July, 2007

The Minuteman PAC, established to provide financial support to anti-immigrant candidates running for federal office, appears to be establishing a trend of not actually providing support to candidates. As we previously reported, in the first quarter of 2007 the Minuteman PAC raised over $300,000, and of the $270,000 spent, only $10,000 went toward a candidate running for office.

The organization recently released second quarter numbers and they are not much different. Having raised nearly $260,000 and disbursed close to $250,000, not one penny of that money went to any candidate, as the Minuteman PAC failed to make a single political contribution during the quarter. The vast majority of its expenses -- around $215,000 -- went to fundraising and direct mail fees, mainly to American Caging, American Mailing Services, and other firms linked to non-profit groups associated with Alan Keyes.

Richard Viguerie sees warning signs "that Thompson may be a lot like Bush. Remember when Bush was running, a lot of good people thought he was a conservative. Boy, were they taken in!" Viguerie says Thompson is "no different from a lot of other candidates who'd like conservative support without firmly committing to conservative positions. I'm going to do my best to see that doesn't happen."

Bay Buchanan urges participants at the Conservative Student Conference to become "true leaders" and replace the current elite: "You all are our hope -- I mean that ... we need to clean out Washington. Move them aside and bring in some new fresh faces."

Sameh Khouzam, an Egyptian national who has been accused, and convicted in absentia, of murder in his native country has been fighting efforts by the U.S. government to deport him, claiming that he will be tortured if he returns because he is a Coptic Christian who refuses to convert to Islam.  

Rallying to Khouzam’s side is Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, as well as its European affiliate, The European Centre for Law and Justice:

As a Coptic Christian, Khouzam effectively has no rights in his native Egypt and quite frankly because of his religious beliefs is certain to be denied the most basic of human rights and protections. The U.S. government repeatedly has stated its opposition to torture and should do what's right -- keep Khouzam out of the hands of a government that is likely to do just that."

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In its amicus brief, the ACLJ and ECLJ contend that Egypt's assurances that it won't torture Khouzam are simply not credible.

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The brief also contends that the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) should apply in this case. CAT states that "no State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

The brief asserts that "where the receiving country has a poor human rights track record, like Egypt does, diplomatic assurances should carry almost no weight."

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with the ACLJ/ECLJ’s effort to prevent Khouzam from being tortured – in fact, it is quite laudable.  What makes the ACLJ/ECLJ involvement in this case interesting is the fact that both organizations have close ties to Former Attorney General John Ashcroft – the very same man responsible for the “extraordinary rendition” of Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria, where he was reportedly tortured:

Presidential hopeful also commends Giuliani for promising nine debates.

The BBC notes that, thanks to groups like Concerned Women for America, the US and Iran are "two of only eight countries that have not joined the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW]."

Operation Restore America's Flip Benham, along with Ante & Kathy Pavkovic and Christen Sugar - the three protestors arrested for disrupting a Hindu prayer in the Senate - are holding a press conference before these "three gentle Christians will appear before man's court to answer charges for standing up for Jesus before a nation that has forsaken the God of our fathers."

Richard Land says evangelicals won't write off Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith, but warns the campaign against "trying to sell Mormonism as an acceptable orthodox Christian faith is a huge mistake. It’s not going to work with evangelicals."

Sen. Sam Brownback got the ball rolling last week when he started running “robocalls” in Iowa questioning the pro-life credentials of Rep. Tom Tancredo and Gov. Mitt Romney.  Tancredo was especially outraged that Brownback was targeting his campaign for accepting money from population-control zealot John Tanton, whose views the Brownback campaign characterized as “racist:”

"Conservatives and liberals alike have abandoned Tanton once they learn about his bizarre obsession with population control.”

The Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly has now come to Tancredo’s defense and has recorded her own calls targeting Iowa voters:  

"I want to go on record as saying I've known Tom Tancredo for 30 years and I know for sure he has always been a champion of the right to life of the unborn.” 

Both Tancredo and Romney have called on Brownback to apologize and pull the calls, which he refuses to do. 

For his part, Tancredo has not been content merely to defend himself and his own record. He had unleashed his own ads attacking most of his opponents – ads which are themselves drawing complaints from other candidates:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Thursday called on rival Tom Tancredo to stop airing a "blatantly dishonest" campaign ad in Iowa that accuses Huckabee of favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Huckabee said Tancredo either did sloppy research or deliberately mischaracterized Huckabee's position.

"When people engage in a completely false attack, it's usually an act of desperation. To me, it's a badge of honor because he sees that we are reaching the people we are trying to reach," Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, told The Associated Press.

Tancredo campaign spokeswoman Bay Buchanan said the ad would not be pulled and insisted it was accurate. She said Huckabee supported a plan by Bush that would have allowed illegal immigrants to earn the right to stay in the United States, and that Huckabee refused to sign a pledge opposing amnesty.

"All indications are that Huckabee supports amnesty. He's a pro-amnesty politician who is in denial. There are a lot of pro-amnesty politicians in denial," she said.

The radio ad calls Mitt Romney a flip-flopper on abortion, amnesty and gun control, then attacks Sam Brownback, Fred Thompson and Huckabee, claiming "they're all for amnesty."

Vision America is carrying out a "70 Weeks to Save America" Campaign leading up to the 2008 election. So far, they've only held three of their "One Day Crusades" but they are already losing money: "Our first three crusades have been a success, but they have not been fully self supportive--meaning that we have had to subsidize them from our ongoing operational budget. We could really use your help at this time. If God has blessed you and you can afford to help us, I would be most grateful ... Gifts there are not tax deductible but they are God-Blessable."

It's not that same as being a lawyer, explains Jonathan Chait: "The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) didn't hire him as a lawyer, it hired him as a lobbyist, and, while there's a constitutional right to the former, it doesn't extend (thank goodness) to the latter. Thompson's job wasn't to defend family planners charged with breaking the law that prohibits federally funded clinics from offering abortion counseling. His job was to persuade the Bush administration to change the law. His value had nothing to do with his legal skills and everything to do with his being the rare prominent Republican willing to represent a pro-choice group."

As the judge wrote: "The genius of our Constitution is that it provides rights even to those who evoke the least sympathy from the general public. Hazleton, in its zeal to control the presence of a group deemed undesirable, violated the rights of such people, as well as others within the community."

According to the right-wing news website, WorldNetDaily, Fred Thompson has finally and “candidly” confirmed his membership in the Council on Foreign Relations, which WND says is sometimes referred to as the “‘shadow government’ organization of elites with a global agenda.” Earlier this week, Thompson was confronted and questioned by an activist during a campaign stop regarding his association with the Council, long a bete noir of activists who suspect the United Nations and other elites of scheming to destroy U.S. sovereignty.  The activist who confronted Thompson, and was eventually forcibly removed from the event, mentioned the Council’s supposed efforts to bring about the North American Union, the latest nightmare for Phyllis Schlafly and the black-helicopter crowd.

Thompson seemingly tried to defuse the situation with polite mush:

“I didn't know they were up to that… There are several conservatives over the years who have been members of the Council on Foreign Relations. I try to learn as much as I can from all viewpoints. I have been a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the conservative thinks tanks in town, and enjoy having intellectual exercise and discussions whether I agree or not with anyone on any particular issue.”

But his association with the Council may fuel the suspicions of anti-immigrant activists who have also latched onto the North American Union as a plot to dissolve the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada.  Thompson has previously been condemned by VDARE, an anti-immigration group that has been accused of publishing white nationalist authors, but is also associated with notable commentators such as Pat Buchanan and Michelle Malkin. WorldNetDaily columnist Jerome Corsi, of Swift Boat fame and co-author, along with Jim Gilchrist, of Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders, has been perhaps the most outspoken in attacking Thompson. Corsi, calls Thompson a “red herring” being peddled to conservatives even though, asserts Corsi, he is “not a conservative.”

Phyllis Schlafly is weighing in on the Brownback-Tancredo fight, recording phone messages for Tancredo targeting Iowa voters: "I want to go on record as saying I've known Tom Tancredo for 30 years and I know for sure he has always been a champion of the right to life of the unborn," Schlafly says in the calls.

From the Clarion-Ledger: Moderate GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, who has joined dozens of conservative groups in a fight to win confirmation of a Mississippi judge, said Thursday he's willing to slow work in the Senate if Leslie Southwick is not given a confirmation vote. "If there's a filibuster on Leslie Southwick, it will be open warfare."

Norma Gabler, who founded Educational Research Analysts with her husband, was long regarded as one of the "most effective textbook censors in the country."

It appears as if the Senate Republicans and their right-wing allies are gearing up for a battle over judges, primarily over the nomination of Leslie Southwick to a seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

A few weeks ago, Sen. Arlen Specter met with representatives of more than a dozen right-wing organizations -Including Concerned Women of America, the Family Research Council, and the Judicial Confirmation Network -  to complain that he was “fed up” with the Democrats’ supposed failure to confirm enough judges and to urge these groups to get involved in pressing for more confirmations.

And that is just what they have done. 

Today, the Committee for Justice and nearly 60 other right-wing groups released a letter [PDF] they sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, blasting Democrats for making it “it impossible for the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty of advice and consent in good faith.” 

The letter claims that failure to confirm Bush’s judges is at least partially responsible for Congress’ low approval rating and warns that the issue will play a role in upcoming elections.  

It then proceeds to make a series of strikingly hypocritical claims: 

The American people are equally unsympathetic to the claim that certain nominees cannot get a hearing because of the Judiciary Committee’s arcane “blue slip” policy. That policy is rightfully perceived as serving senators rather than the public. Because the policy exists entirely at the discretion of the committee chairman, blame for the resulting delays cannot credibly be laid outside the committee.

President Bush fulfilled his constitutional duty by nominating the outstanding men and women who await action in the Judiciary Committee. We respectfully request that you allow the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty of advice and consent, by ensuring that each and every judicial nominee is given a hearing and is reported out of committee for consideration by the full Senate in a timely manner. If you cannot support a particular nominee, vote him or her out of committee without a positive recommendation, or vote against confirmation. But please do not deny the nominee a fair up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. In other words, we ask only that you do your job by putting statesmanship above politics and special interests.

Of course, back when President Clinton was in office, the “blue slip” policy was used routinely by Republicans to block his nominees but was unilaterally changed when Republicans took control of the Senate under President Bush in order to prevent Democrats from doing the same to Bush.  Now that Democrats are back in control of the Senate, these groups seem to think that the “blue slip” policy switch orchestrated by Sen. Orrin Hatch should still be in place in order to benefit President Bush’s nominees. 

As for the claim that Democrats must ensure that “each and every judicial nominee is given a hearing and is reported out of committee” … well, let’s just say that is not how Republicans operated under President Clinton either.

Then, just for good measure, Concerned Women for America, despite having signed on to the above-mentioned letter, issued its own press release defending Southwick by accusing those who oppose his confirmation of “spitting on the reputation” of Iraqi War vets.     

"Judge Southwick is a brave, considerate, intelligent American hero -- just the type of person that we need on the federal bench," stated Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America.  "Yet liberal special interest groups have unfairly smeared a good man -- a war veteran -- for doing his constitutional duty of upholding the law and serving in the war.

"Some Democrat senators have followed their lead, in effect spitting on the reputation of this honorable judge and Iraq war veteran.  Is this what other Iraq War veterans will face when they return home?  Will their sacrifice, courage and honor be besmirched by people who put their interests above the welfare of our country?"

Normally when it comes to judges, the Right just tends to accuse its opponents of being sexist, racist, or otherwise bigoted – so accusations that they are also hostile to our troops is a new, though not surprising, development.  

Max Blumenthal provides an inside look at the recent Christians United for Israel Conference in DC, saying "I have never witnessed any spectacle as politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre as the one Christians United for Israel produced last week in Washington."

From the Union Leader: "I will tell you that this is a watershed point for the Supreme Court. And I will appoint justices like Roberts and Alito and Scalia . . . and Thomas ... If we have another appointment to the Supreme Court, we hopefully will have justices which open the way in my view to allowing states to have more input on this, rather than a Roe v. Wade, everybody to have the same standard abortion."

The Committee for Justice, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and others come together to write [PDF] to the Senate, telling them to start confirming Bush's judges and ensure "that each and every judicial nominee is given a hearing and is reported out of committee for consideration by the full Senate in a timely manner." Of course, this standard was nowhere to be seen during the Clinton administration.

Thanks to its recognition by the the UN: "Last week, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations unanimously granted special consultative status to the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Thi