Champion The Vote

Right Wing Round-Up - 1/22/13

  • Eric W. Dolan @ Raw Story: McConnell warns gun owners: Obama and Democrats have you ‘literally surrounded.’

  • Charles Johnson @ LGF: NRA Cites #Breitbart.com to Falsely Claim School Attended by Obama’s Daughters Has ‘11 Armed Guards.’

  • Jeremy Hooper: FRC prez says POTUS' Selma/Seneca/Stonewall linkage was 'admirable outer dressing but in its core pretty rotten.'

  • Scott Keyes @ Think Progress: House Republican Leader Blames Gun Violence On ‘Welfare Moms.’

  • Meenal Vamburkar @ Mediaite: CNN Guest Slams Call For Gay Rights In Inaugural Address: ‘Homosexuals Already Have All The Same Civil Rights.’

  • God Discussion: Champion the Vote organizer creates new project, "Churches Impacting Culture," to make God the central authority in American life.

  • Warren Throckmorton: Point/Counterpoint with David Barton at World Magazine.
Kyle Mantyla's blog

Five Religious Right Myths Exposed in Election Defeat

The Religious Right took a drubbing at the polls yesterday as voters rejected not only Mitt Romney but also some of the most extreme Republican candidates, even those in races that should have been easy Republican victories. Like other conservatives, many Religious Right activists predicted a big victory for Romney and Republicans in the U.S. Senate based on five myths they hold about the electorate:

Myth #1: Americans want a ‘True Conservative’

The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody called the results a “nightmare for the GOP” and a “colossal disaster.” Of course, right-wing activists will be quick to declare that Mitt Romney, like John McCain, wasn’t conservative enough for voters, and that the self-described “severely conservative” Romney couldn’t effectively articulate or sell conservative principles. Their solution is that the next nominee must be a pure right-wing ideologue who emphasizes social issues, like Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum. Of course, if voters were seeking to support ultraconservative politicians, then Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock wouldn’t have lost their Senate races in the red states of Missouri and Indiana, Tea Party hero Allen West wouldn’t have lost re-election and Michele Bachmann wouldn’t have merely eked out a tiny win in her heavily Republican district.

Myth #2: Blacks will Defect from Obama over Gay Rights

Black conservative activists such as Harry Jackson, E.W. Jackson, William Owens, Patrick Wooden and Star Parker continue to tell the largely white Religious Right leadership that African Americans are defecting en masse from the purportedly demonic, Baal worshiping, anti-Christian and anti-God Democratic Party and will turn against Obama over the issue of marriage equality. Pat Robertson even said that Democratic support for marriage equality is a “death wish” and Mike Huckabee said the move “may end up sinking the ship.” According to exit polls, however, Obama won African Americans 93-6 percent. African Americans also turned out in strong numbers and didn’t stay home, with the same high turnout rate (13 percent of all voters) as 2008. In addition, marriage equality had victories in the four states it was on the ballot.

Myth #3: Hispanics are ‘Natural Allies’ of the Religious Right

Conservatives claimed that Hispanic voters, especially those who identify as evangelical and Pentecostal, are ripe for supporting Republicans. Samuel Rodriguez of the conservative National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and others continue to argue that Hispanics are strongly opposed to abortion rights (not true) and gay rights (also not true), and therefore “natural allies” of the Religious Right. Romney actually fared worse (27%) than McCain (31%) among Hispanics.

Myth #4: Catholics Abandoning Obama for ‘Declaring War’ on the Church

Heavy politicking from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and growing outreach to Catholics by traditionally evangelical Religious Right groups didn’t stop Obama from once again carrying the Catholic vote. Republicans consistently claimed that Obama declared “war on religion” and specifically “attacking the Catholic Church,” and hoped Paul Ryan’s use of Catholicism to justify his draconian budget plan would bring Catholics into the GOP fold. Obama led 50-48 percent in exit polls, down slightly from his 54 percent total in 2008.

Myth #5: Evangelical Wave Waiting in the Wings

New groups such as the Faith and Freedom Coalition and United in Purpose/Champion the Vote boasted of grand plans to turn out a wave of evangelical Christians upset about health care reform and marriage equality. But according to exits, Protestant (not all of whom identify as evangelical) turnout remained about the same this year (53 percent) as the last president election (54 percent). Christianity Today notes that in swing states, self-described evangelical turnout was approximately identical or merely slightly larger as it was in 2008, and Romney’s support among evangelicals compared to McCain’s decreased in states like Ohio and Nevada.

Brian Tashman's blog

Huckabee Seeks To Carry 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day' Enthusiasm Into the Election

Back in July, it was Mike Huckabee who birthed the idea for "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" to encourage people to patronize local Chick-fil-A restaurants to show support for the company amid the controversy over CEO Dan Cathy's anti-gay statements and "affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse."

Now Huckabee is looking to recapture that magic with a new effort being promoted by Champion The Vote that seeks to mobilize the masses for the election in November:

Over the last four years, we've stagnated into an economy that has taken hope right down the slope and has left millions without jobs. Our neighbors have been forced out of their homes by foreclosure and herded into dependency.

We cannot be silent when the traditional definition of marriage is threatened, when human life is considered disposable and expendable, and when people of faith are told that they have to bow their knees to the God of government and violate their faith and conscience.

You joined with me on August 1 for "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." We grew an idea into an event where the silent majority came forward and stood together in support of free speech. Today, I am asking that these same Americans, and their friends and family, rally together once again for America. The goal is simple: Let's stand together and vote together on November 6th. We stood in line for a chicken sandwich. Now we need to stand in line to vote and keep this country from falling further toward collectivism.

Like we did on August 1st, let us rally together using social media. A website/Facebook page has been created at www.OurVoteDecides.com. I will promote this address through all of my information channels and ask every committed voter to RSVP. I hope you will join me and use your Twitter account, Facebook page, pulpit, or printed word to share this simple message with your friends, family, and followers:

Let us stand together with one voice to determine the future of the Republic. Our Vote Decides! 

Kyle Mantyla's blog

Big Business: We'll Spend Big Money on Elections

Wed, 05/23/2012 - 11:12am — Justin

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to take full advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to push its right-wing agenda, according to its president, Tom Donohue. As reported by USA Today, Donohue told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor earlier this week that under that decision, the Chamber can and will run “an aggressive program” and will not disclose its donors.

Donohue also suggested that estimates that the business group would spend $50 million on the 2012 elect were too low. Thanks to Citizens United, individuals, corporations and organizations like the Chamber of Commerce can make unlimited, often anonymous expenditures on ads supporting or attacking candidates. Until that decision is overturned, disclosure rules would at least shed light on the process and give Americans insight into who is using their wealth to disproportionately influence elections.

But that’s not how Donohue sees it: “The disclosure thing…is all about intimidation.” While requiring disclosure might makes sense on the surface, he said, “in this instance you become a target.”

Americans deserve to know who’s trying to buy their elections. Even far-right Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia knows that "Democracy requires a certain amount of civic courage." Donohue’s demand that corporate entities be allowed to pour money into elections without having to show their faces makes his agenda perfectly clear: it’s not about democracy or free speech, it’s about maximizing corporate profits by any means necessary.

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PFAW Foundation

Bill Dallas: 'God Does not Want Girls to Marry Other Girls'

For months now, we have been writing about a Religious Right voter registration and mobilization effort called Champion The Vote. The goal of the effort is to utilize new technology to get "5 million unregistered conservative Christians to register and vote according to the Biblical worldview in 2012."

Today, Champion The Vote's President and CEO, Bill Dallas, was the guest on "WallBuilders Live" where he and Rick Green discussed the importance of getting Christians registered to vote ... so that they can take back the culture and Dallas won't have to talk to his young daughter about gay marriage:

My little six year old comes running up to me - she goes to a Christian school, first grade, she goes to church and we keep a very tight protection on her, we watch what friends she plays with outside of school, so we keep pretty tight reins on what she's being taught. But she comes running up to me and she goes "Daddy, can a girl marry another girl." She asked me that last night, Rick.

Can a girl marry another girl and immediately I look over at my niece and I realize they must have been talking, my nine year old niece must have said "did you know that girls can marry other girls." Well, my six year old doesn't know that, it's not what she's taught at school. So what is my response, Rick? She's asking can a girl marry another girl. The technical answer is yes! But I can't say that to her because it would confuse her, so I immediately switch the conversation and I say "God does not want girls to marry other girls, God does not want boys to marry other boys." I kind of re-directed the answer but then I have to stop and explain and we talked to our niece.

But the real answer is, in reality yes they can. And so what is happening is that the salt and light culture that we're supposed to be as Christians is slowly being deteriorated and so these types of conversations are happening more and more because this is what the culture is.

So how do you stop it? Well, we can get angry and we can try to bash the other side, but do people realize that we have the numbers? If we would just stand up and be righteousness, then what would happen is those conversations wouldn't happen because the laws would then reflect us.

Kyle Mantyla's blog

Dobson: Kids Forced to Learn 'Adult Sex Perverse Behavior'

Yesterday, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared on a conference call with Champion the Vote, a nominally non-partisan group that focuses on mobilizing Religious Right voters. Dobson spent much of his time on the call criticizing the gay rights movement for disingenuously using the “human rights and anti-discrimination” message and the “‘live and let live’ concept” for advancing “homosexual adoption, homosexual marriage [and] requiring foster parents to attend classes so they can indoctrinate the foster kids that they have with the gay and lesbian concept.”

Dobson reserved his most heated attacks for California’s SB48 law, which ensures that schools cover the accomplishments of prominent LGBT historical figures, calling it “the most egregious state law that is on the books today.” According to Dobson, “five year-olds toddling off to schools on their wobbly little legs” in California are now forced to hear teachers tell “them about adult sex perverse behavior.”

Listen:

Dobson: One reason that the gay community is so successful and it was a strategy that was worked out in the 1940s but one reason that they’ve been so successful in making their argument is because they have made a very compelling case for human rights and anti-discrimination, I was kind of referring to that a minute ago, and obviously we all agree with that and Christians do not want any of their fellow human beings to be denied basic rights and human rights and be subjected to discrimination. Christians see the logic in that argument but that ‘live and let live’ concept makes it easier for gays and lesbians to fight for the agenda of their cause, including homosexual adoption, homosexual marriage, requiring foster parents to attend classes so they can indoctrinate the foster kids that they have with the gay and lesbian concept.

And what’s going on right now in California and Massachusetts which is without question the most egregious state law that is on the books today where, speaking in California, from kindergarten to grade 12, every single year and in most classes, the teacher is required to teach the contributions and the great benefits not only of homosexuality through the years but bisexuality and transgendered sexuality and lesbianism, and it starts in kindergarten! Can you imagine this! We’re talking about five year-olds toddling off to schools on their wobbly little legs and they get there and a teacher with all the authority that can be invested in an adult stands before them, and they are sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, and begins telling them about adult sex perverse behavior. I mean, that takes my breath away!
Brian Tashman's blog

Bachmann, Gingrich and Santorum to Participate in Forum hosted by Radical Anti-Choice Activists

Republican presidential candidiates Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have signed on for a “Presidential Pro-Life Forum” hosted by Personhood USA and moderated by Iowa conservative radio personality Steve Deace. The three candidates along with Rick Perry have already announced their support for personhood laws.

Personhood USA wants abortion and even common forms of birth control banned without exception, and personhood laws may even outlaw in-vitro fertilization and the treatment of problem pregnancies. The group launched unsuccessful referendums in Colorado and Mississippi, and has characterized President Obama as the “Angel of Death” and likened opponents to Nazis.

The other organizations listed as hosts of the forum are just as radical, if not more so.

The Call is led by Lou Engle, who has claimed that legal abortion may lead to civil war and is responsible for the Joplin tornado. Engle has also used his The Call prayer rally to bolster Ugandan legislation that would criminalize and in some cases give the death penalty for homosexuals. Moreover, Engle has compared gay rights to Nazism, advocated for Seven Mountains dominionism, and said that both gays and Muslims are demonic.

Another organization hosting the forum is the Oak Initiative, a project of South Carolina pastor Rick Joyner, who has argued that God will imminently destroy California, Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment for homosexuality, “extremist Islam” is God’s judgment for “perversions” and “abortions,” and that very soon “God’s judgment is going to come upon Hollywood.” Joyner also believes that President Obama may be a Muslim and that Muslims are trying to take control of Michigan, school textbooks and Christianity. Like Engle, Joyner is a proponent of Seven Mountains dominionism.

Both Engle and Joyner are closely affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation, which believes that God is raising up modern day apostles and prophets, and another cosponsor, the Freedom Federation, includes the NAR groups Generals International, led by the self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs, and Harvest International Ministries of self-proclaimed apostle Che Ahn.

Three Republican candidates for the nation’s high office including Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Senator Rick Santorum, and Speaker Newt Gingrich have confirmed their participation in the Presidential Pro-Life Forum on Tuesday, December 27, from 8:00 to 9:30 pm CST. The national tele-town hall and radio simulcast will be hosted by Personhood USA and their partner organizations: National Hispanic Christian Leadership Coalition, Liberty Counsel, Bott Radio Network, Freedom Federation, Frederick Douglass Foundation, Champion the Vote, Oak Initiative, The Call, Georgia Right to Life, Rock for Life, and Iowa Right to Life. An invitation has been extended to the remaining GOP presidential candidates.

The 90-minute pro-life tele-town hall will feature the candidates discussing their views on the rights of the preborn and other issues of great importance to pro-life voters. Pro-life groups around the nation are inviting their members to attend. Callers will have an opportunity to ask questions via email and give instant feedback to thoughts and ideas shared.

Nationally-syndicated radio host Steve Deace, whose influence in the Iowa Caucuses has been highlighted by numerous national media outlets, will broadcast the event live on his Salem Network program. Last week, four candidates, Bachmann, Santorum, Gingrich, and Gov. Rick Perry, signed Personhood USA’s Personhood Republican Candidate Pledge, declaring their intentions to stand with President Ronald Reagan in supporting “the unalienable personhood of every American, from the moment of conception until natural death.”

“We’re pleased to see the candidates standing for the rights of every person to live, love, and be loved. The time has come to end the 40-year reign of the abortion industry, once and for all,” said Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. “This is an opportunity for everyone who understands that ‘all men are created equal’ to hear from the candidates their plans to recognize the most fundamental rights of every human being, no matter their age. Come, take advantage of this interactive and important event, and be a voice for the voiceless.”
Brian Tashman's blog

Chuck Colson Warns of Domination by the "Sexually Deviant" Gay Community

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.”

Brian Tashman's blog
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