The American Family Association recently fired its most prominent spokesman, the racist AIDS-denier Bryan Fischer.
But then, by “fired” AFA doesn’t mean that Fischer is out of a job, or that he is no longer on their payroll. He still is. But they’ve changed his title, and they’ve declared that while he will continue to act as the group’s most prominent spokesman, the group doesn’t want people to think of him as its representative.
If that all sounds rather confusing, that’s because there’s no simple way for the AFA to have its racist, AIDS-denying cake while eating it too.
What happened was that the AFA attempted to boost its profile by sponsoring a trip to Israel for 60 Republican members of Congress. The Republican Party very much wants the votes of people like Bryan Fischer and his followers — it needs those votes. But it’s a tricky thing to court the votes of people like Fischer without scaring off a whole bunch of other voters who find him repugnant — or, more importantly, without scaring off a whole bunch of other voters who mostly agree with Fischer, but who prefer a more euphemistic tone when advocating such views in public.
Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch, who has the unlovely job of following Bryan Fischer closely, notes that the AFA knew exactly what they were getting when they hired Fischer in 2009, giving him a national platform. Mantyla sees the group’s relabeling of Fischer’s role there as an empty “rhetorical accounting trick.”
Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, agrees. He wrote to the AFA that “it’s difficult to see the AFA’s disavowal as anything other than an effort to quell the negative press attention you’re receiving in connection with your sponsorship of an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel for members of the Republican National Committee.”
That letter got a response from the American Family Association’s top lawyer, Patrick Vaughn, who provided an official “Renunciation of Statements by Bryan Fischer,” formally distancing the AFA from a long list of specific comments by its most (in)famous radio host. It’s quite a list:
AFA rejects the idea expressed by Bryan Fischer that “Free exercise of religion” only applies to Christians. Consequently, AFA rejects Bryan’s assertions that Muslims should not be granted permits to build mosques in the United States.
AFA rejects the ideas expressed by Bryan Fischer that the violent expulsion of Native Americans was divinely ordained and that, “Superstition, savagery and sexual immorality” morally disqualified Native Americans from “sovereign control of American soil.”
AFA rejects the ideas expressed by Bryan Fischer that “we” need to clamp down on immigration because Hispanics are socialist by nature and vote Democratic because it allows them to “benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States.”
AFA rejects Bryan Fischer’s characterization of minorities as “people who rut like rabbits.”
AFA rejects the statement by Bryan Fischer that, “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”
AFA rejects the policy advocated by Bryan Fischer that homosexual conduct should be illegal.
AFA rejects the notion advocated by Bryan Fischer that, “We need an underground railroad to protect innocent children from same-sex households.”
AFA rejects Bryan Fischer’s statement that, “If Hillary Clinton becomes president In 2016, she will not only be our first female president, she could be our first lesbian president.”
It’s certainly a Good Thing to see the AFA rejecting and renouncing such statements. At the same time, it says a great deal about the AFA that they needed to have their general counsel draft a legal letter rejecting and renouncing such statements.
These also are not the only outrageously awful things Bryan Fischer has said over the years on AFA radio. They’re not even necessarily the worst things he’s said there. And since Bryan Fischer remains on the air, broadcasting his AFA radio show every day, it’s safe to say that these also won’t be the last outrageously awful things Fischer says while on the AFA payroll.
Fischer also continues to write for “The Stand: The Official Blog of the American Family Association.” And he continues to be joined on American Family Radio by Sandy Rios — who has kept her title as “director of governmental affairs,” speaking officially on behalf of AFA despite sharing and spreading most of the views that its lawyer “rejects” in the letter quoted above. The rest of AFA’s radio lineup includes folks like Kevin McCullough and AFA president Tim Wildmon, son of founder Don Wildmon, who’s listed on the group’s website as an official “spokesperson.” Here’s Tim Wildmon getting his birther on — after Vaughn’s letter “rejecting” Fischer’s views.
In his letter to the SPLC, AFA’s lawyer said:
Bryan Fischer has hosted the Focal Point talk show two hours a day, five days a week, since July of 2009. That makes for a lot of sound bites. If SPLC interprets any other statements made by Mr. Fischer as reflecting AFA’s position, I will be glad to clarify whether AFA agrees with or rejects what Mr. Fischer has said.
So from now on, when Bryan Fischer arrives at the AFA studio in the AFA headquarters to produce his daily AFA radio show on behalf of the AFA, the AFA wants you to know that he probably doesn’t speak for them, unless he does.
Got it? OK, then.
P.S. Never forget that Bryan Fischer, Tim Wildmon, Sandy Rios and all the rest only have any influence because “people like Fred Clark … and his ilk shape the public and media perception of evangelicals.” All your public and media perception are belong to us.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In