Alan Grayson Vindicated in 'Taliban Dan' Claim -- By Religious Right Leaders and Former Activist

[kpete]

The "T" word

by digby

Here's a headline for you:


Alan Grayson Vindicated in 'Taliban Dan' Claim -- By Religious Right Leaders and Former Activists



That's from Adele Stan's article in Alternet about Sarah Posner's blockbuster piece this week in Religion Dispatches about Bill Gothard -- Daniel Webster's mentor and spiritual leader. Stan explains:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/467335/alan_grayson_vindicated_in_%27taliban_dan%27_claim_--_by_religious_right_leaders_and_former_activists/#paragraph3


***** No less a source than FactCheck.org condemned Grayson for the ad, saying that Webster's words, made during remarks to one of Gothard's organizations, were taken out of context. Grayson's ad featured a clip of Webster saying, "Wives submit to your husbands." While the admakers unwisely edited the video of Webster's speech to suggest that was his own instruction (in reality, he was telling husbands that, when reading the Bible with their wives, to skip over those parts), a new report at Religion Dispatches by Sarah Posner makes clear that wifely submission -- even in the face of abuse -- is precisely the teaching given to Gothard's followers, who include Webster.



At the time Grayson ran the ad, people all over the political spectrum were in a tizzy about using the word "Taliban" because it was outrageous to even suggest that Americans could be as primitive as those Islamic fundamentalists who still stone women for adultery. There was plenty of scholarship showing Webster's mentor Bill Gothard's affiliation with groups that had once called for capital punishment for gays and adulterers, and there was a ton of evidence that he personally belonged to a patriarchal cult that sits at the very fringe of American religious life.

But that was that. Grayson didn't lose because of the ad, of course. He was in a Republican district in a Republican wave year and the shadowy conservative groups unleashed millions of dollars worth of ads against him. In his neighboring district, Suzanne Kosmas, a very polite, conservative Democrat who voted against virtually every Democratic initiative lost by a similar margin, so Grayson's allegedly improper behavior was not the determining factor in his loss. But it is now a matter of political urban legend that this ad cost him his seat and it's really too bad because it means that fundamentalists like Webster can never be called out on their religious views even when those religious views are totally out of the mainstream.



more:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/t-word.html
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/4094/%E2%80%9Ctaliban_dan%E2%80%99s%E2%80%9D_teacher:_inside_bill_gothard%E2%80%99s_authoritarian_subculture/

[RandomThoughts]

1. Yea, but they will be paying me the beer and travel money that is due.

[JuniperLea]

5. I'm still waiting for the shiny buses too...

It's only fair.

[RandomThoughts]

6. You make a wrong assumption.

It is them that are waiting, I am showing them what is going to happen to them to try to get them out of that path.

They have not paid the beer and travel money to me. They are waiting, and waiting, as it gets worse and worse for them.


I think that is what it means by once someone takes the darkside for ever will it dominate them. They have not been able to correct that simplest of corrections. I can only presume they are doomed. But I have tried.

They have the opportunity to correct what is wrong.


Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg8cDmi7-U8



I have posted before that I understand their mindset, and why they have not corrected that monetary debt to me. It is not really waiting, it is sliding and refusing to grab the rope.

:shrug: You could actually destroy them, and they would not change their minds, hence also why destruction is not the path. But some might figure it out. Although the filters between that group and me have not. Since the beer and travel money has not been corrected.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Repubs are beyond sneaky.

They go after all progressive Democrats for any reason.

[RandomThoughts]

3. Yea, but they will be paying me the beer and travel money that is due.

http://movieclips.com/VLC6-the-hustler-movie-eddie-stands-up-to-bert/

Fast Eddie's Last Break: Paul Newman (1925-2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdC2KSSpqvw


Note the difference from the payment from Fats to Eddie, and the Cut that Bert wanted. No deals, No strings.



Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg8cDmi7-U8

[Luminous Animal]

4. There were a handful of DUers trying to correct the disinformation but it fell on

mostly deaf ears.

[chill_wind]

11. I remember that well.

Pretty interesting and strange, the anti-Grayson flakking that went on.

[Dawson Leery]

7. The Talibornagains indeed.

[notesdev]

8. He killed his own chances with that ad

The ad didn't speak about any mentor, and it was that the gross dishonesty in the video editing could be proven in the 30-second attention span of the average TV viewer. One can make any sort of post-facto excuses for Grayson losing but the bottom line is that he put himself in a position in which he could not win regardless of any other factors.

[Not Me]

9. I love Alan Grayson. I voted for him twice. I contributed to his campaign

That said, he lost because he did not conduct himself the way the majority of his constituents expected him to. He embarrassed them.
His over the top manner, which I had no problem with, did not set well with his more conservative and especially older constituents.

[seafan]

10. A big thank you to kpete for posting this story.

And a big hat tip to digby.


Alan Grayson Vindicated in 'Taliban Dan' Claim -- By Religious Right Leaders and Former Activists, February 8, 2011


“Taliban Dan’s” Teacher: Inside Bill Gothard’s Authoritarian Subculture , February 6, 2011



So, how did Dan Webster ultimately take Alan Grayson's seat in Congress, when Webster had already declined to run against Grayson?


Here is how it went down.



October 13, 2009:

Third Republican (Dan Webster) chickens out of running against Grayson, saying, "When in doubt, don’t."



April 23, 2010:

Daniel Webster, revered pro-family leader, declares for Congress



So, what happened, Dan?

What happened between mid-October, 2009 and April, 2010 that would cause you to change your mind?



Oh, now we remember.




Citizens United. January 21, 2010.


Lots of crisp new cash for your campaign, *if only you'd reconsider*.


And Dan "Take the Money and Run" Webster bought the Congressional seat.




Enjoy your brief, misogynistic stay in DC, Dan.



As the Rude Pundit so succinctly put it... Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, GOP.