Monday, January 31, 2005

Soft on extremism

I had a post last week at American Street discussing the latest iteration in something that seems to come up a lot lately: the spread of extremism into the mainstream of conservatism (contra the Professor).

The most recent example is colorfully illustrative of the nature of the extremist right -- particularly the way hate-filled beliefs come to permeate the entire worldview of the people who adopt them.

As with a lot of recent cases, this incident involves Republican politicians from the South, whose growing embrace of all kinds of neo-Confederate activism (particularly from the Council of Conservative Citizens) is the most serious form of interaction between the extremist and mainstream right.

Seems that, as predicted, in the wake of the passage of the anti-immigrant Protect Arizona Now initiative, a plan to pass identical legislation in other states is rising to the surface. The most revealing instance of this is in Arkansas, where a fellow named Joe McCutchen of Fort Smith is heading up the statewide Protect Arkansas Now campaign. Seems McCutchen not only has an interesting past, he has the full-fledged and quite public support of leading Republican legislators:
Sens. Jim Holt, R-Springdale, and Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, on Wednesday filed the proposed Arkansas Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act. The measure would require stricter proof of citizenship for voter registration and forbid public assistance for non-citizens unless mandated by the federal government. The bill also requires state and local authorities to report illegal aliens to federal immigration officials.

Holt introduced McCutchen on Friday as the head of Protect Arkansas Now, a lobbying group modeled after Protect Arizona Now, the lobbyists for a similar immigration law in Arizona that passed by referendum last November.

McCutchen denied Southern Poverty Law Center's claims Wednesday that he was a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens, but acknowledged that he wrote about his campaign to tighten immigration laws in the February 2000 edition of "American Renaissance," identified as a "hate sheet" by the racism watchdog group.

He said he had never heard of "American Renaissance," but recognized his letter to its editor appealing for money for his campaign to help unseat then-U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., who eventually lost the 2000 election and became President Bush's energy secretary.

McCutcheon said "American Renaissance" was one of many publications and organizations on a list of donors to efforts to limit immigration, although his political action committee was essentially self-funded and received only about $5,000 from contributions.

Of course, we can be sure, on his say-so, that those associations were merely accidental and did not reflect on his judgment or beliefs, right? And to listen to the rest of McCutchen's defense, you'd think he was being smeared:
McCutchen also acknowledged participating in a 2001 anti-immigration forum in North Carolina, sponsored by the Council of Conservative Citizens, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a successor of the old White Citizens Council. In a 2001 CCC publication, McCutchen is identified as a member, but he said Wednesday that the only organizations he's ever belonged to are four Masonic orders and the American Airplane Pilots Association.

McCutchen said that after participating in the 2001 forum with self-described racial separatist Virginia Abernethy, who later became chairwoman of Protect Arizona Now, he decided to break all ties with CCC.

"I decided this wasn't my schtick," he said. "I'm strictly working on an illegal immigration basis, and they're in other areas. I'm strictly looking for the stability of this country and upholding the rule of law."

McCutchen said he resented having to make such a disclaimer, but said he has been careful to point out that people who want to tighten laws against illegal immigration "are not bigots, xenophobes, racists or anti-Semites."

Certainly not. There are many reasonable people seeking immigration reform who are not bigots, xenophobes, racists, or anti-Semites.

On the other hand, people who write letters to the editor like this [from June 2003] certainly are all of the above:
Duped again! Weapons of Mass Delusion. Who orchestrated Bush’s illegal Iraqi war? Official reports indicate that 25 Zionists were the architects. Examination of Bush’s predominately neo-con Jewish/Zionist inner circle reveals all advocate continuing illegal preemptive strikes against Middle-Eastern countries.

A partial list: Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Ari Fleischer, Donald Rumsfeld, Michael Chertoff, Elliot Abrams, Michael Ladeen, David Wurmser, Lewis Libby and Karl Rove — a combination of dual-citizenships, Israel-Firsters, or offspring of Trotskyists. These men all hold strategic positions in the federal government. Cover for the aforementioned is supplied by Falwell/Robertson fundamentalists.

Jewish media control, i.e. Viacom, CBS, MTV, ABC, Clear Channels, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros., Sony, Disney, coupled with goodly numbers of Jewish editorialists, print and spoken, guarantees a Jewish/Israeli slant.

Bush and his mostly Jewish neo-cons' war against Iraq was illegal, immoral and resulted in the emasculation of the Constitution. There are no weapons of mass destruction and no evidence that Iraq has harmed U.S. interests, i.e. no Iraqi terrorists. Evidence indicates Bush I was a party to installing Saddam and was formerly a business partner, and U.S. furnished Iraq with start-up material for bacterial warfare.

Bush and his neo-con handlers have vaporized the 14th Amendment, shades of Nazi German differing only in role-reversal. Additionally, Globalist Bush refuses to secure our southern border, and estimates state that in excess of 10,000 illegals are crossing daily. The aforementioned, accompanied by "Homeland Security" and the "Patriot Acts" guarantees a U.S. citizen lock-down! American culture is in a melt-down.

Who benefited? Bush oil, Israel and the military/industrial complex.
The Bush administration is involved in a criminally arrogant disdain for the Founders' formula for a free society.

Joe McCutchen
Fort Smith

So are people who write follow-up letters like this:
On June 5 this paper published my letter stating that the Iraqi war was provoked by Neo-con Zionists. Before the Iraqi war, Bush’s Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, along with Abram Shulsky, Elliot Abrams and Michael Ledeen created for Rumsfeld the Office of Special Plans to circumvent Pentagon Intelligence. They openly call themselves "The Cabal" and have admitted they used "weapons of mass destruction" as a motivational tool for war.

I further stated the central government, banking, media (radio/TV/print) and entertainment are controlled by Jews, which is easily proven.

Two gentlemen writers attacked me with personal smears, choosing not to address the substance of the letter, indicating a lack of knowledge and/or refusal to deal with facts.

Jews were the force that created and have sustained a mass immigration and open-borders policy — a practice that is in the process of destroying Western Culture and is about to create a slave-state. Witness Patriot Acts I and II written by a non-citizen Vietnamese, Viet Dinh employed by John Ashcroft.

Since the passage of the Balfour Agreement, creating the state of Israel, U.S. taxpayers have poured in $3 trillion. Ten million Americans unemployed, and this year alone we have dumped $19 billion into Israel.

American and international Jews own the world monetary system. Would it not be appropriate if they used their own financial resources to subsidize Israel? For example, Bill Gertz, aka Bill Gates.

The Iraqi war was unconstitutional and immoral; the best that can be said of Bush, Ashcroft and their Neo-con Zionists is that their blather is full of factual elasticity.

To survive, America must surmount P.C., revisionism and incendiaries enemies hurl, i.e. racists, anti-Semitic, xenophobe, et. al.

Americans, emerge from your cocoons.

Joe McCutchen
Fort Smith

I especially loved the "Bill Gertz" line. That's a new one.

While self-described "centrists" wring their hands over the "authentic face of the Left," the real face of the Right is coming clearer into focus. And boy, is it ugly.

[Hat tip to Mark Potok.]

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