Why Is Tim Pawlenty Going On The Radio Show Of An Anti-Gay “Hate Group”?
Written by Christine Schwen
Published
Even among the ranks of extreme right-wing radio hosts, American Family Association director Bryan Fischer's hate-filled rhetoric stands out.
Who could forget the time he argued the US should “restrict Muslim immigration” and “send them back home”? That was after he'd argued that a devout Muslim can not be a “good American” and that Muslims should be barred from the military. And what about the time he suggested that a plane crash in Montana killing 14 people occured because a doctor who performs abortions was on board, saying that “If you do not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you”?
And then there was the time Fischer wrote this:
Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Gays in the military is an experiment that has been tried and found disastrously and tragically wanting. Maybe it's time for Congress to learn a lesson from history.
It was that last comment from Fischer, among others, that lead the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to list The American Family Association (AFA) as a “hate group.” The SPLC added that they did not list anti-gay groups like the American Family Association simply for "[v]iewing homosexuality as unbibilical" but instead for “propagation of known falsehoods ... and repeated, groundless name-calling.” Fischer certainly qualifies on both counts.
In light of Fischer's history of outrageous rhetoric and penchant for pushing known falsehoods, I wonder what former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was thinking when decided to appear on Fischer's AFA radio show to promote his new book and announce his desire to reinstate “Don't Ask , Don't Tell” -- a policy that 77 percent of Americans and 70 percent of white evangelicals supported repealing:
(h/t Right Wing Watch)