Rick Perry And The Bigoted, Theocrat Right

By Steve Hynd

As Richard Cohen writes, the GOP has become a cult, with all kinds of litmus tests that emphasize "certainty over reason":

the net effect is to establish an intellectual barrier for admittance to the presidential race: Independent thinkers, stop right here! If you believe in global warming, revenue enhancement, stimulus programs, the occasional need for abortion or even the fabulist theories of the late Charles Darwin, then either stay home � or lie.

This intellectual rigidity has produced a GOP presidential field that�s a virtual political Jonestown. The Grand Old Party, so named when it really did evoke America, has so narrowed its base that it has become a political cult.

So a new poll by TheIowaRepublican.com may well show that Republicans are more interested in beating Obama than in purity tests - by a two-to-one margin - but the cultish nature of their party has pretty much guaranteed that their current crop of prospective presidential candidates are well aware of where their funding lies - and it's in signing on to the agendas of big business and theocrat racism. Worth noting in the TIR poll is that "social conservatives", i.e. the religious and bigoted Right, are far less likely to be swayed by pragmatism than by purity tests. Only 53 percent feel it is more important to beat Obama than to be on-message.

This is the party of social conservative and Tea party kingmaker Jim DeMint:

DeMint writes in almost messianic terms as he repeatedly casts himself as fulfilling a mission assigned to him by God to "save freedom," prevent bankrupting the future and pull the nation back from a moral abyss.

Describing his book as a story of "the battle for America's soul," DeMint said he was tired of Washington after his first term and came close to not seeking re-election last year, but God persuaded him to stay in the fight.

And of preening perjuror Rick Perry. Perry may be running away from the Bush-Rove connections that took him to the Texas governor's office, but he's embracing the theocratic wing of the GOP with fresh vigor.

In early June, TIME has learned, a group of prominent figures on the Christian Right held a conference call to discuss their dissatisfaction with the current GOP presidential field, and agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if he entered the race. Among those on the call were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; David Barton, the Texas activist and go-to historian for the Christian Right; and John Hagee, the controversial San Antonio pastor whose endorsement John McCain rejected in 2008.

Religious conservatives have often played a substantial role in choosing past Republican nominees, but leaders on the Christian Right have been conspicuously quiet so far in this campaign season. Privately, however, they are enthusiastic about Perry and are encouraging the Texas governor to throw his ten-gallon hat into the ring.

...He may be the favorite by default, but the Texas governor is also a terrific match for the Christian Right. Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches recently outlined Perry�s social conservative bona fides and they�re impressive:

• Signed a gay marriage ban into law at a Christian school in Fort Worth with evangelical heavyweights Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Rod Parsley (Ohio mega-church pastor), and Don Wildmon (American Family Association) in attendance


• The Sunday before his 2006 re-election, Perry attended Cornerstone Church and sat by the side of controversial pastor John Hagee (in 2008, John McCain had to reject Hagee�s endorsement after critics pointed out the pastor�s many extreme statements, including calling the Catholic Church �the whore of Babylon�)


• Supported and was a primary beneficiary of the Texas Restoration Project, an effort to increase the electoral involvement of conservative pastors

All of this, however, pales beside Perry�s current project�a Christian all-day prayer event called �The Response� on August 6 in Houston. The governor is sponsoring the event along with the American Family Association, which is footing the estimated $1.5 million tab for the gathering. The Response is intended for Christians only, although one spokesman said that if people of other faiths attend, he hopes they will see the light and �seek out the living Christ� for their lives.

Perry is now relying on the religious Right for funding and campaign organisation. People like John Hagee of the 19,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. In the late 90's Hagee argued that Hitler was simply fulfilling God's will, more recently he blamed New Orlean's gay community for incurring God's wrath in the form of Hurricane Katrina. David Barton has been a featured speaker at meetings of the Christian Identity movement, which preaches that blacks are sub-human "mud people." Tony Perkins once shelled out  $82,500 for David Duke's Klu Klux Klan mailing list. The AFA's upper levels are a filled with homophobia, bigotry and racism.

And talking of David Duke, the former Klansman is thinking of throwing his own hat into the Presidential race. He's not going to win any primaries, let alone the nomination - too much baggage - but his supporters will naturally gravitate to the Perry camp after Duke falls out. Why Perry and not, say, Bachmann? Because Perry doesn't have a vagina - the religious and racist Right are also misogynist. What's most worrying is that they are organising behind the scenes.

One key precinct for politically minded white-rights activists: Stormfront, the nation�s largest white-supremacist website, where thousands of �racial realists� talk about everything from homeschooling and the news to uniting into a single party. Stormfront founder and radio host Don Black tells The Daily Beast the strategy is to start from the ground up, �where we have a chance of winning. It�s impossible to get into the Senate or Congress but state legislatures or smaller offices can work.� Black says the Tea Party�s influence spurred hopes among his ideological soulmates�but that the initial excitement has given way to a realpolitik sense that the Stormfront crowd will have to go it alone. �Many of our people are involved in the Tea Party,� says Black. �But much of their leadership is skittish when it comes to talking about racial realities. The Tea Party is a healthy movement but many are too conditioned to run like scared rabbits when called racists.�

...Another NSM leader, Brian Culpepper, says his chapter in Tennessee may openly field a candidate for the state and U.S. House of Representatives. Culpepper describes himself as a �realist,� saying he prefers sneaking candidates into office under the radar rather than openly flouting the white-rights agenda. The same is true of the United Klans of Tennessee, which says it has several mayors and county commissioners serving who do not openly identify as Klan members. �We insert ourselves into the infrastructure of other established parties due to the bias against us and the difficulty of third parties getting ballot access,� says Culpepper. Unlike other Neo-Nazis in his group, these ones are not on NSM rosters and �have hair, no ink, no piercings, and increasingly are college-degreed� says Culpepper, who says he is also a �suit and tie� guy and does not favor bomber jackets. Some Neo-Nazis have also quietly been joining national campaigns and offices to start sharpening their political teeth, he claims. �We have people working with the most recent incoming class of freshmen in the House,� says Culpepper. �And they don�t even know it.�

This is Perry's target constituency. I'm convinced he'll run and that he has a very real chance of being the eventual Republican nominee. Time to dig out the case against Rick Perry for president.