Right Wing

• The Daily Caller: GOProud And Birchers Ousted As CPAC Co-Sponsors (David Horowitz Survives Vote).

• Ben Armbruster @ Think Progress: Islamophobic Conspiracy Theorist Frank Gaffney Advising Michele Bachmann On Foreign Policy.

• Nick Sementelli @ Bold Faith Type: King's Own Witness Rebuts GOP Congressman's Claims About Minneapolis Mosques.

• Tim King @ Sojourners: Family Research Council Attacks Evangelical and Catholic Leaders.

• Media Matters: The Bigotry Of Pat Buchanan.

• Florida Independent: Florida Family Policy Council To Host Bachmann At Annual Policy Awards Dinner.

• Sarah Posner @ Religion Dispatches: How Breivik’s “Cultural Analysis” Is Drawn From The “Christian Worldview.”

• Tim Murphy @ Mother Jones: Rep. Allen West's (Very, Very) Stealth Jihad.

• Good-As-You: Maggie Not Even Faking It Anymore: NOM Is Essentially A Religious Group.

• Note: We will be attending an all staff retreat tomorrow afternoon (7/28) but will be back on Friday.

The Religious Right loves manufacturing controversies that “prove” the victimization of Christians in the United States. When NBC left the words “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance in the broadcast of a golf tournament, Religious Right groups jumped to proclaim that the network was in the pocket of God-hating liberalism. When an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery included an image of Christ’s suffering made by a gay artist, the Religious Right called it “hate speech” and got the work of art pulled.

Recently, we’ve been reminded of one of these made-up controversies that may have more sinister consequences. In 2009, a Department of Homeland Security report on the threat of violent right-wing extremists was leaked. The report dealt exclusively with violent racist and anti-government groups – your Timothy McVeighs and Hutaree militias – but the Religious Right saw an opportunity to play the victim and do some fundraising. Groups including the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the American Center for Law and Justice labeled the report an attack on American Christians, ginned themselves up some allies in Congress, and ultimately got the report pulled. (But not before Liberty Counsel had a chance to print up some “I’m Proud to be a Right Wing Extremist” membership cards).

Now, the main author of the DHS report, who left his job after the fallout from the controversy made it “difficult to get any work accomplished,” is speaking out. Daryl Johnson tells California State University’s Brian Levin that he is a gun-owning, anti-choice Republican Mormon who started work on the report under the Bush Administration. And he’s worried that the manufactured controversy over the report continues to hinder DHS’s ability to combat violent right-wing extremism:

Do you have any political antagonism towards conservatives, military veterans or religious people?
Absolutely not. I am a conservative. I'm married, have children and am a lifetime third generation registered Republican. I have military veterans in my extended family. I'm also a Mormon. I respect people of all faiths. I feel so strongly about our religious freedoms, that I served two years as a missionary for my church.

Would you consider yourself prolife?
Yes. I believe in the sanctity of life including the preborn.

Do you support a broad right to individual gun ownership by competent non-felons?
Yes, I am a gun owner myself and enjoy target shooting and experienced game hunting in my youth.

…

Why interview now?
Obviously, I couldn't discuss this with the media while employed at DHS. It took me a year after leaving to finally decide that this was truly the right thing to do. I also wanted to give DHS adequate time to determine whether or not it wanted to reconstitute the domestic non-Islamic terrorism effort. It never did.
Since Obama took office, there have been nearly twenty extremist rightwing attacks and plots, including the killing of almost a dozen police officers in six separate attacks. There have also been militia plots in places like Alaska and Michigan that targeted government officials such as a judge and police. Package bombs were mailed in the DC area. In recent months we had three sovereign citizen related shootings in Florida, Arizona and Texas.

How many people worked on your team?
Six worked directly for me with two others in support roles.

How many analysts at DHS worked Muslim extremism issues?
A: In 2008, there were close to 40. A year later that number had decreased to around 25. There were additional analysts working other topics such as critical infrastructure, border security and weapons of mass destruction.

How does the threat from radical Muslim extremists in the U.S. compare with that of right wing domestic extremists?
During the past 10 years there have been five successful attacks in the U.S. by Muslim extremists, but in the last three years there have been 20 attacks attributed to domestic right wing extremists and the number of fatalities is about equal between the two. There were more firearms possessed by the Hutaree [an alleged extremist] militia than by all 200 of the Muslim extremists arrested in the U.S. since 9/11.

…

What happened at DHS as a result of the criticism?
My team was dissolved. All training courses and briefings presentations were stopped. DHS leaders made it increasingly difficult to release another report on this topic.
Why would DHS leaders dissolve your team and stop these analytic activities?
The subject had become too politically charged. As a result, DHS leaders adopted a risk adverse approach toward this issue. Perhaps they thought it was a matter of organizational preservation.

Do you think the dissolution of your unit that you discuss has negatively affected State and local law enforcement?
Certainly. There is one less agency to assist state and local law enforcement with this growing and dangerous problem at a time of heightened activity.

Why did you leave DHS?
I could no longer effectively do my job. New processes made it increasingly difficult to get any work accomplished.

Have the conditions which affected your conclusions changed since the report was issued?
No. The factors have remained the same - the economy remains sluggish and uncertain; unemployment hovers around 10 percent nationally; Obama is still President; and the 2010 Census results show a changing demographic in America shifting away from a predominantly Caucasian nation.

Has the leak had a chilling effect on the analyst community?
Within the intelligence community at-large, I don't think so. Inside the Department of Homeland Security, I believe it did. Other DHS analysts saw what happened to us - saw leadership backing away from supporting the report and those responsible for writing it. Many left the agency as a result.

 

• Good to know that Newt Gingrich has been getting paid by the American Family Association for speeches.

• Roll Call looks into the strategy sessions at the Family Research Council’s Washington headquarters.

• The Traditional Values Coalition has a brand new website!

• Peter LaBarbera says he will never stop fighting to bring back Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

• Finally, the American Family Association wants you to beware of “Homo Depot.”

• PFAW Right Wing Watch-In Focus: The Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.

• TPM: At Allen West-Sponsored Event, Group Paints Thousands Of Muslims As Terrorists.

• Sarah Posner @ Religion Dispatches: Breivik’s Manifesto on Islam vs. “Christendom” as “Demographic Warfare.”

• Bold Faith Type: The Anti-Islam Industry and the Oslo Bombings.

• Think Progress Security: Right-Wing Pundits Jumped To Blame Muslims And ‘Jihadists’ For Norway Attacks.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY recently announced the third in his series of hearings on the “radicalization of the Muslim-American community”—the GOP’s premier venue for demonstrating the kinds of attacks highlighted in PFAW’s latest Right Wing Watch: In Focus report “The Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.” As part of his hearings, King plans to call Thomas Joscelyn of the staunchly neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies as a witness. Joscelyn, from his platform as a writer for the neoconservative Weekly Standard, has questioned the patriotism of organizations and individuals who spoke out against the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, calling the ACLU “Al Qaeda’s useful idiots” and claiming that lawyers who represented accused terrorists “openly opposed the American government.”

In a 2009 column, Joscelyn called the American Civil Liberties Union “Al Qaeda’s Civil Liberties Union” and “al Qaeda’s useful idiots” because the group produced the video “Justice Denied: Voices From Guantanamo,” which featured five Muslims who were imprisoned and abused in Guantanamo Bay and never faced charges. “The ACLU has worked diligently to undermine America's stance in what was formerly known as the ‘war on terror,’” he wrote, “and has even been willing to disseminate propaganda on behalf of our jihadist enemies.” He went on to criticize the ACLU and the Obama administration for opposing the use of military commissions and supporting the right of due process under the law for accused terrorists: “The ACLU cannot tell the difference between us and our enemies--as its own propaganda shows. Therefore, it does not bode well for America's counterterrorism efforts that the Obama administration is in agreement with al Qaeda's useful idiots.”

Joscelyn also jumped on the right-wing smear campaign against Justice Department lawyers who once represented accused terrorists, writing: “Now, we don’t know what assignments these lawyers have taken on inside government. But we do know that they openly opposed the American government for years, on behalf of al Qaeda terrorists, and their objections frequently went beyond rational, principled criticisms of detainee policy.”

Joscelyn also charged the Center for Constitutional Rights with “crude anti-Americanism” because the group condemned bias against Muslim Americans. He also questioned whether accused terrorists should receive any legal representation at all:

CCR’s statement calls to mind the debate some months ago about the role of lawyers in the war on terror. Some have argued that by representing “unpopular” clients they are merely adhering to a noble legal tradition in the same manner as John Adams, who defended British soldiers years prior to the Revolutionary War. Granted, some lawyers probably are compelled by their own notions of legal principle. But not all of them are.

John Adams sought to create a free society in which all faiths can be practiced and none are enforced by the state. He succeeded.

This nation’s second president probably would not appreciate CCR’s smear of the nation he helped found. And CCR is not just standing up for the “right” of a terrorist to receive a fair trial. The organization doubts whether John Adam’s America can be fair to Muslims at all.

• Why am I not surprised that the Religious Right claim that a Texas military cemetery banned religious expression is wildly off-base?

• Fox News daringly exposes the left-wing plot to “eradicate the poor” through birth control.

• Opponents of teaching evolution suffer a major defeat in Texas.

• The Family Research Council hates “big government,” unless it’s government involvement in people’s private lives in which case it’s a-ok.

• Quote of the day from Bryan Fischer: “Alas, the homosexual lobby is rapidly turning us into China and the former Soviet Union. Christians are now being treated officially as second-class citizens with far fewer human and civil rights than those who engage in aberrant sexual behavior.”

• Things are not looking good for Rick Perry, since only one other governor (Sam Brownback) looks like he will be attending his prayer rally.
• On a related note, the ACLU wants to know if public tax dollars are being used in any way in putting on Perry's prayer event.
• Never forget that Mike Huckabee has a long memory ... and can be very petty.
• Jesse Lee Peterson says the NAACP is a "political pawn of the liberal-elite, white, racist Democratic Party and not really for the people."  Which is hilarious if you know anything about Jesse Lee Peterson.
• Peter LaBarbera is outraged to see "servicemen marching in uniform in a sexual sin parade" and livid that this "sin does not stay in its closet; it always wants to boast and be prideful."
• Oh Concerned Women for America, you are so clever.

• Organizers say it has not been decided if Gov. Rick Perry will speak at his "The Response" prayer rally. Are you kidding me?
• On a related note, FRC is hoping "The Response" will convince God to save our nation from the jeopardy that it is in with "the economic crisis, wars abroad, political and racial division at home, hardly any untouched by natural and man-made calamities, political and bureaucratic mismanagement, and most of all families and our youth under assault and in crisis."
• Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to Cru.
• Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign is so weak that he is being dropped from presidential polls.
• Finally, Richard Land is not happy with the prospect of having a Mormon for the president, but anything would be better than Obama.