lindsey graham

Krikorian Lays Out Strategy to 'Kill' Immigration Bill, Attacks 'Big Religion' SBC, 'Jerk' Graham, 'Water Boy' Rubio

Submitted by Miranda Blue on Tuesday, 5/7/2013 12:00 pm

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a GOP witness at last month’s Senate hearings on immigration reform, laid out his strategy for stopping the reform bill on a Tea Party Unity conference call Thursday.

Krikorian told the Tea Party activists on the call that they were lined up against “all the big institutions in the country” including “Big Business…Big Labor, all the big donors, Big Government Big Education, Big Media, Big Philanthropy, Big Religion -- the Southern Baptist Convention has been roped into this as well.”

Opponents of immigration reform shouldn’t be “distracted by particular pieces of the bill” they might support, he said. Instead, “This needs to be a kind of kill-and-replace, like the fight on Obamacare response.”

“There may be parts of it that some people like, increasing some skilled immigration or guest worker programs, what have you,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of either of those things, but if they’re included in this bill it doesn’t matter because there’s so much in this bill that shouldn’t be there that’s so bad that the whole thing needs to be killed.”

All the big institutions in the country are behind this. Big Business is for this, Big Labor, all the big donors, Big Government, Big Education, Big Media, Big Philanthropy, Big Religion -- the Southern Baptist Convention has been roped into this as well. And once the bill came out, though, it became pretty clear that there’s plenty there to attack. The inevitability is not real. This in fact can be stopped, and in fact I think the approach needs to be not to sort of be distracted by particular pieces of the bill, but the whole thing needs to be killed. This needs to be a kind of kill-and-replace, like the fight on Obamacare response. Because this really is an equivalent to Obamacare and frankly probably much more consequential in the long term, much more damaging to the health of the country.

There may be parts of it that some people like, increasing some skilled immigration or guest worker programs, what have you. I’m not a big fan of either of those things, but if they’re included in this bill it doesn’t matter because there’s so much in this bill that shouldn’t be there that’s so bad that the whole thing needs to be killed.

Krikorian went out of his way to attack two of the four Republicans on the bipartisan Gang of Eight that devised the immigration reform proposal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, he said, is facing attack ads in South Carolina “both because he’s on the Gang of Eight and because he’s frankly kind of a jerk.”

He then accused Sen. Marco Rubio, the main Republican spokesperson for the Gang of Eight’s bipartisan proposal, of having “totally drunk the Kool-Aid” and acting as “Chuck Schumer’s water boy.” The best home immigration opponents have to stop the bill, he added, is to “scare [Rubio] enough to give him some kind of excuse to walk away.”

Rubio needs to be the focus, not so much of attack, although he does kind of need to be attacked. Rubio needs to be, it needs to be made clear to him he’s got to back off this bill. I’m not sure that’s possible. He’s completely, totally latched himself to Chuck Schumer at this point. But, you know, it seems to me it’s at least possible, offering him and a lot of other Republicans an opportunity, a way of backing out of this thing. Because especially if Rubio backs out, if he somehow, and it’s going to be hard at this point, but if he were to walk away from this and say, ‘Look, I tried, it just didn’t work,’ the whole thing is over, it’s collapsed and there’s just no chance the Democrats have of getting this through.

So, in a sense, Rubio really is the key guy. And your  question is, the question, the way it would have to be presented to Rubio, is, ‘Are you the conservative ambassador to this Gang of Eight writing this bill, or are you Chuck Schumer’s ambassador to conservatives?” And I’m afraid he’s the latter. He’s now Chuck Schumer’s water boy, making the case for the bill that the Democratic staff, Schumer’s staff, wrote, and making the case for it to conservatives to try to get enough people basically, you know, silenced enough that this thing can get through the Senate. That’s the real danger and that’s where it seems to me the pressure has to be applied.

…

There are some people running ads in South Carolina, for instance, against Lindsey Graham, both because he’s on the Gang of Eight and because he’s frankly kind of a jerk and because he’s up in 2014 and there are people talking about primarying him. My point is that making Rubio feel the heat isn’t going to get him to change his mind. He’s totally drunk the Kool-Aid.  I mean, I can’t put it too strongly: he is Chuck Schumer’s water boy. He is Chuck Schumer’s assistant in tearing out this amnesty. And he just thinks that all the rest of it doesn’t matter as long as he can get everybody amnesty. And remember, everybody’s amnesty first, within a few months of this bill passing. Everything else is just promises. ‘If, you know, we get everyone amnesty then we can get our message to Hispanic voters,’ or something. It’s a complete fantasy. He’s totally bought into it. The point is to scare him enough to give him some kind of excuse to walk away, that’s what my point is.
 

 

Right Wing Round-Up - 4/19/13

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 4/19/2013 5:34 pm
  • Benjy Sarlin @ TPM: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): Obama Should Treat Suspect As ‘Enemy Combatant.’

  • Carlos Maza @ Equality Matters: NOM Denies Anti-Gay Violence In France After Praising Activist Who Called For “Blood.”

  • David Edwards @ Raw Story: Cruz called Sandy aid ‘pork’ but wants ‘all available resources’ after Texas blast.

  • Kate Sheppard @ Mother Jones: Boy Scouts of America Proposes Dropping Ban on Gay Kids—But Not Gay Adults.

  • Media Matters: Glenn Beck: America Should "Demand Impeachment" For Government Cover-Up Of Saudi National's Role In Boston Bombings.

Right Wing Round-Up - 1/30/13

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 1/30/2013 6:40 pm

Right Wing Leftovers - 1/29/13

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 1/29/2013 6:30 pm
  • Bryan Fischer warns that “homosexual pedophiles already seek to infiltrate scouting because it provides a target rich environment for their twisted desires. Abolishing the sexual orientation standard will turn every Boy Scout in America into vulnerable prey for the sexually deviant.” 
  • Peter LaBarbera claims the BSA’s “proposal opens the door to the sexual and spiritual corruption of boys.”
  • Lindsey Graham continues to be the biggest troll in the Senate. 

2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/4/11

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 1/4/2011 10:22 am

Mitch Daniels

Social issues: Candidates for RNC Chair pan Daniels's "truce" proposal (GOP12, 1/3).

2012: Claims that a potential presidential bid scares his family "to death" (The Hill, 1/3).

Newt Gingrich

Religious Right: Bryan Fischer of AFA thinks his history of extramarital affairs will doom him among social conservatives (RWW, 1/3).

Fundraising: Confirmed to address, along with Mike Pence, Illinois GOP fundraiser celebrating Ronald Reagan's birthday (Chicago Tribune, 1/3).

Mike Huckabee

Arkansas: Enthusiasm builds for a second presidential run in his home state of Arkansas (Politics Daily, 1/2).

Poll: Two out of three Republicans said that they were "very or somewhat likely" to back Huckabee, leading the field (CBNNews, 1/2).

Jon Huntsman

2012: Still open to presidential bid despite his appointment as Ambassador to China (Newsweek, 1/1).

Sarah Palin

Social issues: Re-tweets Tammy Bruce, who said that "the more someone complains about the homos the more we should look under their bed" (Gawker, 1/4).

GOP: Conservative writer George Will and blogger Erick Erickson dismiss Palin's chances of winning the Presidency (Salon, 1/3).

Book: Reviewer of America By Heart finds that "there is no identity she embraces with more alacrity than that of victim" (Religion Dispatches, 1/2).

Tim Pawlenty

2012: With Mark Dayton's inauguration as governor, Pawlenty now "full-time candidate" (The Atlantic, 1/3).

Book: Will begin tour for new book, Courage to Stand (Minnesota Public Radio, 1/3).

Mike Pence

Indiana: Fundraising plans point to potential gubernatorial bid (TPM, 1/4).

GOP: Wins the endorsement of RedState's Erick Erickson (RedState, 1/3).

Fundraising: Confirmed to address, along with Newt Gingrich, Illinois GOP fundraiser celebrating Ronald Reagan's birthday (Chicago Tribune, 1/3).

Mitt Romney

Massachusetts: May have a "Willie Horton" situation from his parole board appointments as Massachusetts governor (UPI, 1/3).

South Carolina: Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) calls Romney "the most electable conservative" (Greenville Online, 1/3).

Randall Terry and Crew Met With Boehner's Chief of Staff

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 11/29/2010 12:32 pm

It is no secret that Randall Terry is an attention-seeking right-wing zealot, always on the lookout for ways to get his name in the press.

From burning effigies of Nancy Pelosi or Lindsey Graham to destroying Korans and protesting outside the school attended by President Obama's daughters, Terry is constantly working to draw attention to his cause ... mainly as a means to draw attention to himself.

And all of that self-aggrandizement occasionally pays of, as it helps Terry to secure meetings with incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner's Chief of Staff, as he revealed when he included this photo in a recent email alert:

With Boehner’s chief of staff, after the election.

And Terry apparently  issued some big demands for Boehner and the Republicans now that they have taken control of the House - the complete end of abortion in America:

We must demand that Republicans who won the House of Representatives hasten the end of legalized child killing in America. Their victory could be a strong step forward for the babies, but it also might be yet another set back after 50,000,000 dead babies.

We must not delude ourselves! The landslide the Republicans enjoyed in the House of Reps was a repudiation of President Obama’s overall agenda; it was about the economy, about jobs, corporate bailouts, the debt, and about his health care bill.

Yet we already see pro-life fundraising letters and petitions heralding this GOP victory as an automatic victory for the babies’ lives. This is simply not true!

...

When the Republicans are in power, pro-life groups and leaders become way too “polite.” We lose our edge; we don’t hold them accountable; we settle for trite phrases and broken promises as long as they will meet with us for 10 minutes, and we can take our picture with them, or they come to one of our meetings and receive some useless award.

I beg you to carefully consider my words; look at this situation with prophetic insight. Unless the Republicans do something concrete to save babies from murder, then they are collaborators with child killers, and we must treat them as such.

We have Pro-Life DEMANDS for Mr. Boehner & House GOP

We Must Play Hard Ball: They Must Fear Pro-Lifers!

Bachmann "Likely" to Attend Conference Advocating War With Iran?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 11/15/2010 3:20 pm

I think it is safe to say that nothing good can come from a conference in which a bunch of right-wingers and Muslim-haters gather to promote methods to "liberate the Iranian people and the world from the on-going and brutal repression" of the government in Iran: 

On November 17, 2010, Freedom Watch and the Foundation for Democracy in Iran will host a symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to discuss and formulate policy on how the United States and the West can liberate the Iranian people and the world from the on-going and brutal repression of the Persian freedom movement now underway in the Islamic Republic and eliminate the threat of atomic weapons and a potential nuclear holocaust.

This conference is timely and important, as the policy of "appeasement" that has been attempted by the Obama administration and the European Union has proven to be a dismal failure. It is hoped that this conference will help convince the new Congress, with the House of Representatives now in Republican hands, independent Democrats, and other entities, to push harder for U.S. and western intervention to remove this dangerous radical Islamic regime before it is too late.

This conference will showcase distinguished leaders whom are experts on Iranian issues. Among the speakers are former CIA Director James Woolsey, former CIA double "agent" Reza Kahlili, whose recent book, "A Time to Betray" details his time as an American spy inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, former U.N. Ambassador Alan Keyes, former Reagan administration national security advisor, Frank Gaffney, investigative journalist and Iran specialist Ken Timmerman, human rights activist and former Miss Canada Miss World runner-up, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, Larry Klayman and U.S. Senators and Congressmen.

They will all offer insight as to how the U.S. and the West must now take action to remove the Islamic regime, thereby bringing about freedom for the Persian people and eliminating the prospect of a nuclear holocaust by radicals bent on the destruction of and dominance over western civilization and Israel.

Among the politicians listed as "invited speakers" are Dana Rohrabacher, Trent Franks John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, Marco Rubio, and Alan West ... as well as Michele Bachmann, who is the only one listed as "likely" to attend.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 7/27/2010 5:41 pm

WallBuilders: National Borders Were Drawn By God and Obama Is Out to Replace "Core Americans" With Illegals

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 7/26/2010 4:58 pm

It looks like we can now add David Barton and Rick Green of WallBuilders to the list of Religious Right activists who are opposing the effort by a handful of right-wing leaders to get conservatives to support immigration reform. 

And they are apparently taking a hard-line stance, as evidence by the fact that the guest on today's episode of "WallBuilders Live" was William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, the viciously anti-immigrant activist who made news a few months back when he demanded that Sen. Lindsey Graham admit that he is gay, saying that his refusal to do so was allowing President Obama and others to blackmail him into supporting immigration reform.

Barton started off by saying that it was God who set the boundaries of all nations and so any violation of national borders is, in reality, a violation against God.  Then Rick Green talked with Gheen about how everyday thousands of American citizens are calling the Department of Homeland Security to report that they are being harmed by illegal immigrations while Obama administration refuses to respond because they are intent on "replacing us in our own country, [which is a] much smarter thing to do than fighting us in a war":

Barton: I think the first thing they have to understand, it is God and not man who establishes the borders of nations. National boundaries are set by God. If God didn't want boundaries, he would have put everyone in the same world and there would have been no nations; we would have all been living together as one group and one people. That didn't happen. From the Tower of Babel, he sent them out with different languages, different cultures. God's the one who drew up the lines for the nations, so to say open borders is to say "God, you goofed it all up and when you had borders, you shouldn't have done it ..."

Rick Green: We know better than you ...

Barton: And so, from a Christian standpoint, you cannot do that. God's the one who establishes the boundaries of nations.

...

William Gheen: All across America today, people are calling and saying "hey, illegal aliens are taking my job; hey, illegal aliens are hurting my wages; hey, illegal aliens stole my wife, stole my property, hey, illegal aliens are menacing my children in school with physical violence and I know they're illegal and come do your job."

And these call, probably hundreds, if not thousands, per day are going right to where they're suppose to be - Department of Homeland Security - and nothing is ever happening, they're not listening, they don't care about the death and suffering illegal immigration is causing the American public.

And when you look closer at who is up there and who's around them, you find power groups that actually advocate for this kind of stuff - they are protecting illegal aliens, they facilitated their importation into the United States and they seem to have some broader political/economic agenda of replacing many core Americans and American values and our jobs and our schools and everything else. That's what they're doing. They don't like Americans so they're replacing us in our own country. It's a much smarter thing to do if you're our enemies than fighting us in a war.

Terry and Crew Beat Effigy of Sen. Graham

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 7/26/2010 2:49 pm

Randall Terry and his merry band of anti-abortion zealots have been traveling the country in an RV and protesting outside of the state offices of Republican Senators who are refusing to filibuster Elena Kagan.

When they arrived in South Carolina last week, they planned to "burn, hang, or beat" an effigy of Sen. Lindsey Graham for supporting Kagan in committee:

If a man brings the enemy into your camp, he is helping the enemy; when he helps the enemy, he has become the enemy, and must be treated as such. Mr. Graham has betrayed God and innocent babies; we must treat him as a fraud and a traitor from this moment forth.

Turns out, Terry did not actually burn the effigy of Graham, but they did hang and beat it: 

A mannequin with a picture of Sen. Lindsey Graham's face taped to the head was hung in effigy in downtown Greenville by a protester.

Randall Terry, a nationally-known pro-life supporter from Washington, D.C., came with three supporters to tape a portion of his television show called, "Randall Terry: The Voice of the Resistance."

The anti-abortion activist filmed two skits while in downtown. One of them involved Randall's employee constructing gallows to hang the mannequin with Graham's picture on it.

The other skit involved a stick and a pinata. The workers hit the pinata, which had a picture of Graham on it, until plastic babies fell out of it.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 7/23/2010 5:50 pm

Human Events Labels Sen. Graham a Euphemism for "Bitch" for Supporting Kagan

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 7/21/2010 9:56 am

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-6 to send Elena Kagan's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote, with Sen. Lindsey Graham being the only Republican on the Committee to support her.

Needless to say, Graham's decision is not sitting well with the Right, which is why Human Events responded by more or less calling him a "bitch":

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 7/1/2010 5:57 pm
  • Mother Jones: Gay Marriage Foes: 'Til Disclosure Do Us Part?

  • Steve Benen: Enough With The Jones Act Talking Point.

  • Joe.My.God: ARIZONA GOP Candidate Wants To Cut Off Electricity To Undocumented Immigrants.

  • Andy Birkey: Church behind anti-Islam ad to host national anti-gay marriage group.

  • Evan Hurst: Lou Engle, Continuing the Delusion, Says SCOTUS Decision May Signal End Times.

  • Sam Stein: Lindsey Graham On Tea Party: 'Just Unsustainable,' No 'Coherent Vision,' Will 'Die Out'.

  • Ben Dimiero: Dear conservative media: Spare us the hypocritical denunciations of Nazi comparisons.

  • Think Progress: Presidential scholars: Bush is the worst president of the modern era, bottom five of all time.

ALIPAC's Gheen Blackmailing Graham In Order to Prevent Him From Being Blackmailed By President Obama

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/22/2010 3:54 pm

Earlier this week, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC publicly demanded that Senator Lindsey Graham admit to being gay, claiming that he is being manipulated into supporting immigration reform by powerful interests in government who are threatening to expose his "secret" if he doesn't.

Last night, Alan Colmes had ALIPAC's William Gheen on his program to discuss this rather unique strategy, asking Gheen how he knows that Graham is gay since Graham insists that he is not, to which Green explained that he's worked for gay politicans in the past ... so he apparently has really good "gaydar" or something. 

Gheen repeatedly insisted that he has no problem with Graham being gay and the bulk of the discussion centered on Gheen's idea that he was somehow doing Graham a favor by outing him, thereby freeing him from the blackmail of "corrupt, DC special interests [who will] use that information" to force him to support immigration reform.

Colmes kept trying to point out that it was Gheen who was, in essence, trying to blackmail Graham in order to get him to stop supporting immigration reform. 

Needless to say, Gheen didn't see it that way, insisting that he was simply pre-emptively outing Graham so that Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano couldn't use this "secret" to blackmail him into supporting this legislation.

Colmes also asked Gheen how his video, "US Senator Graham is Gay," ended up being posted on YouTube with the tags "queer" and "fag," which Green attributed to the fact that some unknown person had hacked their account and placed them there:

Anti-Immigration Group Demands Sen. Graham Admit He Is Gay

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/20/2010 1:02 pm

One of the strategies we didn't include in our Right Wing Watch In Focus, "(P)reviewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration Reform," was "attempting to out a sitting Republican Senator" because, frankly, we could never have imagined it would come to this.

But here you have the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC attempting to do just, sending out this email demanding that Senator Lindsey Graham admit to being gay as part of its effort to stop him from supporting comprehensive immigration reform:

The national border security organization known as Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is officially calling for US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to make his homosexual lifestyle public knowledge in the interest of political integrity and national security.

ALIPAC's President, William Gheen, addressed Graham's homosexuality in a speech before thousands of Tea Party supporters on Saturday, April 17, 2010, in Greenville South Carolina where Lindsey Graham has offices. A brief clip of Gheen's speech, which is out of proper context, has already gone viral on YouTube and been reported by Keith Olberman on MSNBC, Metro Weekly, The Guardian, and Metro Weekly without proper permissions or attributions.

"US Senator Lindsey Graham is gay and while many people in South Carolina and Washington DC know that, the general public and Graham's constituents do not," said William Gheen President of ALIPAC. "I personally do not care about Graham's private life, but in this situation his desire to keep this a secret may explain why he is doing a lot of political dirty work for others who have the power to reveal his secrets. Senator Graham needs to come out of the closet inside that log cabin so the public can rest assured he is not being manipulated with his secret."

Senator Lindsey Graham is the lone Republican in the US Senate trying to lobby other Republicans to sponsor a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Amnesty bill, which would legalize millions of illegal immigrants and turn them into competitive workers and voters, when the United States has over 25 million under or unemployed workers. ALIPAC considers Graham's support for Comprehensive Amnesty legislation to be against the wishes of 80% of his constituents and against the best interests of the American people.

Senator Graham served in the US Military, which adopted a policy of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell" regarding homosexuality during the Clinton administration. Prior to the policy change, homosexuality was considered a vulnerability to our national security because those with access to classified information and strategic resources were often blackmailed by foreign powers.

"Barney Frank has more integrity and bravery than Senator Lindsey Graham right now," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "When you are a US Senator, the public deserves to know what might influence your decisions. Obama and Napolitano know about Senator Graham, now it is time for the rest of the country to know."

ALIPAC, one of America's largest groups fighting against illegal immigration and amnesty, is releasing this full version of William Gheen's speech containing the request for Senator Graham to confess his homosexuality to the public at this link....

And to think, just a few weeks ago Gheen and ALIPAC were almost forced to shut down because they couldn't raise the $30,000 they needed to stay in business and survived only because of some last minute donations.

The "Extraordinary Circumstances" Of The McCain, Graham Filibuster Vote

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 11/18/2009 12:04 pm

It came as no surprise when Republicans attempted to filibuster the nomination of David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday considering that Sen. Jeff Sessions announced weeks ago that he intended to do so, depsite having opposed the use of the filibuster against judicial nominees when President Bush was in office. Sessions' effort was supported by a gaggle of right-wing activists who likewise opposed the filibuster when it was used against Bush's nominees, but suddenly abandoned their supposedly deeply-help and principled opposition to this sort of "unconstitutional" use of the filibuster. 

But most surprisingly about the vote, which failed 70-29, was that two Republican members of the so-called "Gang of 14" which worked out an agreement to prevent Senate Republicans from deploying the "nuclear option" back in 2005 joined Sessions and other Republicans in trying to filibuster Hamilton: John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

The Gang of 14 agreement stated:

Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should be filibustered only under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.

And when it was announced, Graham hailed it as a significant step in ending the use of the filibuster against judicial nominees:

"The American people won tonight. The Senate is back in business. And I truly believe future judicial nominees will be treated better because of this agreement."

"The agreement allows up or down votes on deserving nominees and gives the Senate a chance to start over regarding future nominees. It's my hope both sides have learned from their mistakes and we can get back to the traditional way of doing business when it comes to judges.

"One of the major elements of the deal makes clear that if one of my seven Democratic colleagues decides to filibuster in the future because of an "extraordinary circumstance," I retain the right to vote for a rules change. It's my hope we never get to that point.

"With better communication and a spirit of putting the country ahead of ourselves, I believe we can avoid future filibusters.

McCain likewise praised the agreement:

I feel the long-term implications are that if this succeeds, then perhaps we will see other coalitions, not necessarily this one but other coalitions, that will join together and try to work for the good of the country. I don't believe that of the 14 of us that any of us had any other ambition than to try to prevent the Senate from going over a precipice.

Apparently McCain and Graham joined the Gang of 14 in order to prevent Senate Republicans from nuking the filibuster while ensuring the confirmation of several of President Bush's most controversial nominees ... just so they could try to use the filibuster against President Obama's very first Circuit Court nominee.

What exactly were the "extraordinary circumstances" in the Hamilton nomination that compelled Graham and McCain to attempt a filibuster after participating in and praising the Gang of 14 agreement as a way for the Senate to "avoid future filibusters"?

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 11/12/2009 6:54 pm
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it would support proposed city laws that would prohibit discrimination against gays in housing and employment ... and FRC is angry.

  • Sen. Lindsey Graham has been censured by the Charleston County Republican Party for being insufficiently conservative.

  • In related South Carolina news, a federal district court ruled Tuesday that the "I Believe" license plate approved by the South Carolina Legislature violates the constitutional separation of church and state and cannot be issued.

  • The annual Federalist Society conference is underway.

  • The George W. Bush Oral History Project?

  • Did you know that President Obama despises America? Well, he does.

  • Amazingly, there are people running for office who still seek Alan Keyes' endorsement.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 9/1/2009 5:27 pm
  • Sarah Palin's PAC filings show donations to Reps. Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Orrin Hatch.

  • LifeNews: A federal judge has issued a ruling saying a collection of pro-life groups don't have standing to file a lawsuit against the FDA over its decision allowing the sales of the morning after pill to minors. The groups wanted to reverse the Food and Drug Administration ruling opening the morning after pill to 17-year-olds.

  • The Republican National Lawyers Association has named James Bopp its Republican Lawyer of the Year.

  • Take that, Woodstock.

  • Focus on the Family President and CEO Jim Daly is scheduled to appear on Thursday night's episode of "Hannity" as part of "The Great American Panel."

Michelle Malkin Mocks the Idea of Broadening the GOP for Diversity's Sake

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 7/29/2009 4:12 pm

Human Events may want to take an adult education class in headline writing. This morning, Michelle Malkin, a right-wing blogger and "journalist", was on the Today show with Matt Lauer to discuss her new book, "Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies."

The conservative website, Human Events, posted the video on their website with the headline "Lauer Loses Cool During Malkin Interview." It seemed rather odd that Lauer, a guy who usually seems pretty level-headed, would "lose his cool", on national television nonetheless. After reviewing the video, however, there isn't even a fleeting moment in which Lauer does anything that resembles a loss of temper.

Even when Malkin calls President Obama a "racial opportunist" and Michelle Obama "the first crony", Lauer simply restates what Malkin said and asks how she can justify such sweeping, broad based claims. Malkin goes even further by attacking Lindsey Graham's desire for more diversity in the Republican Party:

"I think Lindsay Graham has a history of pandering to this idea that somehow the party should broaden itself for the sake of pandering to diversity."

Here's the video, get ready for Lauer's "insane" outbursts:

Rather than misrepresenting the content of an article for the sake of your own columnist, maybe Human Events should work on writing some more accurate headlines.

Sen. Inhofe, C Street, and the "Jesus Thing"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 7/21/2009 4:05 pm

Jeff Sharlet, author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" is an expert on "The Family" and his expertise has become even more valuable in recent weeks as the various infidelities of Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. John Ensign, and former Rep. Chip Pickering have exploded in the news, as all have deep ties to the organization and its house on C Street.

Today, he has a piece in Salon about these men and numerous other powerful political figures and their ties to this secretive organization:

Today's roll call is just as impressive: Men under the Family's religio-political counsel include, in addition to Ensign, Coburn and Pickering, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, both R-S.C.; James Inhofe, R-Okla., John Thune, R-S.D., and recent senators and high officials such as John Ashcroft, Ed Meese, Pete Domenici and Don Nickles. Over in the House there's Joe Pitts, R-Penn., Frank Wolf, R-Va., Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., and John R. Carter, R-Texas. Historically, the Family has been strongly Republican, but it includes Democrats, too. There's Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, for instance, a vocal defender of putting the Ten Commandments in public places, and Sen. Mark Pryor, the pro-war Arkansas Democrat responsible for scuttling Obama's labor agenda. Sen. Pryor explained to me the meaning of bipartisanship he'd learned through the Family: "Jesus didn't come to take sides. He came to take over." And by Jesus, the Family means the Family.

... I met the younger Coe when I lived for several weeks as a member of the Family. He's a surprising source of counsel, spiritual or otherwise. Attempting to explain what it means to be chosen for leadership like King David was -- or Mark Sanford, according to his own estimate -- he asked a young man who'd put himself, body and soul, under the Family's authority, "Let's say I hear you raped three little girls. What would I think of you?" The man guessed that Coe would probably think that he was a monster. "No," answered Coe, "I wouldn't." Why? Because, as a member of the Family, he's among what Family leaders refer to as the "new chosen." If you're chosen, the normal rules don't apply.

The entire thing is fascinating and worth reading, but I was particularly interested in Sharlet's explanation of how the organization regularly funds junkets overseas for its members that are, in essence, missionary trips:

M]ost of the trips sponsored by the Family aren't pleasure junkets. They're missionary work. Only the Family missionaries aren't representing the United States. They're representing "Jesus plus nothing," as Doug Coe puts it ... when they arrive in other countries, on trips paid for by the Family, at the behest of the Family, they are still traveling under official government auspices, on official business, with the pomp and circumstance -- and access -- of their taxpayer-funded, elected positions.

Considering that Sen. Jim Inhofe is reportedly a member of the organization as well, this goes a long way toward explaining this video we posted earlier this year in which he bragged to Faith and Action's Rob Schenck about this missionary trips through which he uses his standing as a US Senator to bring people to Jesus:

In fact, in this video posted today by Faith and Action’s Rob Schenck, it sounds an awful like Inhofe is using these trips for exactly that purpose, as he relates how, before his first trip to Africa, he found out that his daughter was also going to be there doing missionary work and told her that “if you go with me, it’s free.” He also explains that the trips are part of the “politics of Jesus” whereby Christians are instructed to take the name of Jesus to the kings. Being a US Senator, Inhofe says, means Africans think he is important and so he can always get in to see the kings, where he can tell them that he has come “in the spirit of Jesus.” Inhofe even holds up a copy of the Oklahoman featuring the above-mentioned article to defend himself, saying the article is an example of “persecution” and insisting that he is doing this work as a private citizen before trumpeting the fact that, through his work, he has managed to bring entire African villages to Jesus.

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lindsey graham Posts Archive

Krikorian Lays Out Strategy to 'Kill' Immigration Bill, Attacks 'Big Religion' SBC, 'Jerk' Graham, 'Water Boy' Rubio
SUBMITTED BY: Miranda Blue, Tuesday 05/07/2013, 12:00pm
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a GOP witness at last month’s Senate hearings on immigration reform, laid out his strategy for stopping the reform bill on a Tea Party Unity conference call Thursday. Krikorian told the Tea Party activists on the call that they were lined up against “all the big institutions in the country” including “Big Business…Big Labor, all the big donors, Big Government Big Education, Big Media, Big Philanthropy, Big Religion -- the Southern Baptist Convention has been roped into this as well.... MORE >
Right Wing Round-Up - 4/19/13
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Friday 04/19/2013, 5:34pm
Benjy Sarlin @ TPM: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): Obama Should Treat Suspect As ‘Enemy Combatant.’ Carlos Maza @ Equality Matters: NOM Denies Anti-Gay Violence In France After Praising Activist Who Called For “Blood.” David Edwards @ Raw Story: Cruz called Sandy aid ‘pork’ but wants ‘all available resources’ after Texas blast. Kate Sheppard @ Mother Jones: Boy Scouts of America Proposes Dropping Ban on Gay Kids—But Not Gay Adults. Media Matters: Glenn Beck: America Should "Demand Impeachment" For Government Cover... MORE >
Right Wing Round-Up - 1/30/13
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 01/30/2013, 6:40pm
Michael B. Keegan @ The Huffington Post: Lindsey, Please! Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion: Judith Reisman Hits Croatia. Joe.My.God: Protect Marriage: WE'RE BROKE. Annie-Rose Strasser @ Think Progress: Tennessee ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Now Requires Teachers To Inform Parents If Their Child Is Gay. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: I Don’t Think This Will Sway the Court. Andrew Kirell @ Mediaite: Comedian Relentlessly Mocks Glenn Beck’s Freedom Town Plans… On Glenn Beck’s Own TV Network. Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog:... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers - 1/29/13
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/29/2013, 6:30pm
Bryan Fischer warns that “homosexual pedophiles already seek to infiltrate scouting because it provides a target rich environment for their twisted desires. Abolishing the sexual orientation standard will turn every Boy Scout in America into vulnerable prey for the sexually deviant.”  Peter LaBarbera claims the BSA’s “proposal opens the door to the sexual and spiritual corruption of boys.” Rick Perry is one of the most unpopular governors in the U.S., which bodes well for his second presidential campaign. Lindsey Graham continues to be... MORE >
2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/4/11
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/04/2011, 10:22am
Mitch Daniels Social issues: Candidates for RNC Chair pan Daniels's "truce" proposal (GOP12, 1/3). 2012: Claims that a potential presidential bid scares his family "to death" (The Hill, 1/3). Newt Gingrich Religious Right: Bryan Fischer of AFA thinks his history of extramarital affairs will doom him among social conservatives (RWW, 1/3). Fundraising: Confirmed to address, along with Mike Pence, Illinois GOP fundraiser celebrating Ronald Reagan's birthday (Chicago Tribune, 1/3). Mike Huckabee Arkansas: Enthusiasm builds for a second presidential run in his home... MORE >
Randall Terry and Crew Met With Boehner's Chief of Staff
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 11/29/2010, 12:32pm
It is no secret that Randall Terry is an attention-seeking right-wing zealot, always on the lookout for ways to get his name in the press. From burning effigies of Nancy Pelosi or Lindsey Graham to destroying Korans and protesting outside the school attended by President Obama's daughters, Terry is constantly working to draw attention to his cause ... mainly as a means to draw attention to himself. And all of that self-aggrandizement occasionally pays of, as it helps Terry to secure meetings with incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner's Chief of Staff, as he revealed when he included this... MORE >
Bachmann "Likely" to Attend Conference Advocating War With Iran?
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 11/15/2010, 3:20pm
I think it is safe to say that nothing good can come from a conference in which a bunch of right-wingers and Muslim-haters gather to promote methods to "liberate the Iranian people and the world from the on-going and brutal repression" of the government in Iran:  On November 17, 2010, Freedom Watch and the Foundation for Democracy in Iran will host a symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to discuss and formulate policy on how the United States and the West can liberate the Iranian people and the world from the on-going and brutal repression of the Persian... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 07/27/2010, 5:41pm
Rick Santorum is seriously considering running for President in 2012.  Awesome.  He and Newt Gingrich can battle it out for those voters looking to support failed former politicians. Joseph Farah pretty much loses it over the fact that Lindsey Graham and Richard Lugar are supporting Elena Kagan. The Susan B. Anthony is launching a $100,000 campaign to get Hispanic voters to support Carly Fiorina. Peter LaBarbera declares the Gay Liberation Network to be a "homosexual hate organization." Cindy Jacobs is launching her own 40-day fast before the... MORE >