Warning: this site may contain examples of bigotry and prejudice unsuitable for younger visitors.


Pat Robertson

Gays were behind Hitler

"many of those people involved in Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals, the two things seem to go together, it is a pathology it is a sickness." - Pat Robertson on TV (I've seen the actual footage) - http://www.pfaw.org/issues/right/rtvw.antigay.shtml

* Gays are appalling
* Gays want to give people AIDS
* Homosexuality leads to decline of civilization
* Entire world will suffer if homosexuality is accepted
* Gays are diseased, depressed, and miserable
* Homosexuality is an anti-social sickness
* Gays are after children
* Homosexuality means God has given up on society
* Lesbians are against motherhood
* Discrimination against gays...
* Homosexuality is "sodomy", repugnant
* Gays want to destroy Christians

Jerry Falwell

God hates homosexuality

"god hates homosexuality" - Jerry Falwell on TV (I've seen the actual footage)

* Gays are perverts
* Gays will crush all Americans

The Family Research Council

Gays will recognize pedophiles as prophets

"...one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order." - "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," FRC publication, July 1999, http://www.frc.org/misc/bl057.pdf

FRC twists facts to portray UK gays as pedophiles

[In an article entitled "Lords Rebuff Pedophiles," FRC conveniently fails to mention that the age of consent for heterosexuals in England is already 16, but for gays it's 18.]

"The British House of Lords on April 13 rejected an attempt to lower the age of sexual consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. Despite the desperate pleas of a 34-year-old "gay" Labor Party member to lower the age, the Lords voted 222-146 to deny homosexuals' bids to legally have sex with young teens. Labor Party leaders, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, have pledged to override the vote. The Lords last year turned back the same bill by a 274-64 vote." Family Research Council, CultureFacts, May 5, 1999, http://www.frc.org/culture/cu99e1.html

* Gays are pedophiles, and want to promote youth promiscuity-
* Columbine killers might be gay-
* Matt Shepard, and gays generally, will not inherit the kingdom of God
* Matt Shepard compared to a drunk
* Gays are deviants-
* Gays hate God-
* Gays think religion is evil-
* Gays oppose Christianity-
* Comparing gay Christians to Satan worshippers
* Homosexuality can kill you
* Gays spit on Jesus
* Lesbians hate men
* Gays think they're exempt from God's rules
* Homosexuality is a "life destroyer" - destroys families, shatters hope
* Gays are diseased, die early, and are less productive than heterosexuals
* This is a "war" against "destructive" homosexuals
* Gays are hateful towards Christians, have exploited Matt shepard
* Gays hurt civil rights movement
* Gays hurt people, families and communities
* Gays threaten religious freedom
* Gays aren't monogamous
* Gays are security risks
* Gays embrace culture of death, risk well-being of all society
* Gays are after children
* More on gays are after children
* Lesbians drink, do drugs, or are hateful
* Lesbians are dysfunctional
* Gays don't like children
* Gays only think about sex
* Gays don't support monogamy, child-rearing, family values
* Lesbianism akin to eating off of the floor
* Gays are after children
* Gays only pretend to oppose pedophilia
* Gays are 33% of child molesters
* Gays commit 80% of child molestations
* More on gays only pretend to oppose pedophilia
* Gay relationships are unpure, perversion of God
* Gays may destroy American family
* Gays are like a gun to the head of America
* Gays oppose monogamy
* Gay parents lead to prison, voyeurism
* Homosexuals in the bedroom
* Gays against home, family
* Gays are about promiscuity, violence
* Gays are tragic misuse of sexuality

Ex-Gay Ministries

Gays are "sexual deviants"

Michael Johnston, head of Kerusso Ministries (an "ex-gay" conversion center): "You know, really, when you think about it -- let me just be blunt here -- when an individual 'comes out' and proclaims their homosexuality, really, what they are doing is standing up and saying, 'I'm a sexual deviant, and I'm proud of it.' " - Oct 16, 96 - Family Research Council Web site, http://www.frc.org/net/st96j3.html

* Acceptance of homosexuality leads to "death and despair"
* Satan uses homosexuals
* Homosexuality is a "deathstyle"
* Lesbian love is "a lie"
* Lesbians are "broken people" with "a lack of self-worth"
* Gays out to destroy marriage
* Gay rights will bring wrath of God
* Gays need a good "whack"
* Abuse is main cause of homosexuality
* Gay parents are "child abuse"
* Gay cabal controls everything
* Being gay is like drug addiction
* Gays haven't found Jesus
* Gays join devil in attacking family
* Ex-gay "researcher" says gays recruit

Christian Coalition of Maine’s Paul Volle

(Paul Volle, head of Christian Coalition of Maine, published a 16-page anti-gay tirade entitled "The Gay Agenda" in the Portland paper in an effort to influence the November 1998 elections)

Gays ingest urine and fecal matter

"Being frustrated by the biological impossibility of natural sexual relations between members of the same sex, they must resort to bringing their mouth into contact with areas of the body designed for the elimination of human waste, or use body apertures not meant for sexual penetration, either of which causes serious hygienic and health risks. Once these homosexuals bridge the natural reluctance to come into contact with human waste, a significant number of homosexuals go further and further. Many times to the point of ingesting the urine and fecal matter of their partners. This leads to serious health risks to not only them, but the population at large, through the food chain, medical services, and other avenues of society." - - Paul Volle, Chairman, Christian Coalition of Maine, "The Gay Agenda," October 1998 (I have the original of this publication)

* Family Research Council lauds Volle
* Portland paper calls publication "despicable….vile….hate literature"
* Portland paper calls publication "16 pages of pure, homophobic hatred"
* Gays have deviant sexual behavior
* Gays chose to get AIDS
* Gays rape children
* Gays are diseased
* Sodomites rights
* Diseased gays endanger children
* Discriminating against gays is "OK"
* Being gay is akin to pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia
* Gays against commitment, monogamy
* Gays recruit children
* Gays aren’t safe or masculine
* Gays are diseased

Dr. Paul Cameron

(Cameron's now-discredited "research" still provides the basis for most of the anti-gay facts and figures used by the religious right - his work is cited often by the Family Research Council, among many others)

Exterminate gays

"At the 1985 Conservative Political Action Conference, Cameron announced to the attendees, 'Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.' According to an interview with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Cameron was recommending the extermination option as early as 1983." - Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995.

* Gays are crime against humanity
* Gays have sex with animals
* Tattoo AIDS patients, castrate gays
* AIDS is a Godsend
* Gays eat feces
* Gays engage in torture and pedophilia
* Put AIDS patients in detention centers
* Outlaw homosexuality, register gays
* Gays prey on the young
* Homosexuality is caused by older predators
* Gays are pedophiles
* Gays molest children
* Gays consume blood
* Gays are promiscuous
* Gays have abnormal sex
* Being gay is dangerous
* Treating AIDS patients is risky
* Gays are medical horror story
* Gays are sexually troubled
* Gays are unhealthy, violent, and bad parents
* Gays beat their spouses
* Gay parents molest their children
* Gays don't believe in commitment
* Thomas Jefferson said to castrate gays
* Gays attack children

Who Relies on Paul Cameron's data?

Family Research Council - gays are risk to children

"Psychologist Paul Cameron, who has analyzed the most prominent studies of homosexual households, says that they all have severe shortcomings. Nonetheless, even within these biased studies, greater risks to children raised in homosexual households are evident, Cameron notes." - http://www.frc.org/insight/is94e3hs.html

* Family Research Council - gays are pedophiles
* Family Research Council - gays are risk to children
* Ex-gay NARTH's Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D. - gays are diseased
* Claremont Institute - Gays die early
* American Family Association - gays die young
* Family Research Council - gay parents have sex with their kids
* NARTH's Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D.
* Family Research Council - gay parents make their kids gay
* Family Research Council - kids of gay parents are hurt
* Family Research Council cites Cameron as an expert
* Family Research Council - gay parents make their kids gay
* Family Research Council - gays die young
* Family Research Council - gays are diseased
* Family Research Council - gay parents cause gay children
* Family Research Council - gays die young
* Family Research Council - gays die young
* Family Research Council - gays die young
* Family Research Council - gays are diseased
* Family Research Council - gays are pedophiles
* Family Research Council - gays are promiscuous

The American Family Association

Gays support pedophilia, incest, and bestiality

"Prominent homosexual leaders and publications have voiced support for pedophilia, incest, sadomasochism, and even bestiality." - http://www.afa.net, Homosexuality in America: Exposing the Myths.

* Gays recruit children
* Gays give children AIDS
* Moral fall of the human race
* Gays have sex with boys, eat feces, have sex with animals
* Bigoted gays blame Shepard's murder on "Christianity"
* Compare gays to polygamy, incest
* Homosexuality kills young people, destroys families
* Gays and criminals
* Gays want to silence Christians, and blame them for all crimes against gays
* Not natural
* Gays are pro pedophilia
* Gays are against the church
* Gays help decay society
* More societal decay
* Gays compared to serial killers
* Gays are decadent
* Gays should be photographed and outed
* Gays are disgusting and diseased

NARTH
(National Association for Research and Treatment of Homosexuality -
the most prominent ex-gay conversion organization, headed by Joseph Nicolosi, called by the American Family Association "probably the most famous psychologist" who believes gays can change)

Gays cheat, fight, and hate the one they love

"Nicolosi describes gay partnerships as bedeviled by cheating, teasing, fights, jealousy, rage, suspicion, envy, restlessness, and disappointment. Nicolosi writes, ‘Homosexual relationships are so characteristically volatile because the homosexual hates what he loves.’ " - Joseph Nicolosi, head of NARTH and one of the religious right's top two ex-gay psychiatrists in the country, from NARTH's Web site, http://www.narth.com/docs/1996papers/berman.html

* Gay pedophiles are after your children
* Gays "brainwash" America
* Gay movement is like communism and Orwell's 1984

Colorado for Family Values

Gays molest children

"homosexuals, while representing perhaps 2% of the population, perpetrate more than one-third of all reported child molestations."- http://www.qrd.org/qrd/religion/anti/CFV/cfv.report.pt1-03.94

* Gay pedophilia is common
* Man-boy sex is encouraged
* Gays support child abuse
* Pedophilia is prevalent
* Pedophilia is a basic part of being gay
* Colorado for Family Values on Paul Cameron
* Gays akin to bestiality

Rev. Fred Phelps
(The Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, KS -
Phelps gained national attention protesting at Matt Shepard's funeral)

Gays worthy of death

"Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death (Romans 1:32)," Phelps quoted by State Press (Arizona State University), March 11, 1998.

* God Hates Fags, Matt in Hell
* Jews are money-grubbing sodomites, gays solicit young to sodomy
* Sodomite lifestyle guarantees hell
* Another fag dancer
* "Anal-copulating agenda of Topeka's filthy fag community"
* Gays pose greatest threat to survival of nation
* Faggots

Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality - Peter LaBarbera
(LaBarbera is also an employee at the Family Research Council)

Gays are promiscuous and unnatural

"She ought to tell her young male listeners about the many sexually transmitted diseases linked to unnatural homosexual practices — including AIDS, which Michael Johnston caught while living as a homosexual. She needs to warn them about the homosexual culture of promiscuity and anonymous sex that puts young men at terrible risk." - 10-8-98, news release from Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality, quoting Peter LaBarbera, the organization's head, http://www.americansfortruth.com/Ncod2808.html

* Lesbians are violent
* Homosexuality is dangerous
* Gays are extremists, bigots, smear Christians, and against God
* Abe Lincoln would oppose gays
* Gays have contempt for Christianity
* Gays threaten schoolchildren
* Gays are against virtue and God
* Gays lie, are immoral and harmful

Claremont Institute

Compares gays to thieves, liars, drug addicts

"Homosexuals like to argue that, since people are by nature free to choose, the choice of sodomy should be protected, at least as much as any other choice. But the fact that people are free by nature to make choices does not mean that any choice they make is good or that all choices should be equal before the law. Some people choose to steal and to lie. Some abandon their children or their wives or husbands. Some sink into the grip of drugs. Some evade the draft at their country's need, or abandon their duty in the face of battle. These are bad choices, and when they are made, the rest of us must bear part of the cost. These things are wrong in a democracy, as much as they are wrong anywhere else." - From "Homosexuality, Public Health, and Civil Rights", by Daniel C. Palm - Claremont Institute Web site, http://www.claremont.org/miah.cfm )

* Gay civil rights could lead to slavery, cannibalism
* Anal intercourse and children
* Gays are unhealthy and unnatural

Trent Lott

Gays are like alcoholics, kleptomaniacs

"It is [a sin]....You should try to show them a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol...or sex addiction...or kleptomaniacs." - Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, Associated Press, June 15, 1998.

Reggie White

Gays are like liars and cheaters

" 'Homosexuality is a decision, it's not a race,' White said. 'People from all different ethnic backgrounds live in this lifestyle. But people from all different ethnic backgrounds also are liars and cheaters and malicious and back-stabbing.' " - Reggie White, Associated Press, March 25, 1998.

* Gays hurt children, kill our people
* Gays are like backstabbers and malicious people
* "Sodomite community"
* Gays responsible for STDs
* Homosexuality one of the biggest sins
* Gays have problems
* Being gay compared to lying, gays hurt nation
* Offended that gays say deserve rights

Lou Sheldon, Traditional Values Coalition

Gays are like Hitler and Gestapo

"The Rev. Lou Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition, said the 'hate crime' designation is increasingly going to be applied against those who believe homosexuality is wrong. 'What Hitler began to build against the Jews is now being built against people of faith who believe the Scriptures are valid for today and their injunctions against certain sexual behaviors is correct,' he said. Several years ago, homosexual activists disrupted a similar conference of his in Sacramento, he said, 'but I didn't have the finances to get a lawyer. For a long time we were the target of their wrath. Now other people are surfacing against them, thank God. If you don't agree with [homosexual activists], they use Gestapo tactics to stop you.' - Washington Times, Tuesday, October 27, 1998, Page A2

* Sheldon for quarantining AIDS patients
* Gays are amoral extremists

Senator Don Nickles

Gays shouldn't represent US

"One might have that lifestyle, but if one promotes it as acceptable behavior… I don’t think they should be a representative of this country." - Sen. Nickles, quoted in Jun 15, 98 Americans for Truth About Homosexuality press release.

Alveda King

Gays want to kill civil rights movement

" 'To equate homosexuality with race is to give a death sentence to civil rights,'' Alveda Celeste King told about 100 people at a rally on the Capitol steps. `'No one is enslaving homosexuals ... or making them sit in the back of the bus.'' '`In California, injustice is being done to family values,' King said. King pointed to openly gay Assemblywomen Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, and Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and charged that the Legislature harbors 'forces that want to steal away the civil rights from under our very noses.' "- ASSOCIATED PRESS, August 20, 1997, "MARTIN LUTHER KING'S NIECE DENOUNCES GAY RIGHTS"

* Alveda equates gays to prostitutes, pedophiles

Republican Party of Texas

Gay Republicans are like the KKK

"Robert Black, the [Texas] state [Republican] party spokesman, called them [Log Cabin] a 'hate group' and compared them to the Ku Klux Klan." [This occurred after Log cabin Republicans (a gay republican group) tried to attend the Texas Republican State convention.] - NY Daily News 6/24/98

US Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)

Gays are "sickening" and "intellectually dishonest"

"These people are intellectually dishonest in just about everything they do or say,".... He added, "They start by pretending that it is just another form of love. It's sickening." - Tuesday June 30 7:49 AM EDT, Variety

Republican Presidential Candidate
Alan Keyes

Gays cause Nazism, communism

" 'Hitler and his supporters were Satanists and homosexuals. That's just a true statement.' He added, 'The notion that is involved in homosexuality, the unbridled sort of satisfaction of human passions' leads to 'totalitarianism,' 'Nazism,' and 'communism.' " - People for the American Way, "Hostile Climate," 1997, p.26.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Gays are deviant, akin to pedophiles & bestiality

"Rights. RIGHTS! RIGHTS? For sexual deviant . . . sexual behavior there are now rights. That's what I'm worried about with the pedophilia and the bestiality and the sadomasochism and the cross-dressing. Is this all going to be 'rights' too, to deviant sexual behavior? It's deviant sexual behavior. Why does deviant sexual behavior get rights? Don't understand that to start out with." - Dr. Laura, June 9, 1999, transcribed by GLAAD, http://www.glaad.org/glaad/eyeonthemedia/drlaura/drlauratranscripts.html#latimes

* Gays are pedophiles
* Gay parents make children gay
* Gay parenting is despicable, unhealthy
* Gay parents are vicious, vulgar, self-serving, ugly
* Gay activism akin to "ethnic cleansing"
* Gay is a deviancy, akin to murder?
* Gays are organized, mobilized, unified, strong and well-funded
* Gays propagandize children
* Gays are deviant, target kids
* Gays are pedophiles

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Those who have dared to expose the nakedness of the Administration's policies in Iraq have been subjected to scorn. Those who have noticed the elephant in the room -- that is, the fact that this war was based on falsehoods – have had our patriotism questioned.

by US Senator Robert Byrd
Senate Floor Remarks

October 17, 2003: In 1837, Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, wrote a wonderful fairy tale which he titled The Emperor's New Clothes. It may be the very first example of the power of political correctness. It is the story of the Ruler of a distant land who was so enamored of his appearance and his clothing that he had a different suit for every hour of the day.

One day two rogues arrived in town, claiming to be gifted weavers. They convinced the Emperor that they could weave the most wonderful cloth, which had a magical property. The clothes were only visible to those who were completely pure in heart and spirit.

The Emperor was impressed and ordered the weavers to begin work immediately. The rogues, who had a deep understanding of human nature, began to feign work on empty looms.

Minister after minister went to view the new clothes and all came back exhorting the beauty of the cloth on the looms even though none of them could see a thing.

Finally a grand procession was planned for the Emperor to display his new finery. The Emperor went to view his clothes and was shocked to see absolutely nothing, but he pretended to admire the fabulous cloth, inspect the clothes with awe, and, after disrobing, go through the motions of carefully putting on a suit of the new garments.

Under a royal canopy the Emperor appeared to the admiring throng of his people - - all of whom cheered and clapped because they all knew the rogue weavers' tale and did not want to be seen as less than pure of heart.

But, the bubble burst when an innocent child loudly exclaimed, for the whole kingdom to hear, that the Emperor had nothing on at all. He had no clothes.

That tale seems to me very like the way this nation was led to war.

We were told that we were threatened by weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but they have not been seen.

We were told that the throngs of Iraqi's would welcome our troops with flowers, but no throngs or flowers appeared.

We were led to believe that Saddam Hussein was connected to the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, but no evidence has ever been produced.

We were told in 16 words that Saddam Hussein tried to buy "yellow cake" from Africa for production of nuclear weapons, but the story has turned into empty air.

We were frightened with visions of mushroom clouds, but they turned out to be only vapors of the mind.

We were told that major combat was over but 101 [as of October 17] Americans have died in combat since that proclamation from the deck of an aircraft carrier by our very own Emperor in his new clothes.

Our emperor says that we are not occupiers, yet we show no inclination to relinquish the country of Iraq to its people.

Those who have dared to expose the nakedness of the Administration's policies in Iraq have been subjected to scorn. Those who have noticed the elephant in the room -- that is, the fact that this war was based on falsehoods – have had our patriotism questioned. Those who have spoken aloud the thought shared by hundreds of thousands of military families across this country, that our troops should return quickly and safely from the dangers half a world away, have been accused of cowardice. We have then seen the untruths, the dissembling, the fabrication, the misleading inferences surrounding this rush to war in Iraq wrapped quickly in the flag.

The right to ask questions, debate, and dissent is under attack. The drums of war are beaten ever louder in an attempt to drown out those who speak of our predicament in stark terms.

Even in the Senate, our history and tradition of being the world's greatest deliberative body is being snubbed. This huge spending bill has been rushed through this chamber in just one month. There were just three open hearings by the Senate Appropriations Committee on $87 billion, without a single outside witness called to challenge the Administration's line.

Ambassador Bremer went so far as to refuse to return to the Appropriations Committee to answer additional questions because, and I quote: "I don't have time. I'm completely booked, and I have to get back to Baghdad to my duties."

Despite this callous stiff-arm of the Senate and its duties to ask questions in order to represent the American people, few dared to voice their opposition to rushing this bill through these halls of Congress. Perhaps they were intimidated by the false claims that our troops are in immediate need of more funds.

But the time has come for the sheep-like political correctness which has cowed members of this Senate to come to an end.

The Emperor has no clothes. This entire adventure in Iraq has been based on propaganda and manipulation. Eighty-seven billion dollars is too much to pay for the continuation of a war based on falsehoods.

Taking the nation to war based on misleading rhetoric and hyped intelligence is a travesty and a tragedy. It is the most cynical of all cynical acts. It is dangerous to manipulate the truth. It is dangerous because once having lied, it is difficult to ever be believed again. Having misled the American people and stampeded them to war, this Administration must now attempt to sustain a policy predicated on falsehoods. The President asks for billions from those same citizens who know that they were misled about the need to go to war. We misinformed and insulted our friends and allies and now this Administration is having more than a little trouble getting help from the international community. It is perilous to mislead.

The single-minded obsession of this Administration to now make sense of the chaos in Iraq, and the continuing propaganda which emanates from the White House painting Iraq as the geographical center of terrorism is distracting our attention from Afghanistan and the 60 other countries in the world where terrorists hide. It is sapping resources which could be used to make us safer from terrorists on our own shores. The body armor for our own citizens still has many, many chinks. Have we forgotten that the most horrific terror attacks in history occurred right here at home!! Yet, this Administration turns back money for homeland security, while the President pours billions into security for Iraq. I am powerless to understand or explain such a policy.

I have tried mightily to improve this bill. I twice tried to separate the reconstruction money in this bill, so that those dollars could be considered separately from the military spending. I offered an amendment to force the Administration to craft a plan to get other nations to assist the troops and formulate a plan to get the U.N. in, and the U.S. out, of Iraq. Twice I tried to rid the bill of expansive, flexible authorities that turn this $87 billion into a blank check. The American people should understand that we provide more foreign aid for Iraq in this bill, $20.3 billion, than we provide for the rest of the entire world! I attempted to remove from this bill billions in wasteful programs and divert those funds to better use. But, at every turn, my efforts were thwarted by the vapid argument that we must all support the requests of the Commander in Chief.

I cannot stand by and continue to watch our grandchildren become increasingly burdened by the billions that fly out of the Treasury for a war and a policy based largely on propaganda and prevarication. We are borrowing $87 billion to finance this adventure in Iraq. The President is asking this Senate to pay for this war with increased debt, a debt that will have to be paid by our children and by those same troops that are currently fighting this war. I cannot support outlandish tax cuts that plunge our country into potentially disastrous debt while our troops are fighting and dying in a war that the White House chose to begin.

I cannot support the continuation of a policy that unwisely ties down 150,000 American troops for the foreseeable future, with no end in sight.

I cannot support a President who refuses to authorize the reasonable change in course that would bring traditional allies to our side in Iraq.

I cannot support the politics of zeal and "might makes right" that created the new American arrogance and unilateralism which passes for foreign policy in this Administration.

I cannot support this foolish manifestation of the dangerous and destabilizing doctrine of preemption that changes the image of America into that of a reckless bully.

The emperor has no clothes. And our former allies around the world were the first to loudly observe it.

I shall vote against this bill because I cannot support a policy based on prevarication. I cannot support doling out 87 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars when I have so many doubts about the wisdom of its use.

I began my remarks with a fairy tale. I shall close my remarks with a horror story, in the form of a quote from the book Nuremberg Diaries, written by G.M. Gilbert, in which the author interviews Hermann Goering.

"We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

". . . But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

On Sunday, Newsweek magazine revealed that Karl Rove, the President's key political advisor, was responsible for disclosing the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame.¹ Rove's lawyer has confirmed that he was involved.²

Last year, President Bush promised that anyone at the White House involved in the leak would be fired.³ We believe that the President should stick to his word. That's why we're calling on him to fire Karl Rove.

Sign the petition to Bush right now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/firerove/?id=5782-3585144-ZpcKL25vbRBTdFQ1XSFCCQ&t=1

Valerie Plame was an operative working on stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction—the most important beat at the CIA and one of the most important jobs in the country.⁴ Rove revealed her identity and destroyed her network of connections to settle a political score. He weakened America's national security. For that alone, he deserves to be fired.

But as it turns out, that's also the White House's official position. Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the press in September of 2003, when the story first broke, that anyone at the White House who was involved would be fired "at a minimum."⁵ And when asked on June 10th, 2004, if he would "stand by your pledge to fire anyone found" to have leaked the agent's name, President Bush responded, simply, "Yes."⁶

Of course, in the past the White House has strenuously denied that Rove had anything to do with it. In 2003, McClellan said that he'd asked Rove if he was involved, and Rove had said he wasn't.⁷ "The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved."⁸ "I've made it very clear, he was not involved, that there's no truth to the suggestion that he was."⁹ Asked again if Rove was involved, McClellan responded, "That's just totally ridiculous."¹⁰

So what did McClellan have to say about the clear discrepancies between what the President Bush and he had said in 2003 and what Newsweek reported on Sunday? Nothing. Here's an excerpt from the transcript:

Q: Do you want to retract your statement that Rove, Karl Rove, was not involved in the Valerie Plame expose?

A: I appreciate the question. This is an ongoing investigation at this point. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, that means we're not going to be commenting on it while it is ongoing.

Q: But Rove has apparently commented, through his lawyer, that he was definitely involved.

A: You're asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Q: I'm saying, why did you stand there and say he was not involved?

A: Again, while there is an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to be commenting on it nor is ... .

Q: Any remorse?¹¹

It's worth noting that both Bush and McClellan have commented on the case repeatedly since 2003.¹²

Republicans claim that the furor over this case is just politics as usual. But what Rove did has serious ramifications. Here's the story in a nutshell: In 2002, former Ambassador Joe Wilson was sent by the CIA to investigate rumors that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger. Wilson found nothing, and wrote about it in a New York Times op-ed column on July 6, 2003 after President Bush used the claim as part of the case for war. Wilson was married to Valerie Plame, an undercover operative, who was revealed shortly thereafter by conservative columnist Robert Novak. Novak cited "senior administration officials" as his source that Plame was an operative.¹³

Why out Plame? While we don't know the full story, there are a couple of reasons to do so: to exact revenge on Wilson for refusing to toe the Administration line, and to send a message to would-be whistle-blowers that they should keep their mouths shut.

In any case, Plame's work was important, and by exposing her identity, the leaker destroyed ten years of covert relationship-building and could have jeopardized the lives of other covert agents in the field. At best, it was recklessly irresponsible; at worst, it was malicious; and either way, the leaker undermined our national security.

That's why we, like the President, believe it's time to fire anyone who was involved with the leaking of Plame's name. And now we know that means firing Karl Rove.

Sign our petition now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/firerove/?id=5782-3585144-ZpcKL25vbRBTdFQ1XSFCCQ&t=2

And thanks for everything you're doing.

Sincerely,
—Eli, Jennifer, Wes, Matt and the MoveOn PAC Team
Tuesday, July 12th, 2005