( - promoted by Carnacki)
Last month, I was listening on the radio to an official from West Virginia's Republican Party laying out the conservative agenda for state politics in 2009.
You'd think with an economic meltdown on, they would prioritize and look for solutions that would best help our state's residents make it through the hard financial times ahead.
But it really was no surprise that one of the party's top concerns was that old rightwing chestnut: whipping people into a frenzy over homosexuals getting married - specifically, the GOP wants to get a state constitutional amendment on the ballot to ban same sex unions.
Never mind that there's already a federal law on the books in the form of the ludicrously-named Defense of Marriage Act, or that West Virginia already has a law banning gay marriage, or that traditional marriage is in no way threatened by gay marriage and no one in their right mind would think so - the state's Republicans have decided on their priorities.
Why should electoral demagogues give up on the gift that keeps on giving?
In what is surely just pure coincidence, not too long after I heard this interview, calls began popping up in places like the front page of the Web site of WV District United Pentecostal Church International, imploring folks to visit the site www.wvformarriage.com.
By following the link, you're greeted by a banner proclaiming "One Man. One Woman. That's marriage" and an amateurish video about the supposed threat, through which we learn that marriage is the sacred union between one male clip art model and one female clip art model, and that the gay agenda is apparently out to get us all in the form of a sniper scope targeting happy families who sit on their steps and entertain their children by blowing bubbles (seriously - it's at the one minute mark).
The film is also available on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
To stop the nefarious threat of the Gay Bubble Sniper, the site advises you to join in the "Take 4" plan, which consists of four easy steps - the first of which is (surprise!) "Donate."
But to whom?
The site doesn't tell us.
There are subsections and links to various conservative groups, such as something called Pastors4marriage - though whether you're donating to them or to a newly-formed organization named "WV for Marriage" isn't made clear.
Normally, when you're unsure on this sort of thing, the simple solution is to click on the "about us" or "who we are" sections of the site.
The only problem is, there are none.
A WHOIS search on register.com tells us a little more, though.
The site is registered as follows:
Registrant Contact:
CampaignSiteBuilder
Mark Montini ()
Fax:
1765 Ridgemill Terrace
Dacula, GA 30019
US
Administrative Contact:
CampaignSiteBuilder
Mark Montini (mmontini@campaignsecrets.com)
+1.7708413148
Fax:
1765 Ridgemill Terrace
Dacula, GA 30019
US
Isn't it interesting that WVformarriage is registered to a guy in Georgia?
So who is this Mark Montini?
To learn the answer to that question, you'll have strap into the Wayback Machine and travel back ... all the way to the year 2005!
It was year in which conservatives felt they were on the ascendency and were boasting of a "permanent majority."
Thrilled with the victories of Rovian politics, a newly reelected George W. Bush decided that his razor-thin margin over John Kerry gave him political capital that he intended to spend.
Bush decided to take advantage of this momentum and got to work attempting to enact every item on the conservative wish list - first up: dismantling FDR's visionary Social Security system by putting funds in the stock market.
Naturally, when our friends at the American Association of Retired Persons got wind of this scheme, they weren't exactly thrilled and decided to hit back hard with an information campaign to let America's seniors know what was up.
So, with the one of the largest and most effective advocacy organizations in the U.S. combating them, what did the Republicans do?
Simple. Try to scare the bejeezus out of people by making them think the gays are closing in on them.
Enter USA Next, a conservative misinformation group with ties to the infamous smear artists Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth.
Their strategist was none other than, you guessed it, Mark Montini, who kicked off their efforts with a video which may be the stupidest homophobic message in political history.
"The Real AARP Agenda" began appearing on rightwing Web sites like the American Spectator and played like a Lee Atwater's Greatest Hits compilation.
Picture of gay couple getting married?
Check.
Picture of U.S. soldier with big evil "X"over him to question AARP's patriotism?
Check.
Charlie Jarvis, the group's president and former deputy secretary for the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, outlined USA Next's goals:
Jarvis said the group's goal was to peel off one million members from the AARP, by presenting itself as a conservative, free-market alternative. He says USA Next surveys show more than 37 percent of the AARP members call themselves Republicans, according to Justice.
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/...
The ad was too stupid for any rational observer to take seriously and was widely condemned and ridiculed. Rather than discredit the AARP, its impact was nil. Bush's scheme bombed and the rest is history.
Oh, yeah - It also turns out that the male photo of the couple used in the ad was taken from the wedding collection of Rick Raymen and Steve Hansen of Portland, Oregon. They weren't too thrilled and sued USA Next for $25 million for using their likeness without permission.
"Our privacy and personal integrity were violated when our wedding photo was stolen and used to portray us as treasonous, unpatriotic, and a threat to American troops," Rick Raymen said. "We have been harassed and humiliated by this hateful ad campaign and by the bigotry and anger it has generated against us nationwide."
http://www.americablog.com/200...
Also of note: If you go to wvformarriage.com, all the headers on the site read wv4marriage.com. Entering that address brings you back to the same site.
A search on that domain reveals it's registered to our old friends at the West Virginia Values Coalition.
registrant:
The WV Values Coalition
Jeremiah G Dys PO Box 566 Charleston, WV 25322 Fax.. :
This leaves one wondering who the site really belongs to.
Montini? Campaignsecets.com? WVformarriage? Pastors4marriage?
You know, all of this is a tad confusing and makes me wonder if maybe there's just a chance that gay marriage isn't quite the threat they say it is, and that this is all part of an organized campaign to take advantage of bigotry and put a polarizing, divisive issue on the ballot in a contentious off-year election in order to get churches to push members to the polls in hopes of electing more Republicans to office in 2010.
But that's crazy talk. They wouldn't be so dishonest and lacking in values now, would they? |
