Values Voter Summit

FRC Succeeds Where Values Voter Debate Failed

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 9/20/2007 10:22 am

As we noted several times over the last several weeks leading up to the Values Voters Debate, not one of the top-tier candidates was willing to accept an invitation to appear – something which did not go over too well with the organizers of the event. 

We also noted that, though he was not willing to attend the Values Voters Debate, Mitt Romney was more than willing to make time in his schedule to attend the Values Voter Summit in October, hosted by the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Values and others.

Well, it looks like Romney will now have some company:

Today FRC Action announced that GOP presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) will speak at FRC Action's Washington Briefing 2007: Values Voter Summit on Friday, October 19. This is Senator McCain's first appearance at an FRC Action event.

Senator McCain will be joined by Governor Mitt Romney, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), and Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO). No Democratic candidate has accepted the invitation to speak. We await responses from Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator Fred Thompson.

The five GOP presidential candidates will appeal for support from the gathering of pro-family activists who will participate in the first Values Voter Summit Straw Poll. The straw poll will be a defining moment as candidates see where they stack up with one of the most crucial voting blocs in the country. The straw poll will begin at noon on Friday, October 19, and will conclude the next day at 1 pm. The winner of the straw poll is expected to be announced at 3 pm on Saturday.

The Summit website also lists Mike Huckabee as confirmed, as well, so it looks as if FRC will have not only several of the candidates who attended the Values Voter Debate, but at least two of the four candidates who skipped the debate as well.  

We Want Your Votes, But Not Your Questions

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 9/6/2007 5:12 pm

As we’ve chronicled several times over the last few weeks, the “Values Voter Presidential Debate” is scheduled for September 17 in Florida.  Featuring a variety of right-wing leaders, the event is designed to give Republican presidential candidates an opportunity to directly address the concerns of, and answer questions from, figures like Phyllis Schlafly, Don Wildmon, Paul Weyrich, Roy Moore, Janet Folger, and Rick Scarborough.

Unfortunately for the organizers of the event, not one of the four top GOP candidates is willing to be seen with them:

The festivities, however, look likely to go off without a marquee name. Queried yesterday by The New York Sun, the McCain campaign cited a scheduling conflict. "We are not attending," a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, Brooke Buchanan, replied by e-mail. "It's the last day of the No Surrender tour — we will be in South Carolina."

Likewise, the Romney campaign's Florida spokeswoman, Gail Gitcho, told the Sun that the former Massachusetts governor had "declined due to a scheduling conflict."

Mr. Thompson's press office also is citing "another event on his calendar that day."

The Giuliani camp didn't even bother with the scheduling-conflict ruse, providing the Sun with the text of a letter the former mayor's campaign manager, Michael DuHaime, sent to the debate's organizers on Friday. "Thank you for your kind invitation for Mayor Giuliani to attend a presidential debate hosted by Values Voters," Mr. DuHaime wrote. "Unfortunately Mayor Giuliani will be unable to accept your invitation."

Undoubtedly, that snub is not sitting well with them – and it is probably only being made worse by this:

Today FRC Action announced that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will speak in a prime-time slot at the Washington Briefing 2007: Values Voter Summit on Friday evening, October 19.

So Romney is willing to show up at a “values voters” event hosted by the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Values and others that features the likes of Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Robert Knight, and Richard Land but won’t have anything to do with the other Values Voter folks?  

It seems as if Romney is willing to accept an invitation to speak to right-wing leaders and activists but is unwilling to actually take questions from them.  While FRC and FOF tend to be considered more “reputable” right-wing groups than the Eagle Forum or Vision America, there is, in actuality, no substantive difference between the views, rhetoric, or mission of these groups.  In fact, several of the participants in the Values Voter Debate are also participating in FRC’s Values Voter Summit, including Star Parker, Bobby Schindler, and Phyllis Schlafly.

So why is it that Romney is willing to pander to the Right at the Values Voter Summit, but is unwilling to actually answer questions from them at the Values Voter Debate? 

Could it be because, while they want their support, they hope to achieve it in a way that allows them to avoid publicly pandering to them by answering questions such as “Do you believe the Ten Commandments should be posted on public property?" or “Do you believe that homosexuality is a sin?”

Now in Senate Minority, Inhofe Takes Aim at Children's Book

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 2/1/2007 6:55 pm

With control of the House after November’s elections, Democrats are investigating the Bush Administration’s manipulation of science, apparently including efforts to edit references to “global warming” out of findings. On the Senate side, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) is no longer the powerful chairman of the Committee on the Environment and Public Works, but as the ranking member still holds substantial influence on issues such as global warming, which he passionately denies.

But it appears Inhofe is setting his sights a little lower than federal policymaking. The senator took his case to the pages of the right-wing CNSNews.com to warn of the dangers of a children’s book written by environmental activist and “Inconvenient Truth” producer Laurie David.

Inhofe said he also found it interesting that Scholastic made the announcement regarding David's book just before the United Nations is set to release a major study on climate change.

"It appears that Laurie David is joining the United Nations in aiming its global warming propaganda at children," the senator said.

"Having failed for nearly three decades to convince the American people and their leaders to jump on the global warming alarmism bandwagon, David and the U.N. are trying to fill the minds of children with 'sky-is-falling' global warming hysteria," Inhofe said.

This is not the first time Inhofe has invoked the U.N. as a sort of global-warming bogeyman. In fact, as he detailed at last fall’s “Values Voter Summit,” the U.N. is only a part of his argument – which also touches on animal worship and those who wish to “shut down” America – as to why Christians should fight back against concern about the environment.

Right Offers Minority Leader Pence as Their Map to Lost GOP

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 11/8/2006 7:03 pm

“[T]he American people didn’t quit the Contract with America, we did,” proclaimed Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) of the Republicans’ loss of the House. As rumored in September, Pence has announced his intent to run for minority leader in the next Congress. His “new vision” is, in fact, the old vision: to “rededicate [the party] to the ideals and standards that minted our majority in 1994.”

Pence speaking at the Values Voter SummitAlready, Pence has garnered the endorsement of Human Events, which certainly sounds a lot like the magazine’s attempt to make him majority leader last winter, when they named him “Man of the Year” after his rise to prominence for his dramatic plan to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by cutting funding to safety-net programs and a grab bag right-wing bugbears.

Other right-wing leaders seeking to regroup and ensure they don’t get left behind as the GOP assesses its political options are also rushing to bolster Pence’s early claim. Pat Toomey, whose Club for Growth worked hard to unseat supposedly moderate Republicans in primaries this year, was nonplussed about the prospect of his PAC helping to topple the Republican’s hold on Congress, and he looked forward to the Club playing an “enormous role” in “rebuild[ing]” the GOP. Today, he says: “I think that Mike Pence would be a great leader for House Republicans.”

David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, insisted that yesterday’s vote was not a rejection of the “ideological vision[]” of the modern GOP, presumably represented by right-wing groups like his, but merely an expression of dissatisfaction in “Republicans' performance in taking us there.” Keene also expressed early support for Pence.

Other groups have yet to weigh in, perhaps preoccupied as they scramble for their own spin on yesterday’s results – see, for example, “Integrity Voters Reveal Values Gap,” from the Family Research Council. But Pence did receive a standing ovation at FRC’s “Values Voter Summit.”

Keyes: Abortion, Gay Marriage Same Issue

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 10/18/2006 5:27 pm

Texas “Patriot Pastors” organizer Rick Scarborough has been holding rallies across Missouri this summer, featuring Alan Keyes, to build opposition to the state’s upcoming vote on stem cell research. At the recent “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., Scarborough said that Missouri wasn’t the only state he was worried about: if voters in Missouri approve stem cell research, and voters in South Dakota reject a total ban on abortion, then “we may have stepped over the line with” God.

So Scarborough and Keyes are taking their act on the road again, with a series of rallies across South Dakota this week. They also feature Laurence White, a Houston pastor who founded the Texas Restoration Project. In Rapid City on Monday, speakers railed against both abortion and same-sex marriage, although only the former is on the ballot. According to Keyes, the former presidential and senatorial candidate, the two defining issues of the modern Religious Right are inseparable because they are “one and the same issue.” “Abortion does at the physical level what homosexual marriage does at the institutional level,” he explained.

And yesterday, Scarborough told a crowd in Aberdeen that the referendum is “both a promised blessing” as well as “a certain assurance of a curse” – if voters do not approve the ban. White said that approval of the ban would augur “the beginning of a new awakening in America.”

Values Voter Summit Recap

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 9/28/2006 6:03 pm

Peter Montgomery, vice president of and director of communications for People For the American Way Foundation, recaps the themes and messages that emerged from the Values Voter Summit. Among the themes expressed by the right-wing speakers were:

  • we’re at war abroad and at home – against the “culture of death,” gays, judges, advocates of church-state separation, etc;
  • dissent from President Bush’s war on terror – including detention and torture policies – is treasonous;
  • evil gays are threatening the family and religious liberty;
  • the president and Congress should ignore the Supreme Court (at least until there are more right-wing justices);
  • poverty isn’t all that important;
  • the Religious Right is winning the culture war and has to win the political war – if not, we’re doomed

Read the rest, and read this blog’s coverage of the Values Voter Summit.

Right Milks 'Values Voter' Stereotype, But Ignores Reality

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 9/27/2006 11:59 pm

Daniel Allott, a policy analyst for Gary Bauer’s group American Values, claims that liberals were “conspicuously absent” from last weekend’s Values Voter Summit, a gathering of the Religious Right and prominent Republican politicians where speakers from Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) to James Dobson encouraged right-wing activists to work to preserve the Republican majority in Congress in November. Leaving aside the fine point that those who disagree strongly with the far Right – such as this blog – were in fact in attendance, Allott goes on to assert that liberals and Democrats are alienated from “religious voters.” “Despite the left’s recent values offensive, the ‘God gap’ is actually growing!” he writes.

But as a recent poll from PFAW Foundation’s Center for American Values in Public Life shows – despite years of efforts by the far Right to portray liberals as openly hostile to Christians – the difference is scant, with 16 percent believing Democrats unfriendly to religion and 13 percent believing Republicans unfriendly to religion.

Nevertheless, Allott goes on to claim that the reason for this purported “God gap” is that liberals “have yet to support the policies people of faith care most about” – citing abortion as an example, and claiming that interest groups who support choice, such as PFAW, are “actively seek[ing] to undermine religious freedom and family values.” Therefore, the argument goes, “values voters” shun Democrats at the polls.

But as the Center for American Values poll shows, when Americans are “voting their values,” they’re not talking about abortion (3%) or gay marriage, another bugbear cited constantly by speakers at the “Values Voter Summit” (9%). They’re talking about honest, integrity, and responsibility (39%); poverty and health care (23%); and protecting individual freedoms (21%). And more than eight in ten people think leaders use religion to talk about abortion and gay marriage too much, and don’t talk enough about values like loving your neighbor and caring for the poor.

At Values Voter Summit, Potential Presidential Candidates Vied for Religious Right's Favor

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 9/26/2006 4:38 pm

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, host of last weekend’s Values Voter Summit, noted the appearance of prominent politicians Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia), Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Newt Gingrich, Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts), and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) – all potential 2008 presidential candidates. And recalling the famous line by Ronald Reagan at the 1980 National Affairs Briefing of the nascent Religious Right – “I know you can't endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you” – Perkins writes:

The Washington Briefing, however, was not an opportunity for us to endorse candidates but rather an opportunity for candidates to endorse us and our values.

And indeed, sandwiched in between speakers shouting about “faggots” and telling electoral activists how to deceive their fellow churchgoers, these politicians expressed their admiration for the assembled. As George Allen said, “I want you to count on me as a teammate … as part of your extended family.”

Values Voter Summit: Media Coverage Hones in on November

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 9/25/2006 6:01 pm

While The New York Times took note of Connie Marshner’s workshop on turning out churchgoers to the polls using deceptive tactics and The Los Angeles Times revealed that Jerry Falwell joked to a pastors’ breakfast that the Religious Right base would be more riled up about Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president in 2008 than Satan’s, the theme that reporters covering the Values Voter Summit latched on to was whether a disillusioned Right Wing would come through for Republicans facing daunting mid-term elections.

  • Christian Conservatives Look to Re-energize Base, New York Times. “Openly anxious about grass-roots disaffection from the Republican Party, conservative Christian organizers are reaching for ways to turn out voters this November, including arguing that recognizing same-sex marriage could also limit religious freedom.”
  • Conservatives Confident Base Will Vote, Associated Press. “Critical to the Republican base, conservatives expressed confidence Friday that their rank-and-file will vote Nov. 7 even though the GOP-controlled Congress hasn't delivered this year on their core issues.”
  • Tactic Uses Pulpits to Power the GOP, Los Angeles Times. “[T]op evangelical leaders pleaded with their followers Friday to put aside frustrations and turn out for GOP candidates.” As a side note, Televangelist Jerry Falwell – who confided that God will save the Republican majority this November –
  • Dobson: Rallying family values voters, Rocky Mountain News. Despite disappointment, Dobson is committed to helping the GOP this year – holding rallies in battleground states Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Tennessee.

And while the Religious Right activists on the podium, at least, were sure of their commitment to the Republicans this election cycle, they still want to push through a few more items on their “values agenda.” At the conference, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said that House Republican action on some of the items in their wish list this summer “brought some trust and confidence back”; now, FRC is asking its supporters to pray for a few more.

The conference was also an opportunity for Republicans looking to solidify their credentials with the far Right. The right-wing Washington Times called speeches by Newt Gingrich, Sens. George Allen (R-Virginia), Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), and Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) as well as Govs. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) and Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas) “auditions” for potential Republican presidential candidates – and noted that the Family Research Council says it invited Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), John McCain (R-Arizona), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) as well. Maggie Gallagher, a speaker on the marriage panel, concluded, “I believe Mitt Romney may be the only hope social conservatives have in 2008.”

Values Voter Summit: Bill Bennett on Offense

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 9/25/2006 2:25 pm
Bill Bennett, former Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan and author of the Book of Virtues, spoke at the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Conference on Saturday. If the audience expected him to talk about education or even the culture, they were in for a surprise. Instead, they got military advice, a theme that surfaced frequently throughout the conference. Bennett’s brief talk bemoaned the “tentativeness” in our foreign policy today. He spoke about the four Americans who were killed in Fallujah and whose bodies were dragged through the street and said, “When four Americans are killed in Fallujah,” and they cheer, you “take out Fallujah…you level the city.” He reminded his audience how the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war with Japan and asked “why are we so hesitant about these matters.” He regretted the US action, or rather the lack of action, in Lebanon: “We should have offered to help Israel take Hezbollah out.” And when the Presidents of Venezuela and Iran made anti-American comments at the UN, he recommended that they be denied a visa. When they “seek a visa to come to the US to speak, you deny them the visa… Diplomacy can come later, after you win.” In case the sword-brandishing rhetoric was too much for his audience, he ended with a sports metaphor: “You’re either on offense or you’re on defense. Now the good guys are on defense.”

Values Voter Summit: War with the Forces of Darkness.

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Monday, 9/25/2006 11:55 am
The Values Voter Summit ended Saturday night with the “Family, Faith & Freedom Gala.” Newt “Family Values” Gingrich gave the keynote address focusing on three large challenges facing America. One, of course, is the external threat, which he described as an emerging coalition of Islamic fascism and assorted dictators. Another, he said, is the challenge posed by courts and secularists who reject the reality that “God defines America” and “America is defined by its relationship to God.” Gingrich said the 9th Circuit ruling against “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and what he saw as signals that a Supreme Court majority agreed, could be comparable in its impact to the ruling in Dred Scott, the 1857 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not and could not be citizens. Gingrich denounced the idea that the judiciary has the final word, and demanded that the legislative and executive branches assert their authority and prevent Supreme Court justices from “rewriting the Constitution.” Gingrich was a rare speaker to address poverty, saying that it is a great challenge that “there are people in America so totally outside the system” that they have “no realistic chance” to pursue happiness. Gingrich cited dropout, unemployment, and incarceration rates for young black men. But he seemed to ultimately pin the blame on public schools. FRC head and seeming Dobson heir-apparent Tony Perkins gave the closing address. Seemingly annoyed by criticism from more progressive Christian leaders earlier in the week, he started by mocking liberals who make “faith speeches.” “They talk about their faith, but they don’t let it get in the way of their public policy.” He seemed especially rankled by the “Red Letter Christians,” a group that held a press conference earlier in the week to call for a greater religious focus on poverty. He said the only way to address poverty is to strengthen the family. Perkins recounted the Bible story of a disciple who questioned whether an expensive perfume should have been sold to aid the poor rather than poured on Jesus, and Jesus’ response that “the poor you have with you always.” Referring to the “Red Letter Christians,” Perkins sneeringly noted that it was Judas who had asked that question. Perkins also covered the now more-than-familiar territory of “radical homosexuals” who present “a clear and present danger” to religious liberty in America. Perkins wrapped up saying that “our enemies are not people….We fight against the rulers of darkness.” He urged people to pray, prepare, and participate in the “great battle of our day.” Embattled Florida Senate candidate Katherine Harris appeared on the program between Gingrich and Perkins, offering her own faith testimony and telling people to remember that she had won two previous campaigns after being down by 30 percents. She said God would get the credit for her victory in the race. “God gave us authority and dominion over this land…God is our king, our judge our lawmaker….we have a right to claim our historic heritage.”

Values Voter Summit: Anti-Environmentalism As a 'Scriptural' Position

Submitted by Anonymous on Sunday, 9/24/2006 12:00 pm
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) warned the crowd at the Values Voter Summit about the "attack to eliminate the conservative agenda of Evangelicals," which includes "scriptural" issues such as flag burning, abortion, and homosexuality. But the main thrust of his speech was a push back against environmentalism. According to Inhofe, the "smartest thing" that "liberal groups" have done is to introduce the issue of the environment to churches, and he said he was "very worried" that the majority of the audience "believe[s] global warming is real." He set out to dispell that understanding, using a somewhat convoluted logic. "It was started really by the United Nations," Inhofe's argument began. He said that the "motive" was "to try to shut down this machine called America." From there he turned to environmental terrorism, and then he jumped to "animal rights people" who say animal and human lives are "morally equal." He returned to the theme of "global governance" briefly before asking, "What does God say about this thing?" He quoted Romans' warning of those who worship "birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." He concluded: "We have something that we know is scriptural." Armed with this conclusion, Inhofe had harsh words for the National Association of Evangelicals, a group strongly allied with the Right which nevertheless has spoken out about the environment, and NAE spokesman Richard Cizik, "the man behind this." The senator called on the Values Voter Summit crowd to fight back: "If you do this, you'll be doing the Lord's work and he'll richly bless you for it."

Values Voter Summit: A 'Patriot Pastor' Looks the Devil in the Eye and Hires an Accountant

Submitted by Anonymous on Sunday, 9/24/2006 12:00 pm
Rick Scarborough, who pioneered the "Patriot Pastor" machine in Texas, offered Values Voter Summit activists a sermon-like exhortation for pastors to get their churches more involved in politics. "I am convinced what is missing in the culture war is the involvement of pastors," said Scarborough, who quit his church in 2002 to work as an activist full-time. According to Scarborough, "America is dying" because "the church is sleeping" during high-stakes political campaigns -- specifically, he called attention to the upcoming referendum on a total abortion ban in South Dakota (where "the forces of hell have marched in with their millions of dollars") and a referendum on stem-cell research in Missouri, where he has been holding rallies since July. Scarborough warned of what he believes he is facing: ruthless corporations bent on destroying America for profit. "What drives the abortion industry, what drives the gambling industry, what drives the embryonic stem-cell industry is money. ... They will kill you if they have to to maintain their trade of evil." Scarborough said that "The leading edge of the culture war is in Missouri and South Dakota," and he warned that, even though "we're living in the last days," if "the people pull the lever and approve of abortion and approve of creating to kill, then we may have stepped over the line" with God. He called on pastors to disregard concerns about political activists not being tax exempt, and said, referring to Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "God is looking for courageous men who will look the Devil in the eye and say, 'Shoot me if you will, but I'm not going to stop!'" And, echoing a previous fundraising pitch for his newly-formed political action group (a 501(c)4 non-profit classed to advocate for or against legislation), he said (somewhat melodramatically, given that the issue is whether donations are tax-deductible or not):
I'll go to prison before I quit preaching about what I believe to be the moral issues of our day. If that means we have to burn our 501(c)3s, let's burn 'em!

Values Voter Summit: Impressions, Day 2

Submitted by Anonymous on Sunday, 9/24/2006 9:35 am
Guest Post from Pam Chamberlain of the Public Eye The Values Voters Summit is in its second day here at the Omni Shoreham, the grande dame of D.C. convention hotels, freshly painted and efficiently handling the 1000+ attendees. National press has tended to represent the event as the sound bite opportunity that such events have become. Planners claimed to have drawn 100 members of the media, and especially on Friday, they took up most of the back of the Diplomat Ballroom, spilling into the corridors and exhibit hall. It’s more than just a media event, though. It is a pep rally, designed to mobilize committed conservative activists to work hard in the coming electoral campaigns, despite their possible hesitation about the Republican Party. Sitting in the audience, I alternately feel as though I’m in church or watching TV. Many of the speakers are pastors or elected officials, and they know how to hold the interest of a crowd. The audience is knowledgeable about scripture and can quote chapter and verse along with the person at the podium. Repeatedly, individuals testify to their faith from all corners of the hall. Nobody seems to be taking notes, and my busy scribbling makes me self-conscious. The “congregation” is, in fact, an important part of this ritual, feeding on the energy of the speakers and building consensus around a litany of topics, summarized by the event’s sponsors as Family, Faith and Freedom. The stage itself is a TV set, decorated in red white and blue drapes, with elaborate lighting effects and logo backdrops, two huge video monitors, and a central stage with two imposing Ionic columns and twin American flags. Speakers enter from behind a curtain and walk across to the podium (Dobson referred to it as a “pulpit”) accompanied by musical introductions chosen to match their messages. The production quality is impressively high. One of the most popular events was a 20 minute “talk show,” with the FRC’s Tony Perkins, James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, and Alan Sears, President of the Alliance Defense Fund comfortably perched on stools, amicably chatting. Perkins was the host, and in the course of the “program” I felt Dobson was publicly passing the torch of leadership over to Perkins, signaling a new era for the American Christian Right. (When talk-show host Sean Hannity referred to Dobson as the man who vetted his bachelor jokes, William Bennett corrected him by reminding us that Perkins was running the show.) Testifying to how up-to-date this movement has become, the exhibits are media-savvy, with some form of CD, DVD or web-related handout in every booth. Rev. Donald Wildmon, whose ministry consists of boycotts of corporations his American Family Association perceives as being gay friendly -- like Ford – says he can mobilize 380,000 emails, representing ten percent of his database, in a matter of days. The organizers may have thought they were introducing Wildmon to their audience, since he was given the podium at a special luncheon to describe his 150 person outfit in Tupelo, MS. But when he asked how many were already on his email alert list, a good 40% raised their hands. His hard-edged brand of non-aplogetic gay-bashing apparently has already been accepted by supporters of the FRC who were simultaneously being asked by other speakers to show their compassionate sides. The Shoreham is not the only institution here with a face lift. This wing of the Christian Right is positioning itself to influence elections and win both the war on terrorism and the war on liberal culture.

Values Voter Summit: The Value of a Little Strategic Dishonesty

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Sunday, 9/24/2006 8:58 am
A Saturday workshop on “Getting Church Voters to the Polls” suggested that getting the right candidate elected is more important than being honest with fellow churchgoers. What Connie Marshner of the Leadership Institute presented was not the kind of nonpartisan voter registration and civic participation campaign many churches appropriately carry out, but a step-by-step “Church Plan” to recruit volunteers and run a campaign to identify and turnout voters for a specific candidate. The plan starts with a voter canvas – calling through the church directory to find out which candidate people are supporting, whether they’re registered, and how likely they are to vote. “It is absolutely essential that the initial phone contact with the voter be anonymous contact,” says the manual, explaining that if the person receiving the call knows the caller, they might say what they think the caller wants to hear. Marshner and her manual suggest having the callers pretend that they are with a polling firm. Several attendees noted that when there was some discomfort in the room about the ethics of building the campaign on deceptive calls, and workshop attendees got no good answers to questions about how a caller should respond if asked how he or she got the person’s name and phone number, Marshner moved the conversation along. The kind of campaign Marshner presented could not be carried out by a church without violating its tax status; her plan seems designed to skirt that problem by being carried out by church members as individuals. And, it was suggested, it might be better not to get the pastor involved. A little plausible deniability to be on the safe side.

Values Voter Summit: Is the Anti-Christ Gay?

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Sunday, 9/24/2006 8:20 am
It wasn’t easy at this conference to distinguish yourself by the ugliness of your anti-gay remarks, but Rev. Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Texas rose to the occasion in a Saturday workshop on “Impacting the Culture Through the Church.” His remarks were one part bragging about “Not on My Watch,” his road show of opposition to marriage equality for gays, and four parts attacking the gay rights movement. McKissic denounced as “insulting, offensive, demeaning, and racist” the gay right’s movement trying to “hitch itself” to civil rights. Gays, he said, can’t “compare their sin to my skin.” He repeated the classic charge that gays “can’t reproduce so they have to recruit.” But he was just warming up. The civil rights movement, he said, was grounded in moral authority, truth and righteousness, the impetus to freedom, constitutional authority, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In contrast, he said, the gay rights movement was inspired “from the pit of hell itself,” and has a “satanic anointment.” The gay rights movement was birthed and inspired by the anti-Christ. He suggested that the anti-Christ is himself gay, citing a verse from the book of Daniel saying the anti-Christ will have no desire for a woman. “I don’t think there is any issue more important than how we are going to define the family,” said McKissic. Television shows portraying homosexuality in a positive light have put us “on the road to Sodom and Gomorrah,” and “God’s got another match…He didn’t run out of matches.”

Values Voter Summit: Day 2 Part 2

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 2:53 pm
A panel on the role of churches in political issues was introduced by a video promoting a rally in Boston on October 15. The theme of the event will be that marriage equality in that state is a grave threat to religious liberty, though the video didn’t explain how. The Southern Baptists’ Richard Land insisted that believers should apply their literal-truth understanding of scripture to the society at large. “It is our job as pastors and church workers to take the truth of God’s word and apply it to the moral issues of our society and call on our society to adhere to the biblical standard.” God may not be a Republican or Democrat, Land said, but He is definitely pro-life, pro-heterosexual marriage, and anti-pornography. Land defended a liberal California church facing an IRS investigation because of an anti-war sermon preached shortly before the 2004 election. Land said he’d read the sermon and it did not endorse any candidates. But, Land argued, churches ought to be free to endorse candidates, even if he personally thought it wasn’t a good idea, and he said the movement should be working very hard to change IRS regulations. Rev. Herb Lusk is the Philadelphia pastor whose church hosted “Justice Sunday III” – the Religious Right’s rally for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Lusk said the civil rights movement’s accomplishments were based on blacks and “our brothers and sisters of other hues” preaching a holistic gospel. But, he said, the civil rights movement has taken a different turn, and that now it’s Dr. Dobson and Tony Perkins taking the lead in protecting the civil rights of unborn children. Rev. Dr. John Guest, a Pennsylvania pastor who grew up in London during World War II, said the bombing of London happened because the German church had abdicated its spiritual and moral responsibility to speak the truth. But Guest doesn’t think challenging the Bush administration might be part of that responsibility. “I’ve said from my pulpit that it is treacherous and traitorous to be condemning, belittling, and bringing down our president in a time of war.” Lusk, who had been chafing at speaking while being seated behind a table, was encouraged to take the podium by Tony Perkins, and then he went into full preaching mode, criticizing pastors who weren’t getting involved. “I know why you’re not,” he said. “We know what happened to every prophet in the Old Testament…they killed them.” Lusk brought the crowd to its feet with a high-energy exhortation, saying “Your God will protect you…you have nothing to fear!” An odd element of Lusk’s performance was his declaration that Rev. Barry Lynn, the oft-reviled-at-this-conference director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, should no longer be mentioned by name. “The enemy is out there. We know who our enemy is. The more you call the enemy’s name, the larger he becomes.” It remains to be seen if other speakers will adhere to Lusk’s declaration that Lynn has become, like Voldemort in the world of Harry Potter, He Who Must Not Be Named.

Values Voter Summit: Starting Day 2 Right

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 1:37 pm
Nothing like starting your Saturday with Sean Hannity. The Fox TV personality got a hero’s welcome. While he promised a serious talk, he couldn’t stop from entertaining himself by repeatedly breaking into innuendo-rich impersonations of Bill Clinton. The bullying partisan lamented the “troubling” nature of our public debate, saying it shouldn’t be left and right, Democratic and Republican – we should all be united in the battle of right v. wrong, good v. evil. Then he went on to deride liberals and Democratic leaders for suffering from “Bush Derangement Syndrome.” Clearly, the kind of unity Hannity has in mind is everyone agreeing with him. He analogized those he deems insufficiently supportive of President Bush’s tactics in the war on terrorism with appeasers of the Nazis. He got applause ticking off the expected litany of conservative Republican talking points – support the President, we’re overtaxed, public schools undermine our values, etc., etc. But he may have gotten his loudest ovation when he declared “Hillary Clinton must never be the President of the United States.” He ended by assuring the audience that God had sent us George W. Bush just when we needed him. Virtue-meister Bill Bennett seemed to surprise the crowd a bit by insisting that the Bush administration is being too tentative – that’s right, too tentative – in conducting the war on terror. After four U.S. contractors were killed in Fallujah, the town should have been leveled. Venezuelan President Huge Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should never have been allowed into the U.S. to address the U.N. Reporters who print classified information they’ve been leaked should be prosecuted. Bennett ended on a more hopeful note, saying that while elites have corrupted our culture, we should take heart by remembering our victory in World War II and the heroism demonstrated after 9-11. Embattled Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania did not show as expected, but appeared in a relatively low-key video. He said he has paid a price for standing up for “definitional” causes such as defining life as beginning at the moment of conception. Santorum invoked the war abroad and the battle at home (to define family and culture), though he acknowledged that the battle against radical secular humanism is “less virulent” than the battle against radical Islam. Right-wing movement pioneer Paul Weyrich followed Santorum and declared, “Rick Santorum is the most important United States Senator that we have in this country at this time.” Weyrich’s remarks were mostly a pep talk, reminding people how far the “pro-family” movement has come since its early days and telling people not to be discouraged. “We are a national movement, we are a strong movement, we are a visible movement, we are on the march. Don’t ever get discouraged, because we’re doing so much better than we ever did before.” He gave “Dr. Dobson” credit for bringing down Sen. Tom Daschle, and predicted victory in every state with an anti-gay amendment on the ballot this year. Perhaps foreshadowing a new direct-mail and turnout theme, Weyrich claimed that if Democrats get control of Congress, they intend to shut down right-wing talk radio by reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

Values Voter Summit: Friday Night Battle of the Bullies

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 11:48 am
The closing session of Day 1 at the Values Voters conference had the feel of an emotional roller coaster. The evening kicked off with stand-up comedy by Steve Bridges, whose impersonation of President Bush is uncanny - every shrug, eyebrow raise, hand gesture, whisper, squint, smirk, and laugh were instantly recognizable. The performance had people rolling in the aisles, even though there was a lot of good-natured humor playing on the very-popular-in-this-crowd president's difficulties with the English language and his reputation for not being, as he said, "the brightest bulb in the knife drawer." The tone shifted dramatically darker with the next two speakers, Religious Right strategist and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer and notorious pundit Ann Coulter. Bauer focused on "two wars"- the war against "Islamo-fascists" and the battle over values. Coulter's theme was "two evils" to be fought - Islamic terrorists and the Supreme Court. Both mocked concerns about mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo. Bauer particularly seemed to take offense at the very notion that detainees would be treated humanely, which he said sends a signal of weakness to our enemies. He derided Republican Sens. McCain, Warner and Graham for trying to ensure that the U.S. retained its commitment to the Geneva Convention's requirement for humane treatment of prisoners of war. And he slammed the "left wing of American politics," which he said "appears to hate you and me and George Bush more than they hate the Taliban and Osama bin Laden." Bauer described the values battle - over abortion and marriage - in equally pugnacious terms, insisting that Roe will soon be overturned and declaring that "we are putting the radical gay rights movement on notice. You will not defeat us. We will defend marriage." Bauer closed by invoking the memories of people in the twin towers who called loved ones in their final moments, and of the passengers on flight 93 who sacrificed their lives to prevent another terror attack. He called on the image of those passengers charging up the aisle to shame anyone who stays out of the culture war or doesn't find time to vote. Bauer, of course, gave no sign of recognizing that among those callers and passengers were gay Americans with their own loved ones and families. Coulter, while extremely popular with the crowd, seemed a bit off, rushing through her speech in order to get to the book signing table, but not so quickly that she didn't throw out some tradmark outrageousness designed to delight right-wing audiences: liberals don't want to go to war with Islamic fascism, and the killing of doctors who provided abortions was basically the fault of the Supreme Court's decision in Casey. She derided Supreme Court decisions that "read like newsletters from NAMBLA" and asked when the other branches of government would finally start ignoring "absurd" Supreme Court decisions. (She suggested that Bush and Congress should have ignored decisions on the rights of detainees.) Without a trace of irony Coulter declared the war in Iraq a "magnificent success," made light of the massive looting that took place there ("broken pottery") and dismissed concerns about the conditions in Iraq raised by the "treason lobby." Now let's sell some books.

Values Voter Summit: Personal Thoughts on Day 1

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 9:02 am
Guest Post from Rev. Katherine Ragsdale It started well – early, but well – at the pastors’ breakfast. It was disappointing, ‘though not surprising, to find that only 10 of the about 80 attendees were women and most of them were wives of pastors or FRC staff. Still, while some folks studiously ignored the elephant in the room that I represented – a woman in a clerical collar – most were at least courteous and some were gracious. The room, in fact, appeared to be filled with people who were, for the most part, earnest, polite, sincere … misguided, to my way of thinking, but sincere and generally kind and decent. One of the first announcements had to do with going to Boston to fight the evil of same sex marriage and support their brother pastors who were having their religious liberty trampled by this awful state of affairs. I turned to the man next to me and said, “Hmmm. That’s interesting. I don’t think I get it. I’m a pastor in MA and I’ve not had my religious liberty trampled. I’m as free as ever to refuse to marry anyone I don’t want to marry, for any reason. The State has never tried to force me to perform any marriage I don’t want to.” He acknowledged that that’s the way it should be and smiled agreeably – but later joined in the applause for lines that encouraged us all to fight the travesty of same sex marriage that threatened to ruin our country, harm our children, and deprive us of our religious liberty. Go figure. Still the personal attacks that morning were scarce. There were abstract attacks implied in the prayer Jerry Falwell quoted that included lines imploring God to deliver us from the evil of “embracing laziness and calling it welfare” and of “coveting the possessions of others and calling it taxes.” A breathtaking lack of compassion for the poor (whom the prophets and Jesus said we ought never to neglect) but not personally, individually hateful. Perhaps the closest they came to that on that first morning was to make fun of Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo for calling themselves Evangelicals. On my way out of the room a staff member thanked me for coming. He said, “I don’t know if you’re for us or against us, but I’m glad you came.” Perhaps he had noted that my applause never exceeded what courtesy required; still, he returned the courtesy and displayed a basic decency that fed that never quite dead ember of hope I carry that people of good faith and good will can forge paths to understanding. But as the day wore on the hate card began to make appearances. By late afternoon Myrna Blyth, speaking on the women against feminists panel (who do they think changed the world so profoundly that women would even be allowed to speak at such an event?), begun her presentation with an attack on Maureen Dowd’s appearance – not her ideas, but her appearance. She said things that common courtesy and decency forbid me to repeat here. Suffice it to say they were nasty and irrelevant. Gratuitous insults. The gloves had come off and hate was on stage receiving applause. The decency, and hope, of the morning seemed very far away. Then came the evening and Gary Bauer. It seemed the entire deck he drew from held nothing but hate cards. Again and again he returned to themes of vengeance, hate, vindictiveness. That ember of hope flickered into near oblivion when he received ovations for his snide diatribe against ending torture. When a group who call themselves Christians and profess to be working to maintain America’s place as a moral beacon in a fallen world rise to their feet so support this nation’s use of torture, there seems little basis for hope. It continues to astonish me that the courteous people who welcomed me at breakfast could so easily be turned to a crowd cheering for torture. Sure, it took an all day diet of half-truths and outright lies carefully delivered for the greatest emotional impact. But it worked -- at least for the evening. (See, that ember of hope refuses to die entirely!) Hatefulness and vindictiveness took home the pot last night – a sad ending to a long day. The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale is Executive Director of Political Research Associates in Somerville, MA and Vicar of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Pepperell, MA.
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Values Voter Summit Posts Archive

Gohmert: Without DADT, Military Stands to Lose Thousands and US Will Reach the “End of its Existence as a Great Nation”
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 12/15/2010, 7:15pm
While debating the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), of “terror-baby” fame, claimed that the policy’s repeal may doom the military and the nation as a whole. Gohmert blasted the recent Pentagon study, which showed that an overwhelming number of military service members do not oppose repealing DADT, and said that the military could potentially lose “many thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands” if the policy is repealed. Gohmert uses no scientific evidence of his own to back up his claim that “hundreds... MORE
Mike Pence: Obama Treats Country “Like a Dog”
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 12/13/2010, 6:30pm
With growing speculation over his presidential ambitions, Indiana Republican Mike Pence is taking the anti-Obama rhetoric into high-gear. Pence is the winner of the Family Research Council’s 2010 Values Voter Summit straw poll, and is seen as a favorite of the Religious Right. By stepping down from his position as House GOP Conference Chair because he couldn’t commit to serving a full term, Pence signaled that he could potentially run for governor of Indiana or President. In an interview with US News & World Report, Pence rejects the social issues “truce”... MORE
Tealigious Right Gloats, Thanks God for GOP Victories
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Thursday 11/04/2010, 4:54pm
Two days after the Election Day conservative tide, Newt Gingrich, David Barton, and Jim Garlow held a conference call for conservative Christian pastors to talk about what it all means. The call brought together Gingrich, an establishment Republican who has been courting the Religious Right for a future presidential bid; Barton, a long-time fixture of the Religious Right who has become a Tea Party celebrity thanks to Glenn Beck; and Jim Garlow, who hails from the dominionist wing of the Religious Right and led religious opposition to marriage equality in California. The elections,... MORE
Pray and Act Ends With a Whimper
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 11/01/2010, 10:34am
When we first learned of the "Pray and ACT" effort which sought to link 7 Mountains Dominionism with election-oriented prayer and fasting, we were pretty surprised by the number of high profile Religious Right leaders who had signed on to the effort, like Chuck Colson, Mike Huckabee, Harry Jackson, Richard Land, Maggie Gallagher and various others. In addition to orchestrating forty days of prayer and fasting in an effort to save this nation by electing "candidates who affirm the sanctity of life in all stages and conditions, the integrity of marriage as the union of one... MORE
Phyllis Schlafly: Muslim Cleric
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 10/14/2010, 5:19pm
This person is generating outrage: A leading Muslim cleric in the United Kingdom said that it is "clearly" impossible for men to rape their wives, and it should not be considered a crime. Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, president of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain, told the human rights Web site Samosa, "Sex is part of marriage. In Islamic Sharia, rape is adultery by force." "So long as the woman is his wife, it cannot be termed as rape," he continued. "It is reprehensible, but we do not call it rape." Sayeed also claimed many married women who allege... MORE
A View From Inside The American Family Association
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 10/12/2010, 9:29am
It is not every day that former employees of influential Religious Right organizations step forward to reveal the unpleasant inner-workings of such organizations, but Religious Dispatches' Sarah Posner has gotten several former employees of the American Family Association to do just that. And I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to learn that the environment inside the AFA is rather toxic, with founder Don Wildmon being described as an autocratic bully who created a culture of fear and intimidation that infected the entire organization, one which has only gotten worse with the... MORE
Pence Embraces Reed and the Religious Right in Iowa
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 10/04/2010, 10:21am
After winning the Values Voter Summit straw poll of likely 2012 presidential contenders, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence spoke in Iowa to Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition. Pence appeared to reject “the truce” proposed by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which called on conservatives to play down social issues in order to push their economic agenda, and showed why he is so beloved by the Religious Right. In his remarks, Pence did discuss fiscal issues, calling for a “balanced federal budget” but also for extending the budget-busting Bush tax cuts for the... MORE