The Secret GOP Email Attack on Elena Kagan Exposed
by Robert Amsel
In case you're wondering the depths of GOP depravity for telling rumors, lies, and innuendos about Elena Kagan, it's bottomless. A GOP group, calling itself, GOPUSA, is currently sending millions of emails to fellow right-wing types, mainly Republicans and church groups, to make them aware of something called "The Pray In Jesus Name Project." This project's raison d'être is "Sending Petitions to God [presumably, by carrier dove?] and Government to Defend Religious Freedom."
If you click on the email's provided link, you can sign a petition to get Senators to vote against the Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. At this petition site, however, you will find the petition itself plus requests for money [lots and lots of money!], but none of the hateful rhetoric found within the email.
Apparently, this extreme, anti-gay material is meant for bigoted GOP eyes only. If it were made public, some people might label the GOP "the Party of Hate." (Oh...do they???) Anyway, I'm copying much of the email here (it blabs on forever) so you will see what Kagan is up against:
The email author starts thusly: "NEW PETITION to oppose ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE whom CBS News reported to be a lesbian. Please select, sign, and WE WILL FAX your petition automatically to ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS right away (saving you hours of labor!)
"CBS, Wash Post: Obama nominates Lesbian Homosexual Elena Kagan to Supreme Court.
"CBS News reported that President Obama's new Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will be the "first openly gay justice," pleasing much of Obama's liberal base."
If a well-known news organization published the above, it must be true, right? Actually, CBS News reported nothing of the kind. The material came from a GOP blogger at the news site named Ben Domenech, a former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer. Domenech wrote that President Obama would "please" much of his base by picking the "first openly gay justice."
Initially, CBS News refused to pull the plug on the blog. Then Anita Dunn, the former White House communications director who is currently working with the administration on the Supreme Court vacancy, said: "The fact that they've chosen to become enablers of people posting lies on their site tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010." She claimed that CBS was giving a platform to a blogger "with a history of plagiarism" who was "applying old stereotypes to single women with successful careers."
When Domenech confessed that his statements were based on rumor, CBS News finally acted, deleting the blog post on Thursday, April 15. Then Domenech offered a bizarre apology, which only added fuel to the fire. Domenech stated the following: "I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted -- odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles."
Of course, in the anti-Kagan e-mail, Domenech isn't identified as a GOP blogger but is referred to instead as "the CBS News reporter," which he is not and never would be. This is a deceitful attempt by the e-mail author to give such rumors legitimacy.
The e-mail's author goes on to state that "The Washington Post repeated the CBS report, and the White House denials, but criticized CBS policy, saying "most major news organizations have policies against 'outing' gays or reporting on the sex lives of public officials unless they are related to their public duties." The author then adds that "The sudden media blackout on the 'taboo topic' is ironic, since Kagan's private sex life already has, and will directly impact her public Supreme Court decisions."
Ah-hah! That explains Obama's secret socialistic plot! Kagan's nomination is a lesbian conspiracy to trash the Constitution!
The email’s author next claims that "Kagan's private sex life already has, and will directly impact her public Supreme Court decisions." He goes on to say that "the Daily Caller confirms Kagan's policy record reflects extremist sexual views in matters of law." [And what are these extremist sexual views? you may well ask.]
The email's author provides an answer with the following quotations directly from the Daily Caller: "Kagan's boldest foray into public life was, as dean of Harvard Law School, throwing the military off campus over its 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gay soldiers. Kagan called the policy, implemented by her former boss President Bill Clinton, 'a profound wrong — a moral injustice of the first order.' She pursued the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices unanimously slapped down her arguments, forcing Harvard to allow the military to return....
"On the Defense of Marriage Act, Kagan damned with faint praise — she defended the law, but not without first saying the Obama administration opposed it, thought it was discriminatory and hoped to overturn it. Pro-homosexual marriage lawyer Dale Carpenter wrote the move was a 'gift to the gay-marriage movement' because the administration was 'helping knock out a leg from under the opposition to gay marriage.'...
"Long ago, Kagan wrote a memo while clerking for the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall that said religious organizations that provide care for teen pregnancies shouldn't get federal funds because of a strict line separating church and state."
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the Daily Caller’s articles make Fox News look the harbor of liberalism, thus making them an ideal source for this particular e-mail’s author.
He then concludes (without a single shred of evidence) that "Needless to say, Kagan is a bomb-thrower, who would rule as a pro-homosexual, pro-abortion, anti-Christian activist, and she must be filibustered if nominated."
Before I continue, you must be wondering who the author of all this anti-Kagan rhetoric is. So I'll make a brief digression and tell you. He signs his name with "God Bless you, in Jesus' name, Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt.
Following his signature, the GOP (as GOPUSA), who so graciously sent this email on his behalf to Republicans and Fundamentalist Christian churches throughout the country adds the following: "The views of Chaplain Klingenschmitt, who was honorably but involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2007 after facing court-martial for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform, (but was later vindicated by Congress), are his own personal views, not the views of any political party, government, or organization."
(I can't locate any evidence that shows how he was successfully court-martialed for disobedience but "honorably discharged" at the same time and how, if he was honorably discharged, he was also "vindicated by Congress." Would he need vindication? If there is such information, it seems to be a secret between Klingenschmitt and the GOP through GOPUSA. What was his disobedience? When commanded, he refused to use nonsectarian prayers at military events where people of many faiths were gathered. The final straw, though, was when he later spoke at a religious rightwing rally while dressed in his uniform – a violation of military regulations.
Still, there is a lot of internet information regarding the strange doings and religion of the man who still calls himself a "chaplain." Klingenschmitt still wears his uniform on his website as well, pretending to be active in the military. This helps him raise money for his extreme right-wing group. As a member of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), he also calls upon God to kill people he disagrees with (so clearly I'd better watch my step. And you thought Muslim extremists were bad news? Hah!).
But back to the e-mail: The defrocked chaplain next claims that "The Wall Street Journal reports Kagan has worked in elite legal and policy jobs but has never served as a judge, which an administration official confirmed Sunday."
The Wall Street Journal never made such a statement as phrased, although the content is primarily true, except that ALL the current Supreme Court Justices are equally elite, having all earned their degrees at Harvard or Yale. But it's probably not a good idea to remind Roberts or Alito of their education, since "elite" and "ivy league" are filthy words to low-information voters, just as "liberal" is. Additionally, many Supreme Court Justices never served as judges, including Earl Warren and John Marshall. I’m merely pointing this out since it’s now the major Republican talking point, since Republicans are unwilling to parade publicly their homophobia. They prefer secretive emails or extreme right-wing websites.
Klingenschmitt then quotes the Wall Street Journal as follows: "Opponents of her nomination are certain to raise questions about her decision, as Harvard law dean, to sign a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that law schools did not have to allow the U.S. military to recruit on campus because the don't-ask, don't-tell policy barred gays [and lesbians] from serving openly.
"She and other law deans argued the rule violated their antidiscrimination policies, and Ms. Kagan called the policy 'profoundly wrong.' But they were overruled by a unanimous Supreme Court."
Klingenschmitt then concludes that "If Kagan has served on the court, that ruling would have been 8-1, not 9-0, because Kagan's views of the law on sexuality are far outside the mainstream, regardless of her personal practice. Kagan is the most extreme of all 7 nominees considered by Obama, we said last month." (Translation: By "extreme", the author means "lesbian.")
Klingenschmitt then claims that the ACLU credited Kagan with "shaping Clinton’s policy on hate crimes." I haven’t yet discovered any quotation from the ACLU regarding this assertion. However, many right-wingers on the internet are making the same claim verbatim. (Check official GOP "Talking Points for the Week.") Oh, how they all yearn for the days when they could bash gay people publicly!
From homophobia, Klingenschmitt progresses to his next bullet point, abortion. Again, he uses anti-abortion authors to make a point, where no actual facts (or decisions by Kagan) exist.
He presumes that Kagan strongly favors abortions. (I might, too, if abortion could work retroactively on Mr. Klingenschmitt.) So to whom does he turn? Yes, you guessed it! Another notable right-wing, anti-abortion source. "LifeNews.com now reports Kagan is an ardent pro-abortion advocate who, at 50, would leave a pro-abortion legacy for Obama on the Supreme Court for decades to come. She would confirm the suspicion of many political observers that Obama decided to go with a radical left-wing nominee while Democrats control the Senate with a huge advantage that is expected to deteriorate after the November elections. (Of course, no proof of this "radical" pro-abortion stance is actually forthcoming.)
First, he quotes Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, who claims that Kagan advocates abortion, and "treated pro-life activists like violent criminals, creating a task force in the Department of Justice and a grand jury to investigate peaceful pro-lifers. This raises serious concerns that she shares the hostile view that religious beliefs are a form of 'hate,'" Wright says. She goes on to say, "Abortion groups are actively attempting to create the impression that international norms require countries to provide access to abortion. During Kagan’s nomination hearing for Solicitor General, Senator Specter questioned her about the use of foreign sources of law in constitutional decision-making." (This is an interesting tidbit, since it appeals to legal xenophobia. You have to the man credit -- Klingenschmitt covers all his base's bases.)
Next, Klingenschmitt quotes Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the pro-life women's group Susan B. Anthony List, who told LifeNews.com, "In the past Kagan has been a strong supporter of the pro-abortion agenda. She has vigorously opposed the de-funding of taxpayer-funded clinics which promote abortions, despite the fact that a majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund abortion providers."
In an exceptional article by Sarah Posner for Religious Dispatches called "Religious Right Aims to Portray Kagan as 'Pro-Abortion'," Posner debunks all these claims, which are based solely on innuendo and do not provide any facts as proof. I highly recommend it: http://tinyurl.com/...
The court-martialed ex-chaplain then provides the names and phone numbers of undecided Senators to harass so that they will oppose and filibuster Elena Kagan as being "too far on the extreme left."
These Senators include Ben Nelson, D-NE: 202-224-6551, George Voinovich, R-OH: 202-224-3353, Bill Nelson, D-FL: 202-224-5274, Judd Gregg, R-NH: 202-224-3324, Kay Hagan, D-NC: 202-224-6342, Richard Lugar, R-IN: 202-224-4814, Mark Pryor, D-AR: 202-224-2353, Olympia Snowe, R-ME: 202-224-5344, Blanche Lincoln, D-AR: 202-224-4843, Susan Collins, R-ME: 202-224-2523, Chris Dodd, D-CT: 202-224-2823, Kit Bond, R-MO: 202-224-5721, Barbara Boxer, D-CA: 202-224-3553, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY: 202-224-4451, Michael Bennet, D-CO: 202-224-5852, Roland Burris, D-IL: 202-224-2854, and Byron Dorgan, D-ND: 202-224-2551
Since all these Senators will have their office phones ringing off the hook as a result of these emails, I'm providing their phone numbers here for the benefit of those who might wish to support Kagan's nomination instead. Yep, the battle is on!