GLAD

Yesterday, Rick Perry addressed Liberty University as part of his push to garner the support of the Religious Right. After The Response prayer rally, it was clear that Perry’s overt religiosity would be a central theme while promoting his candidacy to the GOP’s conservative base. We thought it would be timely to revisit Perry’s appearance on Trinity Broadcasting Network’s flagship show Praise The Lord in February of last year.

Perry described how “all through life there have been these supernatural events” of God sending him signals, providing one example where God sent a “real clear message” to him by using rain to stop him from leaving Texas. “You go through my life and there have been so many of those events that occurred and I don’t get confused, it wasn’t coincidence,” Perry explained, “it was God’s hands on my life, guiding me in the ways He wanted me to be, and I truly believe He has me here at a time such as this”:

Later in the program, Perry discussed his steadfast opposition to abortion rights. Perry, who while governor of Texas oversaw the execution of 234 men and women, said he was befuddled about how anyone cannot be pro-life: “How do you get up every morning and look at yourself in the mirror if you can't be for life?” He even claimed that people are moving to Texas because of his state’s restrictions on abortion-rights, leaving “neighborhoods and communities where they don’t recognize and respect life.”

You gotta be for life, I mean how do you get up every morning and look yourself in the mirror if you can’t be for life? I mean to me that’s the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. That’s what this country was based on. And when that conception occurs, that’s life. And defending it, and protecting it, and standing up for it, is what we all ought to be about. And I’m glad I live in a state where we do that. Parental consent, parental notification, we’ve probably made Texas the most pro-life state in the nation. A lot of people are moving to Texas today, I think somebody says somebody said well over a thousand, our rolls if you will grow by more than a thousand a day in the state, and I gotta think there’s some people coming here because they’re looking around and they’re seeing some neighborhoods and communities where they don’t recognize and respect life. And they go, you know what? That’s about freedom. When you think about it, life is really about freedom. And I want to come to a place where I can be as free as I can be, and in America today, that’s Texas.

If anyone out there thinks that Newt Gingrich's serial infidelity will, in any way, sour the Religious Right on his presidential candidacy, think again.

As we've noted before, Jim Garlow was the man at the center of the battle to stop marriage equality in California through Proposition 8 and he's already forgiven Gingrich and calling him "the strongest possible candidate."

So it is pretty obvious that "family values" leaders will do what is necessary to come up with ways to justify supporting Gingrich despite his history ... and so we'll probably start seeing lots more pieces like this one from Michael Youssef on the AFA's OneNewsNow website comparing Gingrich to King David:

A number of years ago, I gave a series of messages on the life of King David of old. I entitled the series, "A Portrait of a Champion." One of the messages in that series was called, "Champions Know How to Repent." Even a great champion for God such as King David messed up "royally" and had to repent ... This brings me to Newt Gingrich. While many people have, and will continue to throw stones at the former Speaker's past marriage failures, I am glad that Newt is a man who knows how to repent. After all, isn't that all that each of us can do?

...

Back in 2007, I heard an interview between Newt Gingrich and James Dobson that I will never forget. In it, Newt Gingrich explained how, with hot tears, he cried to the Lord for forgiveness and mercy over his indiscretions. Isn't that what God's word requires? ... It is my view that Newt's personal struggles and successes will aid him in being not only a seasoned candidate but possibly one of the finest presidents since Ronald Reagan. I did not say a perfect president, but a strong and fair-minded president.

Ask yourself this question: "If I lived during the time of King David, would I have voted for him as president?"

Along with Andrew Breitbart’s websites, perhaps no organization has been floating more conspiracy theories about Osama bin Laden’s death than Tea Party Nation. Judson Phillips, the president of Tea Party Nation, claimed President Obama “managed to totally FUBAR the situation.” He accused Obama of only going after bin Laden to help his reelection bid, attacked him for announcing bin Laden's death during Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice, and slammed the administration for not having bin Laden’s body “wrapped in pig fat before burial.”

Now, the group, which had Sarah Palin as its marquee speaker in 2010, sent an email message to its members by Amy Jo Rice of the tea party group Maine ReFounders, who writes that bin Laden’s death was simply a plot by Obama to distract America from it’s economic problems as he needed to find a way “to improve his record of leadership and running this country.” She goes on to say that the successful mission causes more problems than it solves because “we entered another country without their knowledge and carried out a military operation” and was a foreign policy failure:

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely glad that OBL is no longer walking the soil of this earth as the next person. I have to wonder, why now? Is this part of Obama's re-election plan? That he needs to improve his record of leadership and running this country. And what better way to do that then to take out enemy number one.

As Congress returned to Washington, DC yesterday after their two week vacation, there was not one mention on the news about the economy, unemployment, debt-ceiling or the budget.

America's problems still exist Mr. President, and you have probably added some more. We can all cheer that the mastermind of September 11, 2001 has been brought to justice, but this doesn't come without a price. We entered another country without their knowledge and carried out a military operation. Does our Commander-in-Chief not think there will be serious repercussions from this action? So much for foreign policy. I just hope that the hype from the outcome from this military action outweighs the possible fallout.

Bringing one terrorist to justice is not the makings of a great President, nor does it make him a hero. I am sure our Campaigner-in-Chief will ride out the glory in his attempt to be re-elected. Nothing has really changed in his lack of leadership to turn our nation around and be on a road to prosperity, instead of the road that we are on that very soon ends at the edge of a cliff.

For some time now, Rick Scarborough of Vision America has been hosting a daily half-hour radio program on KAVX 91.9 in Lufkin, Texas but we haven't really paid much attention to it because archived programs had never been available. 

But that appears to have changed, as Vision America has started posting the broadcasts on its website. And I am glad they have, otherwise we would never have known that, on Tuesday, Scarborough was in Washington, DC to attend a summit with Congressional leaders like Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul (whom he mistakenly called "Paul Rand") to discuss how they can work together to "advance the kingdom of our savior, the dear and precious lord Jesus Christ":

Please pray for me. I was invited to attend a summit of national leaders in Washington DC, I'll be in those meetings throughout the day today along with several others that you know well, like Elaine Donnelly who was on our program just yesterday and a host of other leaders of the same caliber. We're discussing how we can best bring the limited resources at our command together so we can advance the kingdom of our savior, the dear and precious lord Jesus Christ. I'll give you a full report when I return. We're going to be listening to about five or six of the key legislators, both on the Senate side as well as the House side.

Paul Rand [sic], the newly elected senator and son of a Texas congressmen, Paul Rand will be speaking to us along with such notables as Michele Bachmann .. and by the way, during these sessions, they're a small enough gathering that while they will be initializing some comments, we'll be interacting and talking back and forth about our concerns. A host of well-known conservative leaders will be in that room and I really covet your prayers for that.

The fundamentalist ministry Repent Amarillo has gained notoriety for badly failing in their attempt to burn the Quran, harassing swingers, and executing Santa Claus in a firing squad. Now, the leader of the self-proclaimed “Army of God” has announced his bid for mayor of Amarillo.

David Grisham of Repent Amarillo explained his political philosophy in his announcement, stating that “if we get elected office then we take Christ with us into office. He rules over us and then we rule over people – that’s just how the government works, so as far as I’m concerned there is no separation of church and state.”

Grisham also believes that God has called him to run for mayor in order to make life easier for businesses and more difficult for “promiscuity, homosexuality and non-Christian worship”:

“The Scriptures are quite clear that the governing authorities are ministers of God, and if that is true — and we know from God’s word that it is — then it just makes sense that ministers of God should be running for office,” Repent Amarillo Director David Grisham Jr. said before filing paperwork Monday to run in the May 14 mayoral election.

…

Grisham said he wants to lead the city in a different direction, repealing ordinances that place design standards on downtown properties and a sign ordinance he thinks limits the freedoms of business owners.

…

Repent Amarillo and Grisham aim to deter promiscuity, homosexuality and non-Christian worship practices through confrontation and prayer, and their actions have sparked controversy, both locally and nationwide.

He has already won the coveted endorsement of Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who threatened to burn copies of the Quran in a bonfire to mark the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. “I’m glad to have his endorsement because he’s a brother in Christ,” Grisham said, “and that’s what’s more important to me than political implications.”

Jones believes that Grisham is simply “trying to do the right thing,” adding, “I believe he has the best interests of the city in mind.”

With CPAC kicking off tomorrow, Metro Weekly profiles GOProud, the gay conservative group that has set off a culture war within the conservative movement and whose participation in the conference led to a boycott by several Religious Right organizations. 

And while we don't agree with most of GOProud's agenda and believe their sense of smug self-satisfaction is annoying and entirely undeserved, we do whole-heartedly support their effort to drive a deep wedge into the conservative movement in order to marginalize the "nasty, anti-gay bigots" who make up the Religious Right: 

''No, we're not giving cover to bigots," he argues. "What we're doing is separating the people who don't agree with the left-wing agenda from the real bigots. You can be against ENDA and hate crimes and federal safe schools legislation and not be a bigot. If you're Tony Perkins, you're a bigot. You're against all of that stuff not because of any federalist reasons, but actually because you're just a nasty, anti-gay bigot.''

...

''When you demonstrate some common ground, when you say, 'You wanna know what? We actually think that these policies that you support anyway are good for gay people, and here's why,' then all of a sudden they say, 'Well, wait a second, maybe I don't have a problem with gay people. All of these crazy things that we've been told by the Tony Perkinses of the world aren't true. These guys and gals, they're not here trying to snatch my children, they're not here in leather chaps.'''

...

Not everyone agrees with Breitbart and Norquist, even outside of the right-wing anti-gay groups. The Heritage Foundation and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) are the two biggest names to drop out of CPAC based, at least in part, on GOProud's role at the conference.

This is Barron's time to go on the attack.

Of the Heritage Foundation's decision, he says, ''They've chosen to – and it's a mystery to me why – but they've chosen to align themselves with the losers" ...

''Look, Heritage does a lot of good work, and I didn't want – it looks terrible for them, and I didn't want to have them humiliate themselves. But they've seemed hell-bent on it. Their story keeps changing and now we're down to the truth, which is: It was about us. And they've lost donors. They've lost supporters.''

With a nod of agreement from LaSalvia, Barron concludes, ''There's a lot of people in the conservative movement who are looking very differently at the [Heritage Foundation].''

He's singing the same tune when it comes to DeMint, who is joined by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in claiming GOProud as part of his reason for staying away from this weekend's conference.

Of those calling for the boycott, Barron says, ''They're all excited that Jim DeMint is boycotting. And that's fantastic. I'm glad that he's willing to be on the Island of Political Misfit Toys with [World Net Daily's Joseph] Farah and the Concerned Women for America.''

Ken Blackwell wears many hats:

Ken Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council, and the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow for Public Policy at the Buckeye Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He is a visiting fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the American Civil Rights Union. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union and Pastors Retreat Network. Mr. Blackwell is also the Chairman for the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, and a member of the National Rifle Association’s Public Affairs Committee. He is a columnist for the New York Sun, a contributing editor and columnist for the conservative news and opinion site Townhall.com, and a public affairs commentator for the Salem Radio Network.

To this list we can now add Chairman of a new group named "Balanced Budget Amendment Now" which, as its name suggests, is going to be focused solely on passing a Balanced Budget Amendment and has already received the support of Senator-Elect Mike Lee (R-UT): 

A new organization has launched to campaign for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, Balanced Budget Amendment Now. Focused solely on passing a balanced budget amendment (BBA), the group seeks to enlist 5,000 – 10,000 voters in each congressional district who will urge their members of Congress to vote for a BBA. This organization will be chaired by the Honorable Kenneth Blackwell, a longtime taxpayer advocate and fiscal conservative.

"We're glad to see the historic change in Congress and in state houses across America. The people have spoken forcefully, and they reject the profligate spending and massive expansion of government that they see in Washington, DC. The new Congress will face tremendous pressure as they seek to cut spending, and Balanced Budget Amendment Now will be there to remind them that they weren't elected to trim spending or slow down the rate of growth, but to cut, de-authorize and balance the budget.

"To that end, we want to give the 112th Congress and future Congresses a valuable tool to keep spending in check, a BBA to the Constitution. Our first step towards this goal is a vote on the BBA by October 1, 2011, the first day of the next fiscal year. Only by the active participation of 'We the People' can we force Congress and the President to act, before it's too late to avoid an economic collapse," concluded Blackwell.

Balanced Budget Amendment Now has asked Senator-Elect Mike Lee (R-UT) to draft BBA language and to enlist the support of his colleagues. Senator-Elect Lee stated, "The time has come for Congress to do the right thing and pass a balanced budget amendment. The majority of states in this country balance their budgets every year. Requiring Congress to do the same simply requires self-restraint, fiscal discipline, forethought and a commitment to follow both the roles and restraints outlined in the Constitution."

Lee concluded, "I applaud the efforts of groups like Balanced Budget Amendment Now for moving this issue forward. This is the type of dialogue and discussion Congress and our citizens need to engage in at this critical time in our nation's history. A balanced budget amendment is an important first step to reclaiming our future."

• Tomorrow a group of clergy from across Iowa will call on Bob Vander Plaats and his organization, Iowa For Freedom, to "denounce hate-filled comments made by their funder, the American Family Association."
• Kansas Democrats continue to try to make an issue of Sam Brownback's ties to Lou Engle.
• For some reason, the Washington Post decided that Tony Perkins deserved space to spread his  views that gays are "abnormal."
• The man who ran Roy Moore’s gubernatorial campaign is the new chairman of Conservative Christians of Alabama.
• I am glad that Janet Porter is back to writing columns for WorldNetDaily and saying things like "the Obama mob wasn't cheering when the Berlin wall came down – they were actually rooting for communism!"
• Finally, the quote of the day from Bryan Fischer, reacting reasonably to the news that Campbell's has introduced a line of halal-certified soups: "Sharia law is no longer creeping up on us. It’s bearing down on us at full gallop. It’s time for Christian civilization to grab the reins of this runaway horse and stop it dead in its tracks."

• David Weigel: Palin: Growing Up, I ‘Hustled Over the Border’ For Health Care.
• Alan Colmes: Palin Defends Writing On Hand By Comparing Herself To God.
• GLAD: DOMA Stories:Federal Marriage Discrimination Hurts Families.
• Steve Benen: Anti-Reason Forces Unite.
• EmptyWheel: Clarence Thomas’ Revenge