Saturday, May 19, 2007

Wingnuttier Than Thou

Fred Phelps is at it again, proving that his Westboro Baptist Church will stop at nothing to hold the title Craziest Crazies on the Planet. Now they are skipping their usual protest of a soldiers funeral for . . . wait for it . . . protesting Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral. Why? I'm so glad you asked:

    "There are dead soldiers everywhere," [Member and church attorney Shirley] Phelps-Roper said. "You don't have a very high-profile, cowardly, lying false prophet like Falwell dying every day."

    Phelps-Roper said the group plans to demonstrate at Falwell's service because members believe he was never harsh enough in his declarations that homosexuality was the source of America's problems. [Emphasis added.]
So do you think conservatives do any soul-searching about whether Westboro fits in their big tent? Do you think conservatives who criticize the good Reverend and his merry band of nutballs get grief for not being true conservatives? Me neither.

Hat-tip: Faith in Public Life

7 comments:

Social Citizen said...

"...homosexuality was the source of America's problems..."

Thank you, Shirley! I feel like a major weight has been lifted off of my shoulders! Up 'til now I was convinced George Bush was the source of America's problems. I'm going to sleep so well tonight.

Anonymous said...

When Falwell died, CBS Radio did an interview with one of the members of his church...and one would have thought the pope had died.

It's the SOUTH. It's conservative and they like it that way. They don't like abortion, feminism, taxation or anyone who wants to abridge their Second Amendment rights in any way.

This is how it is and as the number of people who live there continue to increase, their political and economic power will increase accordingly.

The Democrats should easily win this next presidential race but I'm not sure they can. Right now the likely nominee is either Obama or Hillary and neither one of these people is capable of winning Florida.

If the race turns out to be Giuliani vs. Obama or Hillary and Giuliani carries New York, it's over. The Democrats could never recover from that. There aren't enough votes left. The numbers don't work out in their favor.

Alexander Carpenter said...

Thanks for the Faith in Public Life h/t. Bringing out the crazy noise, that's why we exist. I think that you have appropriately philed your post. I bet somewhere over a RedState someone just called Falwell a moderate. . .

Scott Piepho said...

Root:

I don't agree that Obama can't win in Fla. Whatever one's opinion of the recount, it's clear that a majority of voters intended to vote for Gore in 2000 and Kerry came within five points in 2004.

I also think that if Republicans nominate any of the frontrunners and Dems dodge the Hillary bullet, religious rightists will stay home in droves. That not only makes Florida a real possibility, it puts some pretty red states like Virginia, Missouri and Lousiana into play.

Scott Piepho said...

Carpenter:

Happy to do it. You guys do fine work.

OhioExile said...

Not related to this post, but the parking deck has reached the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/nationalspecial3/20fear.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Anonymous said...

I agree Obama can win FLA. If I am a Dem Strategist, I would worried about winning the middle-of-the-road 20%, not how many religious righties stay home. This is really where the dems lost 2000 and '04.