William D. Lindsey, who blogs at Bilgrimage, shares some sneak previews of his current project, a book collecting the diary, essays and letters of Wilson Bachelor.
Who?
Wilson Bachelor (1827-1903) was a pioneer doctor and Arkansas Republican leader.
Bachelor wouldn’t be allowed to speak at Republican events today. As a proud member of the party of Lincoln, his views on race, science, church and state, women, workers’ rights, the death penalty and many other subjects would make him anathema to the party that today bears the name “Republican.”
Go read Lindsey’s two recent posts on Bachelor — “The Republican Party and the South: A Then-and-Now Perspective” and “Republican Party and the South: Then-and-Now, An Addendum” — and join me in lamenting that they don’t make Republicans like they used to.
Judging from the primary campaign thus far, I’m not sure they even allow Republicans like that anymore.
Instead the Republican Party of today has allied itself with people like the Liar Tony Perkins.
I was glad to see Nick Sementelli of Bold Faith Type use that designation for Perkins: “Why Does MSNBC Invite Hateful, Anti-Gay Liars on TV to Represent Christians?”
The Southern Poverty Law Center has rightfully declared Family Research Council a hate group because of their consistent, unwavering commitment to spreading hateful lies about the LGBT community.
Speaking on MSNBC, Perkins has falsely claimed that “the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children,” and another FRC official has called for criminalizing homosexuality.
… Faithful America has launched a petition calling on MSNBC to “stop inviting Family Research Council spokespeople on the air to represent the views of Christians and other people of faith.”
Just as racist rhetoric has no place in the media, anti-gay liars should not be baptized as credible Christian messengers, particularly for a network built on progressive viewers. MSNBC should continue its move to improve its contributor rolls by keeping FRC off its shows.
And while we’re on the subject of faith-based bigotry, here’s a bit of encouraging news via the Religion News Service’s David Gibson: “Catholics warn Gingrich, Santorum on race baiting“:
More than 40 Catholic leaders and theologians have issued an open letter to Catholic candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, warning them “to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail.”
The signers of the open letter, which was released Friday (Jan. 20), cited Gingrich’s repeated criticisms of Barack Obama as a “food stamp president” who encourages government dependency for the poor, especially for African-Americans.
They also criticized Santorum’s statement that he does not want “to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” Santorum later said he intended to use a word other than “black” but did not say what that word would have been.
At Thursday’s debate in South Carolina, both Santorum and Gingrich continued to blast the Obama administration for allegedly encouraging the use of food stamps.
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