ABC News reports that The John Birch society, infamous for its vocal opposition to the Civil Rights movement, represents “the far-right fringe of American politics.” They are the co-sponsors of the GOP’s pre-debate rally tonight. No, really.
At one time, the John Birch Society called President Eisenhower a communist infiltrator, claiming the Soviets used fluoridated water to control Americans’ mind — that they were effectively exiled by conservatives until 2010. They even recently called Nelson Mandela “a communist terrorist thug.”
William F. Buckley famously denounced the John Birch Society and its founder Robert Welch in the early 1960s as “idiotic” and “paranoid. ” Buckley’s condemnation effectively banishing the group from the mainstream conservative movement. Welch had called President Dwight D. Eisenhower a “conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy” and that the U.S. government was “under operational control of the Communist party.” Buckley argued that such paranoid rantings had no place in the conservative movement or the Republican party.
Two years after Buckley’s death, the John Birch Society is no longer banished; it is listed as one of about 100 co-sponsors of the 2010 CPAC.
Voters must be asking themselves if Republicans actually want to win the election. It’s as if they’ve tossed their hat in the ring, saying, ‘meh, we’ll just go full wingnut on America because we can’t win anyway’.
Another sponsor setting up a booth at the event — the Oath Keepers.
Think Progress reports:
In early 2008, the Oath Keepers’ founder warned that a “dominatrix-in-chief” named “Hitlery Clinton” would impose a police state on America and shoot all resisters. After primary voters chose a different candidate, the Oath Keepers simply rewrote their paranoid fantasy to include a taller, African-American lead.
America didn’t really need more proof that Republicans were moving even further to the right, but thanks for the confirmation.
For more confirmation of the John Birch Society’s extremism:
Many thanks to Think Progress
