Month: November 2010
GOP Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins Cites Research from Dr. George ‘Rentboy’ Rekers’ Phony Group to Justify Anti-Gay Smears
It’s apparent now that the corporate media has chosen to ignore the fact that that the Family Research Center, a group that is openly affiliated with the mainstream Republican Party, has been named to the official list of U.S. hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for some ace reporter to ask Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), winner of the FRC’s Value Voters Summit presidential straw poll, if he stands by his endorsement by a high-profile hate group.
Unlike representatives from, say, the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation and other race-based hate groups on the list, FRC openly consults with and lobbies Republican members of Congress. It also sponsors the GOP-oriented “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, which features a must-do presidential candidate cattle call that is open only to Republicans.
Christine O’Donnell made her first public appearance at the Summit after winning the Delaware primary this year, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., won the presidential straw poll. But don’t hold your breath waiting for some ace reporter to ask him if he stands by his endorsement by a high-profile hate group.
In a just world, corporate media would shun the FRC, just as it shuns race-based hate groups. After all, it’s been decades since the media felt an obligation to give the Klan or Aryan Nation a national platform for their views. That’s because the media — and our society as a whole — reached a consensus long ago that there really are not two legitimate sides in the debate over civil rights for racial minorities.
Unfortunately, we’re apparently a decade or two away from reaching the same consensus about the gay rights debate.
Case in point: Last night, MSNBC gave a national platform to FRC Pres. Tony Perkins on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” ostensibly so Perkins could defend his organization and explain why its designation as a hate-group is wrong.
Instead, Perkins chose to double-down on some of the same lies and smears that led to the FRC being named to the hate group list:
Sneaky Weaky Leaks
Oh, the revelations of the Wikileaks!
Putin’s a bully! Berlusconi’s a freak!
But apparently banal insults
Is just the language of consuls,
Get over it already — turn the other cheek!
Palin’s Prez Chances Slim
28%
Share of Americans who believe Sarah Palin could win a presidential campaign, while 60% think she would lose and 12% aren’t sure. More troubling for Palin: Just 48% of Republicans think she could win, while 37% think she would not and 15% have no opinion, according to a Public Policy Polling survey.
Freshman Congress Members Sleep In Their Office
15%
Share of the 94 incoming members of the House of Representatives will sleep in their congressional offices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tea Baggers are Winning the War on the War on Christmas
The 2010 War on the War on Christmas is looking to be a shattering success for the American Family Association. On the heels of its addition to the list of hate groups published annually by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Christianist group is spreading its message of holiday — whoops– Christmas joy through an intimidation campaign against prominent retailers.
The AFA has no problem with using Christ’s birthday to sell G-strings and MP3 players and no problem with manipulating their tea bagger base to conflate Jesus with retailing.
Here are the rules, according to the AFA.
Criteria – AFA reviewed up to four areas to determine if a company was “Christmas-friendly” in their advertising: print media (newspaper inserts), broadcast media (radio/television), website and/or personal visits to the store. If a company’s ad has references to items associated with Christmas (trees, wreaths, lights, etc.), it was considered as an attempt to reach “Christmas” shoppers. If a company has items associated with Christmas, but did not use the word “Christmas,” then the company is considered as censoring “Christmas.”
Color Code:
GREEN: Company uses the term “Christmas” on a regular basis, we consider that company Christmas-friendly.
YELLOW: Company refers to Christmas infrequently, or in a single advertising medium, but not in others.
RED: Company may use “Christmas” sparingly in a single or unique product description, but as a company, does not recognize it.
The unfortunately named Dick’s Sporting Goods recently caved to AFA pressure, leading to awkwardly structured pitches. Where before online shoppers could find a selection of “The season’s top scoring gifts,” we wonder if they will now wade through apostrophically-challenged “Christmas’s top gifts?”
We have always found it ironic that the same folks who insist that everyone use the word “Christmas,” in every situation, including on second reference, are the ones who forced such abominations as “Happy Harvest” and “Trunk or Treat” upon us.
But what we find most paradoxical is the AFA’s targeting of Victoria’s Secret. The lingerie retailer predictably made the AFA’s “Naughty” list (we’re not kidding) but not for its depiction of barely dressed, surgically enhanced models such as this:
Final Election Results Give Dems a Clean Sweep in California – Post-Election Polls Suggest GOP Is Walking Wounded, Maybe Walking Dead
Go ahead: Accuse me of shooting the wounded. But it may be that the body already is dead.
I’m referring to the California Republican Party.
How alive could the state GOP be after suffering the pounding it took on Nov. 2, a day of historic party triumph elsewhere across America?
“It’s not just wounded, it’s in a coma,” says Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado.
Maldonado was one of several Republican victims on election day. He lost the lieutenant governor’s race to Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Later in the week, just before Thanksgiving, results from the last two close races came in. Democrats won them both. San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris is now the state’s attorney general, and Rep. Jerry McNerney in the 11th District beat a tea bagger whose single issue is abolishing public education in the United States.
Now it’s official: No California Democrat lost a race on November 2, and Democrats even picked up yet another seat in the already lopsidedly Democratic-controlled state legislature.
Give ‘Em Some Lip
Now Obama’s a competitive fellow,
On the court he bullies and bellows.
Besides the ‘Bipartisan Shove,’
He’s developed a new move —
They’re calling it ‘Kissing the Elbow.’
Verbatim
You keep asking these presentist questions Bob. As the immortal Marisa Tomei said in My Cousin Vinny, ‘that’s a bullshit question!’ because you cannot pluck people out of the past and expect them to comment on what’s happening today.
— “Colonel Roosevelt” author Edmund Morris, in an interview on Face the Nation, when asked what he thought Theodore Roosevelt would make of today’s politics.
Southern Poverty Law Center Adds Anti-Gay Organizations with GOP Ties to Hate Groups List
Apologists Demand Govt Stop Funding SPLC – But Quick Check Confirms SPLC Accepts No Govt Funding
You may have missed it in the pre-holiday buzz last week but the Southern Poverty Law Center has added some of the Republican Party’s most prominent interest groups — all of which promote anti-gay agendas — to its official list of hate groups operating in the United States:
Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.
One thing that ties together the newly named hate groups is their connection to the evangelical base of the Republican Party. While it’s true that long-standing groups on the hate list — organizations that promote racial and ethnic hatred like the KKK and Aryan Nation, for example — are part and parcel of the conservative movement, the GOP has largely shunned interaction with these groups, at least publicly.
But many of the newly named hate groups are openly affiliated with the GOP. Unlike, say, the KKK, representatives of these hate groups openly lobby Republican members of Congress. They produce voter guides on which all the candidates listed are Republicans. Through their political action committees, some of them endorse and contribute to GOP candidates. One of them, the Family Research Council, even hosts a candidates forum that exclusively includes Republicans.
Five of the newly named hate groups that have particularly strong ties to the Republican Party include:
