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Worst reactions during the Boston manhunt

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:05:00 +0000

Some pundits made it about immigration and gun control, others about Bill Ayers: Here are some of the more dubious responses to the ongoing manhunt in Boston for the bombing suspects.

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also weighed in, as Salon's Alex Seitz-Wald reported, saying that “These guys kind of look like Israelis. I’m not saying Israel is involved in it, we don’t have any evidence of that. It’s just that they kind of look Israeli."

And then of course there was the misidentification made by Reddit and other "Internet detectives," as Salon's Alex Pareene put it, who "made one last totally shameful false accusation that also in this case involved the harassment of a family currently desperately searching for their lost son and brother."

Boston manhunt used for point-scoring on immigration, gun control

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:59:00 +0000

As law enforcement officials work to capture the second bombing suspect in the Boston attacks, pundits are already using the unfolding events to score political points on immigration reform and gun control.

The first lawmaker to bring Boston into the immigration debate, which is currently going on in a Senate hearing, was Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa."We appreciate the ability to talk about immigration, particularly in light of the events in Boston," he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio's office put out a statement urging people to avoid politicizing Boston. "Boston is still developing and it's too soon to jump to conclusions, let alone use the tragedy to make political points."

But that didn't stop Twitter:

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Bryan Fischer: Pot use should be fined like a speeding ticket

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:41:00 +0000

In response to Rand Paul's comments that he opposes pot use but "I also don’t want to put people in jail who make a mistake," social conservative Bryan Fischer suggested that we should just be fining people for pot use, not sending them to jail.

In a tweet, Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, wrote:

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Evangelical Pat Robertson also recently came out for changing marijuana policy: “I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol,” he told the New York Times. “I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”

Right wing runs with “John Brennan-is-a-Muslim” theory

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:32:00 +0000

A disgraced former FBI agent and anti-Islam activist claims that John Brennan, President Obama's pick to head the CIA, is “unfit for duty” because he just might be a secret Muslim.

As Salon reported, John Guandolo claimed last weekend that “Brennan did convert to Islam when he served in an official capacity on behalf of the United States when he served in Saudi Arabia” and it “was the culmination of a counterintelligence operation against him to recruit him” by foreign operatives.

The theory, which was picked up by conspiracy-theorist central World Net Daily, has an eager audience on the right. Here's a rundown:

Religious right joins the NRA in gun control battle

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Religious-right extremists who have spent most of their energy in recent years vilifying LGBT people or fighting the nation’s culture wars on other fronts have found a new demon to slay: gun control.

It might seem odd that those who profess allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ would be so vociferous about making sure that Americans have continued, unfettered access to assault rifles. But in the wake of the massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut, which ignited the most heated debate about gun control in this country in a decade, some of the religious right’s most rabid voices are joining the fight.

Matt Barber, a lawyer for the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, predicts a civil war over gun control. Bryan Fischer, the rabid mouthpiece for the homophobic American Family Association, has banned the use of the words “assault rifles” on his radio show. Even the Family Research Council, which describes itself as a pro-family organization, has targeted President Obama as “blatantly disingenuous when he says he believes in the Second Amendment.”

Christian right blames atheists for Sandy Hook shootings

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:22:00 +0000

All that was needed to make the national tragedy of the killing of 20 children and 6 adults into an anti-God kick in Jesus' teeth fest was for the usual suspects who hate Jesus to step up to defame His Name again. Of course I'm talking about the "Christian" leaders who can be counted on to drag the name of Christ through the mud at every profitable fundraising importunity. Christian leaders say that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut was the result of our national falling away from fundamentalist Protestant gullibility.

The idiots -- religious village idiots that is -- are at it again. I thought Dobson was dead but I guess not. He's just retired. He's still alive enough to act like the zombie-for-Jesus'-younger-dumber-brother he is.(I went on his show 3 times back in the day when I too was part of the religious idiots club.) Bryan Fischer, the American Family Association hate host talk-show host, and Franklin-sell-my-soul-to-the-Mormos-because -I-hate-Obama-so-much-Graham (of course), the president and CEO of the tax-exempt Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was not to be outdone.

Threats to Thanksgiving: A right-winger’s guide

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 20:00:00 +0000

If you are preparing for a relaxing Thanksgiving, be forewarned: Liberals want to undermine your holiday cheer.

Here's our guide to the most sinister forces of what some conservatives are calling the "War on Thanksgiving":

• Barack Obama: Let's start at the top. Last year, the president was alternately trashed by conservatives for not mentioning God in his Thanksgiving Day YouTube address and for describing the Obama family's Thanksgiving Day plans thusly: "Like millions of Americans, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will spend the day eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are." Social conservative Bryan Fischer was quite angry about the "luck" thing, saying that it really "grinds my gears" to hear the president talk that way, and this "is the most offensive thing that I've ever heard President Obama say: that we are lucky, that everything we enjoy in America is the result of pure luck. It's not. It has to do with our values, it has to do with our faith in God, it has to do with God's providential care."

Hard right group attacks mixing in school cafeteria

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:59:00 +0000

The culture wars don't take a lunch break.

A decade ago the Southern Poverty Law Center (a Salon content partner) launched “Mix It Up” to get kids to spend time with classmates of different backgrounds. Since chow time is arguably the most segregated part of the day, on October 30, the SPLC encourages students to “move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new over lunch.” It says that almost 2,500 schools have agreed to “Mix It Up at Lunch.”

You might never have heard of Mix It Up but for the ultra-conservative American Family Association's Bryan Fischer who sees in it what he seems to see in everything, (Yes!) a stealth gay plot. The New York Times reported:

Judges targeted by right-wing groups

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:55:00 +0000

Tea Partyers and conservatives have set their sights on (what they might call) "liberal activist judges" who are up for review at the state level.

Certain states have what's called "merit retention," where voters can decide whether to keep or chuck the justices at the end of their terms. In some of those states, right-wing groups have been campaigning against the judges who didn't quite vote their way.

In 2010, anti-gay group Iowans for Freedom poured money into a campaign to get rid of three Iowa Supreme Court justices. Other groups like the National Organization for Marriage were also heavily involved. The reason? Those judges, along with four others, had unanimously voted to strike down the state's ban on gay marriage. They were successful. All three judges lost their seats.

This year, one of the remaining four judges, David Wiggins, has reached the end of his term, and faces opposition from the right.

Bryan Fischer: Publicly hang Libya attackers

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 22:14:00 +0000

The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer called for those who committed an "act of war" in Benghazi, Libya, by killing the U.S. ambassador and three others to be "publicly hung [sic] by the neck until dead."

Fischer said on his radio show that all Obama has "done so far is give what somebody called a 'strongly worded speech.' This is how Barack Obama shows strength. He shows strength by going to the dictionary and finding the strongest adjectives he can find."

Fischer added that justice will not done in Libya "until every member of the mob that killed these Americans in cold blood is hung from the nearest bridge by the neck until dead."

Via Right Wing Watch.

Bryan Fischer: “Polytheist as president”

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, I was invited to appear on Focal Point, the radio program hosted by Bryan Fischer. A staunch proponent of “muscular Christianity,” former preacher and unremitting social conservative, Fischer has seen his influence grow in recent months, as journalists, pundits and assorted media hacks look to him as a Jerry Falwell/Pat Robertson-esque figure. Fischer and I first met over a year ago in Houston, at Texas Governor and utterly failed presidential candidate Rick Perry’s football stadium-sized PrayerFest; I interviewed him for a Mother Jones article, he asked if I’d like to come on the broadcast. Of course I eagerly agreed. Since then, we’ve remained in touch, and met up yesterday after his radio program for another candid chat.

So, we met last summer, and at that time, your stature was already rising -- but now I feel like you’ve almost become sort of a go-to quote for political media who want to gauge the opinions of social conservatives. How do you perceive the way that you’re viewed now? Do you feel like there’s been an uptick in your notoriety? That you’re being looked to as a representative of an element of the conservative base?

Does Bryan Fischer matter?

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:37:00 +0000

Voluble hate-monger Bryan Fischer has, of this writing, 1,571 Twitter followers, probably half of whom are reporters, though his radio audience on American Family Radio is much bigger. He may have succeeded in forcing out a gay foreign policy spokesman from the Romney campaign, although said spokesman, Richard Grenell, may also have been marginalized because of a series of misogynistic tweets. But is he actually influential, representing the Santorum-loving constituency that pushed the Republican primary to the right on social issues, or just pretty good at being the shrillest, click-baiting voice?

Now you can say that Fischer matters, tautologically speaking, because he matters enough to be profiled by no less than Jane Mayer in the New Yorker, in a piece that is behind the paywall. It confirms that Fischer is obsessed with homosexuality above all things; compared to his far-right Christian counterparts, he is curiously uninterested in controlling women's reproductive functions beyond the obligatory support for doing so. (Judging by the general direction of laws and public opinion, he may have failed to pick a winner, or else likes being the last man standing.)