The accumulating evidence of the ignorance, bigotry and callousness of the Republican Party continues to manifest itself at their own convocations of crackpottery – the GOP presidential primary debates.
The star of these debates is turning out to be the audience, as the crowd steals the spotlight from the candidates. In the first debate a few weeks ago the audience cheered the mention of 234 executions carried out during the term of Rick Perry in Texas. In the next debate a question was asked regarding whether society should let a sick person die merely because he had no insurance. The iced (hearted) Tea Party audience began shouting “Yeah!” And last evening’s debate sponsored by the Republican PR agency, Fox News, saw the crowd disrespecting an Iraq war veteran by booing his videotaped question about equal rights for gays and lesbians serving their country in the armed forces.
While the audience endeavors to demonstrate that they are bigger jerks than the candidates, the candidates refuse to surrender that honor without a fight. Amongst the inanities erupting from this affair:
- Michele Bachmann unveiled her plan to reduce tax rates to zero for all Americans. That and her unicorn giveaway program should excite voters.
- Ron Paul reiterated his theory that government immigration programs developed to keep foreigners out would eventually be used to trap Americans in.
- Rick Perry described his preference for a running mate that involved mating Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. Setting aside the disturbing visual imagery, the prospect of a vice-president that combines the brash ignorance of Cain with the background of ethical lapses of Gingrich shouldn’t make anyone feel better about a Perry ticket.
Finally, Fox News distinguished itself by inviting a question from a representative of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks people and organizations that engage in racism and extremist criminality, has classified FAIR as a hate group. That automatically qualifies the organization for participation in any Fox News event.
The embrace of FAIR and the booing of a veteran are emblematic of the modern GOP’s moral decline. And the party is generously exposing its most revolting warts in the primary as its candidates and its members seek to appeal to basest wet dreams of their Tea Bagging comrades.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center… has classified FAIR as a hate group.”
A few facts about the SPLC and “hate groups” are in order:
1. There is no legal definition for “hate group,” which is why even the FBI does not track “hate groups.”
2. The SPLC uses the deliberately meaningless term “hate groups” in its fund-raising propaganda precisely because it allows them to denigrate their perceived opponents without accusing them of any actual crimes.
3. The SPLC’s “Hate Map” is a fund-raising tool, nothing more. It provides no information whatsoever on the 1,002 alleged groups, in fact, the SPLC didn’t even bother to make up locations for 262 of the groups; that’s 26% of the total.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-8u
In many states, the percentage of phantom groups runs as high as 80-100%. The SPLC’s public relations guru, Mark Potok, claims that there are 221 KKK chapters in the US, but he can’t seem to locate 109 of them.
4. Since the SPLC is the sole arbiter of the meaningless “hate group” label, AND because SPLC fund-raising is directly tied to creating the illusion of an ever-increasing threat, it is in their direct financial interest to raise the numbers each year.
Since 2003, the SPLC has taken in more than a third of a BILLION dollars in tax-free cash, and yet the number of “hate groups” always goes up.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-82
5. The most ironic (read: “hypocritical”) thing about the Southern Poverty Law Center is that NOT ONE of its top ten, highest paid executives is a minority.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-7m
In fact, according to the SPLC’s hometown newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, despite being located LITERALLY in the back yard of Dr. Martin Luther King’s home church, the SPLC has NEVER hired a person of color to a highly paid position of power in its entire 40 year history.
Some “experts”
Thanks for the Aryan Nations talking points! I’m sure the Grand Wizard agrees!
sweet.
lol
And as a proud member of the AN, Richard wrote that press release himself.
Which chapter of the KKK do you belong to again? I didn’t catch that part.
I smelled something fishy when I was reading this, and a cursory Google of Mr. Keefe revealed why: he is all over the internet with his views on the SPLC.
Apparently he is well known in these circles as a poster pointed out in the North Texas Daily in November of 2010…(and I apologize in advance for quoting the whole post)
“…An individual’s mental make-up is partly revealed by the battles he picks. A cursory Googling glance at keefe’s statements on Huffington Post and topix.com shows that his obsession with SPLC (in psychiatry they call it ‘idee fixe’ or ‘fixation”) was not prompted by the NT Daily piece but is of a somewhat longer duration, dating back to at least October of 2008. There, he posted several responses to SPLC hate group findings, which are very similar to what he wrote in this forum. He also wrote a slanderous letter about Dees 18 months ago in NT Daily. Take a look at his forum posting in Michigan Messenger regarding (yes, you guessed it) Morris Dees:
“RKeefe 7 months ago
What Mr. Potok neglects to mention is that there is no legal definition for “hate group.” Even the FBI doesn’t track “hate groups” for that reason.
If there is no legal definition for “hate groups,” what exactly does the SPLC, which has nearly $190 million donor-dollars on hand, actually “track”?
The SPLC uses “hate group” to smear anyone who does not adhere to their left-wing ideology without actually accusing them of “hate crimes”. This way they can frighten their mostly elderly donors out of a few more Social Security dollars and avoid embarrassing libel suits. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-A)
If Mr. Heywood is genuinely interested in “White supremacists,” he ought to ask Mr. Potok why NOT ONE of the SPLC’s top ten, highest paid officers is a minority?
The last remaining “Whites Only” sign hangs in the boardroom of the SPLC. Some “experts”. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-3r)”
Keefe even has a blog on the TPM site dedicated to this very subject, in which he recycles the same lies and half-truths in the Goebbelsian fashion. For example, he accuses SPLC of not having any minority members. When he is confronted by a reader with a list of several such members sitting on the Board of Directors (including Julian Bond), he takes the escape route by saying that they are not paid a red cent for this activity.
Mention Dees to keefe, and off he goes in an uncontrollable outburst, ranting and raving, citing the evils of Boy Scouts, hiding behind the fig leaf of the law, the Constitution and the Civil Rights, which he would gladly dispense with at the first opportunity he got.
Remember, rkeefe is much less concerned with the evil Morris Dees and his collaborators have been fighting (KKK, Tom Metzger, The Aryan Nation, etc) than with thin charges of malfeasance, started by the right-wing cone-heads in the South (talk show host Hal Turner, a minor Alabama newspaper) that have never been proven. The question is, if rkeefe is such a self-proclamied master of objective research, why doesn’t he submit his SPLC findings to a major newspaper or write a book instead of piddling around on minor websites? The anwer is not hard to divine. The medical designation for his disorder is not either….”
http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=13357
Ouch
Wow. Thanks for doing that research.
Keefe is is obviously a propagandist for the racist, nativist movement. He makes illogical arguments about “legal definitions” for hate groups. The SPLC has been providing info to law enforcement agencies nationwide for years. Local police departments are deeply grateful for their comprehensive and accurate research on dangerous extremist groups.
Keefe’s absurd allegation that the SPLC “provides no information whatsoever on the 1,002 alleged groups,” is easily debunked. They have extensive info, including this page about FAIR.
Just about everything Keefe wrote is a provable lie, but he relies on people not rebutting his BS. Thanks to you, and folks like you, he’s not going to get very far.
Jesus, I’m really beginning to wonder if these loons don’t get the fundie they want installed in the white house, 2012’s October surprise will be a new Kristallnacht.
Goggle the term ‘ “Richard Keefe” SPLC ‘
The guy is everywhere….
“…the crowd disrespecting an Iraq War veteran by booing…”
Two people out of a crowd of hundreds booed. That does not make up the entire crowd.
And the SPLC has destroyed its credibility over the past several years.