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Bill O'Reilly started out his "Talking Points" segment last night like the guy who prefaces his remarks: "Now, I don't to sound like an a-hole, but ..." Because you can be certain that he will then proceed to not just sound like an a-hole but be one.

O'Reilly said he didn't want to "intrude" on the Jackson family's day of mourning, but the truth was, Jackson was a child-molesting jerk whose "incredible selfishness" was paramount (nevermind, of course, that over the course of his career Jackson in fact handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to various charitable causes).

The telling moment came when he leapt to the defense of Rep. Peter King for having verbally attacked Jackson this weekend:

O'Reilly: And if you disagree with honoring Jackson the man, watch out. Congressman Peter King called Jackson a "pedophile" -- an assessment not uncommon -- and was immediately branded a racist. NAACP official Hazel Dukes and Congressman Bobby Rush both said vile things about Mr. King.

What O'Reilly conveniently omits here, of course, is that King didn't merely call him a pedophile (which, considering that Jackson was acquitted, is in fact a slanderous thing to say), he called him a "lowlife" and a "pervert". I guess that in Bill O'Reilly's book, that doesn't qualify as saying "vile things" about Jackson. But then, we're not all bold, fresh slabs of hoomanity.

He continued on the same track with Marc Lamont Hill, who points out O'Reilly's own hypocrisy for having warned everyone away from saying mean things about Jerry Falwell shortly after his death. O'Reilly tries to brush off the comparison as "apples and oranges," but it looks a lot more like Fujis and Braeburns to any sentient being watching the exchange.

It's funny how guys like O'Reilly and King are always big on the "respect for the dead" thing when it involves a white guy. Both of them would have been outraged if anyone had called Frank Sinatra a Mafiosi punk -- what O'Reilly would call a "common assessment" -- in the days immediately following his death and the multiple media homages paid to him afterward. Show some proper respect for the dead, they'd have said. It was the same with Ronald Reagan's death, but on steroids.

But they can never show that same kind of respect for black people. Funny how that works, isn't it?

And if you point that out, then these same clowns turn around and cry out, "Race card! Race card!" As if they weren't the folks who drew it in the first place.

It's very sad to see the Obama administration act like this.

Joe Sudbay:

Gay Americans lost rights last November in California. We had fundamental rights taken away by an election. Think about that. When was the last time that happened in this country?

Yesterday, a Democratic President of the United States of America, in the year 2009, and an African-American child of inter-racial parents no less, gave his lawyers the go ahead to compare our marriages to incest on the same day that 42 years ago the Supreme Court ruled in his parents' favor in Loving v. Virginia. And these people, along with our President, are suggesting that the appropriate response is to shrug our shoulders and go home, since, after all, the law is the law?

So, yes, I am advocating that we push the envelope and demand new and creative thinking on legal issues, on our civil and human rights. That's how change happens (there's that pesky word again). That's what we expect from our President who promised change, who promised to be a "fierce advocate" for our rights. Yesterday's homophobic brief would have met the expectations we had from George Bush (or Jerry Falwell). From President Barack Obama, it was an appalling betrayal of our humanity, and his own.

The Gay community gets slapped once again in the face.
Digby writes:

And likewise, merely because an unjust law is on the books doesn't mean that its right for the DOJ to defend it, particularly with the kind of inflammatory and (one hopes) disingenuous arguments used in the brief. This isn't God's Law we're talking about (assuming there were such a thing.) This is just a system set up by human beings to create an orderly and (hopefully) just society. Separating justice from the law makes the law nothing more than an arbitrary exercise in power. I recognize that it is that mostly anyway, but there's no reason to legitimize that by saying that anything goes as long as it's "legal."

If he really felt constrained by the law in this case, Eric Holder could have simply argued that the couple in question didn't have standing and let it go at that. The other arguments were gratuitous and seem to me to be designed to form a strong legal bulwark in favor of the law rather than setting the stage for reversing it. Which brings us to the politics.

Needless to say, after so many slights, snubs and various betrayals it's pretty hard to deny that the LGBT community is being used as a pawn in the president's "outreach" to social conservatives. It's a cruel dismissal of a strong and loyal constituency on an issue of fundamental civil rights. I can't defend it and I don't know how the administration is going to keep defending it. And it won't buy them a single vote, I guarantee it.

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There's really not much to add to this story, so I'll let the video compilation and the links tell it. The video clips are from WSET in Lynchburg VA; Keith Olbermann picking Mark Hine as his #3 WPITW; and Rachel Maddow giving an overview and then an interview with Brian Diaz, president of the club.

You can sign their petition for reinstatement here.

Story:

Liberty University, the university founded by the late Christian evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, has revoked its recognition of the campus Democratic Party club, saying “we are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by” the university, The News & Advance, of Lynchburg, Va., reports.

“It kind of happened out of nowhere,” said Brian Diaz, president of the student Democratic Party organization that the school had formally recognized in October.

Diaz, the paper reports, said he got the news May 15 in an e-mail from Mark Hine, vice president of student affairs.

The e-mail is included here:

From: Hine, Mark (VP Student Affairs)
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 1:37 PM
Subject: LU College Democrats

I must inform you that the College democrats' club is no longer going to be recognized as a Liberty University club. We are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by Liberty University.

--snip--

Even though this club may not support the more radical planks of the democratic party, the democratic party is still the parent organization of the club on campus. The Democratic Party Platform is contrary to the mission of LU and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the "LGBT" agenda, Hate Crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc).

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Rick Warren tries to paint himself as a moderate evangelical, but after watching his performance on Hannity and Colmes I can safely say that's he's filling the void left by Jerry Falwell.

Steve Benen:

Last night, on Fox News, Sean Hannity insisted that United States needs to "take out" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Warren said he agreed. Hannity asked, "Am I advocating something dark, evil or something righteous?" Warren responded, "Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped.... In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers."

That's pretty sick stuff for a "man of God." I have no problem with religion since I grew up as a Catholic and a lot of people derive comfort from it, but watching fools like Warren on TV promote attacking another country is just too much. And I agree with Matt Duss also:

Does Warren really consider it part of his ministry to sanctify the inch-deep theologizing-cum-warmongering of thugs like Sean Hannity? If so, who else does Warren think Jesus would bomb?

.

I'm pretty sure that Warren uses the word "repent" when he's headlining at his mega-church so I hope he takes the time to reflect on it and practice it.

And here's what Falwell said about George Bush on January 8, 2004:

FALWELL: I think, in his next four years in office, he is going to -- well, look at what's happening to the economy now. Look what's happening to America, what she thinks of herself today. It's so great that we have George Bush sitting there and not Al Gore.

Yes, it was so great to have George Bush and conservatism destroy this great nation, Jerry. And how can we forget this incredible warmongering tirade from another "Man of God."

Falwell: If it takes ten years, blow them all away in the name of the lord.
Jackson. That does not sound biblical to me.

Speaking on " Late Edition," Jerry Falwell in talking about same sex marriage said:

"Why not polygamy, why just two, why not a dozen. Why not...what's wrong with bestiality?"

How does sex with animals enter into the discussion about gay marriage or civil unions? I know what they are doing, but these Judo-Christian moralists should look in the mirror sometime! He also cited "no evidence" to support stem cell research!

If that is his argument, then where's the evidence in Intelligent Design? Where's the scientific evidence Moses parted the Red Sea? It's laughable to watch these guys use science and lawyers when it suits them to make certain points, then espouse the power in faith to make others. I'm sure Tort reform will be a high priority for this lot, but how many lawyers do you think they have on staff?

from Digby:

ChristianExodus.org is coordinating the move of thousands of Christians to South Carolina for the express purpose of re-establishing Godly, constitutional government. It is evident that the U.S. Constitution has been abandoned under our current federal system, and the efforts of Christian activism to restore our Godly republic have proven futile over the past three decades. The time has come for Christians to withdraw our consent from the current federal government and re-introduce the Christian principles once so predominant in America to a sovereign State like South Carolina....

Is Falwell leading the pack?

Yahoo:

Some prominent evangelical Christians say they have not been invited to participate in or attend the Republican National Convention less than three weeks before the event is to begin

Analysts said the move likely reflects a GOP desire to sideline its more polarizing supporters during a tight presidential race, but convention organizers deny they're marginalizing the religious leaders. Republican strategist Ralph Reed said Wednesday that invitations just started going out to evangelical figures, but he would not release any names.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, who delivered the invocation at President Bush's inauguration, has had no request to attend so far, said Graham spokesman Mark DeMoss.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who offered a prayer at the 2000 convention, said he has not yet been asked to do so this year. He plans to go "quietly in and quietly out" of the New York event, although he insists no one in the Republican campaigns asked him to keep a low profile.

The Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and a one-time Republican presidential candidate, said, "I've had no request from anybody to be there." Unlike Falwell, Robertson believes the GOP is deliberately keeping him and other evangelicals away.