Return of a Monster

Ralph Reed is back and the Republican Party has accepted him with open arms.  Reed’s ring was forged in a cesspool, but Republicans have made pilgrimage from far and wide to kiss it at the misnamed Faith and Freedom Coalition.  Reed has to be one of the most despicable individuals we have seen, so it is appropriate that Republicans of note would love him and do homage.

Ralph Reed’s exile from the power structure of Washington is officially over. Damaged badly in the Abramoff lobbying scandal in 2005, Reed flexed his rehabilitated political muscle this weekend as his new Christian Right group—the Faith and Freedom Coalition—held a gathering at a downtown hotel that attracted almost every bright light in the Republican Party.

Attendees paid $110 to see a stunning lineup of conservative political elite, plus a fancy Gala dinner on the final night. Those considered to be presidential material came to woo the crowd: Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Haley Barbour, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and even Donald Trump. Heavyweights in Congress appeared as well—House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, budget guru Paul Ryan (and his staff director), head of the National Republican Campaign Committee Rep. Pete Sessions, along with a litany of lower-ranking members.

The head of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, delivered a long speech. Strategists like Grover Norquist, Dick Morris, Frank Luntz, and the leaders of several national Tea Party organizations made appearances.

Powerful Christian Right leaders also enjoyed prominent speaking slots: Gary Bauer of American Values, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Liberty Coalition, and David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting network all showed up.

In short, almost every appendage of the Republican political body was present. It was an enormous coup for Reed, officially announcing his return to the political forefront—something many thought impossible. They were not sufficiently cynical about Washington’s short memory… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Nation>

This is the same Ralph Reed that was a central player in the Abramoff scandal, but it gets worse.  Ralph Reed spearheaded a publicity campaign asking his so-called Christian followers to oppose legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws.  Under his clients, Chinese women were subject to forced abortions, and women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry.  For more, see my article, No Faith, No Freedom.  It includes an excellent video from Rachel Maddow.  This scum is the man Republicans are rushing to embrace.

Here’s a typical example of the doings there.

Now that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has thrown her hat in and said she’s participating in the GOP New Hampshire debate coming up this month, I guess we can expect more of this sort of lying demagoguery from her once those debates get started.

Bachmann made an appearance at Ralph Reed’s event, the Faith and Freedom Coalition where apparently not just Bachmann, but just about every one of their party leaders showed up to kiss the feet of someone that I keep wondering why isn’t in prison right now due to his associations with Jack Abramoff.

Bachmann decided to push the already discredited talking point that Planned Parenthood was involved in sex trafficking to throw some red meat to the crowd there, and apparently neither Bachmann or her audience have much use for the truth in this matter. If Bachmann thinks trafficking in lies such as this is a way to lead her to winning the GOP’s nomination for president, all I can say to her is good luck because I don’t think this sort of blatant lie will even make it past our sorry excuse for a corporate media once she enters the Republican debates or has the unfortunate incident of finding at least a few honest people in that corporate media willing to report on her lie here… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Here’s the video:

What irony!  How typically Republican it is that they attend a meeting sponsored by a man who was involved in sex trafficking to hear a lie that Planned Parenthood was involved in sex trafficking!

These are Republican family values.