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Pastor Would Like To Scalp Four Pro-Gay Marriage GOP State Senators
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 12, 2011
Modified Aug 12, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 12, 2011
Modified Aug 12, 2011
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From what we can tell, there are two things Evangelical Pastor David Barton (no relation to the gym baron) really deeply loves: bashing pro-gay marriage advocates with violent rhetoric, and using outdated Native American stereotypes. So we were glad to hear that he was able to combine his two loves earlier this week in a perfect storm of moronic offensiveness. He said on the air:
No disrespect to our Native American friends, but this is where you hang a bloody scalp over the gallery rail. You hang these four Republican scalps over the Senate rail and every other Republican senator looks up and sees those scalps and says, ‘my gosh, I’ll be hanging up there beside them if I don’t stay with this pro-family stuff.’ And that’s exactly what has to happen.
Barton and co-host Rick Green had the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher as a guest on their conservative radio show "Wallbusters Live" to discuss NOM’s efforts to defeat senators that voted for the marriage equality law in the state, particularly the four New York Republicans who supported the measure. Their discussion turned to scalps after Gallagher had left, and Barton continued to complain about "the Ken Mehlman kind of Republicans," referring to the former head of the Republican National Committee and Bush campaign chief who recently came out as gay.
"If we can’t take out these four Republicans and the Majority Leader in New York, we will have opened a huge door for Melhman and his kind to come in and start rewarding these guys for going against pro-family stuff, and you just can’t let that happen," Barton said at one point. In case you're wondering, some people have some seriously problems with his rhetoric, including Atlanta Atheism Examiner writer William Hamby: "Did Barton mean that there should be literal scalps hanging over the rails in Congress? Probably not. He probably meant his statement metaphorically. He thinks Republicans who break party lines should be killed... politically. The thing is, such language has a way of escalating emotions, especially in those who feel powerless. And America is loaded with people who feel powerless."
Barton is just nervous that all these "squishy" Republicans will infect all the red-blooded Republicans—and then they won't be able to uphold their God-given right to moralize and judge and tsk tsk tsk! If only someone could help Barton see the upsides to gay marriage...like gay divorce!
Tagged
david barton
evangelicals
gay marriage
nom
republicans
scalps
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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