Sean Hannity

Fox News' Top Five Islamophobic Smears

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 3/1/2013 3:30 pm

Sean Hannity last night was clearly upset that Rep. Keith Ellison exposed him for what he is — a partisan hack — and he is now launching attacks on the congressman by recycling statements Ellison made in the 1990s about the Nation of Islam, a group that the congressman later vociferously denounced. He even wondered if “we have somebody then in Congress that is the equivalent of one side of what the Klan is?”

Hannity has attacked Ellison over his faith in the past, arguing that Ellison’s use of Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran during his symbolic swearing-in ceremony “will embolden Islamic extremists” and is no different from a congressman using “Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible.”

While the use of inflammatory language and false claims is nothing new for Sean Hannity, we decided to use the segment as an opportunity to highlight the five Islamophobic smears regularly found on Fox News.

1. Obama is a Secret Muslim:

Fox News host Eric Bolling claimed that Obama “answers to the Quran first and to the Constitution second” and Hannity himself alleged that Obama “went to a Muslim school.” Regular contributors like Charles Krauthammer and Donald Trump have also floated the claim that Obama was raised as a Muslim and back in 2007, Fox News ran with the discredited story that Obama was a student an Islamic “madrassa” in Indonesia.

2. Park 51 Will be used for Terrorism:

Dick Morris, who just recently was booted from the network following his hilariously bad election predictions, said that the Park 51 Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero is planning to “train the same kind of terrorists” that attacked the U.S. on 9/11, warning the building will be a “command center for terrorism.” Bolling alleged that Park 51 is being built to represent “the people who flew planes” into the Twin Towers and Bill O’Reilly warned the project is housing “condos for Al Qaeda.”

3. Al Jazeera Conspiracies:

Fox News contributor Lisa Daftari warned that Al Jazeera’s acquisition of Current TV will activate terrorist “sleeper cells” in Detroit and regular Fox guest Michelle Malkin called the channel “a cheerleader for terror” and “a Trojan Horse for terror TV.”

4. Sharia law a-comin’:

Regular Fox News viewers may be under the impression that President Obama, public schools and NASA seek to impose Sharia law. The network also recently hired Herman Cain as a contributor, who insisted that Muslims should be prohibited from serving in high levels of government and that localities have a right to ban mosques because Muslims seek to introduce Sharia law, warnings Hannity readily endorsed.

5. ‘All Terrorists are Muslims’:

Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends claimed that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims” and Bill O’Reilly has implied that all Muslims were responsible for 9/11. Fox News regularly hosts anti-Muslim guests such as Brigitte Gabriel, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. In fact, Fox News host Laura Ingraham and contributor John Bolton prematurely blamed the far-right terrorist attack in Norway on government offices and a left-wing party youth summit on Muslims.

Right Wing Round-Up - 2/28/13

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 2/28/2013 7:05 pm
  • Right Wing Watch In Focus: The Lobby Against Common Sense: The Right’s Campaign Against Gun Violence Reform and How We Can Defeat It. 
  • Wonkette: Joseph Farah Determines ‘We’ Had More Freedom in 1776 than Today (For Certain Values of ‘We’),

Romney's Right Resorts to Racial Resentment

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Friday, 10/5/2012 10:39 am

This week, on the eve of the first presidential debate, right-wing media, led by the Drudge Report, the Daily Caller, and Fox News, hyped a supposedly secret video that they dubbed “the other race speech.”  Fox News propagandist Sean Hannity tried desperately to portray the video as “explosive” footage that the liberal media had deliberately hid from voters to protect Barack Obama. Religious Right leaders played their part, with Liberty Counsel’s ludicrous Matt Barber demanding, “Romney simply must make ad upon ad out of this devastating video exposing Obama as a white-hating racist.”  Karl Rove, who with a cadre of right-wing billionaires has kept Republican hopes alive by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into the election, piled on, saying Obama’s comments were designed to “stir up racial animosity” and called them “abhorrent.”

Of course, as it turned out, the video is neither news nor explosive.  It is a 2007 campaign speech that had been well covered by mainstream media at the time.  Ultimately what is newsworthy and offensive is not Obama’s 2007 speech, but the way that right-wing pundits, desperate to defeat him in November, have resorted to a brazen strategy of stoking racial resentment, and trying to create a distraction by accusing the president of doing the same thing.  Not only is Mitt Romney unwilling to stand up to the extremists in his own party, as President Obama pointed out in last night’s debate,  Romney and his campaign are fully engaged in destructive racial politicking. It’s worth noting the contrast with John McCain, who sometimes stood up to his party’s extremists; Romney cheers them on.
 
Some Romney backers are not even bothering to try to cloak the racial-resentment strategy.  Right-wing blogger John Hawkins flat-out declared this week, “Barack Obama is an Anti-White Racist.”  And he tweeted, “A white woman voting for Barack Obama is like a black woman voting for the KKK.” When Glenn Beck accused Obama of hating white people in 2009, the resulting uproar contributed to an exodus of advertisers from his show.  But in 2012, with the election on the line, there’s been no sign that the Romney campaign is troubled by Hawkins’ claims: his pro-Romney writing is still featured on the official campaign website.
 
Hawkins isn’t alone.  Earlier this year, American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer, told his radio listeners:  “I believe that President Obama has a fundamental dislike, a fundamental distaste, nay I would even say he’s got what borders on a hatred for white people, and he is out to punish America and the white folks that make up the majority of the American population.”
 
Salon’s Joan Walsh has dissected the outrageous distortions of Obama’s speech by Hannity and Tucker Carlson in a post about “right-wing racial panic.” Romney officials said the campaign was not responsible for the recent “release” of the 2007 speech, but as Buzzfeed’s Zeke Miller points out, they did not distance themselves from it either.  In fact a senior Romney advisor said that voters “have to look at that video and have to make up their mind on that individually.” 
 
Indeed, the Romney campaign itself has made an appeal to racial resentment a centerpiece of its outreach to working-class white voters, who outside the South have been pretty equally divided between Romney and Obama.  Exhibit A is the television ad campaign, pretty much universally acknowledged to be an outright lie, charging that Obama gutted welfare reform by getting rid of its work requirement.  One ad shows glum white workers while claiming that thanks to Obama, people no longer have to work or train for a job; “they just send you your welfare check.”  Later ads have repeated the same false charge.
 
Romney himself pushed the same point when, gloating to a Republican audience about having been booed when he told NAACP members that he would repeal “Obamacare.”  Romney characterized those who disagreed with his speech as people who “want more free stuff” from the government. Journalist Adele Stan of AlterNet has chronicled various ways the Romney campaign is using racial resentment and racially coded language, including the welfare ads, statements such as John Sununu’s claim that Obama needs to learn how to be American, and the choice of “Keep America America” – one letter away from the KKK’s “Keep America American” – as a campaign slogan.
 
Divisive racial politics have a long history in America, of course.  But there is also a more recent history: right-wing leaders have made the politics of racial resentment key to their attacks on President Obama throughout his presidency, as People For the American Way Foundation noted in its 2009 report, “Right Plays the Race Card.” And right-wing groups such as the National Organization for Marriage have made racial wedge issues a centerpiece of their anti-equality campaigns.After this week’s debate, Romney campaign co-chair Sununu described the president as “lazy” and “not that bright.”
 
Romney might get a bit of a bump out of this week’s debate, though the president’s prospects should be boosted by Friday’s good economic news.  The longer President Obama's lead in the polls holds up, the more likely it is that we will see destructive racial politicking from the rabid right-wing.

 

Farah: God Sent Earthquake to Punish America for Moral 'Lawlessness'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 3/9/2012 6:00 pm

In a speech at a Strategic Perspectives Conference hosted by Chuck Missler’s Koinonia House, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah repeated his claim that the 2011 Virginia earthquake was a punishment from God for “lawlessness in our world today.” Farah described how he was “chatting on instant messenger” with Sean Hannity when they both felt the earthquake, messaging each other in jest, “It’s the end of the world.” He continued to say that the earthquake was not the end of the world but a sign from God that He will no longer tolerate “disobedience and indifference to Him and His law,” and warned that “you can safely expect many more signs of that kind and even more ominous ones.”

Watch:

When that earthquake finally hit, I was chatting on instant messenger with Sean Hannity.

…

Within seconds, we both messaged each other, simultaneously, both in jest, ‘It’s the end of the world.’ This is the thought that went through the minds of many in an instant, our world was shaken and when our world shakes there is really only one power in the universe who can do that, and it’s the Creator.

Why does God do that? I believe that He shakes us up in small ways and big ways as a sign to us of the consequences of disobedience and indifference to Him and His law. It’s really that simple, He wants us to return to covenant, which means living under His rules. Given the extent of lawlessness in our world today, I think you can safely expect many more signs of that kind and even more ominous ones.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/24/2011 5:34 pm
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann hails Iowa for standing up to the "black-robed masters" in removed three judges from the state Supreme Court.

  • Ken Blackwell for Senate?

  • CWA's Wendy Wright testified on behalf of Janet Porter's "Heartbeat Bill" yesterday.

  • Honestly, how is Sheriff Joe Arpaio still in office?

  • Is Sean Hannity embracing Birtherism?

  • When Grover Norquist talks taxes, Republican fall all over themselves to do his bidding.  When he talks criminal justice reform, they couldn't care less.

  • Finally, FRC asks God to help them defund Planned Parenthood: "May God grant our House leaders courage and conviction to defend Life at any cost. May He stir consciences in the Senate and bring an unexpected miracle. May pro-abortion liberals fail in their effort to deceive America, and if a 'shutdown' occurs, may they get the blame."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 1/18/2011 6:35 pm
  • The Supreme Court has rejected the right-wing challenge to Washington, DC's marriage equality law.

  • The ever-brave Sarah Palin sits down for a softball interview with Sean Hannity to defend her "blood libel" video.

  • Rep. Michele Bachmann will be the keynote speaker at the March for Life Rose Dinner.

  • Don't like health care reform?  Why not sign up for a Christian health care co-op?

  • It seems that the developer's attendance estimates for the creationist theme park in Kentucky are wildly optimistic.

  • Randall Terry intends to launch a primary challenge against President Obama so that he can run graphic anti-abortion ads on television and will host a press conference announcing his campaign outside the Holocaust Museum.

  • Finally, the Sarah Palin Battle Hymn is a real thing.

2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/18/10

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 1/18/2011 10:47 am

Michele Bachmann

GOP: Scheduled to address Montana GOP's Lincoln/Reagan Dinner on Feb 5 (Politico, 1/17).

Iowa: Conservatives in Iowa excited about Bachmann's appearance at Iowans for Tax Relief event this week (Minnesota Public Radio, 1/17).

Religious Right: Ultraconservative writer Joseph Farah praises potential Bachmann bid (WND, 1/11).

Haley Barbour

Immigration: Draconian Arizona-style law on immigrant rights to be considered by the Mississippi state legislature (Fox News, 1/17).

2012: Says he won't make a decision about a presidential run until the spring (WSJ, 1/14).

John Bolton

2012: Tells Russia Today that he could win the GOP nomination since he is in "the mainstream of the Republican Party" (GOP12, 1/17).

Foreign affairs: Knocks Obama Administration's handling of the political crisis in Lebanon (The Hill, 1/16).

Mike Huckabee

Alaska: Travelling to Alaska with a "Christian-based" cruise (HuffPo, 1/14).

Religious Right: Sarah Posner analyzes Huckabee's ties to Evangelical voters, "Christian nation mythology" (Religion Dispatches, 1/12).

Sarah Palin

Fox News: Tells Sean Hannity that Tucson shooting was "left-leaning," defends herself from criticism (Mediaite, 1/17).

Polling: Performs well among Republicans nationwide, but not in early primary states (Public Policy Polling, 1/14).

Arizona: Video response to Tucson shootings widely panned (Politico, 1/13; Salon, 1/12).

Tim Pawlenty

Economics: Opposes raising the debt ceiling despite prospect of default (HufPo, 1/16).

Religious Right: Tells Bryan Fischer of AFA that he supports reinstating Don't Ask Don't Tell (RWW, 1/13).

Palin: Says that her "bullseye" crosshairs map of congressional Democrats isn't "his style" (MinnPost, 1/12).

Mike Pence

2012: Former GOP Congressman launches a draft-Pence petition called the American President Committee (AP, 1/17).

Reproductive Rights: Planned Parenthood criticizes Pence's legislation to strip the group of federal funds (Muncie Star Press, 1/12).

Media: Introduces bill to block possible implementation of the Fairness Doctrine on talk radio (The Hill, 1/12).

Gun Violence: Denounces calls for gun control measures after Tuscon shootings (TPM, 1/12).

Rick Perry

2012: Begins polling voters outside of Texas (NRO, 1/17).

Immigration: Presses for new laws to curb immigrant rights (NYT, 1/15).

Mitt Romney

Foreign affairs: Meets with Israel's Prime Minister after visiting Afghanistan (Politico, 1/14).

Campaign: Hires new political director and pollster (RealClearPolitics, 1/13).

2012: Signs point to spring announcement as Romney steps down from the board of Marriott International (AP, 1/12).

Rick Santorum

South Carolina: Addressed the Aiken Republican Club 2011 kickoff meeting (The Augusta Chronicle, 1/17).

Religious Right: Keynoted major anti-choice rally in Columbia, South Carolina (The State, 1/16).

New Hampshire: Interviewed by Boston Herald at Granite Oath PAC house party (Boston Herald, 1/14).

John Thune

CPAC: Set to address Conservative Political Action Conference in February despite Religious Right boycott (Argus Leader, 1/13).

GOP: Keynote speaker for Missouri Republican Party's Lincoln Days fundraiser (News Leader, 1/11).

2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/18/10

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 1/18/2011 10:47 am

Michele Bachmann

GOP: Scheduled to address Montana GOP's Lincoln/Reagan Dinner on Feb 5 (Politico, 1/17).

Iowa: Conservatives in Iowa excited about Bachmann's appearance at Iowans for Tax Relief event this week (Minnesota Public Radio, 1/17).

Religious Right: Ultraconservative writer Joseph Farah praises potential Bachmann bid (WND, 1/11).

Haley Barbour

Immigration: Draconian Arizona-style law on immigrant rights to be considered by the Mississippi state legislature (Fox News, 1/17).

2012: Says he won't make a decision about a presidential run until the spring (WSJ, 1/14).

John Bolton

2012: Tells Russia Today that he could win the GOP nomination since he is in "the mainstream of the Republican Party" (GOP12, 1/17).

Foreign affairs: Knocks Obama Administration's handling of the political crisis in Lebanon (The Hill, 1/16).

Mike Huckabee

Alaska: Travelling to Alaska with a "Christian-based" cruise (HuffPo, 1/14).

Religious Right: Sarah Posner analyzes Huckabee's ties to Evangelical voters, "Christian nation mythology" (Religion Dispatches, 1/12).

Sarah Palin

Fox News: Tells Sean Hannity that Tucson shooting was "left-leaning," defends herself from criticism (Mediaite, 1/17).

Polling: Performs well among Republicans nationwide, but not in early primary states (Public Policy Polling, 1/14).

Arizona: Video response to Tucson shootings widely panned (Politico, 1/13; Salon, 1/12).

Tim Pawlenty

Economics: Opposes raising the debt ceiling despite prospect of default (HufPo, 1/16).

Religious Right: Tells Bryan Fischer of AFA that he supports reinstating Don't Ask Don't Tell (RWW, 1/13).

Palin: Says that her "bullseye" crosshairs map of congressional Democrats isn't "his style" (MinnPost, 1/12).

Mike Pence

2012: Former GOP Congressman launches a draft-Pence petition called the American President Committee (AP, 1/17).

Reproductive Rights: Planned Parenthood criticizes Pence's legislation to strip the group of federal funds (Muncie Star Press, 1/12).

Media: Introduces bill to block possible implementation of the Fairness Doctrine on talk radio (The Hill, 1/12).

Gun Violence: Denounces calls for gun control measures after Tuscon shootings (TPM, 1/12).

Rick Perry

2012: Begins polling voters outside of Texas (NRO, 1/17).

Immigration: Presses for new laws to curb immigrant rights (NYT, 1/15).

Mitt Romney

Foreign affairs: Meets with Israel's Prime Minister after visiting Afghanistan (Politico, 1/14).

Campaign: Hires new political director and pollster (RealClearPolitics, 1/13).

2012: Signs point to spring announcement as Romney steps down from the board of Marriott International (AP, 1/12).

Rick Santorum

South Carolina: Addressed the Aiken Republican Club 2011 kickoff meeting (The Augusta Chronicle, 1/17).

Religious Right: Keynoted major anti-choice rally in Columbia, South Carolina (The State, 1/16).

New Hampshire: Interviewed by Boston Herald at Granite Oath PAC house party (Boston Herald, 1/14).

John Thune

CPAC: Set to address Conservative Political Action Conference in February despite Religious Right boycott (Argus Leader, 1/13).

GOP: Keynote speaker for Missouri Republican Party's Lincoln Days fundraiser (News Leader, 1/11).

2012 Candidates Weekly Update 11/23/10

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 11/23/2010 10:30 am

Newt Gingrich

Government: Claims that Attorney General Eric Holder “endangered national security” and should resign (NewsMax, 11/21).

Media: Says he will refuse to attend a debate hosted by “hostile” and “left-wing” Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann (Mediaite, 11/21).

Mike Huckabee

2012: Warns that GOP takeover of the House will help Obama in 2012 (The Note, 11/22).

Religious Right: Iowa Independent looks at Huckabee’s ties to Vander Plaats, IFPC (Iowa Independent, 11/22).

Iowa: Congratulates voters for ousting judges who backed same-sex marriage rights (AP, 11/21).

Sarah Palin

Obama: In new book says that the President betrays “a stark lack of faith in the American people” (USA Today, 11/23).

Media: Tells Sean Hannity she will only speak to non-biased reporters and shun Katie Couric (CBS News, 11/22).

2012: Conservatives4Palin lists the five top reasons she is qualified to be President, includes PTA volunteering and “Pro-Life Advocacy” (C4P, 11/19).

Tim Pawlenty

Government: Calls on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign (Iowa Independent, 11/22).

Health Care: Writes Op-Ed on how states can stop health care reform (San Diego Union Tribune, 11/18).

Mitt Romney

Poll: New poll has Romney as most competitive Republican, in statistical dead heat with Obama (Quinnipiac, 11/22).

Fundraising: NYT explores Romney’s web of state leadership PACS (NYT, 11/20).

Rick Santorum

2012: Set to address Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) meeting in February (Sunshine State News, 11/22).

New Hampshire: Plans on seventh appearance in the Granite State later this month (CNN, 11/17).

Tea Party: After claiming to be only Tea Party presidential hopeful, says that Angle, Miller, and O’Donnell don’t represent movement either (GOP 12, 11/16).

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 9/10/2010 5:21 pm
  • FRC, TVC, and CWA react to the DADT ruling. Shockingly, they disagree with it.

  • It seems unclear whether Terry Jones has actually canceled his "Burn a Koran Day" tomorrow, though Rob Schenck met with him and says he doesn't think he'll go ahead with it.

  • Sean Hannity has joined the Values Voter Summit.

  • Rick Santorum set to deliver a big speech on faith in the public square on the 50th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy's famous speech addressing his faith and the need to separate church and state.

  • Hey, guess what?  The World Trade Center had a Muslim prayer room in it. Didn't they realize how insensitive that was?

Chamber’s Ads Against Boxer Stray From The Facts

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 9/9/2010 12:18 pm

The US Chamber of Commerce, already committed to spending $75 million to elect pro-corporate candidates this year, is now on the air in California slamming progressive Senator Barbara Boxer. Their new ad, Tom Hamburger of Los Angeles Times writes, “represents a first in this Senate race for the national and state Chamber of Commerce.” The Chamber asserts that Boxer prioritized the protection of an endangered species of fish over supplying water to California’s Central Valley—a line of attack identical to Republican nominee Carly Fiorina’s criticism of Boxer’s handling of water issues.

But the Contra Costa Times found that the right-wing attacks on Senator Boxer to be way off base: “Delta pumps were never turned off last year. They were dialed down, but that was mostly because of dry conditions and not endangered species rules.” In fact, the state Department of Water Resources claims that the permits to save the endangered species from extinction “were responsible for just one-fourth of the shortages last year.” An independent study from Jeffrey Michael of the University of Pacific’s Business Forecasting Center demonstrates that environmental and economic factors, not the Endangered Species Act, are responsible for higher unemployment rates.

By resuscitating erroneous and discredited arguments from agribusiness and conservatives such as Sean Hannity in order to smear Barbara Boxer, the Chamber hopes to replace her with a new Senator beholden to corporate interests.

 

Did Hannity Withdraw From CPAC Over GOProud?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 8/19/2010 9:58 am

Yesterday we noted that Ann Coulter had been dropped from the upcoming Take Back America Conference being organized by WorldNetDaily because Coulter had agreed to speak at a different conference hosted by the gay conservative group GOProud.

And with attention-seekers like Coulter and WND's Joseph Farah involved, you just knew that there was no way that was going to be the last word about it:

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter responded today to the announcement that WorldNetDaily was dropping her as a speaker for one of their events, calling WorldNetDaily Editor Joseph Farah a “publicity whore” and a “swine.”

Coulter was bumped from the speakers list of WND’s September “Taking America Back National Conference” after it was announced that she had accepted a speaking gig at a New York City party hosted by GOProud, a Washington-based group that represents gay conservatives.

“[F]arah is doing this for PUBLICITY and publicity alone,” Coulter wrote in an email to The Daily Caller on Wednesday afternoon.

This, in turn, has set off another round of stories on WorldNetDaily, but I want to highlight this one by David Kupelian, claiming that Sean Hannity pulled out of CPAC and Sarah Palin refused to attend all because of GOProud:

It caused Sean Hannity to pull out of last February's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., where he had been slated to appear as keynote speaker. When Hannity withdrew from the CPAC lineup, Glenn Beck stepped in. (Though this has not been previously reported, my source is highly placed and utterly reliable.)

It was also a big reason Gov. Sarah Palin opted not to speak at CPAC, long the nation's largest and most influential annual gathering of conservatives.

It caused WorldNetDaily, as well as major conservative institutions like Liberty University, to drop their planned sponsorship of the event.

"It" … is GOProud, the homosexual activist organization masquerading as a "traditional conservative" group, whose acceptance as official sponsor of CPAC caused many traditionally minded individuals and groups to pull out – on principle.

Now obviously, anything that has never been reported elsewhere that is suddenly being "reported" by WND is immediately suspect. 

I don't buy the Palin claim, since she has skipped CPAC the last two years, apparently because she personal gripes against organizer David Keene, who dared to criticize her, and I don't know that I believe the claim about Hannity either ... but it sure would be interesting to get some non-WND sourced confirmation of this claim. 

Dismantling the Right Wing Campaign Against Elena Kagan

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 6/11/2010 3:30 pm

Our latest Right Wing Watch In Focus in now available and it examines the Right's plan of attack against Elena Kagan and her nomination to the Supreme Court.

It explains how, from the very moment Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement, the Right was vowing to fight any nominee that President Obama put forward to replace him, without even having any idea who it might be, even though they knew that probably would not be able to defeat them. 

So when President Obama nominated Elena Kagan, they swung into action, raising concerns about her so-called "radicalism": 

The right-wing's routine charges of "radicalism" have settled into a tight little rhetorical circle which leaves no room for actual facts or logic. Here's how it goes: because Obama is dangerously radical, anybody he appoints to anything should be assumed to be radical. And the fact that he is appointing radicals just proves how radically radical he himself is.

While any Supreme Court nominee would draw close scrutiny from across the legal and political spectrum, including someone with Kagan's widely acknowledged intellect and her academic and public service credentials, those who were ready to scream "radical" no matter what the facts might actually be have been screaming about Kagan's alleged radicalism:

  • Fox pundit Sean Hannity said "her background is strident radical left like the president's."
  • Robert Knight of the Coral Ridge Ministries charged that the nomination was Obama's "in your face" selection of a "radical lawyer."
  • FRC's Perkins decried Kagan as an "ideological twin" to President Obama and said her "ultimate agenda" is "to reshape the court with a profoundly radical bent."
  • Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery calls her nomination "a triumph for liberal ideology and judicial activism."
  • And this from the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Sheldon Lafferty: "President Obama's pick of Elena Kagan demonstrates his willingness to subvert the Constitution for his personal agenda and impose his leftist ideology on our nation for the next 30 to 40 years."
  • Vision America's Rick Scarborough, in a piece called Elena Kagan and the War Against Christianity, calls her nomination "the latest step toward the moral abyss for America." He calls Kagan "a doctrinaire radical leftist with a written disdain for the Constitution of the United States…."
  • David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society, criticized Obama for nominating "an individual who has demonstrated a lack of adherence to the limits of the Constitution and a desire to utilize the court system to enact her beliefs of social engineering.

Those pushing the radical charges won't hear anything else. Sean Hannity asked former Clinton advisor Dick Morris, "So is this just another Obama radical being elevated to the highest levels of our government?" But when Morris repeatedly told Hannity that Kagan had been a moderate-to-conservative voice in the Clinton administration, and predicted based on his experience working with her that she would be a moderate voice on the Court, Hannity would hear nothing of it, cutting Morris off to insist "no way."

This was, of course, just one part of a multi-faceted strategy of lies that the Right has undertaken as they try anything and everything in an effort to sink Kagan's nomination - so be sure to read the entire report to understand how Republicans and the Right are trying to use this issue to boost their political standing.

FRC Founding Board Member Discovered Traveling With "Rent Boy"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 5/4/2010 2:08 pm

In 1983, George Rekers joined James Dobson and a handful of others in founding the Family Research Council.

Last month, Rekers was reportedly discovered returning from an overseas trip with a "rent boy":

On April 13, the "rent boy" (whom we'll call Lucien) arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberian Airlines Flight 6123, after a ten-day, fully subsidized trip to Europe. He was soon followed out of customs by an old man with an atavistic mustache and a desperate blond comb-over, pushing an overburdened baggage cart.

That man was George Alan Rekers, of North Miami — the callboy's client and, as it happens, one of America's most prominent anti-gay activists. Rekers, a Baptist minister who is a leading scholar for the Christian right, left the terminal with his gay escort, looking a bit discomfited when a picture of the two was snapped with a hot-pink digital camera.

Reached by New Times before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned Lucien was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. "I had surgery," Rekers said, "and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him." (Though medical problems didn't stop him from pushing the tottering baggage cart through MIA.)

...

For decades, George Alan Rekers has been a general in the culture wars, though his work has often been behind the scenes. In 1983, he and James Dobson, America's best-known homophobe, formed the Family Research Council, a D.C.-based, rabidly Christian, and vehemently anti-gay lobbying group that has become a standard-bearer of the nation's extreme right wing. Its annual Values Summit is considered a litmus test for Republican presidential hopefuls, and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter have spoken there. (The Family Research Council would not comment about Rekers's Euro-trip.)

He has also influenced American politics, serving in advisory roles with Congress, the White House, and the Department of Health and Human Services and testifying as a state's witness in favor of Florida's gay adoption ban. A former research fellow at Harvard University and a distinguished professor of neuropsychiatry at the University of South Carolina, Rekers has published papers and books by the hundreds, with titles like Who Am I? Lord and Growing Up Straight: What Families Should Know About Homosexuality.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/1/2010 5:44 pm
  • FRC's Tom McClusky says his statement about President Obama being our "first gay President" was just a joke.

  • Liberty University Chancellor defends secretly recording a meeting with city officials as the school seeks to pressure the City Council to change its zoning status.

  • Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert has signed two bills authorizing the state to use eminent domain to seize land held by the federal government.

  • Hooray!  Another person with ties to Wallbuilders is running for office in Texas.

  • Governor Rick Perry of Texas and Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota have declared April as Abortion Recovery/Awareness Month.

  • Rob Schenck and Pat Mahoney have completed their annual Stations of the Cross pilgrimage.

  • I never thought I 'd see that day that Concerned Women for America claimed Christians don't have the right to protest and exercise their religion.

  • Finally, behold Sean Hannity praising tea part activists as "Tim McVeigh wannabes" :

Texas Attorney General Accepts Vision America Award

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 3/30/2010 4:31 pm

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott stopped by Nacogdoches last night to speak at Vision America's "Guardian of the Family" Gala and accept the organization's "Texas Guardian of the Family Award" ... and judging by the speech he delivered, it's easy to see why Vision America felt he deserved the honor:

Stoking patriotic sentiments among the crowd, made up of various Christian congregations and local elected officials, Abbott read off a list of politically pointed quips that parodied comedian Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" one-liners that were popular in the 1990s.

"You might be a true American if it never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase 'one nation under God.' You might be a true American if you've never protested against a public display of the Ten Commandments," he said. "You might be a true American if at Christmas time you still say 'Merry Christmas' as opposed to 'Happy Winter Festival.'"

But on a more serious note, the state attorney general also addressed his appeal to a Texas judge's decision to grant two Dallas men who were married in Massachusetts a divorce this past October. Abbott claimed that because Texas already has a ban on same-sex marriages, allowing the divorce of the two men would retroactively recognize same-sex marriages.

"Marriage is not man-made law. It's man's decision to adopt God's law. Man cannot redefine God's law, and yet they still try," Abbott said. "This is the first time that any judge has ruled that traditional marriage laws violate the U.S. Constitution."

The ruling judge in that case argued that the courts do indeed have jurisdiction to dissolve legal marriages from other states, and just last month, another such same-sex divorce was approved by another judge in Austin. Abbott has also sought an appeal to that case involving two women, also married in Massachusetts ... Abbott then praised his own defense of a 2003 law that requires public school students to begin their school day by observing a mandatory one-minute of silence in order to pray, reflect or remain quiet. The courts upheld the constitutionality of the moment-of-silence law because it did not require that students use it exclusively for prayer.

Abbott had to duck out early because he was scheduled to make an appearance on Fox News' "The Sean Hannity Show."  But before leaving, he made sure to stress the need for Christians to mobilize politically:

"Think what the country would look like if 100 percent of the people who worship God voted their values in each election. Together they would ensure a country that is more reflective of a God that gave us our inalienable rights," he said.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 2/16/2010 6:32 pm
  • A Truth Wins Out (TWO) and South Florida Gay News (SFGN) investigation revealed that a Wall Street criminal mastermind who was convicted in 1987 of “fraud of spectacular scope” has secretly reinvented himself as a moral leader who “cures” gay and lesbian people.

  • Joe The Plumber is no longer a fan of John McCain or Sarah Palin.

  • Only Orly Taitz could find a way to turn a $20,000 fine levied against her for frivolous legal filings into an opportunity to prove that President Obama was not born in the U.S.

    • The UK broadcast of Glenn Beck's show "was forced to run without any advertisements" for five days in a row due to a lack of sponsors.

  • Hey, Sean Hannity will be joining Sarah Palin as she campaigns for Rep. Michele Bachmann.  Awesome!

  • We get it Matt Barber; you don't like gays.

  • Finally, Republicans sure seem to hate the stimulus bill ... except when they don't.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 1/11/2010 6:44 pm
  • Does Glenn Beck have a tax problem?

  • I expect that Marco Rubio will get a warm reception when he speaks at CPAC.

  • Pat Robertson's CBN is celebrating 50 years of ministry.

  • Day Gardner weighs in on Harry Reid: "I believe the comments made by Senator Harry Reid stems from a time in American history where the shade of a black man's skin determined whether he was a field nigger or a house nigger. Either way, to the slave owner he was still just a slave; a sub-human to be owned and controlled."

  • Finally, guess who Sean Hannity had on his radio program last week?  Kitty Werthmann.

LaBarbera on Jennings: "This Is All About Homosexuality"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 12/9/2009 11:25 am

Recently we released a report entitled "Rise of the New McCarthyism: How Right Wing Extremists Try to Paralyze Government Through Ideological Smears and Baseless Attacks" that examined how "Joseph McCarthy’s ideological heirs in the Republican Party and right-wing media are using the language and tactics of McCarthy to stir fears that the nation is being destroyed by enemies from within."

Among the features of this new McCarthyism is "an obsessive hunt for homosexuals" and one of their primary targets has been Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

And, as if to prove our point, just yesterday the Washington Times ran this editorial entitled "Obama's buggery czar" that was based largely on this recent Breitbart.tv "exposé" of GLSEN 's recommended reading list, which the times says proves Jennings is unfit for his position:

The readings try to make sex between children and adults seem normal and acceptable. Being exploited by homosexual pedophiles is portrayed as something that can make children happy and fulfilled. Perhaps Mr. Jennings will claim he was too busy to check what his organization was recommending children read. Either way, this is not a man who should have been appointed by the White House to make schools safe.

Media Matters already debunked the editorial's claims, so I just want to highlight this post from Peter LaBarbera, who loved the Times' editorial:

Folks, as one who has worked for more than 15 years with other pro-family groups to expose the insidious and child-corrupting agenda of Kevin Jennings and GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), I’m overjoyed that conservatives and right-leaning media are finally helping to expose this organization’s truly radical and evil agenda to millions of outraged Americans.

LaBarbera also wants it known that, contrary to the claims from the various other conservatives who are attacking Jennings while claiming that this is not about homosexuality, the attacks are entirely about homosexuality:

One more point: it is now common for conservatives — especially non-religiously-affiliated media leaders like Sean Hannity (who should be applauded for his yeoman’s work exposing Jennings) — to make the odd disclaimer that the GLSEN/Jennings controversy (or whatever “gay”-related culture-war story they are discussing) “is not about homosexuality.” Baloney. This is all about homosexuality and the “gay” activist agenda whose singular goal is to normalize homosexuality as a “civil right.”

Jennings’ role in the wider GLBT movement is to promote homosexuality and gender confusion (transgenderism: cross-dressing, etc.) to impressionable youth through the schools (public and private). It is absurd and intellectually dishonest to claim that this highly organized and well-funded campaign is somehow not about … homosexuality! (Which is not to deny that some or even many homosexuals agree with us that Jennings’ “gay-youth” agenda is reckless.)

Only a Homosexual Movement unified by a morality- and normality-rejecting ideology that aims to mainstream sinful, deviant, and once-taboo behaviors could produce such perverse ‘Recommended Readings’ for students as GLSEN — complete with fictional, “non-judgmental” accounts of man-boy sex. Only a movement that defiantly calls itself “queer” could produce “Fistgate” — a GLSEN-sponsored youth conference at Tufts University in 2000, at which underage children were verbally guided by homosexual adults on how to engage in the vile, sadomasochistic act of ‘fisting’ — hand-anal penetration (yes, truth is stranger than fiction).

The politically correct “not-about-gays” caveat is about illogical as claiming that the effort to expose systematic human rights abuses in China and North Korea “has nothing to with Communism.” Anyone who calls himself “conservative” should know better. Besides, true conservatives should not be ashamed of enthusiastically conserving the age-old Judeo-Christian sexual/marriage ethic — which has served mankind well and which rejects all efforts to approve of unnatural and destructive sexual behaviors condemned by God.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 11/12/2009 6:55 pm
  • Karl Frisch: So, what really happened to Lou Dobbs?

  • What do you know? Sean Hannity actually apologized after getting caught lying.

  • Think Progress: Rick Perry Caters To The Far Right: Obama Is ‘Interested In Punishing Texas’ And ‘Hellbent’ On Socialism.

  • Alan Colmes: Colorado GOP State Senator Compares Obama To 9/11 Hijackers.

  • Sarah Posner: Why Don’t Churches Have to Disclose Lobbying Activities?

  • Americans United: D.C. Officials Should Reject Church Threat Over Tax Funding.

  • Finally, the Family Research Council says it would be open to the idea of supporting a primary challenger to Sen. Olympia Snowe.
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Sean Hannity Posts Archive

Fox News' Top Five Islamophobic Smears
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 03/01/2013, 3:30pm
Sean Hannity last night was clearly upset that Rep. Keith Ellison exposed him for what he is — a partisan hack — and he is now launching attacks on the congressman by recycling statements Ellison made in the 1990s about the Nation of Islam, a group that the congressman later vociferously denounced. He even wondered if “we have somebody then in Congress that is the equivalent of one side of what the Klan is?” Hannity has attacked Ellison over his faith in the past, arguing that Ellison’s use of Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran during his symbolic... MORE >
Right Wing Round-Up - 2/28/13
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 02/28/2013, 7:05pm
Right Wing Watch In Focus: The Lobby Against Common Sense: The Right’s Campaign Against Gun Violence Reform and How We Can Defeat It.  Chelsea Rudman @ Media Matters: 10 Examples of Sean Hannity Saying Things That Aren’t True. Alex Seitz-Wald @ Salon: Woodward’s truthiness problem. Morgan Whitaker @ Politics Nation: John Lewis to Justice Scalia: The right to vote is ‘what people died for, bled for.’  Josh Israel @ Think Progress: Minnesota Republican Legislator: Homosexuality Is A ‘Sexual Addiction’ And An... MORE >
Romney's Right Resorts to Racial Resentment
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Friday 10/05/2012, 10:39am
This week, on the eve of the first presidential debate, right-wing media, led by the Drudge Report, the Daily Caller, and Fox News, hyped a supposedly secret video that they dubbed “the other race speech.”  Fox News propagandist Sean Hannity tried desperately to portray the video as “explosive” footage that the liberal media had deliberately hid from voters to protect Barack Obama. Religious Right leaders played their part, with Liberty Counsel’s ludicrous Matt Barber demanding, “Romney simply must make ad upon ad out of this devastating video exposing... MORE >
Farah: God Sent Earthquake to Punish America for Moral 'Lawlessness'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 03/09/2012, 6:00pm
In a speech at a Strategic Perspectives Conference hosted by Chuck Missler’s Koinonia House, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah repeated his claim that the 2011 Virginia earthquake was a punishment from God for “lawlessness in our world today.” Farah described how he was “chatting on instant messenger” with Sean Hannity when they both felt the earthquake, messaging each other in jest, “It’s the end of the world.” He continued to say that the earthquake was not the end of the world but a sign from God that He will no longer tolerate “... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 03/24/2011, 5:34pm
Rep. Michele Bachmann hails Iowa for standing up to the "black-robed masters" in removed three judges from the state Supreme Court. Ken Blackwell for Senate? CWA's Wendy Wright testified on behalf of Janet Porter's "Heartbeat Bill" yesterday. Honestly, how is Sheriff Joe Arpaio still in office? Is Sean Hannity embracing Birtherism? When Grover Norquist talks taxes, Republican fall all over themselves to do his bidding.  When he talks criminal justice reform, they couldn't care less. Finally, FRC asks God to help them defund Planned... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 01/18/2011, 6:35pm
The Supreme Court has rejected the right-wing challenge to Washington, DC's marriage equality law. The ever-brave Sarah Palin sits down for a softball interview with Sean Hannity to defend her "blood libel" video. Rep. Michele Bachmann will be the keynote speaker at the March for Life Rose Dinner. Don't like health care reform?  Why not sign up for a Christian health care co-op? It seems that the developer's attendance estimates for the creationist theme park in Kentucky are wildly optimistic. Randall Terry intends to launch a primary challenge... MORE >
2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/18/10
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/18/2011, 10:47am
Michele Bachmann GOP: Scheduled to address Montana GOP's Lincoln/Reagan Dinner on Feb 5 (Politico, 1/17). Iowa: Conservatives in Iowa excited about Bachmann's appearance at Iowans for Tax Relief event this week (Minnesota Public Radio, 1/17). Religious Right: Ultraconservative writer Joseph Farah praises potential Bachmann bid (WND, 1/11). Haley Barbour Immigration: Draconian Arizona-style law on immigrant rights to be considered by the Mississippi state legislature (Fox News, 1/17). 2012: Says he won't make a decision about a presidential run until the spring (WSJ, 1/14). John Bolton... MORE >
2012 Candidates Weekly Update 1/18/10
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 01/18/2011, 10:47am
Michele Bachmann GOP: Scheduled to address Montana GOP's Lincoln/Reagan Dinner on Feb 5 (Politico, 1/17). Iowa: Conservatives in Iowa excited about Bachmann's appearance at Iowans for Tax Relief event this week (Minnesota Public Radio, 1/17). Religious Right: Ultraconservative writer Joseph Farah praises potential Bachmann bid (WND, 1/11). Haley Barbour Immigration: Draconian Arizona-style law on immigrant rights to be considered by the Mississippi state legislature (Fox News, 1/17). 2012: Says he won't make a decision about a presidential run until the spring (WSJ, 1/14). John Bolton... MORE >