Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	9/14/2004

Outing the hate-mongers

A little link hopping tonight. From ed cone to David Neiwert to the SPLC .

Once at the SLPC, for kicks I typed "John Birch Society" into their site search engine and the first "research" article that popped up was one on the Constitution Party - "The Crackpot Party"

Far into the article we discover that the kooks in the Constitution Party have even let in "Ezola Foster, the African-American fundamentalist and former head of the California chapter of the far-right John Birch Society who was Buchanan's surprising choice for vice president in 2000."

The SPLC did not elaborate on how an "African-American fundamentalist" was mixed up with the John Birch Society, but I can tell you on very good authority that, while Ms. Foster is a notable long time member of the JBS, there is no such thing as the "California Chapter of the John Birch Society," far-right or otherwise.

I would also like to point out two other items:

1) I know several members of the Constitution Party and they are not "crackpots."

2) The Constitution Party is not the largest third party by any metric I can think of. And, the absence of any mention of the Libertarian Party in this regard seems to indicate that at least to me that "smear" and "hit-piece" are better terms to use than "accuracy" or "truth" when describing this one data point on the SPLC - the organization Mr. Neiwert likes to rely on for "research."

11:14:42 PM

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