Brian Tashman's blog

WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah has for years been waging a war against the gay conservative group GOProud, and attacking the American Conservative Union for allowing GOProud to participate in its annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). But this year, under new leadership, the ACU has decided to kick GOProud out of CPAC and has instead invited Religious Right luminaries and past CPAC-boycotters Mike Huckabee and Tony Perkins to address the summit. GOProud also finds itself in hot water after allegedly outing over Twitter a pollster for Rick Perry’s campaign in response to a controversial ad maligning gay soldiers. Conservative smear artist Andrew Breitbart quit GOProud’s advisory board in response to the outing, leading Farah to gloat, “I told you so.”

In an editorial today, Farah slams GOProud by tying the group to President Obama and his administration’s LGBT rights directive. “It was the political left that birthed the homosexual agenda by asserting what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms was a private matter – only to make it everyone's business,” Farah writes. “Now, under Barack Obama, the U.S. federal government is to become a global sex cop and make LGBT status as a preferential designation for immigrants into the country.” He goes on to say that supporting gay rights is incompatible with the conservative movement and calls GOProud “an enemy of conservatism inside the gates”:

I hate to say, "I told you so."

Andrew Breitbart is learning the hard way what it means to be a "conservative."

And it doesn't mean promoting a political organization that seeks to redefine a 6,000-year-old moral code or one that defines itself by its members' own peculiar sexual practices.

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Any person or group seeking to topple the Judeo-Christian moral code and glorify sin, which is exactly what GOProud is all about, can never be considered "conservative," or the term loses all meaning. It is the political left that separates people by sex, by race, by ethnicity, by social standing, by income and through a thousand other classifications in an effort to divide and conquer in the name of greater state control.

It was the political left that birthed the homosexual agenda by asserting what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms was a private matter – only to make it everyone's business. Now, under Barack Obama, the U.S. federal government is to become a global sex cop and make LGBT status as a preferential designation for immigrants into the country.

I have no doubt these policies will please the extremists at GOProud. Any group or individual who supports same-sex marriage, hate-crimes laws and radical social engineering in our military can never be considered "conservative."

…

Will Ann Coulter, who sits on that same GOProud advisory board, finally get a clue?

Will Grover Norquist, who sits on that same advisory board, have an epiphany now?

Will the rest of the conservative movement finally comprehend what these people are doing?

It's time to recognize what GOProud truly is – an enemy of conservatism inside the gates, the well-funded, well-heeled, perpetrators of a "homo con," a term the group affectionately uses for its own fabulous confabs.

Even after Lowe’s and other companies succumbed to the demands of the ultraconservative Florida Family Association, which routinely launches pressure campaigns against advertisers on shows like Modern Family, Dancing With the Stars, and Degrassi, to drop their ads on TLC’s reality show All-American Muslim, the FFA has ramped up its attacks on the Muslim community. While defending his group’s efforts, David Caton of the FFA likened American Muslims to snakes:

The show was not an accurate portrayal American Muslims, he said, because it doesn't disclose that "99.9 percent of Muslims agree with the principles of Sharia law," the restrictive religious code that Caton and others warn leads to the spread of Islamic extremism.

"This has all to do with the way this program was constructed to deliberately present Muslims in America as one flavor," he told The Associated Press. "It would be similar to the Learning Channel doing a report on 'snakes are good family pets' without reporting that there are four in Florida that are venomous. ....For TLC to choose to profile five people as an aberration of the Islamic faith is propaganda."

Pamela Geller, whose diatribe against the show helped spark the FFA’s campaign, pleaded with readers to shop at Lowe’s, blasting a California lawmaker who criticized Lowe’s and Russell Simmons for placing ads on the show to push back against FFA’s pressure campaign:

Advertisers like Lowes are choosing not run their ads on this propaganda. Good for them. The idea that Russel Simmons is threatening and intimidating is indicative of how little Simmons knows of sharia and Islam. Islamic racism is monstrous and is rampant today.

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A craven lawmaker seeks to exploit this non-story. Lowes chose not to advertise. That's it. Are we going to force advertisers to finance propaganda or taqiyya?

PLEASE SHOP LOWES. And send a word of thanks to Lowe's Corporate for their decision to drop the show's sponsorship.

The FFA is also finding support from Religious Right groups such as the American Decency Association, which called All-American Muslim “dangerous” because the people featured on the reality show don’t talk about jihad, which if you believe anti-Muslim stereotypes is what all Muslims talk about all the time! The group’s president also knocked the Council on American-Islamic Relations for criticizing Lowe’s, arguing that CAIR wants to “overcome our very own Constitution”:

Bill Johnson, president of American Decency Association, argues that the show is a complete whitewash designed to make the Muslim community appear attractive.

"And that's what makes it so dangerous," he tells OneNewsNow. "We've been watching it over these several weeks that it's been broadcast, and they stay very conveniently away from [mentioning] jihad or anything of that nature."

Johnson says their campaign has brought on the ire of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has described the efforts as "bigoted" and "pander[ing] to those who promote religious and ethnic hatred." But CAIR, he says, must be exposed for what it truly is.

"They are not [in the] mainstream," he alleges. "They're operating behind the scenes, propagandizing it [Islam] to influence the young and the old so that one day they can incorporate sharia law in our country and overcome our very own Constitution."

The ADA said it would join the FFA in pressuring TLC to drop the show “because it is merely trying to make us dumb and dumber”:

For that is what TLC is doing with “All American Muslim” – trying to show a small set of people as representing a movement that has evil intentions not only upon America but upon the world.

There is so much at stake in just playing dumb or actually being dumb and silent. There is already enough evidence in Europe and throughout the world to see the handwriting on the wall as we study radical Islam’s strategy and observe it being unfolded around the world. Therefore we monitor this seemingly innocuous show because it is merely trying to make us dumb and dumber. We are to accept the show and it’s one-sided portrayal of Islam at face value but that truly is unwise.

We monitor the show and comment because we believe there is more than ample evidence to conclude that America is targeted!

Rick Perry’s desperate ad attacking openly gay service members and criticizing President Obama’s purported “war on religion” has quickly become one of the most disliked videos on YouTube, but it has found a few unsurprising fans: anti-gay zealots in the Religious Right. The ad even divided Perry’s own campaign staff with one pollster calling it “nuts”:

But vilifying gay soldiers and stoking fears about the administration’s supposed hostility to religion is common currency in the Religious Right.

American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer said that the ad’s hostile reception on YouTube proves that Perry is a good candidate for Christian conservative voters: “Perry’s ad had triggered an astonishing 637,738 dislikes to just 19,792 likes by 10:53 Eastern time this morning, clearly stamping him as the candidate the vengeful, hate-filled, vitriolic homosexual lobby wants to destroy,” Fischer wrote today. “If you’re looking for your values candidate, conservatives, you may have just found him.” On his radio show last week, Fischer even said that AFA founder and chairman emeritus Don Wildmon, who led The Response prayer rally with Perry, called the ad “the best political ad he’s ever seen.”

Wildmon’s son Tim, the current head of the AFA, agreed with Todd Starnes of Fox News that the ad might help Perry consolidate support among conservative voters and propel Perry to the top of the polls. Starnes predicted “that we are going to see a bump in the poll numbers as the result of this ad, they may not give this ad credit but if you see a rise in the numbers I think it is because of this ad,” saying that it “articulated” how evangelical Christians in America feel:

The Family Research Council even promoted the ad to members and dismissed concerns that it would backfire on the Texas governor, whom they claim is in touch with “everyday Americans”:

Rick Perry's latest ad was intended for Iowa, but thanks to the national media, it's airing on every network in America. A number of pundits are panning the spot for its bold social conservative themes, which they insist will hurt the Texas Governor's chances. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian," Gov. Perry says, "but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." The ad is called "Strong," and that's the kind of message it sends on issues like religious freedom. "As President, I'll end Obama's war on religion. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage." True, Gov. Perry probably wouldn't win the media's vote with that kind of platform--but he does stand to benefit with everyday Americans who are tired of seeing their values in the line of fire under this administration.

Today, Newt Gingrich sent a letter to Iowa Religious Right leader Bob Vander Plaats detailing his commitment to fight gay rights and reproductive rights, and also taking a vow to stay faithful to his wife Callista, his third wife and former mistress. After vowing to fight against gay and lesbian couples’ right to marry, Gingrich said he would “pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.” Vander Plaats has previously floated supporting Gingrich, who leads in the Iowa polls, and publicly announced that his organization has narrowed its choices to Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum.

But Gingrich’s problems winning over Religious Right activists despite his best efforts were exhibited in an interview Family Research Council president Tony Perkins gave on Friday with radio talk show host Janet Mefferd. Perkins told Mefferd that Religious Right voters may be viewed as hypocritical if they pick Gingrich over right-wing candidates who, unlike Gingrich, also have both “their personal lives and their professional lives in order” like Bachmann, Santorum and Perry in the Republican primary. However, Perkins said it would not at all problematic for Christian conservative voters to back Gingrich over President Obama if he is the party’s nominee.

Listen:

Mefferd: My question is, Tony do you buy this idea that if Newt Gingrich does end up being the nominee and Christian conservatives end up getting behind him because they want to vote out Barack Obama, which we all do, that that somehow will ruin the reputation of Christians? Are you buying that connection?

Perkins: No, I think the question that does have some legitimacy is in—right now, where it stands, you’re still four weeks away from the vote in Iowa, and there are still solid conservative candidates in this race. You have Michele Bachmann, a strong Christian woman who I know very well and is completely in line with us, Rick Santorum, another close friend again who is perfectly in line with us, as well as Rick Perry, who is in line with us on all the issues. So I think for Christian conservatives to come out now and say, ‘alright well we’re going to support Newt Gingrich,’ when you still have people that have their personal lives and their professional lives in order, I do think that then rings kind of like, ‘well we just want to be with a political winner,’ so I think that charge would stick now.

Liberty Counsel, in an alert to members today, compared North Korea’s threat against South Korea over a church group’s Christmas light display near the DMZ to the so-called “War on Christmas” in America. North Korea reacted furiously to the Christmas lights which could be seen in some cities near the border, leading to a not-so-thinly veiled threat against its southern neighbor.

This caught the eye of Liberty Counsel, which has been fighting the purported “War on Christmas” in America and likened Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee to the totalitarian Communist state for naming a Holiday Tree in the state capitol.

Of course, Liberty Counsel failed to mention that Chafee’s Republican predecessor former Gov. Donald Carcieri also called the tree a Holiday Tree. “It appears Gov. Chafee is well-suited for survival at the North Korea border,” the group claims. “His policies are better for kow-towing to the Commies than celebrating Christmas.”

You might be a communist if…You ban poinsettias from a government school; You rename a Christmas tree a “holiday” tree in a state building…or You threaten your neighbors with unexpected consequences if they want to put up Christmas lights. North Korea has claimed that South Korea’s plan to place three Christmas light displays in the shape of large trees is “a mean attempt for psychological warfare.” Their official site states, “The enemy warmongers ... should be aware that they should be held responsible entirely for any unexpected consequences that may be caused by their scheme,” according to the Associated French Press.

…

Here in America, a Texas school banned Santa; a California school went another step and also banned poinsettias and Christmas trees, alleging that each was too religious. In addition, Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island renamed a Christmas tree a holiday tree against the wishes of the tree’s donor and the outcry across his state. It appears Gov. Chafee is well-suited for survival at the North Korea border. His policies are better for kow-towing to the Commies than celebrating Christmas.

Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel, commented: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to millions of people who live in repressive regimes like North Korea, where their faith is tested everyday. America needs to be a beacon of hope to the world. It is an important lesson to Americans to not let the ‘grinches’ steal our Christmas spirit here in the land of the free.”

Last week right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton of WallBuilders appeared on City On A Hill Radio, where he railed against a California law that ensures students learn about prominent LGBT figures and agreed with a host who compared the anti-bullying leader Kevin Jennings to Adolf Hitler. Jennings, the past leader of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and current CEO of Be The Change, had worked in the Obama administration on ways to help schools prevent bullying. Barton, who has warned the public schools are trying to “force” students “to be homosexual” through “homosexual indoctrination,” concurred with host Diana Crews said that she sees “Hitler” in “the likes of Kevin Jennings,” whom she claimed is promoting a “very dangerous that the agenda is really leading kids away from God.” He went on to attack California’s SB 48 and claim that textbooks there will teach kids the debated claims that George Washington Carver and Abraham Lincoln were gay, contending that “public schools are more into indoctrination than they are into truth or knowledge.”

Crews: Mr. Barton, it’s also dangerous in that I see Hitler in that, in the mindset that’s going to be perpetrated from Washington on down with the likes of Kevin Jennings.

Barton: Yeah.

Crews: I think it’s very dangerous that the agenda—that is really leading kids away from God.

Barton: Yeah it is.

Crews: Those are little souls.

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Barton: I got a call recently from the standards people who are working this in California, and they are creating textbooks now to show kids all the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, and among other things in the textbook, they’re saying, ‘we need to point out that George Washington Carver was gay, we need to point out that Abraham Lincoln was gay.’ And then you get to George Washington Carver and the reason they say he’s gay, and they’ll point this out, but back when he was young he had a lung infection and a serious respiratory problem that kept him from working outside, he did everything inside. And working inside he actually learned to crochet and to sew, and they say, ‘that proves he’s a gay guy, because that’s so effeminate!’ That’s the basis of saying George Washington Carver is gay, is that he crocheted and sewed, and so that’s why I’m saying public schools are more into indoctrination than they are into truth or knowledge, they won’t tell you the story of these guys but suddenly we’re going to start telling all of our kids in California that Abraham Lincoln was gay, that George Washington Carver was gay, and none of it is true.

After Lowe’s capitulated to the calls from the Florida Family Association to withdraw its ads from the TLC reality show All-American Muslim, the home improvement company immediately faced a hostile response from consumers not driven by unremitting anti-Muslim bigotry. The Florida Family Association launched its pressure campaign against All-American Muslim advertisers by citing the articles of anti-Muslim activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, who claim that the show misrepresents the Muslim community because it doesn’t match their stereotypes of Muslims as anti-American terrorists. Spencer demanded TLC create a show about a secular Muslim who becomes a terrorist and Geller claimed that the “program is an attempt to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad” because the people in the show aren’t terrorists, and smeared Think Progress reporter as a “Dhimmi Jew” for defending TLC.

While siding with the likes of Spencer and Geller is bad enough, the Florida Family Assocation has a long history of not only attacking Muslims but also President Obama, entertainment companies and the LGBT community:

• The FFA created a highly-edited video that tries to make President Obama appear to be Muslim and derided the “extraordinarily strong bond that President Barack Obama has with Islam.”

• The group went after Campbell’s soup for boosting the “advancement of Islam and Sharia law in the United States” because the company made halal soups and sponsored a conference held by a Canadian Muslim relief organization.

• Predicting that “Islam will not sweep into America overnight though it could under the current president” as the “Islamization of America will most likely happen city by city,” the FFA launched a website to combat the purported “Islamization” of Tampa, warning that “Tampa is headed toward embracing Islam.”

• The FFA also waged a campaign against Modern Family, bragging that they convinced “107 companies to stop advertising during the ABC show Modern Family after the advertisers received thousands of emails from Florida Family Association supporters. Florida Family Association objects to Modern Family because the show labels a same-sex couple with an adopted child as a modern family and attempts to normalize homosexuality by contrasting it with heterosexual couples that the show characterizes as abnormal.”

• The organization attacked advertisers on Degrassi because the teen show included a gay, bisexual and transgender characters, calling it “salacious and irresponsible propaganda,” and also criticized Degrassi for promoting The Trevor Project, an anti-suicide group that specifically focuses on at-risk LGBT youth. “Degrassi’s targeting of children and teens with homosexual and transgender content and promotions which encourage kids to call homosexual hotlines is irresponsible,” the group wrote.

• Unsurprisingly, the FFA went after Chaz Bono’s appearance on Dancing With The Stars, saying “Chaz’s appearance on this show looks like nothing more than social engineering to mainstream extreme parts of the homosexual agenda.”

• The group helped pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, a ban on same-sex parents adopting children, and claimed to have sent state legislators “over 10,000 emails opposing Domestic Partnerships and legislation that promotes the homosexual lifestyle,” including legislation that would bar discrimination against people due to their sexual orientation.

• The FFA also regularly protests Gay Day at Disney World for “offending unsuspecting families,” even contracting a plane to fly over Disney with a seven foot banner reading, “WARNING GAY PRIDE DAY@DISNEY 2DAY.” They even campaigned against the AARP for starting a program aimed at older gays and lesbians, saying it promotes “special rights for immoral behavior.”

Today’s program on Family Talk concluded James Dobson’s interview with Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus, who both lavished Dobson with praise and accolades. Dobson said they were “in sync on everything I’ve heard so far,” and Bachmann said it was because she “agrees” with everything she learned from him. David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network reports that Dobson is not planning to endorse Bachmann or any other candidate for that matter, but will “reach out to Iowa leaders on her behalf”:

Dobson told her afterwards that he plans to reach out to Iowa leaders on her behalf. Dr. Dobson is not planning on endorsing any candidate.

…

In addition to the private meeting with Dr. Dobson, Marcus and Michele Bachmann spoke to all of the staff and had lunch with him as well.

Beyond the meeting with Dobson, she also met with Jim Daly, president and chief executive officer of Focus on the Family, along with the department heads within the organization. According to the Bachmann campaign, they discussed the political dynamics of the presidential race as well as the state of politics in the country today. Bachmann did not go there seeking an endorsement but rather to listen to the top concerns from those within the important evangelical organization.

Surely, Dobson’s tacit support for Bachmann may come as a disappointment to Rick Perry, as Perry named Dobson co-chair of The Response and gave Dobson the honor of kicking-off the prayer rally. Dobson may be gun-shy about endorsing a candidate given the struggle he faced in 2008 when he only endorsed Mike Huckabee late in the game and he refused to support John McCain, at least until he put Sarah Palin on the ticket when Dobson changed his mind.

Bachmann and Dobson showered each other with admiration, with Dobson describing the Bachmann’s as “role models” and Bachmann calling the Focus on the Family founder “a legend in modern Christendom”:

Dobson: Well what a pleasure it’s been to talk to you all because we are in sync on everything I’ve heard so far.

Bachmann: Well because we agree with you!

Marcus Bachmann: We were mentored.

Dobson: Why do you think you’re here?

Bachmann: You really have lived a wonderful life Dr. Dobson, I have to tell you, you really have. You’ve given to all of us by your own example and by these shows over the years, you’ve given us a wonderful life. That’s not gratuitous, I’m just saying the legacy that you have left has been built into our life for thirty three years of marriage, it was built into our biological children’s lives, your legacy will be felt in our grandchildren so we want to thank you.

Dobson: That’s so nice of you. I have a very special relationship with the Lord, I steal his ideas and I get the credit for it, it really works well! It’s been great having you here, I appreciate it so much you taking the time to be here out of what has to be a horrendous schedule. We prayed before we started today and just asked the Lord not only to be here in this discussion and he has been; I’m aware of it, aren’t you?

Bachmann: Amen, there’s no question.

Dobson: And also to be with you as you go through this very challenging season of your life, it is a pleasure getting better acquainted with you and I’ll see you at the National Day of Prayer.

Bachmann: Yes you will, God bless you.

Dobson: Thank you Dr. Marcus Bachmann and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, you are the role models that we talked about earlier today.

Bachmann: You have been a legend in modern Christendom, we mean that sincerely, and we’re grateful to you for your living example.

A new movie looking at Joseph Smith’s campaign for president and assassination in 1844 and connecting Smith’s legacy to contemporary Mormon politicians like Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman is supposed to present a “balanced” look at the Mormon religion and history. Director Adam Christing, who was raised a Mormon but who is not a member of the LDS Church, said the film, A Mormon President, is neither a “puff piece” nor a “hit piece” on Mormonism:

Already in this election cycle, we have seen American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer claim that Mormons are deceived by Satan and do not have First Amendment rights, right-wing radio talk show host Janet Mefferd mock Romney for thinking that being president is a “step down” because he is going “to be a god” in the afterlife, and of course, pastor and Rick Perry-endorser Robert Jeffress attacked the Mormon faith as a cult from the “pit of Hell.”

In an interview with the AFA’s OneNewsNow, Christing noted concerns about the “conflict between [Romney’s] loyalty to the Constitution and his loyalty to the Mormon Church”:

Christing, who is a member of the Mormon History Association, says pastors are concerned that as a temple Mormon, Romney took a vow called the Oath of Consecration.

"He pledges all of his time, talent, and money to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So some people are very concerned that if push came to shove and there was a conflict between his loyalty to the Constitution and his loyalty to the Mormon Church, many fear that the loyalty would be to the church," the filmmaker explains.

But the filmmaker remarks that those fears might not matter when Christians go into the voting booth. "I did talk to many evangelicals who feel like they would vote against Obama and for Romney -- almost like they would choose their wallets over their worship, voting for the lesser of two evils," Christing accounts.

So he hopes the documentary will help people make up their own minds about whether Mormonism should even be a factor if a Mormon contender is on the ballot in 2012.

During a conference call with Champion the Vote, the ostensibly non-partisan group that is working to increase the turnout among voters with a “biblical worldview,” Chuck Colson argued that Christians in America are a “sleeping giant” that has been beset by the domineering gay community. Colson cited the work of Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, a pioneer of public opinion polling who has been criticized for her work in Nazi Germany, who wrote about the “spiral of silence” in which minority opinions are marginalized quickly because people are afraid of alienation and punishment from the majority. Colson says that the gay rights advocates are now “controlling the conversation” even though they are a “tiny minority,” and said that it is time for Christians to “break the spiral of silence, to speak out, to point out unrighteousness.” “It hasn’t taken very many gays in our society to change this society’s attitudes towards something which we would have said is sexually deviant and is, but it doesn’t take much,” Colson said. “We’re the sleeping giant”:

We’ve fallen into the spiral of silence in which case the people who might be a tiny minority but are controlling the conversation intimidate the rest of us…. Now where have we seen that happen most vividly? We’ve seen it in the gay rights movement. The gay rights movement is a tiny minority in America, so what you get is a passionate movement of 10 percent of the people, 5 percent of the people maybe in the gay movement, maybe 4 percent, 3 percent, and they control what the rest of us think because the rest of us are intimidated into silence. Folks, brothers and sisters, I tell you I believe in the depths of my being that the most important thing we can do today in obedience to Christ is to break the spiral of silence, to speak out, to point out unrighteousness.

...

If people really intensely believe and have a passion for something and if they are given some sense of direction and purpose, it doesn’t take a lot of people. I’m sorry to use this example but it hasn’t taken very many gays in our society to change this society’s attitudes towards something which we would have said is sexually deviant and is, but it doesn’t take much. We’re the sleeping giant. We have forty percent of the country saying they are born again, my goodness how is it that Christian values are in retreat everywhere? It’s because we’re not organizing ourselves properly into a movement. So I want nothing more, nothing that I want more fervently right now that I’m giving my life to morning, noon and night than building a movement across this country that will restore what we believe will be the sanity and reasonableness of the Christian worldview.

In a video for the Colson Center he warns of the dangerous spiral of silence. “What the gay lobby has done, they have 600,000 same-sex households in America the Census showed, that’s extraordinarily low, they also have only 100,000 couples who’ve gotten married in five years it’s been legal in five states,” Colson contended. “So the overwhelming majority of Americans do not accept this and yet everybody is afraid to speak, everybody is afraid if they speak they’ll be called bigots.”