GOP says hate crimes are protected free speech

by Joel Wendland

In preparing for an article on the passage of landmark hate crimes prevention legislation, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, in the House yesterday, I watched some of the debate on the floor of that august body. But I had to turn it off, it was too infuriating. The rationale put forward by the GOP leaders for their opposition to the bill was that hate crimes are protected by Constitutional provisions of free speech.

If you pass this bill, one GOP member after another repeated, people who urge anti-gay hate or violence against gay people (or for other legally protected categories) will be "chilled" into silence. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) led the GOP side of the debate, and again and again she defended the right of people to hate and to commit violent acts against LGBT people.

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert even read St. Paul's proscription against homosexuality into the record – notably ignoring Christ's commandment to love even your enemies – arguing that any Christian who believes in the Bible would be subject to prosecution under the law because of that passage. Gohmert ignored the fact that the Old Testament records God's commandment to the Israelites to commit genocide against the people living in Canaan and seems to have not noticed that no one has been prosecuted for war crimes because they may believe in the justice of that act (or of stoning of adulterous women or segregating women during their menstrual cycle etc.)

The Republicans' new found civil libertarian streak appears out of nowhere, however, suggesting deep hypocrisy on the matter. Where was their impassioned defense of the free speech rights of the Dixie Chicks, for example, when their rather mild 2003 criticism of George W. Bush earned them death threats and CD burning parties by some in Republican and right-wing circles. Silence from free speech civil libertarians like Reps. Foxx and Gohmert when a radio station ordered its DJs to not play Dixie Chicks song because of their comment.

Over and over again Republican pundits and politicians told the Dixie Chicks to "shut up and sing."

Others who offered criticisms of Bush were repeatedly accused of treason or lack of patriotism. When former Attorney General John Ashcroft told Congress and the country that criticisms of the administration and dissent from its policy amounted to aiding terrorism, not a peep from Republican stalwarts now defending the rights of hatemongers to express with actions their hatred of people they don't like.

Apparently, for Republicans, free speech is reserved for those who hate and commit violent acts motivated by hate.

It would be good to see civil rights and civil liberties groups spend about, I don't know, $1 million in Foxx's district to defeat her in the 2010 election. I bet it could be done.

Republicans Hint at Racist Tenor of Fall Campaign: will Dems Buy In?

By Joel Wendland

Launching a blatantly racist and xenophobic attack, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told a radio station this:

"I'll just say this that when you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States -- and I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the world of Islam?

What does "the optics of Barack Obama" mean? It means Barack Obama looks Black and his middle name is "Muslim," therefore, he is not really American. Because of Obama's optics, how he looks, he will pursue policies that hurt America and benefit terrorists, King insisted.

King is well known for his extreme views on racism and hatred for immigrants and so forth. So many will dismiss him as such. But some of these ideas have crept into the Democratic side and are being used in the race for the nomination as well.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told reporters in February that he thought Barack Obama would not win in Pennsylvania because he is Black. While Rendell and his surrogates described his view as "realistic," it is a view that feeds into King's comments. Essentially, Rendell, who is an endorser of Sen. Clinton, is saying, "I refuse to support an African American because some of the people in my state are racists."

In a similar vein, when asked on CBS if she thought Barack Obama is a Muslim, Sen. Hillary Clinton remarked, "There's nothing to base that on, as far as I know."

While not an overtly anti-Muslim comment, Clinton's comment warns, "Fear."

It, too, feeds into and gives subtle legitimacy to Steve King's blatantly racist and xenophobic comments.

This is the politics of division based on fear and hate. If we are to move forward, to change, people like Clinton and Rendell need to stand up to the politics of division and fear and bigotry. They need to claim leadership in the democratic movement and fight the racists and bigots like King, rather than legitimize his hateful remarks.

Senate: Pass Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act

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