Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right (47 page)

61. Chris Matthews, “Lois Gibbs and Douglas Brinkley Discuss the Love Canal Toxic Waste Site in Upstate New York,”
Hardball with Chris Matthews,
December 1,1999.

62. Paul Krugman, “Reckonings: Unsound Bytes?”
New York Times,
October 22,2000, sec. 4, p. 15.

nine. shadow/boxing the apocryphal “religious right”

1. Jacques Ellul,
Propaganda,
New York: Vintage Books, 1965, p. 31.

2. In a one-year period (roughly corresponding to calendar year 2000) the
New York Times
found occasion to mention either “Christian conservatives” or the “religious right” 187 times. Not once did the paper refer to “atheist liberals” or “the atheist left.”

3. George Orwell,
1984,
(New York: Signet, 1950), p. 14.

4. Douglas Jehl, “A Nation Challenged: Saudi Arabia; Holy War Lured Saudis as Rulers Looked Away,”
New York Times,
December 21,2001.

5. See, e.g., “Are the Religious Right’s Political Tactics Nasty?” CNN’s
Inside Politics,
June 21,1994, transcript #607-4.

6. See, e.g., “Washington Dateline,” Associated Press, December 9,1994.

7. Susan Saulny, “A Night Out With: The Rev. Jesse Jackson; The Moviegoer,”
New York Times,
January 7,2001, sec. 9, p. 3.

NOTES,
pp. 167-174
236

8. Editorial, “The Religion Wars,”
New York Times,
March 2,2000.

9. A. M. Rosenthal, “On My Mind; With Friends Like These,”
New York Times,
August 13,1996.

10. Michael Weisskopf, “Energized by Pulpit or Passion, the Public Is Calling; ‘Gospel Grapevine’ Displays Strength in Controversy over Military Gay Ban,”
Washington Post,
February 1, 1993. Correction issued February 2, 1993: “CORRECTION: An article yesterday characterized followers of television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as ‘largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.’ There is no factual basis for that statement.”

11. Dudley Clendinen, “The Electoral Evangelism of Pat Robertson,”
New York Times,
September 21,1986. (Quoting Samuel S. Hill, a professor of religion at the University of Florida and the author of
The New Religious Political Right in America,,
published by the Methodist Press.)

12. Arthur Hoppe, “Is There Life Before Death?”
San Francisco Chronicle,
February 14, 1996.

13. Timothy Gorski, Margaret Downey, David Silverman, and Lynn Neary, “Atheism,” NPR’s
Talk of the Nation,
October 5,1998.

14. “King Lear; Witty and Brave, Norman Lear Toppled Taboos by Getting Us to Laugh at Our Foibles,”
People Special,
March 15,1999/March 22,1999.

15. T. Christian Miller and Ronald Brownstein, “McCain Delivers Hard Left to Christian Right,”
Los Angeles Times,
February 29,2000.

16. “The Lonely Charge of John McCain,”
The Economist,
March 04,2000. (“They [the religious right] account for around a fifth of all party members and a third in many states’ primary electorates.”)

17. Laurie Goodstein, “Coalition’s Woes May Hinder Goals of Christian Right,”
New York Times,
August 2, 1999, p. Al.

18. Source: Center for Responsive Politics, tracking donations from January 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000 (quoted in Robert T. Garrett, “Big Money Politics: How Bush, Gore Might Change the Rules,”
Press-Enterprise
[Riverside, Calif.], October 15, 2000).

19. Ibid.

20. According to the tracking report of the Center for Responsive Politics, from January 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000, lawyers contributed over $11 million to the presidential campaign. When soft money and other political donations are included, the legal profession spent over $100 million on the 2000 election—70 percent to Democrats and 30 percent to Republicans.

21. George Lardner Jr., “Lawyers Gave Bulk of Money in Election,”
Washington Post,
March 4,2001.

22. Bennett Roth, “Quest for Soft Money Goes Unabated; Tight Races for President, Congress Could Double 1996 Election Funding,”
Houston Chronicle,
September 18,2000.

23. Editorial, “The Religion Wars,”
New York Times,
March 2, 2000.

24. This was conducted by Voter News Service for CNN. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents identified themselves as conservatives, and 20 percent of respondents identified themselves as liberals.

25. Ronald Sider, “Evangelicals Don’t Fit Political Stereotype,”
Dallas Morning News,
March 6, 2001. (“One recent national survey discovered that 28 percent of white evangelicals were registered Democrats and that another 29 percent were independents. [Forty-one percent were Republicans.]”)

26. See, e.g., Tom Mashberg, “Vote Reflects Culture Clash,”
Boston Herald,
November 26,2000.

27. Steven Waldman, “Doubts Among the Faithful,”
New York Times,
March 7, 2001. (“Many Christians, even some conservative Protestants, embrace a limited form of pluralism . . . But the president’s statements about his new initiative suggest that he really belongs to a different group of Americans, those who approve of religion generally and are tolerant of all...”)

NOTES,
pp. 174-177
237

28. David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis, “Religious Right Made Big Push to Put Ashcroft in Justice Dept.,”
New York Times,
January 7,2001. See also Laurie Goodstein, “Religious Right, Frustrated, Trying New Tactic on G.O.P.,”
New York Times,
March 23,1998. (“Christian conservatives” seek “elimination of financial support for the National Endowment for the Arts.”)

29. Even in its heyday, the Moral Majority was not particularly frightening, except as an imaginary enemy. In the ten years of its existence, the Moral Majority raised $69 million. To put this in perspective, in the 2000 election, labor unions contributed more than $15 million to Al Gore’s campaign alone. (Robert T. Garrett, “Big Money Politics,”
Press-Enterprise
[Riverside, Ca.], October 15, 2000.) Foreshadowing the “compassionate conservatism” of George Bush (who, according to the
New York Times,
“really belongs to a different group of Americans than the religious right) back in 1980 Falwell worried “that the public sees them as ‘hard right’ wingers rather than compassionate moralists.” Indeed, twenty years ago, Falwell was saying he believed Christianity had flourished in this country “because America has been totally free and open to any and all religious faiths. I would literally fight to the death for the right of a Madalyn O’Hair to say what she believes, for the Mormon church to preach what it preaches.” (Megan Rosenfeld, “The New Moral America and the War of the Religicos; Born Again Political Forces Not Singing the Same Hymn,”
Washington Post,
August 24,1980.)

30. Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson,
Blinded by Might,
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1999.

31. Chris Matthews, “Upcoming Election Campaigns,”
Hardball with Chris Matthews,
March 9,2000.

32. “Freedom from Religion: The First Amendment Protects Non-Belief, Too,”
Church & State,
October 1,2000, p. 13.

33. Mr. John Green, political scientist, University of Akron (introduced: “no one in the country tracks the opinions and activities of the religious right more closely than John Green”) in Robert Siegel and David Molpus, “Religious Right Lines Up in Support of George Bush,” National Public Radio’s
All Things Considered,
November 2,2000. See also John Zogby, “Campaign 2000, John Zogby Delivers Remarks at a Foreign Press Center Briefing,” FDCH Political Transcripts, October 27,2000. (Referring to the political views of the religious right, Pollster John Zogby cites simply “one of their leaders, Pat Robertson.” Dana Milbank, “Key Goals Face Early Obstacles,”
Washington Post,
February 27, 2001, p. Al. Calls Robertson a “lion of the religious right.”)

34. Richard L. Berke, “State of the Union: The Politics; Robertson, Praising Speech, Sees Trial as a Peril to G.O.P.,”
New York Times,
January 21,1999.

35. “He comes out with faith-based programs as a sop to the religious right.” Bill Press on
CNN Crossfire,
“The Bush Tax Cut Plan: Is the Honeymoon Over?,” February 5,2001; “Bush is giving a vast payback to the religious right for help in his election.” Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, quoted in Mary Leonard, “Bush Boosts Faith’s Role in Charity, Sets Initiatives on Social Needs,”
Boston Globe,
January 28,2001; “Jewish leaders” remained “guarded” with Bush’s faith-based plan, because Bush “has courted the religious right.” Marc Dollinger, “Bush’s Faith-Based Plan Borrows a Page from FDR,”
Los Angeles Times,
February 18, 2001; Bush’s faith-based initiative “reaches out to Christian conservatives.” Bedard,
U.S. News & World Report,
February 5,2001.

36. “United States and China Prepare to Fight over Flights,” CNN
WolfBlitzer Reports,
April 16, 2001. Robertson later “clarified” that he opposes forced abortion.

37. Gary McMullen, “Coalition’s Political Power Ending,”
The Ledger
(Lakeland, Fla.), November 14,1998.

38. Richard L. Berke, “State of the Union: The Politics; Robertson, Praising Speech, Sees Trial as a Peril to G.O.P.”

39. Representative Christopher Cannon (R-Utah) quoted in Richard L. Berke, “State of the Union: The Politics; Robertson, Praising Speech, Sees Trial as a Peril to G.O.P.”

40. Stephen Dinan, “Senate Panel OKs School Minute of Silence,”
Washington Times,
January 28,2000.

NOTES,
pp. 177-181

238

41. Phil Linsalata, “Going for the Jackpot; Will November’s Vote on Legalizing Slot Machines Determine the Future of Casinos in Missouri? Both Sides Hope So,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
October 2,1994.

42. Alisa Stingley, “Statewide Campaign Takes Aim at STDs,” Associated Press, June 12, 2000.

43. “Sex and Violence on TV,”
Fox News Network the Edge with Paula Zahn,
September 13, 2000, Transcript #091304cb.260.

44. Radio station WEZE-AM out of Quincy, Massachusetts, runs Christian programming twenty-four hours a day with many well-known Christians, including attorney Jay Sekulow, described in the
New York Times
as attorney for “a conservative religious rights group”; James Dobson, identified in the
Times
as “a leading religious conservative”; and radio personality Janet Parshall, described in the
Times
as a conservative and Christian radio talk show host. See Gustav Niebuhr, “Number of Religious Broadcasters Continues to Grow,”
New York Times,
February 12,1996; Dirk Johnson, “Schools Seeking to Skirt Rules That Bar Ten Commandments,”
New York Times,
February 27,2000.

45. Lane Lambert, “Tuning Into Religion; From Marina Bay in Quincy, a Station for ‘Missionary Land,’ “
Patriot Ledger
(Quincy, Mass.), April 8,2000, p. 24, ROP edition.

46. Clea Simon, “Graf Must Be Accountable, Too,”
Boston Globe,
June 1,2000.

47. Ronald Sider, “Evangelicals Don’t Fit Political Stereotype,”
Dallas Morning News,
March 6,2001.

48. Robert Siegel and David Molpus, “Religious Right Lines Up.”

49. Kerry Crist, “National Testing Can Offer Useful Guideposts,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
December 10,1997.

50. Chris Matthews, “Upcoming Election Campaigns,”
Hardball with Chris Matthews,
March 9,2000.

51. Mary Jacoby, “Centrist Image Sought for GOP,” St.
Petersburg Times,
April 5,1999.

52. Thomas B. Edsall, “Clinton Stuns Rainbow Coalition; Candidate Criticizes Rap Singer’s Message,”
‘Washington Post,
June 14,1992.

53. Gwen Ifill, “The 1992 Campaign: Democrats; Clinton at Jackson Meeting: Warmth, and Some Friction,”
New York Times,
June 14,1992.

54. Anthony Lewis, “Abroad at Home; Black and White,”
New York Times,
June 18, 1992.

55. Susan Estrich, “The Changing Face of the GOP; Practicing Politics of Exclusion,”
Los Angeles Times,
August 23,1992.

56. Nancy Gibbs, reported by James Carney with Bush and John F. Dickerson and Priscilla Painton with McCain, “Campaign 2000: Fire and Brimstone; How McCain and Bush Waged a Holy War Over the Power of the Religious Right and Turned God into a Campaign Issue,”
Time,
March 13,2000, p. 30.

57. Bill Press and Tucker Carlson, “Is George W. Bush Making the ‘Right’ Choices,” CNN’s
The Spin Room,
December 22,2000.

58. “Let’s talk a little bit more about the right wing because I know that’s something you feel very strongly about. But this is actually not necessarily about the right wing, but perhaps a climate that some say has been established by religious zealots or Christian conservatives. There have been two recent incidents in the news, I think, that upset most people in this country, that is the dragging death of James Byrd Junior and the beating death of Matthew Shepard. I just would like you to reflect on whether you feel people in this country are increasingly intolerant, mean-spirited, et cetera, and what, if anything, can be done about that because a lot of people get very discouraged when they hear and see this kind of brutality taking place.”—Katie Couric to former Texas Governor Ann Richards as she hosted a 92nd Street Y appearance in New York City on March 3 shown by C-SPAN on April 3,1999.

59.
Today,
October 30,1992.

60.
The Early Show,
August 15,2000.

61. Bonnie Erbe, NBC Radio News/Westwood One reporter, hosting
To the Contrary on PBS,
August 16,1996.

NOTES,
pp. 182-188
239