Posts on Traditional Values Coalition

ABC News has an article about a sociologist at Rutgers University who questioned 157 scientists about "their work at the crux of a 2003 political clash between several members of Congress, a Christian lobbyist group called the Traditional Values Coalition and the National Institutes of Health" and found, not surprisingly, that TVC's rabble-rousing put enough pressure on them that "nearly a quarter of respondents said they either modified their studies to seem less controversial or abandoned controversial grant proposals."

I was particularly impressed by this statement by Andrea Lafferty, executive director of Traditional Values Coalition, who admits that she sees no "abuses of science" but plans to continue her crusade against science nonetheless: 

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) in Washington, D.C., sees no "abuses of science" but agrees that with the new administration, the content of grant proposals is likely to expand.

"My main idea is the NIH ATM machine is going to re-open in 09," said Lafferty. "It's some guys in their jammies at universities drinking beer asking, 'hey, how can we study how prostitutes spread disease?' Then they take it to the NIH" ... "NIH has always been treated like a sacred cow ... scientists overall don't believe in God, and they don't want to be questioned," she said. "These people want to say it's just TVC but you take what we find is being studied, go to any grocery store and ask people what they think. Taxpayers would be outraged."

So the NIH is primarily just a slush fund for drunken, PJ-clad atheists looking for a way to consort with prostitutes? How come I didn't know about this? More importantly, how do I apply for a grant?

During the recent Values Voter Summit, Gary Bauer warned that a dirty bomb was going to be detonated in Washington, DC at some time in the future and only John McCain could prevent/respond to it. 

But apparently Bauer was too late, as the Traditional Values Coalition declares that one has already been detonated in California:

In a deliberate act of judicial tyranny, the California Supreme Court dropped a dirty bomb on our entire nation. And its shock-wave impact is absolutely devastating---especially to every state that doesn’t yet have a marriage amendment.

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The impact of the homosexual marriage ruling in California will be devastating to every other state in the union without a marriage amendment in their constitution, if Prop 8 fails. The homosexual agenda is clear: They intend to use California as a staging area for an assault on the rest of the nation.

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Think of all the unintended consequences that we cannot even foresee at this time. Where will it end?

It’s your children, your grandchildren, their beliefs, your beliefs, your money, and your liberties that are at stake this election. Let’s work together to protect them. Let’s restore marriage to its Biblical and Holy significance of 1 man and 1 woman.

Let this be a lesson to all of us - when we think that the Right's rhetoric cannot get any more paranoid or overwrought, we can always count on TVC to surprise us. 

Considering that the battle over Proposition 8 is being fought right in Lou Sheldon's back yard, it was only a matter of time before the Traditional Values Coalition patriarch got directly involved: 

The campaign for a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage is going to local clergy.

On Tuesday, it made a stop in the Whittier area. The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition that is backing Proposition 8, gave a group of ministers some tips on campaigning. About 23 were present.

"We can give information on Proposition 8: why it's important, why we need it and why it's not discriminatory," Sheldon said in the meeting at the Zoe Christian Fellowship.

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"Homosexuals have the right to do what they please, but don't hijack a name that has been identified through history," he said.

"Let's be adult and understand that marriage is consummated between a man and a woman," Sheldon said. "Two men can't consummate a marriage. Two women can't."

I think Sheldon will be surprised to learn that gays and lesbians are fully capable of consummating marriages, once they are given the opportunity. 

In our quest to chronicle the increasingly over-the-top response that Sarah Palin is generating in the Religious Right, we'd be remiss if we didn't highlight this quote from notorious right-wing curmudgeon Lou Sheldon:

While Palin's pick is designed in part to woo disaffected Clinton voters, Palin overnight has become the darling of conservatives. Before her speech, "I thought I died and went to heaven,'' said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the California-based Traditional Values Coalition. The coalition is planning a nationwide get-out-the-vote effort.

Sheldon is the right-wing version of "Mikey" from the old Life Cereal commercials, in that he hates everything ... but he loves Sarah Palin.  That ought to tell you something.

Say what you will about the Traditional Values Coalition, they refuse to tone-down or in any way moderate their militantly anti-gay agenda – here they are weighing in on the right-wing boycott of McDonalds, complete with an attack on Levi Strauss for ending its funding of the Boy Scouts:

"McDonald's has partnered with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC),” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “It also gave this activist group a $20,000 grant to support its efforts to influence corporate America.

“When my son bounds out of kindergarten at his school, a typical request is to go to ‘Old McDonald’s.’ It’s not about the cuisine, the first question he asks when we get there is which toy are they giving away that day. Now, we are settling for a lemonade at another restaurant because, as our son says aloud every time a McDonald’s commercial airs on television or as we drive past one, – ‘McDonald’s is bad,’” said Lafferty.

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“Like Levi Strauss, McDonald’s has become an open and aggressive supporter of the homosexual agenda,” said Lafferty. “As such, it will no longer receive my business until it rejects the homosexual political agenda and returns to what it does best: selling Happy Meals and fun to America’s children.”

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“Hungry patrons should beware of how they spend their hard-earned dollars,” said Lafferty. “When buying a ‘Sad Meal’ from McDonald’s, they’re now helping fund the homosexual agenda. By purchasing a pair of jeans from Levi Strauss, they’re helping destroy the moral foundations of our society.”

Religious Right groups are voicing their opposition to efforts to honor gay rights activist Harvey Milk: "'What significant contribution did Harvey Milk bring to the state of California – other than encouraging gay people to come out of the closet?' asked Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition. 'This is yet another example of them trying to normalize and force acceptance of the gay lifestyle upon people,' he said ... Randy Thomasson, of Campaign for California Children and Families, which opposes AB 2567, said the bill is a new tactic in a long push to portray homosexuality in a positive light to kids. 'Harvey Milk Day is the equivalent of having Gay Day at every school in the state,' he said."

According to Politico, the Right is warming to John McCain’s far-right stance on judicial appointments, and with the 5-4 decisions that closed out the Supreme Court’s term, we can see the outline of McCain’s and the Right’s campaign to get the base to turn out in November on the issue of judges.

Last month’s Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus was likened by the Right a “white flag of surrender” that would cause “more Americans to be killed”; Fred Thompson, a judicial advisor to John McCain, wrote that the “remedy” was for “concerned citizens to turn out on Election Day to elect a new president.”

The more recent decision overturning D.C.’s gun ban inspired Ted Nugent to write in Human Events that “the 5-4 ruling is another painful example” of “a divisive culture war raging on, and four supreme justices frighteningly disconnected from the heart and soul of America.” Michael Reagan warned that the majority “will vanish if the liberals manage to elect Barack Obama and give his party sufficient control of Congress to guarantee that future Court vacancies will be filled with activist liberal justices who will turn the Constitution upside down.”

The Family Research Council called the Second Amendment case “a reminder for voters of just how important the elections are this fall.”

The next President is likely to name 2-3 Supreme Court justices, who will be examining the constitutionality of a variety of laws for the next few decades. Life, marriage, and religious freedom are all issues that are likely to land in front of the Supreme Court. … For fiscal, social, and national defense conservatives, judges are one issue that brings all conservatives together.

According to the Weekly Standard, a case restricting capital punishment to murderers and not rapists of children demonstrated “that the fight to turn the Court from a capricious and imperious vanguard of liberalism into an impassive umpire is far from over.” The Standard’s Matthew Continetti advised McCain to “take this opportunity to explain how his judicial philosophy differs from Obama's, and why it matters.” A National Review editorial similarly responded, “Too many of our justices are evolving away from democracy. Let’s not elect a president who will encourage them — and appoint more of them.”

Traditional Values Coalition’s Lou Sheldon wrote that the death penalty case and the habeas corpus decision “are perfect examples showing why it’s important that Americans choose the right person to assume the Presidency in January 2009.”

The person who becomes President and Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces will likely have to replace Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Souter – all liberals who use their power to impose their leftist ideology upon all Americans. …

If we fail to put a man into the Oval Office who understands judicial restraint and the rule of law, our legal system will be set back 30 years. This is especially true if a liberal President appoints young liberals to the Court and fills up the federal judiciary with more radical leftist judges.

Finally, there’s the 5-4 decision overturning the “Millionaire’s Amendment,” a part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that lifted contribution limits for politicians facing self-funded opponents. Despite McCain’s role in originally passing the law, McCain supporter Hans von Spakovsky wrote that the narrow ruling “graphically illustrates just how important the next president's appointments to the Supreme Court will be to preserving our First Amendment rights in the political arena.”

“[G]iven the number of Supreme Court appointments a Democratic president will be able to make, an Obama victory will move America more radically leftward than ever in its history,” Dennis Prager summarized.

All these cases will continue to be cited by the Right in pushing its unmotivated constituency to the polls, as “are reminders that elections are not just about putting candidates in office for a few years,” as Thomas Sowell put it to those “who are thinking of venting their frustrations by voting for some third-party candidate that they know has no chance of being elected. There will be a president chosen this November, and he will appoint Supreme Court justices during his term, regardless of whether you stay home or go to the polls.”

As we noted a few weeks ago, the Right did not react well to the California Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, with people like Janet Folger going so far as to proclaim it signals the end of the world.

In the days since the ruling was handed down, the Right doesn’t appear to have mellowed … if anything, some of them seem to be getting more and more riled up by the day.  Take, for instance, this recent rant by Concerned Women for America’s Matt Barber:

So-called "same-sex marriage" is a counterfeit. It's a fraud and not even a good one at that. If marriage is a Rembrandt, then the ridiculous and oxymoronic notion of "gay marriage" is a Rembrandt knock-off from the pages of Mad Magazine. It's a silly novelty.

I know. I'm "mean-spirited." But in light of the California Supreme Court's recent opinion - which enigmatically manufactured a "constitutional right" to "same-sex marriage" out of thin air - I think we need to come back to earth for a moment. Mind you, re-entry into reality's atmosphere will inevitably burn some folks.

When same-sex friendships (or more often, seconds-old acquaintances) are twisted and sexualized, practitioners of "the sin that dare not speak its name" are forced, at every level, to merely mimic the genuine article. They jump through a series of inelegant hoops to create a fantasy world wherein two people of the same gender clumsily imitate natural heterosexual pairings properly designed for procreation and the healthy rearing of children.

Even "gay sex" (male-male anal sodomy) is a crude, man-made imitation of the natural heterosexual reproductive process (only the fallen mind of man could concoct such depraved and foul behavior). Sadly, as millions of homosexuals have had to learn the hard way, this disordered, makeshift simulation of a natural biological process is coldly rejected by the very human biology it mocks.

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Ellen [DeGeneres] compounds the sin of homosexuality by using the platform she's been given to lead others astray. She guides her many adoring housewife fans into rebellion against God's divine and explicit natural order by suggesting they celebrate sin and entertain, along with her, the "gay marriage" delusion.

Still, God will not be mocked. It's the height of humanist hubris to believe that man (including judges) can radically redefine that which God has created. We can never sanctify that which natural law rejects and God expressly condemns. Especially when God Himself, out of sheer love for each of us, offers us so much more.

I'm sorry (well not really) for my lack of contrived "sensitivity," but Ellen, sweetie (to borrow from a presidential candidate), no amount of wishful thinking or going through the motions will make your illicit same-sex "relationship" with Ms. DeRossi a "marriage." You may get a piece of paper that says it is, but, in the eyes of God and most of the world, your counterfeit "marriage" will never be worth the paper it's written on.

Before he was hired by CWA, Barber worked for Allstate Insurance until he was fired for penning anti-gay columns for right-wing websites – go figure.

Speaking of right-wing groups going completely over the top, the Traditional Values Coalition weighs in on the equality legislation in Colorado that we wrote about a few days ago … or, as TVC calls it, “The She-Male Restroom Bill”:

The Denver Post reports that The Traditional Values Coalition financed then-Congressman, and curent Senate candidate, Bob Schaffer's trip the to Mariana Islands on behalf of Jack Abramoff: "Schaffer's $13,000 trip was paid for by the Orange County, Calif.-based Traditional Values Coalition, which Schaffer described as a religious group 'concerned with human rights.'"

Even though the Republican primary process hasn’t yet come to a close thanks to Mike Huckabee’s stubborn refusal to withdraw and allow the “coronation” of John McCain, some on the Right seem to be looking ahead and preparing for the general election against the presumed Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. 

TVC - whose leader, Lou Sheldon, had backed the failed candidacy of Mitt Romney - explains:

[I]t is essential that voters understand exactly what Barack and his wife Michelle believe in – and what they plan for America if elected as President and First Lady.

As more information becomes available about this first-term Senator with no discernible accomplishments in the Senate, the more concerned voters are becoming.

TVC informs us that, in his past, Obama not only had “a Communist mentor,” but also “a socialist mentor” and “a black power mentor.”  That would be bad enough, but it is nothing compared to his wife Michelle, who gave what TVC calls a “Hitler-like” speech.  TVC declared that the speech contained “frightening authoritarian statements” about how her husband might “rule our nation.”

What scared TVC was this:

Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

You have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eights years from now, you will have to be engaged.

We have lost the understanding that in a democracy, we have a mutual obligation to one another -- that we cannot measure the greatness of our society by the strongest and richest of us, but we have to measure our greatness by the least of these. That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. That is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation."

Whether or not you support her husband’s candidacy, Michelle Obama’s speech strikes us as more akin to JFK’s “ask not” speech than to something from a Nuremberg rally.  But then the Right has had many years of experience launching scurrilous accusations against Hillary Clinton and her husband, and they’re just getting started on the Obamas - though so far they have managed to allege that he is secretly a Muslim while also saying that his “Christianity [is] woefully deficient,” comparing him to Karl Marx and Fidel Castro while his wife “spits like a cobra” and is plagued by “narcissism.”

But TVC has clearly set a high bar, managing to cite Hitler, Muammar el-Quadaffi, and the communist threat all in one attack piece.  Who’s gonna top that?

It looks like The Traditional Values Coalition’s front-group, the Christian Seniors Association, is again mailing out its bogus “U.S. Taxpayer Census” forms in an attempt to extort donations from confused senior citizens:

Local seniors who contacted this newspaper said they found the letter they received from the Christian Seniors Association confusing, saying at first glance it appears to be a government mailing of some kind.

On the front of the document, in large block letters, are the words "U.S. Taxpayer Census" and a seal similar in design to the U.S. official seal. (The official seal of the United States, which features an eagle holding arrows in one claw and olive leaves in the other, differs in detail from the design on the letter).

Also printed on the front of each letter are the words, "Census Document #" (followed by a 11-digit number) and the words "assigned to:" (followed by the recipient's name).

Inside, the form further identifies itself as a "U.S. Taxpayer Census on the Social Security Preservation Act (HR 219).

In smaller print at the bottom of the first page of the document, the mailing is identified as "a special citizen action project of Christian Seniors Association, a division of Traditional Values Coalition."

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The monetary appeal portion of the letter has check boxes next to suggested donation amounts of $15; $25; $50; $100; $250; $500 and "other."

Alternatively, seniors are invited to donate $8 to cover the "cost of tabulating my census and delivering results to Congress," if the recipient feels they are unable to make "a substantial contribution" in the amounts suggested above.

It is no surprise that TVC would stoop to this sort of fundraising tactic considering that, according to their most recent tax filing, their “total net assets” are -$4,288,151.  

So says Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition: “Americans need to understand that these pseudo-evangelicals are nothing more than shills for the Democrat (sic) Party and (are) trying to use whatever credibility they think they have to draw Christians away from the Republican Party and a truly biblical worldview.”

Anti-gay group claims civil rights act "should more appropriately be called the 'Christian Persecution Act of 2007.'"

One of the most notoriously anti-gay groups on the Religious Right has taken its “traditional values” in an unusual direction – joining the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to counter a bill in Congress that would set stricter fuel-economy standards. From the AP:

The lawmakers were joined by leaders with the United Auto Workers, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, who said families needed roomy, safe vehicles.

We’ve seen the Religious Right’s expansion of their agenda -- to pension policy, terrorism, and tax cuts – before, at least around election time, when right-wing activists worked to promote the Republican Party. But this issue isn’t so clearly partisan, making the participation of Sheldon – called “Lucky Louie” by corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who allegedly sent TVC tens of thousands of dollars to work on behalf of his clients – all the more mysterious.

One of the key issues facing GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney in the primary is whether evangelical Republican grassroots voters will be willing to cast a vote for a Mormon:

Here's the problem with electing a Mormon president, as Jason Thurman sees it: "I don't believe he would be guided by God."

Thurman, 26, is tidying the annotated Bibles in the Shepherd's Fold bookstore. Over by the rack of Christian CDs, his co-worker Marty Thomas raises a similar concern.

"When it comes right down to it," says Thomas, 40, "a Mormon's strength is human. A Christian person's strength is superhuman. I want [a president] who has that extra on his side."

In an attempt to counter this problem, Romney met with various right-wing leaders last year in an attempt to ease their concerns about his religion:

Romney, who is ramping up preparations for a 2008 campaign, huddled privately at his Belmont home last Thursday with about a dozen evangelicals, including conservative activist Gary Bauer, president of the group American Values, and Richard Land, a prominent leader in the Southern Baptist Convention.

The meetings have touched on several themes, participants say, but two topics being discussed are Romney's religious beliefs and how he should address his faith as the campaign progresses.

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At last week's meeting at Romney's home, Land said, he told the governor that voters want "a commander in chief, not a theologian in chief."

Romney has continued to emphasize the idea that the President is "commander in chief, not a theologian in chief" and it has obviously paid off to the extent that last week he announced the backing of several high-profile right-wing leaders such as James Bopp, Jay Sekulow, and Lou Sheldon who have quickly begun parroting  this talking point:

Sheldon says Romney has "an across the board appeal" to evangelical conservatives, business, and the average American worker. "He's not running for the head of any ministeriam or denomination or the pope -- he's running for a secular office that is called for secular issues," explains Sheldon. "And he has, I think, the moral and ethical basis to be a strong conservative in that office."

So Romney’s Mormon faith shouldn’t be a problem for evangelical voters, or any other voter for that matter, because he’s running for a secular position.  Of course, these right-wing leaders only seem to feel comfortable saying this after they’d had a chance to personally grill Romney about his faith:    

"He reads the Bible regularly. He has said -- and I asked him -- that he has received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior," [Sheldon] declares. "He believes that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, only Son of God divine, and was crucified, buried and raised from the dead for our behalf. So, I think as he addresses those issues, that's certainly going to ignite good feeling [among Christians]."

Or as CBN’s David Brody reported:

Reverend Lou Sheldon, Chairman of Traditional Values Coalition and one of the members of Mitt Romney's Faith and Values Steering Committee, told The Brody File that he asked Mitt Romney point blank whether he would put his hand on the Bible or the Book of Mormon if he is ever sworn in as President of the United States.

His answer? The Bible.

Sheldon told me he spent nearly five hours with Mitt and Anne Romney and came away very impressed.

After all that time grilling Romney about his religious beliefs, it seems a little odd for Sheldon to turn around and dismiss others’ concerns about the candidate’s faith as irrelevant, especially since Sheldon described the presidency as a “secular office” only after having intensely questioned Romney about the tenets of his faith and determining that they meet Sheldon’s approval.