Fred Phelps Picketing Funerals of Iraq War Dead

[Plaid Adder]

The "Reverend" Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist Church, has opened a new chapter in hatefulness. He has now announced plans to go around the country protesting at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.

Gee, you may be saying. This Fred Phelps guy, isn't he the asshole who used to protest the funerals of AIDS victims, and picketed at the funeral of Matthew Shepard after he got gay-bashed to death, and showed up at that church in Oklahoma trying to demand that they excommunicate that gay kid whose coming out story was in the paper, and generally has been obsessed with taking homophobia far outside the boundaries where even the most rabid Christian fundamentalists normally go? Why is he now targeting soliders' funerals? Were they gay?

No. Phelps is doing this because, he says, his church was bombed, and so God is now blowing up these American soldiers in revenge.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/228401_westboro14.h...

Go ahead, read it again. It won't help.

Phelps's point, if he has one, is that these soldiers are dying because God is pissed off at America for having rejected Phelps's message, and because God was so angry that someone put out a hit on his buddy's church that he's now blowing up American soldiers who even Phelps is not crazy enough to suggest had anything to do with it. The only connection appears to be the involvement of an explosion.

Now, I have been following Phelps for a long time, and usually shit that he does that shocks and appalls people who are reading about the Phelps clan for the first time just rolls right off my back. I've always figured that Phelps actually does more good than harm, despite his unbelievably hateful intentions, because he demonstrates to all the better-socialized homophobes how truly ugly and insane homophobia can get. There are several stories out there over the years of Phelps going to some conservative town with his portable theater of lunacy and causing everyone in said town, no matter what their political affiliations, to unite in opposition to him. Usually the Phelps counter-protests are much larger than anything he can mount and also eminently better-behaved. Often I'll go into LBN and see some thread of people outraging about some right-wing Christian thing that's just way more insane than normal and I'll think, "Must be Fred Phelps," and I'm right.

This, however, throws one for a loop. For no reason that makes sense to anybody other than himself, Phelps is about to disrupt the funerals of American soldiers who were killed in action. I sure hope the people of Boise are preparing a traditional Phelps welcome for him. In the meantime, I think this puts his past career, and the history of right-wing evangelical homophobia in general, in an interesting light:

What this really shows is that all of this crap with the AIDS victims and Matthew Shepard and so on was never really about *us.* Phelps is, for some reason, completely stuffed full of hatred for everyone except for himself, his 'church' (which is mostly his family, who must all be sadly warped by all this), and his projection of God--who is, like many versions of God, as bitter, hateful, vicious, and insane as Phelps himself--and he is driven to put that hatred on display in the most painful and inappropriate ways he can dream up. He has always seemed to take pleasure in hurting people, especially people who are grieving, and in abusing people at a time when they are hurting so badly already that almost anyone else in the country would feel bound to show compassion.

This latest phase provides support for something I had always suspected: that Phelps's apparent hatred of gay people was, fundamentally, opportunism. Consciously or not, he identified the one form of bigotry that is still socially acceptable (not the only one that still exists, but the only one that a politician can still profess openly and lustily without fear of electoral consequences) and used it as his primary outlet for whatever unfathomable rage at humanity is driving him. He hated gay people, as opposed to anyone else, because that would give him a license to publicly inflict pain on other people under the guise of political protest. Because homophobia is still considered an ideological/political/moral stance, rather than just plain ol' hatefulness, Phelps was able to act out his depraved fantasies and have people treat it as political speech.

Well, now apparently he's not making enough headlines doing that--the act has gotten old--so he has decided to target a new population, and again, in his addled brain he's picking a venue where he can pretend that what he's doing is political protest rather than personal cruelty. Because these people have died in the American military and in an American war, their lives and deaths are now unavoidably political. Except that I don't know of anyone in the anti-war movement who would consider picketing the funerals of soldiers either acceptable or useful as a protest strategy, and unlike gay people, the American war dead are supposed to be as venerated and beloved as AIDS victims were, back in Phelps's prime, abjected and feared.

So, Phelps is off to Idaho to interefere with a soldier's funeral. Were I merely vindictive, I would hope that someone there will finally give Phelps the ass-kicking that most of his other opponents have held back out of respect for the first amendment and the right to protest. But what I really hope is that straight people will watch this amazing spectacle and see fundamentalist homophobia for what it really is: unreasoning, unjustified hatred bursting into public view through the only outlet that our society still explicitly authorizes. And that gay people will realize, once and for all, that this hatred is attached to us only because we are vulnerable, and not because we have done anything to deserve it.



The Plaid Adder

[wicket]

1. Fred Phelps is a vile being

[getmeouttahere]

2. Bravo, Plaid Adder! This should be in every....

newspaper opinion page in the country!!!

[katinmn]

3. Some time he's going to pick the wrong person to antagonize.

I think he has a death wish. He keeps getting more and more outlandish.

[hobbit709]

4. As the Klingons say

"A complete waste of skin"

[Ken Burch]

80. If the Federation wanted to come back and violate the Prime Directive

by hitting Phelps with a photon torpedo, I'd say
we should give them a pass on that one.

[KamaAina]

5. Way to support the troops, sleazeball

Then again, this isn't the first time that Phelps' anti-American colors have shown. He also believes that 9/11 was gawd's retribution against America for -- surprise -- not converting itself into a Phelps-style theocracy.

http://www.godhatesamerica.com

I still think someone ought to look into godhatesfascists.com...

[Hamsta1]

39. Well, he's got today's date on there..

But his total number of troops killed in Iraq is at 1622. You'd think if he's going to start protesting funerals of soldiers killed in the Iraquagmire he should at least get an accurate fucking figure of how many have died. He's in it for #1. If he put as much effort into, say, feeding the hungry as he does into his unhealthy fixation on gays then we'd have to close some soup kitchens.

[MuseRider]

6. If it's not one thing

it's the other with this guy. This is his life story. He finds an opportunity and runs with it. IGNORE HIM! I have always said he is just looking for attention and once again this proves it. It is just another way for him to get attention. After all these years with no large flood of converts I would think he would give up. This won't change that either.

You are exactly right, it was never about gay people, it is about his need for an outlet for his rage.

[geniph]

29. You can ignore him up to a point,

but he still needs to be watched. Sooner or later, he will act on his violent paranoia and people will die. This guy is a McVeigh in the making.

[MuseRider]

32. May be but I don't think so.

I have known the family all my life and seen this change from topic to topic. He is insane but he seeks the spotlight more than violence outside of his own family. The family suffers the most from his anger.

[sniffa]

7. Lazy scumbags

i know they're insane, but i Look at them more as grifters.

the WBC Lives to sue - y'know the famiLy aLso has a bunch of (disbarred?) Lawyers among them - anyone and everyone. they keep upping the ante to push peopLe and communities into either attacking them, or preventing their protest - either of which resuLts in a Lawsuit against the community for faiLing to protect them.

this is a scam. these are LowLifes, who found a new way to grift.

[mermaid]

11. Phelps, Himself, Is A Disbarred Attorney

he has been known, incidentally, to have said that the purpose of a lawsuit is to harrass and intimidate.

[B3Nut]

36. L. Ron Hubbard had the same view..

..of lawsuits. His group sure files a lot of them....

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Ken Burch]

89. Why was Brother Fred disbarred, pray tell?

[flakey_foont]

8. doin' the Lord's work...........

the Dark Lord. that is! What a friggin' nutjob......so full of hatred

[LeftCoast]

9. So sad to hear about his church

Extreme

[mermaid]

10. OMG!! Plaid Adder, This Should Be In Every Op-Ed Section

of every newspaper in the country!!

I'd love to get you some info for my local newspapers...I'd love to see this in print where more eyeballs can see it, because the eyeballs NEED to see it!

[nightperson]

85. Can the eyeballs handle these pictures:

etc., etc. (plenty more at the site) ?

Wild Wikipedia article on Phelps.

[ixat]

90. Man, those made me wince...

[PsN2Wind]

12. We should take up a collection

to send Phelps and his group to the next Arlington funeral of a Ranger, Seal or other special ops type. I'm sure in these tight knit groups he would receive a very special welcome.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I still insist that Phelps has some bizarre function...

since he invigorates our side and gives the other side a foil to be compared against. I would not be at all surprised if he is being supported through the back door by elements of both sides.

He is, as you say, simply a publicity hound, and probably has few defined beliefs other than to get himself in front of the cameras as often as possible.

People I know who have been to a number of Phelps' "protests" say tht the one thing that gets to him is laughter. If the anti-Phelps crowd yells and screams he feeds on it, but if they just laugh, he gets red in the face and splits to greener pastures.

I suspect that this latest insanity is calculated to get less laughter and more rage-- rage and outrage being what he wants. It brings the cameras.

[Sugarcoated]

15. I believe I saw an interview with his daughter once

If it was his daughter, and I'm pretty sure it was, she's as vile as him. She was giggly as she spewed hate against gays and other people, I think she was justifying violence or something.

It was on Scarb Country a few months ago, Joe was as skeeved as I was. But, those kind of people are on his side, that's HIS party they've infested and he, Joe Scarborough and the rest of the RW blowhards let it happen for short term gain.

[tomg]

93. You are right about laughing at him

When he showed up in New Paltz, he picketed the Episcopalian Church my friend attends. As she was entering, he screamed at her that she was like the whore of Babylon I guess he got his Catholics and Episcopalians confused). With the sweetest smile on her face, she asked him whether she could be the Whore of New Paltz instead. It probably paid better and she wouldn't have to commute. He completely lost it and had absolutely no idea how to respond.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. Sure glad he represents the republican party.

[tblue37]

59. He doesn't represent Republicans.

He is a Democrat, and he was an early fighter in favor of civil rights, though obviously he doesn't want to see gays have civil rights.

What he represents is hate-filled, irrational fundamentalist Christianity, and since that is precisely what the Republican party has become, he has become strongly associated with them in the public mind. I think it says a lot that when ordinary people see this guy and his fellow nutcases, they automatically assume he must be a Republican.

Actually, he has run for office in Kansas more than once as a Democrat.

[evilkumquat]

64. He is Apolitical

Phelps does not represent ANY party. While it is easy to lump his spittle-laced vitriol with the Republicans, since that party never seems to distance itself from other radical religious elements, even the Republicans would not go as far as this douchebag.

Phelps belongs only to himself and his bizarre organization (not a church, because even confirmed atheists like me will not stoop to calling what Phelps has a "church").

Evil Kumquat

[FighttheFuture]

68. Phelps is honest; Repuglicans have gone much further than he...

Here's some perspective:

Today's greedy, self-serving neo-Republicans and assorted criminals have hijacked this country with fixed voting; pushed it right into Fascism and one-party state rule; launched us into an immoral war based on lies that is now unwinnable; they are bankrupting our treasury and raping our future; finally (although there is always much more); they have destroyed our reputation with even our allies.

Good luck to whomever is president in 2008. They will need it!

I will take a pissant loon like Fred Phelps any day. At least you see where he is and can isolate him, unlike these two-faced parasites today.

The only way we might get this country back is to expose these criminals and take them down. Hopefully our system is still capable of justice, although we will need a more honest media to prod it.

[Joacheme Misrahe]

77. Wrong

The republicans WOULD go as far as him, but rove knows the PR hit would be too much. Once they consolidate power look for them to emulate phelps.

[FighttheFuture]

67. Well... if it walks like a pig, talks like a pig...

It must be a Repiglican!!

As for running as a Democrat in Kansas, looks like a backdoor Trojan strategy to me. I suspect he figures (What's the matter with) Kansas might vote him in. Then he can infect the Dems, like the Zell Virus.

[LisaLynne]

16. A while ago ...

someone posted a list of quotes by politicians about the abomination of some type of marriage. Well, the quotes were pre-Civil Rights and they were actually talking about interracial marriage, but it was the same language used today about allowing gay couples to marry. It really proved to me that it's NEVER about whatever group they've targeted as being dangerous, or immoral, or whatever else they want to say. It's about some sort of hatred within themselves, maybe OF themselves or just of everyone who isn't them. They don't have REASONS against any specific group -- that's why the same arguments work for everybody.

I agree that Phelps probably does more good than harm because he's just so insane. I think people see him and are forced to confront their own homophobic tendencies and think, "Wow, that's ugly. I don't want to be like that. I'm not like that, am I?" However, that doesn't make it any easier to watch this brain-mangled jerk. I cannot conceive of his ego-centrism. It's absolutely amazing--in the sickening way.

[dr.zoidberg]

17. re: Fred Phelps

So, Fred Phelps likes kicking corpses, huh? That sick fuck. Fuck Fred Phelps! Fuck him in the asshole with a big rubber dildo! Then break it off and beat him with the rest of it!

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. I refuse to use the word Rev. with him. Thanks for the...

quotation marks! He is just beyond despicable and vile.

[AllyCat]

21. Does he qualify as a radical cleric?

You are right. Reverend he is not. What a disgusting person he is.

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. Given the nature of his ordination I'm not sure I'd call him a cleric.

He was ordained by the Southern Baptists at the age of 17 before they required any sort of seminary training. And he and the Southern Baptists parted ways awhile back.

Radical freak will do just fine.

[supernova]

19. How come Phelps isn't being treated for mental illness?

He's getting more and more out there and taking his "family" with him.

This is delusional, grandiose, and magical thinking to think that soldiers in Iraq are somehow being punished for us not kow-towing to Phelps.

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. Excellent question!

[Dulcinea]

79. People are afraid of him.

I've read that he & his posse of freaks will sue & harass endlessly anyone who dares to get in their way. Most people just don't want to deal with the aggravation.

[BrotherBuzz]

20. Kicked and recommended....

because, becuase, as usual, it's just that good...

Spot-on Plaid

[noonwitch]

22. Phelps-why we should re-institutionalize the mentally ill.

Society would be much better off if he was locked up in a looney bin.

[Ganja Ninja]

45. That's exactly the mans problem.

He's just plain bat shit crazy. He really does need to be put in a straight jacket and locked in a padded room somewhere.

[Kraklen]

24. Extreme example of a typical republican.

Look back at Vietnam, the only people spitting on the troops were Republicans.

[saigon68]

78. Yes they were and "peace with Honor" ala Nixon killed 20,000 more

repukes are scum

[kick-ass-bob]

26. I hope he is on the receiving end of any

21 gun salutes.

[Sperk]

27. I'll be shocked if the doesn't get the shit kicked out of him by some

grieving father, brother, husband, son or for that matter MOTHER. I'd kick the shit out of him if he came near my sons funeral.

What a sicko.

[monobrau]

60. And look for a grand jury no-bill

If he picks the right small town he'll get his ass served and no charges will be filed. Somethimes redneck vigilante justice can be a force for good.

[geniph]

28. My dear, this may be your best post yet

and that is SAYIN' somethin'! Your analysis of the Hateful One's motivations, and those of other homophobes, is painfully accurate.

As to this shitbird - how long does anyone think it'll be before he's not just randomly connecting one explosion to another, but causing them? I expect ol' Freddie to be planting bombs himself before long. His kind of hate and fear always turns violent in the end.

He truly should not be outside of a locked ward. The man is dangerously delusional, paranoid, violent, and sick.

If you truly want to make yourself ill, read the story of how he raised his children that one of his elder sons (one of the only ones who's broken with the family and his sick "church") wrote awhile back. The degree of violence he expresses verbally toward others, he expressed physically toward his children, often beating them unconscious.

We can ignore him and laugh at him, but we should still keep an eye on him so he doesn't kill anyone.

[mermaid]

33. Do You Have A Link

to that story?

I had it on my computer, but that was before the crash, and I had to start from scratch. I'd really like the URL of that story again...really incredible.

Fred Phelps is one sick fuck, and I know I'll feel safer when he's dead.

[levitating_dog]

51. Try this link

It's an expose` of Fred Phelps. It's long but very interesting.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael_hagger...

[mermaid]

75. Thanks!!

n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

30. So let me get ths straight

He's protesting soliders funerals because he claims they're getting killed by God because we're not worshipping and following HIM? Oh God...what a jackass! I think he's really insane!

[BiggJawn]

31. Now he thinks he's Job...

"Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime," Phelps said.

So why don't you pack up your Klan oof inbreeds and LEAVE this "vile" country, Fred?

It won't be so vile once you're gone. Oh, take your sky-daddy with the bad case of sour stomach with you.

[Gelliebeans]

34. I just don't understand

why we haven't done a mandatory 72 psychiatric watch on this asshole he is out of his ever loving mind.

[Nordmadr]

35. If he protested at the funeral of a child of mine that had been

killed in war,I think they might have to spiritually meet. I would arrange it.

Olaf

[kissmygrits]

73. He may get his just rewards.

I live down in Red Neck country and he would get his ass killed for pulling a stunt like that. The Southern Baptist preachers would be in the front of the lynching mob. They are real big on preaching about "OUR PATRIOTIC HEROES" fighting in the modern Crusade against the "evil" Moslems. They would run him off the road and kill him or find out what motel he is at and pay him a visit. The Law Enforcement agents would not be available and no evidence would be found. The Southern Baptist might hate gays but they would hate this "unpatriotic agent of satan" even more.

[Thav]

37. This guy threatened to picket my college graduation.

But he didn't. My college has a large gay population, and it really got under his skin that it is a christian college. But he never followed through. It would have been interesting to see a mob of people run him out of the county on a rail. Well, maybe not a mob. What is about 6000 people in a group called?

[larryepke]

55. What college was it?

Just out of curiousity.

[formerrepuke]

38. When Phelps finally dies: His funeral -and his family in attendance-

should be given a riotous, crude, disrespectful send-off... they sooo have it coming

[Media_Lies_Daily]

40. He'll be lucky to live through his first funeral protest. What an ass.

[Pab Sungenis]

41. Spread the word: GOD HATES PHELPS!

http://www.cafepress.com/godhatesphelps

[BR_Parkway]

42. If one of us were str8, I'd propose! I absolutely love to read what

you put together. Right to the point, calling it exactly like it is.

Shame our MSM "journalists" can't do half the job you do. This should be in every paper in the US. And the Agape Times or whatever they call their rag.

[AutisticPsycho]

43. heh...

Well, he was marching his inbreeding ass around Massachusetts picketing some high school graduations over some really stupid things. They protested an elementary school because a girl won an essay contest on a essay about Ellen DeGeneres.

[classof56]

44. When Phelps's group picketed the Oregon Supreme Court last year

I walked around to the few people who were paying him attention (including some state police) and said, "As a fundamentalist Christian, I apologize for these wackos."

Shame on them all. What I'd love to see, as they have the sheer unmitigated gall to picket a soldier's funeral, is a bolt of lightning come down and strike them dead. Not very Christian of me, I know, but somewhere, somehow, there has to be some justice meted out on these worthless human beings by the God whose purpose they proclaim to be carrying out.

BTW, great article, PA. I agree it should be printed in every newspaper in the country. Go for it!

Tired Old Cynic

[oldcoot]

46. Why does Fred Phelps hate America?

Next time anyone complains about how liberals do not support the troops, please hand them a copy of this article.

[paineinthearse]

48. His hate is not limited to America

Didn't he also picket Swedish churches or missions during the tsunami disaster?

[Plaid Adder]

53. Let's not forget, he also hates Canada

because same-sex marriage is making a lot more progress up there. Basically I think Fred hates every single human being on earth except for himself, and he's not too sure he likes the cut of his own jib that much either.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[nightperson]

86. He appears to greatly dislike Sweden.

Or am I missing something?

[ProfessorGAC]

47. This Is Getting Weirder and Weirder

He is protesting the funerals for guys who were blown up due to God's wrath because his "church" was targeted. So, what is it he's protesting? Isn't the "God blew them up" thing exactly what he wants?

If he wants to take credit for God killing people because God wants to exact revenge on his buddies' detractors, that's at least logical, no matter how disturbed. But, since this is exactly what he wants, then there is no reason to protest. So, he's protesting dead people because God wanted them dead? This isn't just disturbed. This is totally disconnected from reality.
The Professor

[kissmygrits]

74. In other words ProfessorGAC

Phelps is AS CRAZY AS A SHIT HOUSE RAT.

[darkism]

49. I bet he won't run into bush** there... n/t

[FrannyD]

50. phelps just in Cali

This guy has balls to say the least. He just protested at a HS graduation in Tracy, Ca. Many, many more people showed up to counter their protest. Read in SF Chronicle.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/12...

[mondo joe]

52. Good. The right wing nuts are a pit of vipers that will consume

itself with time.

[larryepke]

54. Two comments about Phelps...

beyond the obvious "Phelps is a looney!"

1. On his website, he refers to his picketing as "Love Crusades." Now, given all the references to "God Hates..." , it's odd that he also uses the term love. His idea of God is the Old Testament figure at his bloodthirstiest; there's not a lot of love there.

2. Why can't Phelps or one of his minions learn to use a scanner? His fliers all have the look of a ransom note. Does he do this on purpose, either to look threatening or to give them all a uniform, easily recognized style? Or is it just incompetence?

[wryter2000]

56. You did it again, Plaid Adder

Dead on truth.

[livinginphotographs]

57. You hit the nail on the head.

Phelps isn't necessarily homophobic, he just does it to get ratings, and provide himself an outlet for his psychosis. (I suspect, much like Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter)

If you read some of the stories from his kids that have been "ex-communicated," it proves that Phelps is nothing more than a rage-filled sociopath.

[tblue37]

58. As much as I detest what he is doing,

the fact that it is so outrageous does put war funerals back into newspapers, closer to the front page, and onto TV and radio broadcasts, which makes them harder for the complacent to ignore.

Actually, it might even serve to highlight the fact that our Fearless Leader doesn't ever attend the funerals of the young people he has sent to their deaths to line his cronies' pockets and to build up his own political capital so he can line their pockets even more.

[VaYallaDawg]

61. WOW Plaid Adder!!

Only in America could we tolerate somebody this crazy and yet still so dangerous.

[mduffy31]

62. IED's

This crazy fuck is now handing out leaflets and put them on his website thanking god for inventing IED's to kill the American soldiers in Iraq. Something has to be done about this guy, i hope he does go to a soldiers funeral and he gets what is coming to him.

[matt819]

63. Excellent post

But I have a question. I've seen nothing of this lunatic in the msm or local press up here in New England. The only coverage I see is here on DU. I wonder if this hateful sob would just disappear if we all just ignored him.

[chomskysright]

65. This is called : MENTAL ILLNESS: a crazy mother-fucker

[jmcon007]

66. How would you like to be locked in a room with this guy for a week?

It's hard to imagine anyone with this much hatred. And a Reverend who claims to be spreading the word of Jesus? My question is...if Heaven is nothing but love and peace, why would this nutcase aspire to go there?
I learned many years after my high school graduation that a good friend of mine was gay. I'm 55, straight, white, from middle America and grew up during a time when, I'm embarrassed to say, I didn't dream there were gays anywhere, except maybe San Francisco.
It broke my heart to learn my friend was gay. The misery I knew he must have endured 'in the closet' during those most important years of his life must have felt unbearable at times. He's still my good friend and always will be.
And, frankly, as far as relationships go, I can't help but feel a touch of envy that I can't seem to find the relationship in my life that the Plaid Adder says she enjoys with her partner. Looking around, I suspect many in Congress feel, or should feel, the same way.

[Warren DeMontague]

69. Again, showing his mastery of good Public Relations.

What a fucking asshole.

[redqueen]

70. THIS deserves the headline "A New Low"

[Bluzmann57]

71. You say, "Were I merely vindictive..."

Well I am. Sorry, I'm just not intelligent enough, or forgiving enough, or whatever it is to not be vindictive. I am also straight but don't give a damn about a person's sexual orientation, but this guy needs a serious ass kicking. I mean, if he wants to disrupt any funeral, especially that of a dead soldier, then he should get arrested immediately and thrown in with some big ugly gay guy who no longer cares. I mean, interrupting funerals? What a useless piece of shit. In a way, I feel sorry for him because it has to be hard going through life like that. But not too sorry, because he has a mind of his own and can presumably reason things out. Fuck him.

[apple_ridge]

72. This will most likely be his final "phase" if he is truly

crazy enough to picket a funeral in Idaho.

[axe2grind]

76. The Really Sad Part Of All of This Is

Somebody will eventually go after Phelps, hurt him and then that individual will go to jail for assault.

[UCSBLiberalCat53]

81. but...

since he votes Republican, he supports the troops!

[Warren DeMontague]

82. You know, with people like Fred Phelps, or Ann Coulter...

sometimes I have to wonder if they're really doing some weird, post-modernist Andy Kaufmanesque "I'm the world's biggest asshole" performance art thing.

Scary part is, though, I suspect they're serious.

[stanwyck]

88. Fascinating theory...who else?

Tom DeLay? Bill Frist? Pat Buchanan? And you know Bill O'Reilly is theatre. He can't even keep track of what he believes. But these guys aren't as "out there" as Phelps or Coulter. They're amateurs.

[spindoctor]

83. July 11th? I'll be there!

Should be fun

[Name removed]

84. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LiberalEsto]

87. Great analysis, Plaid!

One of your best ever!

Hey, Mr. Phelps, want some nice Kool-Ade?

[dogday]

91. I swear if this ever happened to Me with my Son, I would take a

friggin shovel and knock the shit of this guy, no questions asked, I would hit him and take the assault charge no problem....

[Misunderestimator]

92. Excellent post.

[Name removed]

94. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jurassicpork]

95. "Good Morning, Mr. Phelps."

Couldn't he be arrested for disturbing the peace? You'd be hard put to find a sheriff or police chief anywhere in America who'd still put up with this kind of assclownery if someone just called and reported him.

[paulkienitz]

96. evil, or deranged?

I have another theory: Fred Phelps is just nuts. The man cannot be in his right mind. He's as batty as Gene Scott and Harold Camping combined. There's got to be some kind of mental illness involved.

I think your analysis re homophobia being the one safe social outlet for hate makes a lot of sense in other circles, though. Like among the lesser televangelists who fill up the airwaves in places like rural Texas, who according to one friend of mine just cannot stop constantly obsessing on this one topic. Lots of them focus on gays because they have to hate somebody.

Phelps, it seems to me, is something a little different: perhaps just all that those other guys are, plus hopelessly crazy.

[Gay Green]

97. Harold Camping...

Now THERE'S a wingnut! Even other fristian wingnuts, like this one, for example, think he's a wingnut. This is a guy who thinks that some people turn evil IN THE WOMB. Seriously, I am not making any of this up!

And I grew up in a town where his transmission rowers were, and at certain times of the day, the only thing you could get on the radio was "WYFR - Your Family Radio" and the whacked out "religious" programs that the radio station carried. Thank God/dess I didn't live in the very neighborhood the towers were, 'cause people told the newspapers that in the late afternoon, they could hear his broadcasts OUTSIDE, in the AIR!

But Fred Phelps beats him in spades on the wingnuttery meter.