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May 7, 2008
Dobson Nominated for Radio Hall of Fame
Focus on the Family urges its activists to vote for him: "Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, has been helping families worldwide over the radio airwaves for more than 30 years. Now, his daily radio broadcast has received a nomination for induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. For the first time, the public is invited to vote."
Posted by Kyle at 11:56 AM | Permalink
May 5, 2008
The Nazi Thing
Tony Zirkle’s 15 minutes of swastika-draped fame were widely reported last month, when the Indiana congressional candidate spoke at an American Nazi Party celebration of Adolf Hitler’s birthday. Zirkle, whose campaign warns of a link between Jews and pornography, offered the comical explanation that, despite the oversize Hitler portrait and Nazi flags directly behind him, the swastika armbands of the men on either side of him, and the words “Seig Heil” on the cake, “he didn't believe the event he attended included people necessarily of the Nazi mindset, pointing out the name isn't Nazi, but Nationalist Socialist Workers Party.” The candidate was duly reviled by his opponent in the Republican primary race, as well as by everybody else, as an isolated racist crackpot.
However, the report on the matter by the right-wing WorldNetDaily—a product of the anti-Bill Clinton Arkansas Project that now hosts columnists such as Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, and Chuck Norris—offered an unusual twist. After reviewing the story and printing a number of random comments from other websites (a common journalistic technique at WND), the article tried to put it in a kind of context: "Other congressional candidates have raised eyebrows with their speeches, too," it stated. But its only example was a quote from Rep. Keith Ellison comparing the time after September 11, 2001, when the Bush Administration asserted new executive privileges, to the time after the burning of the Reichstag, when Hitler consolidated his powers.
While Ellison took heat for using the metaphor, there is, to put it mildly, a pretty obvious distinction between making a rhetorical comparison of your opponents' tactics to historical events in Nazi Germany, and actually forging an alliance with present-day Nazis based on apparently shared values. So why did WND choose this as its only attempt at context?
Ellison, of course, was the first Muslim member of Congress, and after his election in 2006, the Right launched an effort to portray his presence in Washington as a dire threat to the nation. WorldNetDaily offered obsessive coverage through dozens of flimsy, paranoid articles with titles such as “Doubts grow over Muslim lawmaker's loyalty” and “Muslim congressman called 'security' issue.”
Since WND is so desperate for an example of an anti-Semitic political figure, it’s fortunate that Ted Pike provided a timely reminder. Pike, head of the National Prayer Network, has been a frequent source of quotes for WND whenever the site covered proposed federal hate-crimes protections, most recently in December.
Pike is best-known, however, for pushing out anti-Semitic propaganda along with his father, a radio talker in the 1980s. As People For the American Way reported in a press release from 1989, Pike was warning that there was “a tendency toward Jewish domination of society,” that “Jewish international bankers” were behind the Bolshevik Revolution, and that the state of Israel was “the first stage in Satan’s plan to take this world from Christ and give it to the Antichrist.” Twenty years ago, Pike was warning that the Jewish motivation behind hate-crimes legislation was to silence churches; today, he warns of the “homosexual agenda.”
We were reminded of Pike—and his place as a privileged WorldNetDaily commentator—after he sent out an e-mail alert two weeks ago complaining that the Southern Poverty Law Center had cited the National Prayer Network as a hate group:
Jewish activist groups want to increasingly broaden the terms "hate" and "anti-Semitism" to include evangelicals. …
Jewish activists thus display a truly hateful intent—to harm Christians and deprive them of freedom. Such activists work to warp public and government perceptions of Christian conservatives—demonizing us as potential sources of “homophobic,” anti-Semitic bigotry and possible violence. SPLC alleges a 48 percent increase of threat from the "radical right" since 2000. Jewish attack groups such as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, American Civil Liberties Union, and People for the American Way, smear “homophobic” evangelicals as being part of this “threat.”
After defaming Christians as "haters," Jewish supremacists want to actually outlaw Christian political activity and evangelism. The ADL created hate crime laws that will particularly outlaw reproof of sodomy and evangelism of non-Christians, especially Jews.
(Photo: The Times of Northwest Indiana.)
Posted by Ezra at 10:00 AM | Permalink
April 17, 2008
New Washington Times: Same As Old Washington Times
Let's not get too excited about new management. AP story headlined "Immigration crackdown costs grow" (see here) printed as "Illegal immigration costs grow."
Posted by Ezra at 10:44 AM | Permalink
March 11, 2008
Bush Gives Shout Out to Dobson, Limbaugh
President Bush addressed the National Religious Broadcasters Convention and vowed to veto the Fairness Doctrine if it ever reaches his desk: "We know who these advocates of so-called balance really have in their sights: shows hosted by people like Rush Limbaugh or James Dobson, or many of you here today. By insisting on so-called balance, they want to silence those they don't agree with. The truth of the matter is, they know they cannot prevail in the public debate of ideas ... But I'll tell you this: If Congress should ever pass any legislation that stifles your right to express your views, I'm going to veto it."
Posted by Kyle at 3:54 PM | Permalink
February 28, 2008
More Than Personal
The Virginian-Pilot reminds us that the John McCain-Pat Robertson feud is more than personal: "Pique might be one reason Christian conservative Pat Robertson isn’t backing Sen. John McCain’s bid for the presidency: McCain labeled him an 'agent of intolerance' during a 2000 speech in Virginia Beach. But as a Christian broadcaster, Robertson may also balk at McCain’s championship of pay-per-channel cable television, a format that could slash the market for faith-based programming. Robertson, who could not be reached for comment, heads the Christian Broadcasting Network, based in Virginia Beach."
Posted by Kyle at 12:37 PM | Permalink
February 27, 2008
Washington Times Takes Small Step Toward Mainstream
Associated Press stories run almost identically in various newspapers—maybe the headline will change, or a few paragraphs will be trimmed. Or, in some cases, certain copy-editing standards will be enforced. Take this AP story from last week, as run in the Washington Examiner, a right-leaning tabloid in D.C.:
Md. lawmakers renew debate on in-state tuition for immigrants
By KRISTEN WYATT, AP
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland lawmakers renewed debate Thursday over one of the sharpest topics to come up in recent years - whether to allow residents who are illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition.
Now consider the version published by the right-wing Washington Times:
Tuition for illegals stirs strong debate
By Kristen Wyatt
ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Maryland lawmakers renewed debate yesterday over one of the sharpest topics to come up in recent years — whether to allow residents who are illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition.
Replacing “illegal immigrants” with “illegal aliens” was part of the Times’ stylebook. The same went for “same-sex marriage,” which the Times published as “same-sex ‘marriage’”—that is, the paper added scare-quotes around the word "marriage." These typographical tics were more than a conservative badge of honor for the Times, owned by Korean religious leader Rev. Sun Moon. For many observers, they were also a running gag, a joke that the newspaper didn’t seem to be in on.
But the comical stylebook, at least, is now a thing of the past—another casualty of executive editor Wesley Pruden’s retirement, along with the departure of longtime staffers Fran Coombs and Robert Stacey McCain, who gave the Times an unfortunate air of white supremacy. New executive editor John Solomon promises “news down the middle”; we’ll believe it when we see it.
Posted by Ezra at 9:31 AM | Permalink
January 11, 2008
Robertson Seeks to Buy Critical Paper
The Virginian-Pilot, located in Norfolk, VA, has long provided excellent, in-depth coverage of Pat Robertson and his various activities. In particular, Pilot journalists Steven Vegh and Bill Sizemore have regularly covered Robertson, often generating national news coverage of his exploits - including his yearly predictions, his health claims, his charities, his buisness dealings, and his outrageous statements.
And now the Pilot was the first to report another Robertson-related scoop - the televangelist is trying to buy the newspaper:
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who has sharply criticized The Virginian-Pilot in the past, is considering making a bid to buy the newspaper, an associate said Thursday ... "I am considering a potential bid for the Pilot and have asked my attorneys to look into it," Robertson said in an e-mail forwarded by his personal assistant, G.G. Conklin. "It would be particularly helpful to provide internships for Regent University journalism students."
As the article notes, "Robertson has objected to articles in The Pilot that he has said unfairly characterized his pursuits." Presumably, should Robertson succeed in purchasing the paper, Vegh and Sizemore will both be out of jobs and the interns from Regent won't be particularly committed to carrying on their legacy of exposing Robertson's lunacy.
Posted by Kyle at 1:53 PM | Permalink
January 9, 2008
Just in Case, Right Wing Ready for Anti-Obama Campaign
Few constituencies were more surprised by Barack Obama’s win in last week’s Iowa Democratic caucus than the right-wing media—Clinton obsession has been its bread and butter for over a decade. Nevertheless, the Right is doing its best to prove it will pull no punches no matter who the Democrats nominate.
The Right has hardly refrained from attacking Obama—remember his visit to Rick Warren’s church over a year ago? Or last summer, when the National Clergy Council declared “Obama's Christianity [to be] woefully deficient”? But the last few days have seen a seeming uptick in the number of anti-Obama articles: For example, Human Events editor-at-large Terence Jeffrey warned that the Democrat is “the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever.” A CNSNews piece surveyed African-American religious-right activists on the candidate, such as Rev. Clenard Childress of Blackgenocide.org, who implied that abortion is worse for blacks than was lynching, and Jesse Lee Peterson of BOND, who said, “For Barack Obama to support abortion shows a lack of love for the black community and especially for the unborn."
But the Illinois senator’s faith seems to be the most appealing target of the Right. Newsmax correspondent Ronald Kessler offers a menacing warning that Obama attends a black church whose pastor propounds the “thesis that blacks in America are oppressed.” “At the least,” writes Kessler, “Obama’s membership in [Rev. Jeremiah] Wright’s church suggests a lack of judgment and an insensitivity to views that are repugnant to the vast majority of white Americans who are not bigots.”
(In particular, Kessler objects to the “Black Value System” on the church’s website. “One can only imagine the outrage that would erupt if a white presidential candidate like Romney subscribed to something called the White Value System,” he writes. One can only imagine what Kessler would think if he knew about the Religious Right’s “Black Contract with America on Moral Values.”)
But if Kessler wants to present Obama as a radical Christian, he’s going to have a lot of competition from those on the Right who want to present Obama as a radical Muslim, a (needless to say, inaccurate) smear that continues to be distributed as an e-mail forward. Daniel Pipes (nominated by Bush to the U.S. Institute of Peace) wrote an article for David Horowitz’s FrontPage Magazine purportedly “confirming” the senator’s secret Muslim past.
Kessler concludes his report on Obama’s pastor with a bizarre comparison:
But media bias or not, if Obama is his party’s nominee, his Republican opponent will rightly be able to make use of Rev. Wright and his radical teachings as effectively as supporters of George H.W. Bush used Willie Horton’s furlough to help Bush win the presidency.
The 20-year-old Horton ad would hardly be the first campaign strategy to come to mind, unless Kessler were recalling the ad’s widespread reputation as a crypto-racist attack on Michael Dukakis. In that sense, comparing it to these insinuations about the black church may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Posted by Ezra at 6:06 PM | Permalink
December 3, 2007
Gordon Robertson Takes Over CBN
Pat Robertson hands over control to his son: "Robertson said he told CBN's board that it was time for him to pass on some of the duties he has held since he founded CBN in 1960 and that the board unanimously elected Gordon Robertson to replace him as CEO over the weekend. The board also appointed Gordon Robertson to be vice chairman of the board ... Robertson also assured viewers: 'Well, I'm not going anywhere. I'll still remain chairman. But I'm just so thrilled that somebody of this caliber could be the successor at such time the Lord decides to walk me off the stage.'"
Posted by Kyle at 12:55 PM | Permalink
November 16, 2007
Beware "The Golden Compass"
CWA's Matt Barber warns that "The Golden Compass" is trying to turn kids into atheists: "With The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman shares his heart with us - a heart that says, 'There is no God.' And he clearly wants to influence your child's heart as well. This movie's creation - or chance materialization, take your pick - has a specific agenda. It is clearly targeted toward unsuspecting children with the furtive goal of enlisting the next generation of 'fools.'"
Posted by Kyle at 3:20 PM | Permalink
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