Mark Christopher | Sunshine Slate
[Daytona Beach, FL] The brochure and web site proudly displays the fact that three of Florida’s most powerful politicians - Gov. Rick Scott, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Allen West - were confirmed guest speakers at the event. The downloadable flyer also adds Attorney General Pam Bondi as being “invited” into the mix....[Read Full Article]
But a closer inspection of some of the other confirmed names scheduled to appear at The Florida Tea Party Convention2011 - being held Nov. 4-6 in Daytona Beach at the Volusia County Ocean Center - reveals the participation of one of the most politically extreme individuals to ever have access to a soapbox or a computer keyboard.
A person so controversial that other host sites have pulled out of events featuring this caustic mouthpiece.
The bottom line is that some of them simply have no business rubbing elbows with the likes of Scott, Bondi, Rubio or West. Or so one would think, anyway.
Good thing then that all four have bailed on the event (sort of).
When contacted for a comment on the booking, Gov. Scott’s deputy press secretary Jackie Schutz told Sunshine Slate that, “the governor was invited to attend, but it was not put on his schedule and he will not be attending...”[Read Full Article]
When asked about Pamela Geller and her campaign of misinformation and conspiracy theories about Muslims, Islam, President Obama and liberals, Dahl’s response was, “What things aren’t true?”
Dahl then launched into a series of anti-Muslim talking points straight out of Geller’s script. No doubt, Dahl is a fan of Geller. No wonder she was booked.
A religious extremist by most measures, Geller has been dubbed as a member of the “anti-Muslim inner circle” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). In fact, there is a chorus of respected people and organizations who label Geller as “loony,” a “hate-monger” and a spreader of lies.
The progressive checks and balances website Media Matters for America - the arch-nemesis of the conservative mediasphere - summarized Geller as a “demagogue” and her viewpoints as “outrageous, inflammatory.” Chris McGreal ofThe Guardian, called her “extreme.” The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) considers Geller an “anti-Islam” extremist and “Islamophobe.”
For her part, Geller denies hating Islam, and has stated this repeatedly during interviews. She only hates “political Islam.”
“Interfaith dialogue and mutual respect and mutual understanding is a one-way street with Islamic supremacists, not Muslims,” Geller said in an interview published by The New York Times. “I believe that Muslims are more victimized by Islamic supremacists than even non-Muslims.”
But it is hard to take her at her word when she suggests that Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam, that Muslims engage in bestiality and that Muslim groups control information processing at the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, and the various branches of the military.
Her blog, Atlas Shrugs, is filled with hate-driven nonsense and wild unsubstantiated claims. Sure, there are a few truthful nuggets on there, but for the most part, it is sensationalist ranting of the lowest common denominator.
Geller certainly has no business sharing the stage with the likes of a sitting senator, governor, attorney general or congressman....[Read Full Article]
The United States Patent and Trademark Office even refused to grant SIOA a trademark because it, “refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner ... by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease.”
How bad is Geller?
- Geller’s blog was cited repeatedly by the terrorist responsible for the mass killings in Norway earlier this year
- Geller posted a fake image on her blog of then Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in a Nazi uniform
- Geller also said that Kagan is “an admirer of an architect of German national socialism, Nazism.”
- Geller posted a fake image on her blog of President Obama urinating on an American flag - similar to this.
- Geller wrote that “[I]t is well known that Obama allegedly was involved with a crack whore in his youth”
- Geller co-founded American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) with Robert Spencer and John Joseph Jay, whonamed Rabbi Meir Kahane as an inspiration (Kahane is founder of Kach and Kahane Chai, listed as Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the U.S. Department of State)
- John Joseph Jay called for the “Mass Murder of Congressmen, Muslims, Liberals and Journalists“
- John Joseph Jay also called for the killing of all Muslims, saying that “[T]here are no innocent Muslims”
- John Joseph Jay wrote: “buy guns. buy ammo. be jealous of your liberties. and, understand, you are going to have to kill folks, your uncles, your sons and daughters, to preserve those liberties.”
- Geller is a “birther” who has posted “proof” on her blog Atlas Shrugs that Obama’s birth certificate was forged
- Geller’s claims that “Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam,” that Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is a best-seller in Muslim countries
- Falsely claimed that the President has had Louis Farrakhan over to the White House
- “Obama is a third worlder and a coward. He will do nothing but beat up on our friends to appease his Islamic overlords”
- “President Obama is the “love child” of Malcolm X”
- Geller suggested that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagen supports Nazi ideology
- Geller has mingled with European racists and fascists, and has spoken favorably of South African racists
- Geller defended Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, even going so far as to deny the existence of Serbian concentration camps in the 1990s
- Geller is a self-avowed Zionist who is sharply critical of Jewish liberals
- Geller called President Obama an anti-semite
- Geller has repeatedly called President Obama a Muslim, which is not true
According to Loonwatch.com, “Geller now claims she never penned the Malcolm X article, and that she doesn’t support the theory that Malcolm X is the father of Barack Obama.” In fact, Geller has had to take down many of her blog posts because of gross inaccuracies.
Again, probably not the type of person you want to share the stage with if you are the governor.
Yes, Geller is free to say whatever she wants, of course. And the Florida Tea Party Convention has no problem with what she says, apparently, or they wouldn’t have scheduled her to speak. In fact, Geller is becoming quite the regular in conservative circles.....[Read Full Article]
Shibly points out that allowing Geller to spew her anti-Muslim hatred is much like inviting a KKK speaker to talk about how awful African-Americans are, or an anti-Semite espousing the evils of Judaism.
Neither would be allowed to speak, of course. And if they were allowed to speak, everyone would be (rightfully) up in arms, First Amendment be damned. So why are they tolerating Geller’s misinformed hate speech?
“Apparently, free speech is only protected by the Tea Party if it means inciting hatred against Muslims,” added Shibly.
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