Salon.com > Values Voter Summit

Must-see morning clip: Smart people

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Rick Santorum argued at the Values Voter Summit over the weekend that conservatives "will never have the media on our side, ever in this country. We will never have the elite, smart people on our side." It got at least one laugh.

Four crazy conservatives you haven’t (yet) heard of

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:46:00 +0000

Every fall, social conservatives gather for the Values Voter Summit, one of the higher-profile stops on the right-wing conference circuit. This week in Washington, high-profile Republicans like Eric Cantor, R.-Va., and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan will breathe the same air as the more extreme elements of the conservative base.

Bryan Fischer, whose shtick of saying the most offensive thing he can think of isn't earning him much of a following, will not be a featured speaker this year. But plenty of lesser-known conservatives are angling to raise their profiles. Here are four on the make:

Strange bedfellows at Christian confab

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:05:00 +0000

The annual Values Voter Summit is blessed with a diverse array of opinion from the far-right to the ultra-right. It's not always as cozy as it sounds.

This year's speakers will include both Jewish House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and a retired Colonel who once said that Christians should be working to get Jews to accept Jesus. In 2009, Boykin said that it "really bothers" him when pastors say that “the Jews don’t have to come to know Jesus, they're under the old covenant. And that's destroying the efforts of the Messianic Rabbis, and other Messianic Jews that are trying to lead their brothers and sisters to Christ." Boykin is apparently referring to a little known tradition that observes elements of Judaism, but also believes in Jesus as a savior. Cantor didn't return a request for comment.

Rick Santorum and the rest of the 2012 field hit the Values Voter Summit

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:06:00 +0000

The Family Research Council's Values Voters Summit is happening right now at Washington DC's Omni Shoreham Hotel. The summit is the Republican Party's annual tribute to the most retrograde and extreme members of the religious right, and normal people across the nation are asked to politely look away as GOP pols pander to their nutty base. Rick Perry apparently went over well.

So far today Eric Cantor referred to Occupy Wall Street as "a growing mob" and Rep. Steve King made a joke about how pro-gay marriage protesters were "the most unhappy people I ever heard refer to themselves as gay." (Maybe they were unhappy because you're trying to deprive them of rights enjoyed by everyone else in the country?)

Rick Perry was introduced by a guy who hates Mormons, and who made a series of barely veiled references to Mitt Romney not believing in the correct Jesus. (Rick Perry does not consider Mormonism a "cult," according to his campaign.)