for waging campaigns from the right against Republicans it deems have strayed from the supply-side line on economic issues—has been running down the list of GOP presidential candidates, offering its ideological imprimatur or a tacit threat that it would come out swinging against a contender it didn’t like. While Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback apparently passed the test, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee received a strong rebuke. This led Huckabee, who likes to boast that his definition of “pro-life” includes the period between birth and death, to respond in his speech to CPAC with a promise that he would sign Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. The Club for Growth half-heartedly commended the pledge, while bragging of its influence under the headline “Huckabee Buckles under Heat.”

Now the Club is taking on Arizona Sen. John McCain, and its verdict contains the harshest language yet:

While Senator McCain’s economic record contains a number of pro-growth positions, such as his support for school choice and free trade, and his steadfast opposition to wasteful government spending, his overall record is tainted by a marked antipathy towards the free market and individual freedom.

This in spite of being a “strong proponent of free trade” and a “consistent supporter” of privatizing Social Security, “boldly” and “eloquently” pushing private school vouchers, and being “at the forefront of the battle to eliminate wasteful projects.” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey expands on the verdict in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, decrying McCain’s supposed “class-warfare demagoguery” and “tenuous commitment to free markets” (temporary link).

Not surprisingly, McCain is skipping the Club for Growth’s winter conference in Palm Beach, despite being invited. GOP frontrunners Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich will be there, as well as Brownback.

“It really is a form of fascism."

Lest they “lose their very soul,” warns Cromartie. Also: “the only person who takes Pat Robertson seriously is Tim Russert.”

Bobby Schindler also criticized Mitt Romney.

One has to wonder just what world right-wing commentator Cal Thomas inhabits.  The fact that the Right is resoundingly under-whelmed and dismayed by the current crop of GOP presidential frontrunners is not to be taken as a sign that their influence may be waning, but rather as sign that “Conservative Evangelical Christian voters” are supposedly “maturing” in their political outlook: 

Conservative Evangelical Christian voters have come a long way in a short time. From their nearly unanimous condemnation of Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs, a growing number of these “pro-family” voters appear ready to accept several Republican presidential candidates who do not share their ideal of marriage and faith.

Thomas then goes on to recount the various infidelities of Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and John McCain before concluding

That substantial numbers of conservative evangelical voters are even considering these candidates as presidential prospects is a sign of their political maturation and of their more pragmatic view of what can be expected from politics and politicians.

Seeing as these men are widely considered to be among the GOP’s frontrunner and that the first Republican presidential primary is still almost a year away, these voters don’t really have much choice but to consider these candidates at this point.  Nonetheless, according to the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll, they don’t seem too happy about it:

ASKED OF REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTERS ONLY:

Are you generally satisfied with the candidates now running for the Republican nomination for President, or do you wish there were more choices?

Satisfied – 40%

More choices – 57%

DK/NA – 2%

But if, in fact, “conservative evangelical voters” really are willing consider these candidates despite their past infidelities, then they are a lot more forgiving and mature than some of their self-described political leaders, who are actively writing off GOP candidates for an endless variety of reasons:

Falwell: “very impressed with the spiritual maturity of this man.” Schlafly: “It’s the marriages and the girlfriend problem.” Perkins: “he understands.” Weekly Standard: a “gut connection” with Right. Bauer asks the ladies to weigh in.

Calls for Bank of America boycott.

In Townhall.com column.

As we noted last week, various right-wing leaders such as James Dobson and Tony Perkins had taken it upon themselves to directly attack the National Association of Evangelicals for its concerns over global warming, going so far as to call for the resignation of the NAE’s Vice President for Governmental Affairs, Richard Cizik.

The NAE’s board of directors met last week and not only did it refuse to cave under the pressure brought by the Dobson gang, it went so far as to reaffirm its support for its own "For the Health of the Nation" document (PDF) which stated:

As we embrace our responsibility to care for God’s earth, we reaffirm the important truth that we worship only the Creator and not the creation. God gave the care of his earth and its species to our first parents. That responsibility has passed into our hands. We affirm that God-given dominion is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part. We are not the owners of creation, but its stewards, summoned by God to “watch over and care for it” (Gen. 2:15). This implies the principle of sustainability: our uses of the Earth must be designed to conserve and renew the Earth rather than to deplete or destroy it.

As if that wasn’t itself enough to infuriate Dobson and his ilk, the board also endorsed “An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture: Protecting Human Rights in An Age of Terror," (PDF) which states:   

(a) We renounce the use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by any branch of our government (or any other government)—even in the current circumstance of a war between the United States and various radical terrorist groups.

(b) We call for the extension of basic human rights and procedural protections to all persons held in United States custody now or in the future, wherever and by whomever they are held.

(c) We call for every agency of the United States government to join with the United States military and to state publicly its commitment to the terms of the Geneva Conventions related to the treatment of prisoners, especially Common Article 3.

(d) We call for the legislative or judicial reversal of those executive and legislative provisions that violate the moral and legal standards articulated in this declaration.

Undoubtedly, this will only serve to further agitate Dobson and his right-wing allies who are desperately seeking to maintain their political influence in the evangelical community by keeping it focused on their own narrow anti-gay, anti-choice agenda.  

Apparently the unrelenting inanity of Fox News’s dismal “The Half Hour News Hour” has convinced others on the Right that they ought to try their hands at being resoundingly unfunny as well. 

And so the Traditional Values Coalition has set out to do just that, announcing that it will now begin reaching out to activists via an on-line comic book:

These Comics will be in a graphic format for easy distribution via email and for posting on conservative and Christian blogs. “We think these Comics will be an effective way of lampooning the lunacy of liberals and their homosexual allies in our culture,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “Liberals use humor effectively in the media to ridicule traditional values. It’s time to turn the tables on them.”

For its inaugural issue (PDF), TVC chose the most hilarious of all political issues: lobbying reform

It is a testament to TVC's comedic genius that they were able to find the humor in having an anthropomorphic "T" discuss the intricacies of Section 220 of the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007.  

It seems as if the Gordon Klingenschmitt saga has finally come to a fitting end, now that he has been dismissed from the Navy. 

As would be expected, Klingenschmitt sought to milk it right up until the last minute - literally - before his time in the military officially ran out.

Klingenschmitt had initially been scheduled to deliver the invocation at the CPAC Presidential Banquet before Vice President Cheney spoke, but was dropped, he claims, because of pressure from the Navy.

But Klingenschmitt wasn’t about to let that inconvenient fact prevent him from assuming his rightful place at CPAC – even if he had to wait until the convention hall was completely empty to do it:

In front of witnesses and God, a man who fought the whole of the U.S. Navy over his constitutional right to pray "in Jesus' name" while in uniform has done just that, delivering a benediction at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington a short time after Vice President Dick Cheney had left the room.

…

"When the vice president was speaking I stood outside the room, and I waited until the event was over. … Then after everybody left, I decided that my last act as a Navy chaplain should be to pray in my uniform in Jesus' name," he said.

"So I went and put on my uniform, since I was technically in the Navy until midnight, and at 11:30 p.m. I took the stage at the CPAC conference and I said the benediction to the banquet."

"I prayed in Jesus' name in front of an empty room," he told WND, with his wife and manager as witnesses.  

Since Klingenschmitt is now “out on the street without a job,” he has begun “attending [Pat Robertson’s] Regent University and accepting speaking invitations.”  Presumably, he shouldn’t have too much trouble finding speaking engagements – after all, Klingenschmitt's manager surely must be able to find millions of empty rooms all over the country for him to commandeer as he continues his lonely crusade.  

It seems as if James Dobson and his cronies are suddenly getting very concerned about the threat of global warming - not the threat it poses to the environment and humanity, mind you, but the threat it poses to their own political empire. 

So concerned are the likes of Dobson, Tony Perkins, Don Wildmon, Gary Bauer, Rick Scarborough, Paul Weyrich, Harry Jackson, and others that they have taken it upon themselves to write a letter (PDF) to the National Association of Evangelicals demanding that it fire its own Vice President for Governmental Affairs, Richard Cizik, and cease and desist caring about global warming:

Although we, the undersigned, are not members of the National Association of Evangelicals, our organizations interface with it regularly and consider it to be an important Christian institution in today’s culture. From that perspective, we are writing the Board of Directors to call attention to what we perceive as a threat to the unity and integrity of the Association.

Despite the fact that not one of the signers is even a member of the NAE, they still feel justified in complaining about NEA’s work on global warming.  Why?  Because they fear it is undermining their own anti-choice, anti-gay agenda:

More importantly, we have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children.

Because of this audacious offense, Dobson and his ilk have decreed that Cizik must go: 

We implore the NAE board to ensure that Mr. Cizik faithfully represents the policies and commitments of the organization, including its defense of traditional values. If he cannot be trusted to articulate the views of American evangelicals on environmental issues, then we respectfully suggest that he be encouraged to resign his position with the NAE.

Maybe this was the sort of thing Dick Armey had in mind a few months ago when he said “Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies.”

For months now, Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum have been shopping around a conspiracy theory about a proposed “North American Union” that would, in the words of the John Birch Society, create a “full-blown economic and political merger of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the US is also apparently at risk of being taken over by Nazis, at least according to Kitty Werthmann, head of the Eagle Forum’s South Dakota chapter:

From her own experience, Mrs. Kitty Werthmann will help you see we are walking the same path as the Nazi’s. She was 12 years old living in Austria. At that time, there was order, prayer and pictures of Jesus. Hitler took over and all that was removed! Unemployment rose to 35%, bank loans rose to 25%, unions called strikes, all this with 98% of the people claiming to be Catholic!

Soon there was massive welfare. Cries went out for equal rights for women. Socialism took women out of the home, raising the children, and into the factories. They took the children away from the family and raised them by the state. The Health department offered training for the elderly but they were killed.

Hear her tell how the U.S. is going the same way!

Considering that the Eagle Forum’s blog is promoting Werthmann’s upcoming appearance, it is not unreasonable to conclude that Schlafly et al. think that she is on to something.     

While yesterday’s segment at CPAC devoted to judicial nominees – featuring Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), who can count few fans at the event – was sparsely attended, even fewer showed up for today’s panel discussion on “judicial activism” instead of joining the crowds for Mike Huckabee and Wayne LaPierre of the NRA down the hall. Still, Jan LaRue of Concerned Women for America, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, and a man named Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation did their best to keep the attention of the handful of conference-goers on the subject that was one of the most vigorously touted at last year’s CPAC.

The enemies remained the same: judges who “legislate from the bench” and believe in a “living Constitution” which they “write … at will,” and senators who opposed some of Bush’s extreme nominations or who participated in the “Gang of 14” deal that halted the march toward the “nuclear option,” which would have forced through a rule change eliminating filibusters on those nominations. Fitton said of the filibustered nominees that “liberals thought they were too conservative, and yes, too Christian.” LaRue described as “undermedicated” and “psychotic” Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with groups like People For the American Way that opposed confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

The judicial heroes were also familiar: Roberts and Alito, whose successful appointment LaRue called the “biggest grassroots victory” in years; Justice Clarence Thomas, whom Fitton described as a model for “humble judges” who “restrain themselves.” In addition, Kreep singled out Janice Rogers Brown, perhaps the most radical of Bush’s appellate nominees, for her success in getting on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. According to Kreep, Brown was targeted because of her race by the Democratic Party, “one of the most racist” groups in country, which he said opposes any minority who doesn’t “kiss their tuckuses” and “say ‘yessa massa.’”