TAMPA, Fla. – Showing no regrets for inspiring a shooting attack on the Family Research Council in Washington, the Southern Poverty Law Center is stepping up its vicious line of attack against yours truly.
"WorldNetDaily (WND) describes itself as 'an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism, seeking truth and justice and revitalizing the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty,'" begins the article. "The online newspaper, which this year celebrated its 15th year in operation, is one of the 'very few sources' martial artist and action film hero Chuck Norris (who happens to be a columnist) trusts for news and an operation that megachurch pastor Greg Laurie (also a columnist) says does 'a service to God and Country.'"
So far, so good.
SPLC then goes on to describe me as a "longtime antigovernment propagandist and apologist for the Confederacy."
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Not exactly. Having written millions of words in daily columns and 14 books, what you will find in his hate piece is that very few are actually quoted. Instead, the SPLC's writer-researcher-propagandist prefers to use mischaracterizations and guilt by mis-association to make its case – doing what it shows it does best, painting targets on the backs of those who expose the criminal misdeeds of one of the most vicious, extremist and well-funded con artist groups in America today.
Yes, there are "patriots" at WND. No, there are no "white nationalists" at WND. Yes, there are "ultra-conservative" views expressed at WND. But, of course, SPLC neglects to mention there are also ultra-liberal views expressed at WND in what is the broadest spectrum of political opinion to be found anywhere in the world.
Repeatedly, SPLC caricatures WND's Judeo-Christian worldview as "anti-gay" and "anti-Muslim" – an incendiary and explosive combination that, according to the assailant, inspired a recent violent attack on Family Research Council, one of its other prominent targets, that resulted in the shooting of its security guard.
What SPLC does next is to use partial quotes from a long list of individual commentators over a 15-year period to suggest all of their opinions somehow represent those of WND. Of course, SPLC doesn't quote from a single liberal contributor – people like Bill Press and Ellen Ratner – because that would contradict the thesis that WND is a monolithic, extremist company that pushes Christian dominionism.
The race card is repeatedly played, too – ignoring the fact that WND showcases twice as many black columnists than any other news or commentary forum in the world.
So what scares SPLC so much?
Here's the answer: "Despite – or perhaps because of – all this, WND has had unnerving success at injecting its agenda into the public sphere. … [WND] has become a force to be reckoned with."
What's even more bizarre is the wholesale lies SPLC's researcher in absentia publishes:
- The article contends an organization I founded, Western Journalism Center, "was hit with a $2 million libel suit for promoting a 'report' suggesting that White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster had been the victim of foul play, rather than suicide. (The suit was later dismissed.)" No such lawsuit was ever filed – though the Bill Clinton White House did, in fact, order a highly publicized Internal Revenue Service audit of WJC as a result of the investigation.
- SPLC attempts to link me with R.J. Rushdoony, whom it identifies as the "father of Christian Reconstructionism." Yet, reconstructionists, including the late Rushdoony, all know or knew I do not subscribe to their theological views.
- SPLC claims I was "scheduled to be a featured guest at a 2007 conference run by Vision Forum Ministries, an ultraconservative outfit whose director Doug Phillips is the son of Constitution Party co-founder Howard Phillips." I have never been invited to speak at such an event!
- One of my board members is credited with joining me in an effort to revive the Sacramento Union, the daily newspaper I once ran, in 2004. Neither one of us was involved in any such effort.
- SPLC makes the completely unfounded accusation that "WND shilled for a publication titled 'The Antichrist Identity' that claimed President Obama is a crypto-Communist 'apostle' of the 'New World Order' who is setting up the planet for a takeover by 'Jewish Masonic' elites who will reduce the population by 5.5 billion and 'enslave all of mankind under the thumb of a Jewish master race led by a world messiah of Jewish ancestry who is to rule from Jerusalem.'" This is a complete fabrication – made up out of whole cloth.
SPLC then goes on to report: "Truth (or even internally consistent conspiracy theories) is not WND's strong suit."
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Could I go on dissecting this screed?
Of course. But the point is this: SPLC is a dangerous, repulsive group of liars and frauds with only two things in mind – making money through direct-mail scare tactics and recklessly putting targets on the backs of "enemies," like me, whom it demonizes with false accusations and misrepresentations.
Nice bunch of folks, huh?
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