Comments on: Neo-Nazi Views of Freedompalooza 2013 Host Roil Pennsylvania Event

By: Aron

Aron — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 14:41:09 +0000

Rick, I gave two specifics: you just need to find them.

I don’t hate Stewart Rhodes, but I strongly disagree with him. And his little lackeys.

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 21:46:36 +0000

Mr. Rhodes, I for one would like you to include sexual orientation. And no, that is not a creed. Still, overall, I believe you to be good Americans. I just went to the Lexington Ky Gay Pride Festival, and one MC that I heard, and maybe more, roused the crowd with “And are you proud to be Americans?”. ( Big cheer and applause )

By: Rick Morrow

Rick Morrow — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 20:03:42 +0000

Hey Aron where are YOUR specifics.. Stewart Challenged you but all you gave was rhetoric…lol typical reverse hatred.

By: aadila

aadila — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:44:51 +0000

Stewart, let’s be honest here.

The issue is not whether or not you are willing to associate with racists. The issue is whether or not you are willing to associate with racists AFTER they have been exposed. In fact, racism really isn’t an issue with you at all except for PR damage, and then and only then does it become an issue.

By: Aron

Aron — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 19:00:41 +0000

Also Stewie, read some of Larry Pratt’s rants and tell me he isn’t racist. I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts even you can’t engage in that kind of philosophical contortion.

By: Aron

Aron — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 18:59:27 +0000

Hey Stewie, you don’t associate with racists?

Then please explain the extremely racist comments put out by your supporters after your ‘muster’ was postponed in Lexington.

It’s all in the Lexington Patch. Your goons were out digging up specious information about me in an attempt to discredit my position. I wonder what the Bar Association would think of that?

And by the way, where were you guys during President Bush’s term? Surely there were issues you could have raised from 2000-2008. A little suspicious, if you ask me.

By: Stewart Rhodes

Stewart Rhodes — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:48:07 +0000

Gonzo said; “as both groups were sponsors of his event until it was exposed that he was a bigot, they need to do a bit more work themselves before they lend their name to events first.”

Actually, Oath Keepers was never a sponsor of freedompalooza 2013 (and neither was GOA for that matter). Nor did we plan on sending a representative. In fact, we didn’t know that the organizers had listed Oath Keepers as being among the “special guests” or speakers until a friend of mine alerted me to a thread discussing the event on Freerepublic.com.

Our bylaws specifically state:

Section 8.02. Restrictions on Membership: ….

(b) No person who advocates, or has been or is a member, or associated with, any organization, formal or informal, that advocates discrimination, violence, or hatred toward any person based upon their race, nationality, creed, or color, shall be entitled to be a member or associate member.

Racists are not welcome in Oath Keepers and we have no desire to associate with them (contrary to the false light inferences and manufactured false association between us and racists that permeate “Hate Watch.”)

Gonzo also said: “When they regularly have to withdraw from events because it is pointed out the connection the organizers have to racist views, one has to wonder about their judgement to begin with.”

Regularly? Gonzo, please point to some examples. Bet you can’t. We are very careful about who we associate with and don’t “regularly have to withdraw from events.”

Stewart Rhodes
Founder and President of Oath Keepers

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 17:59:30 +0000

Shar, as I understand history, in the 1950′s the Democrats either favored segregation or often would not confront the Democrats who did. Senator JFK voted against a civil rights bill in 1957. Possibly it was flawed, or, more likely, he thought it would ruin any chances of advancing within the party. The John Birch Society was largely nonreligious at that time, although Kennedy’s Catholic faith was used as a talking point against his election. There was Nixon’s Silent Majority, and a Moral Majority, but as has been posted before on here by others, the Right Wing seems to have really found God in the ’70′s, complete with “I Found It” bumper stickers (usually on older, not well cared for vehicles), as the ALEC people and the Koch brothers discovered a previously untapped well of relatively uneducated and disenfranchised supporters. The surroundings change, but the basic question of limited government vs the nanny state, scraped clean of all the hogwash, still continues. I tend to favor a more limited government like our Constitution promised.

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 04:22:53 +0000

Gonzo, you’re right. I personally have respect for the Oathkeepers, but know very little about the GOA.

By: supersonic250

supersonic250 — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 19:14:48 +0000

Georgia Citizen,

….Um… Don’t shove us atheists in with this moron? There’s a difference between us and complete nucking futjobs.

By: Shar

Shar — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 18:04:55 +0000

Ruslan,
Conspiracy theorists and other unthinking knee-jerk haters make their home on the far right in the US right now, but there is nothing about the political right that makes it inevitably the home for extremists. At other times and in other cultures, it was the left that attracted the violent conspiracy theorists (1910 Europe, for example).
It is the same with extremism and religion. There is nothing inherent in any religion that leads it into extremism, and any religion can be coopted by hate groups, as the white supremacists have done with Christianity.

By: Georgia Citizen

Georgia Citizen — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 14:28:17 +0000

This guy Topete is a real nut. Has Mr. Topete forgetten that Israel is the site of the Holy Land revered by many Christians. Oop! This Topete character is obviously an athesist.

By: Gonzo

Gonzo — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 14:18:06 +0000

Sam…as both groups were sponsors of his event until it was exposed that he was a bigot, they need to do a bit more work themselves before they lend their name to events first.

They make the connection themselves when they sponsor an event or partner with such people. When they regularly have to withdraw from events because it is pointed out the connection the organizers have to racist views, one has to wonder about their judgement to begin with.

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 04:39:41 +0000

Paul Topete is quite obviously a hate filled nut case. SPLC should stick to reporting on actual hate groups and leave out trying to connect the Oath Keepers and GOA to hate groups when they obviously agree with the SPLC about them. You might find other things you agree with them about, if you only look a little harder. We all need allies against hate.

By: Aron

Aron — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:49:44 +0000

His version of ‘freedom’ killed over twenty million people.

By: mark

mark — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 21:19:43 +0000

politics does make truly strange bedfellows

By: Ruslan Amirkhanov

Ruslan Amirkhanov — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 20:50:49 +0000

This is why the disorganization and political illiteracy of the American left is such a problem. Conspiracy theories and populist mantras ALWAYS end up favoring the right, and hard right-wing extremists are experts at using dog-whistle techniques as well as highly coded language so as to infiltrate groups of unknowing leftists.