Posts on Georgia

I wrote a post last year noting that the Right-Wing had a lot of different groups under which they pressed the agenda.  On top of their own organizations, a lot of right-wing leaders are also involved in umbrella organizations like the Arlington Group and the Council for National Policy.  There are also various state-level organziations like the "Patriot Pastors" movement and the "Restoration Projects" that are active in places like Texas and Ohio. 

And then there are things like the Iowa Renewal Project, where Mike Huckabee hobnobbed with various right-wing leaders as he rallied to win the Iowa primary.   Apparently there is also one in Georiga as well, which is slated to host Gov. Sonny Perdue, Daivd Barton, Mat Staver and other for a luncheon next week:

Georgia Renewal Project

Cordially invites you to participate in its Pastors' Policy Briefing Luncheon

Rediscovering God in America

With Special Guests

The Honorable Sonny Perdue
Governor of Georgia

and

Historian David Barton
WallBuilders

Who will be accompanied by

The Honorable Bob McEwen
Dr. Mat Staver
and other guest speakers

To be held at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel
2450 Galleria Pkwy, Atlanta, GA 30339
on Tuesday, November 25, 2008.

11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Registration begins at 11:00 AM.

There will be a reception prior to the luncheon beginning at 11:00 AM.

The luncheon is complimentary and will be provided by the Georgia Renewal Project.

CWA's Beverly LaHaye also seems to be involved, as she is issuing her own invitations to the event.

I have to admit that, as someone who follows this stuff for a living, even I am routinely confused by sheer number of different organizations that have different names, yet all seem to contain the same handful of Religious Right leaders. 

It is no secret that Ralph Reed’s political ambitions went down in flames in 2006 thanks primarily to his ties to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  It is also no secret that Sen. John McCain, then Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, played a central role in highlighting Abramoff’s corruption, as well as his ties to Reed, with the release of its “Gimmie Five” report just weeks before Reed’s primary in Georgia.  

But apparently Reed is not one to hold a grudge, nor is McCain one to turn down assistance from someone who’s dirty dealings made him unelectable in his own state.  And so, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Political Insider reports, the two are teaming up for a fundraiser in Atlanta later this month:

A Message from Ralph Reed:

Senator John McCain will be coming to Atlanta on August 18 for a very special event at the Marriot Marquis downtown and I have agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 Team.

Never in my career can I recall a starker contrast between two major-party nominees for President. Barack Obama is advocating higher taxes, more spending, a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, and an energy plan that opposes drilling on the outer continental shelf. The nonpartisan publication National Journal concluded that he had the most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate.

John McCain believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, steady economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values. He will make it a top priority to balance the budget and get federal spending under control so that our children aren’t burdened with a mountain of debt that will rob them of their future.

John McCain also believes that tax cuts work best when tied to spending restraint. He has a 26-year pro-life voting record and has pledged to appoint conservative judges who will interpret the law, not legislate from the bench.

Attached is a contribution form and a fact sheet that details the event. Please complete the contribution form and return it to me at XXXXX Duluth, GA 30097. If you select to use your credit card, you may fax the form to me at 770-XXX-XXXX.

I hope you will join me and Jo Anne at the August 18 event in support of Senator McCain in Atlanta. The outcome of this presidential election is going to determine the future direction of this country. Please join us as we work together to elect John McCain. Your participation is critical to success.

Running as a “Christian Leader” was enough to proper Mike Huckabee to victory in Iowa, but it didn’t play too well in New Hampshire, where he finished a distant third.  

So what is his plan going forward?

Republican Mike Huckabee is trying to soften the image of the religious right as he reaches out to liberal Christians and blue-collar workers for support in his presidential campaign.

It's a delicate balancing act for the ordained Baptist minister who staunchly opposes abortion and gay marriage.

But the folksy southerner told Reuters he believed some evangelicals had widened their political concerns beyond the hot-button cultural issues that helped put George W. Bush in the White House and had mellowed enough to embrace causes like poverty and the environment.

Huckabee, who won the first presidential nominating contest in Iowa with the support of evangelicals and placed third in New Hampshire on Tuesday, wants to help bridge that divide.

"Unquestionably there is a maturing that is going on within the evangelical movement. It doesn't mean that evangelicals are any less concerned about traditional families and the sanctity of life," the former Arkansas governor said.

"It just means that they also realize that we have real responsibility in areas like disease and hunger and poverty and that these are issues that people of faith have to address," he said in an interview aboard his campaign bus.

Presumably, any effort to soften his image or reach out beyond his right-wing religious base will have to wait until he gets back from this: 

Together for Life Memorial Service and Walk, Georgia's annual pro-life gathering, will be held Tuesday, January 22, 2008 on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Memorial Service, sponsored by Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) begins at 11:30 am and is followed by a one-mile long silent walk through downtown Atlanta.

This year's keynote speaker is Gary Bauer, an esteemed author, political activist, and President of American Values. He stated, "We must build an America where all of our children, rich and poor, black and white, are welcomed into the world and protected by the law. Human life has dignity at every age; the taking of innocent human life is always wrong."

…

Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will also speak as a strong pro-life advocate and supporter of the Human Life Amendment. "I'm pro-life because I believe life begins at conception, and I believe that we should do everything possible to protect that life because it is the centerpiece of what makes us unique as an American people. We value the life of one as if it's the life of all... it's what separates us from the Islamic jihadists who are out to kill us. They celebrate death. They have a culture of death. Ours is a culture of life." The Georgia Right to Life PAC has endorsed Mike Huckabee for President.

Activists are likely to place a far-reaching abortion ban on the Missouri ballot this year, one pegged to the emerging anti-abortion strategy of claiming to be protecting women. The Baltimore Sun reports:

If passed, it would stand as possibly the most restrictive abortion law in the country, requiring abortion providers to investigate each patient's background and lifestyle in order to certify that the woman was not coerced into the procedure.

Under the initiative, doctors would not be allowed to perform a nonemergency abortion unless they believed "the imminent death or serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman" would occur.

Critics say the proposal would expose doctors to lawsuits from women who later regretted their decisions to terminate pregnancies. …

Anti-abortion groups say the proposal would make Missouri a model for the country.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt laid groundwork last fall by forming a “task force” on “the impact of abortion on women,” a group composed of anti-abortion activists, and a major backer of the initiative is the Illinois-based Elliot Institute, whose founder was described as the “Moses” of the movement to define anti-choice as a defense of women’s interests, whether the women know it or not.

This tactic found validation in last year’s Supreme Court decision upholding the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban”—the court’s majority opinion seemed to echo the paternalist view, a point certainly not missed by any activists attempting to pass a far-reaching abortion ban.

But an initiative likely to reach the Colorado ballot takes a different approach: giving fertilized eggs equal protection and full rights under law. Playing the ingénue, the 20-year-old law student spearheading the amendment “insists her only aim is to define when human life begins, and any discussion about abortion is up to lawmakers.” Of course the “Human Life Amendment,” as it has been known since before she was born, was designed specifically to overturn Roe v. Wade and ban abortion completely.

The hard-line approach of Colorado’s amendment—and a similar initiative being considered for the ballot in Georgia—goes to the heart of a rift between absolutists and incrementalists in the anti-abortion movement. From the Washington Times:

"National Right to Life thinks this will do more harm than good," [Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center, which backs the amendments] said. "They argue that the makeup of the court isn't right for a decision. We argue that this is the best opportunity we're likely to have in the next decade. If we don't confront Roe now, the way the politics of the presidential election are going, we could be waiting for years."

Indeed, National Right to Life ended up divorcing its Colorado affiliate last year after a spat over incrementalism. (The head of Colorado Right to Life accused NRLC of selling out to the Republican Party.)

Not every religious-right leader has fallen in love with Mike Huckabee. Although Christian Coalition founder and “700 Club” host Pat Robertson has a lot in common with Huckabee, whose surge in Iowa in some way mirrors Robertson’s run in 1988, Robertson is a firm backer of Rudy Giuliani, as he made clear last week.

Perhaps responding to Huckabee’s recent rise in South Carolina and even in Florida—Giuliani’s stronghold—Robertson has taken a break from meteorology to hit the campaign trail (by radio, anyway). On a Panama City, Florida station, Robertson emphasized that terrorism is his first priority, followed by the economy—no mention of those social issues that make James Dobson so angry:

BURNIE THOMPSON: “[G]lad to have you and I’ll tell you, Mayor Giuliani really does want Bay County’s vote. He’s been on talking with northwest Florida and I know that Florida’s very important to the Mayor. But I’ve got to tell you Dr. Robertson, I’m sitting with a very conservative Republican friend of mine who’s an evangelical Christian and his question he said ‘Please ask Dr. Robertson why, why would you endorse … Mayor Giuliani’”

ROBERTSON: “Well it’s real simple. I think the overriding issue in our society is going to be defense against terrorism. We’re in a war against militant Islam and I think we have to defend the American people. I think that’s the overriding issue and the second issue has to do with whether we’re going to destroy the economy or whether we’re going to build it up and have a future for our children.”

And on a Savannah, Georgia—Hilton Head, South Carolina station, Robertson promised right-wing Supreme Court appointments:

EDWARDS: “[H]e also is an administrator and most of the other people running for president have never run anything.”

ROBERTSON: “Well I felt that too. You know the United States government is the biggest corporation---executive decisions that a president has to make. … And especially the thing that strikes me also is his selection of judges. He has promised the American people, promised me, promised others that he’s going to put in judges after the stripe of Scalia, Thomas …”

Where does that leave Giuliani nemesis Randall Terry, who protested Robertson’s endorsement at the D.C. office of the televangelist’s Christian Broadcasting Network? Terry headed in the opposite direction, holding “vigils, literature drops, pickets and more” in New Hampshire “to expose the agenda of Rudy Giuliani.” Terry’s “literature” includes a fake pamphlet for the campaign of a white supremacist named Smith—“A Candidate with the courage to deal with the disaster of free Negroes, and the ‘white man’s right to own!’” The punchline: It’s a thickly-veiled metaphor for Giuliani, of course.

Should a Christian vote for someone who supports slavery? No!

Should a Christian vote for a racist who supports segregation? No!

Then how can a Christian vote for a candidate that supports the murder of children by abortion?! …

Don’t be seduced! If you vote for Rudy or Hillary or any pro-choice candidate, you share in the sin of child-killing, and betray the very Law of God. … Do the right thing: vote according to principle, not party; life, not death.

Breaking with the national organization, which backed Fred Thompson, Georgia Right to Life goes with Huckabee: "Gov. Huckabee has a proven track record of solid pro-life legislation during his terms as governor of Arkansas. He is noted for having passed a state 'Human Life Amendment' which says that 'the policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth.' Arkansas Amendment 68 will take effect the moment that Roe vs. Wade is reversed. He is especially supportive of our efforts here in Georgia, to promote the passage of H.R. 536, the Paramount Right to Life Amendment."

The Los Angeles Times recently reported on the reappearance of a somewhat rusty tactic in the anti-abortion movement’s tool belt: attempts to pass a “Human Life Amendment” to several state constitutions, which would purportedly grant full “personhood” rights beginning at conception. Such an end-run would circumvent a protracted political debate—which they could lose, as they did when South Dakota voters rejected an abortion ban last year—and likely end up in federal court, where activists hope new right-wing Supreme Court justices will take the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade. But the major national religious-right groups have preferred a more incremental strategy of advancing less-sweeping restrictions and promoting Republican politicians who promise to appoint anti-abortion judges, leaving absolutist activists out in the cold, as the Times notes:

For the most part, the campaigns are run by local activists, with little support or funding from big national antiabortion groups. Similar efforts have failed in the past: Proponents in Michigan could not collect enough signatures to put a personhood measure on the ballot in 2006. The Georgia proposal stalled in the Legislature this year.

Indeed, Clarke Forsythe and Denise Burke of Americans United for Life—a legal group active since the 1970s—published an article in National Review today calling the HLA “a losing move for the pro-life movement.” While AUL is hardly an influential group in this decade, its anti-HLA commentary recalls the anti-abortion movement’s in-fighting in the 1980s and 1990s over militant clinic protests (and the occasional murder of doctors). Although AUL was happy to represent militant activist Joseph Scheidler and his Pro-Life Action League in court, at the same time it pooh-poohed the frenzied “Summer of Mercy” protest in Wichita in 1991. “[I]t is better to show the public that [the abortion provider’s] practices are unlawful than to engage in tactics that attract attention to the unlawfulness of pro-lifers,” cautioned AUL’s president.

Giuliani announced his Georgia Lawyers for Rudy Leadership Team, many of whom are Federalist Society members.

Last week’s attack on James Dobson by some anti-abortion groups prompted rebukes defending Dobson from other anti-abortion groups with almost the same names, displaying an internecine conflict between factions on the far Right: Operation Rescue versus Operation Rescue and National Right to Life versus affiliate Colorado Right to Life.

Similar problems have been brewing over the last year between the waning Christian Coalition and its state affiliates. Chapters in Ohio, Iowa, Alabama, and Georgia have split off, citing disgust over the group’s finances as well as apparent ideological differences, such as the national group’s support of an Alabama tax reform measure, which the Republican governor called a Christian duty to the poor but which was fervently opposed by the group’s Alabama chapter.

Group promotes teaching creationism in public school.

Bill Greene again cites blogs.

Last week, we noted that Bill Greene, founder of the RightMarch.com mailing list, was able to use his list – and his contacts with the right-wing activists who use it – in his campaign for Congress. RightMarch.com distributed an endorsement from Minuteman Civil Defense Corps founder Chris Simcox, who emphasized that Greene would need “financial firepower” in order to “blanket the local radio and television markets with a barrage of ads.”  Indeed, even though Greene announced his candidacy in February, an April 2 report on the June 19 special election did not even mention Greene as a candidate, suggesting that, while known among right-wing activists on the Internet or as a supporter of a novelty tax plan, he has a tough case to make to voters in his Georgia district.

Within days of our blog post, Greene once again appealed to his subscribers, warning that he is “under attack” by this blog. Greene proudly, if mistakenly, claimed that we called him a “right-wing leader” – a label we used instead for the clients of his e-mail service, such as Simcox. Nevertheless, Greene cut to the chase: being mentioned on a blog means that his campaign has hit the big time – and that means he needs “a LOT of money.”

Bill Greene needs our help NOW. Today, March 31st, is the first deadline for filing campaign fundraising reports with the FEC. If we want to really shake up the liberal forces of pro-illegal immigration, we need to make sure they know that Americans will support a strong conservative who's willing to take a stand against the radical liberals trying to destroy American sovereignty.

It's going to take a LOT of money to fight back against well-funded liberal groups like PFAW. Please, give as much as you can -- whether it's the legal limit of $2300, $1000, $500, $250, $100, or even $50 -- whatever you can give, it's needed right away.

Although he had never held office before, when Bill Greene decided to run to replace Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Georgia), who died last month, he knew he would have at least two advantages: a ready audience of activists and donors from the mailing list of RightMarch.com, the Internet marketing tool he built, and support from some of the right-wing leaders whose missives he has enthusiastically distributed. And so in February Greene announced his candidacy to his “over one million supporters nationally” as an extension of the grassroots activism he has encouraged in the past:

Now, we have the chance to make YOUR voice -- the voice of grassroots, hard-working patriotic Americans -- heard even LOUDER...

... From the INSIDE of Congress!

Yesterday, I announced my candidacy as a Republican Candidate for Georgia's 10th Congressional District.

And this week, Greene passed along an endorsement from Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, who wrote that electing Greene is “a chance to finally make progress” on “keep[ing] our neighborhoods safe from drug dealers, rapists and potential terrorists.”

·  Bill has been a leader in the fight against illegal immigration as a grassroots activist, delivering millions of messages to Capitol Hill from constituents, demanding NO AMNESTY for illegals;

·  He has personally mustered with us on the U.S.-Mexican border as a volunteer with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, standing watch to report the illegals streaming unhindered across our officially undefended Arizona border;

Most importantly, given Simcox’s many problems with finances,

· Bill has helped us to raise tens of thousands of dollars for MCDC operations and projects, such as the Border Fence Project;

According to Simcox, Greene, who cut his political teeth working for GOP direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie, “has to have the financial firepower to blanket the local radio and television markets with a barrage of ads, as well as the ability to field an army of volunteers led by experienced staffers who know how to get out the vote. Add in the print ads and direct mail efforts to communicate with every likely voter in one of the largest districts in Georgia, and you’ll see why the Bill Greene campaign is facing HUGE expenses.”

A little over a week ago, the Associated Press took a look at the Christian Coalition and wondered whether it had any role to play in the 2008 election.  But despite the organization’s string of defections, its financial woes, and its overall decline since the departure of Ralph Reed, Coalition president Roberta Combs insisted that “when the primary comes around and we distribute millions of voter guides, we'll be a factor.” 

While the Christian Coalition might not be a key right-wing player in the upcoming presidential campaign, it appears to still be having some success on the local level – working to prevent passage of a bill in Georgia that would allow alcohol sales on Sunday:

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in January found that 68 percent of respondents statewide supported giving voters the chance to consider Sunday beer and wine sales at grocery and convenience stores. About 80 percent supported the concept in metro Atlanta. Only a little over half did so in South Georgia. Support dropped to under 50 percent in Middle Georgia, home of Gov. Sonny Perdue, who opposes the bill.

Other polls also show support for the bill, but critics say surveys don't reveal the depth of opposition to the idea in Bible Belt towns like Blackshear.

"Rural Georgia doesn't want this bill," Jim Beck, president of the Christian Coalition of Georgia, said after the bill passed a Senate committee last week.

"This matters to values voters. If you buy your groceries at Piggly Wiggly, you get your hair cut at the barber shop and you go to church on Sundays, this bill matters."

The Christian Coalition is expecting about 100 rural volunteers to show up today at the Capitol to lobby against the bill. Another group, the Christian Alliance, has been rallying ministers to fight the measure.

While the Christian Coalition may no longer have of an impact on who becomes the next president, at least the Georgia chapter will be able to claim credit for preventing people from purchasing alcohol on Sundays.  

“We are holding a political protest,” said Chris Simcox, head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, of his group’s vigilante gatherings on the U.S.-Mexico border. Minutes before, he had complained to the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the border patrol was not rushing to the scene when he called them from his stakeout. For Simcox, this was evidence of a crisis on the border, a lack of “operation control” that politicians should address “by all means necessary.” On the other hand, it could be that the border patrol agents have day jobs.

Simcox was the star of an immigration panel at CPAC on Saturday, where he called on activists to “take this battle to city councils, state legislatures,” and Congress, and to sidestep what he called the “lamestream media.” He announced that “We the people in Arizona” are circumventing Congress by introducing two more ballot measures this month: one to “abolish all sanctuary laws” and train every law enforcement officer to enforce federal immigration laws, and a second to require employers to prove their employees are not violating immigration laws. Simcox also criticized the immigration positions of the many GOP presidential candidates to speak at the conference, with the exceptions of Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo: “I’ve met many wonderful conservatives [at CPAC]. Unfortunately, none of them are running for president.”

Simcox was joined by Georgia state Sen. Nancy Schaefer, sponsor of what she called the “strongest piece of illegal immigration legislation in the nation.” Her reasons for such concern about immigration ranged from supposedly “spiraling costs” and “overcrowding” of public schools to “sex predators” to the mythical threat of a “North American Union” being secretly formed by the Bush administration to unite the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as one sovereign entity. She has already introduced a resolution in Georgia on that matter.

Like the other panelists, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) encouraged the audience to look for ways that states could take over federal immigration policymaking, although he did not mention his own current effort: King is suing his home state for offering voter information in multiple languages. Instead, King took to task “powerful business interests” he said were behind the “flood” of immigrants, as well as liberals, who he said support immigration because immigrants “will assimilate into the left-wing liberal enclave” of majority-Hispanic congressional districts. These forces conspire, according to King, to produce the “massive price we are paying in the streets of America.” King, at some length, cited his own fictional statistics about “criminal aliens” involved in rape and murder. In order to account for his wildly inflated numbers, King explained that young men will bring most of “society’s pathologies” from their home countries, which have higher murder rates than the U.S.

But King did see hope in the recent immigration raids at Swift meat-processing facilities: “They were Caucasian-Americans lined up for those jobs.”