Four crazy conservatives you haven’t (yet) heard of

Every fall, social conservatives gather for the Values Voter Summit, one of the higher-profile stops on the right-wing conference circuit. This week in Washington, high-profile Republicans like Eric Cantor, R.-Va., and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan will breathe the same air as the more extreme elements of the conservative base.

Bryan Fischer, whose shtick of saying the most offensive thing he can think of isn’t earning him much of a following, will not be a featured speaker this year. But plenty of lesser-known conservatives are angling to raise their profiles. Here are four on the make:

1. Mat Staver is the fiercely anti-gay chairman of the Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University Law School, which are both connected to the late Jerry Falwell. Staver has accused the Obama administration of running an “affirmative action” program to get Muslims into top national security positions, thus helping the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrate the top levels of the U.S. government. He’s also argued that the Obama administration has been pushing “in-your-face forced abortion funding, in-your-face forced homosexuality,” and that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which protects gays and lesbians in the workplace, “will put individuals at risk and ultimately result in significant damage and even death of some individuals.”

2. Frank Gaffney is a professional Islamophobe, and his speaking slot at this year’s conference will probably add to his cred. But there’s another like-minded speaker on the agenda: the director of Former Muslims United and founder of Arabs for Israel, Nonie Darwish.

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http://www.salon.com/2012/09/14/four_of_the_craziest_conservatives_you_havent_yet_heard_of/