Gingrich On Prop 8 Protests: "Gay And Secular Fascism ... Prepared To Use Violence"

Media Matters reports on a Fox News discussion between Bil O'Reilly and Newt Gingrich on protests against the California gay marriage ban:

O'REILLY: OK, now, the culture war. I know you've been flying around the country, and you're doing stuff. In the last three or four days, this is really nasty stuff. I mean, you know, hyper -- we're gonna show you some of the video. A woman getting a cross smashed out of her hand. We had a church in Michigan invaded by gay activists. We're gonna show you the video on Monday of that -- we have exclusively. We had a guy in Sacramento fired from his job. We had boycotts called on restaurants.

I mean, it is getting out of control, very few days after the election. How do you assess that?

GINGRICH: Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank -- for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school.

For a dose of reality, here is video of some of the protests:

Comments

[Fein]

"gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us"

'Textbook Rove" method propaganda here, the bigots' attack is the Exact Opposite of the reality of the situation.

The Democrats really need to get active in behalf of our gay community. And BTW, when does 'Newt' come up for re election?

[klandish]

Class in the school of Rove has officially been dismissed. Goodbye.

[BenK1976]

We live in a secular society.

If we did not, the battle would be between these "historic religions" as Newt puts it. The government has a mandate to protect liberties of individuals. Despite arguments to the contrary, allowing one group a set of rights does not diminish the rights of another group.

Separation of Church & State is critical to the functioning of our society. There were religious groups that opposed involvement in WWI & WWII. These groups were supported by isolationi­sts...cons­ervative groups.

The argument Newt makes reveals the agenda. The fear is not that A group could gain power but that the current secular rule of Christian conservatives is threatened. I guess that kind of fascism is ok in Newt World.

If allowing those that value marriage diminish the quality of marriage the weakness is with those that can enter such a union. On the face, the inclusion of this group in marriage strengthens the value of marriage in the society generally.

Perhaps a solution is to change the laws by substituting Civil Unions for Marriage. As it stands, the government is dragged into an argument that is secular in nature.

Both sides have the right to fight over the value of the term. The government should not withhold liberties, benefits, legal status, or tax code benefits based on a secular dispute.

[roblabrousse]

. We can't protest injustice anymore??

Marriage has survived transformations since its' invention.­Various gods have blessed it. For ages it transferred the ownership of a woman from one man to another. Sometimes a marriage was even arranged before the couple knew what coupling is. At times a man could have more than one wife, it say s so in the Bible.

Through intellect and social culture have issues like woman's voting rights, slavery, civil rights and now gay rights been achieved. Gay people are demanding their due.

Keep the God factor out of this. There are so many interpretations of God it's ludicrous. If every Christian Entity had its' way all the other Entities would disappear. They all exploit God for their own exclusive membership. They all possess God's truth and the key to salvation.

Newt, What if being White, Christian,Straight and Pudgy denied you the right to marry or vote? How would you deal with that? Anger and frustration build up after years of oppression. American gays demand that they no longer be persecuted for their birthright which is to love the person of their choice and to marry that person legally under the protection of the US Constitution.

Fascism is not part of this picture. Gays are telling their government the time has come to give them the exact same rights enjoyed by the majority of other Americans. . We are born here and raised with the same basic values. We are just as American as you Newt.

[adampap]

religion is a huge problem.

every religion is centered around a god that almost certainly doesn't exist, who spoke to prophets that probably never existed and inspired the authorship of holy books which contain countless contradictions about moral and scientific claims, and documented events for which there is no archaeological evidence and which may or may not have taken place dozens or even hundreds of years before the authors who wrote about them were born.

i understand that there are many sensible people who are also religious, but their defense of religion makes it safe for extremists to use their faith as a tool of attack. by demanding respect for their kinder version of faith, they make it possible for the extremists to justify their prejudices. religion is always a conversation stopper because we're not supposed to offend religious people. and unfortunately it's amazingly easy to offend someone when talking about religion. but why shouldn't these ideas be open to honest inquiry?

most of us don't get our morality from a book which condones slavery and says you should stone to death adulterers and children who stray from the faith. the extremists truly do get their morals from scripture. the rest of us get it from our innate sense of conscience and the lessons we have learned over thousands of years of human existence. religious moderates need to realize this fact and shed their superstition so that the extremists can no longer use religion to justify their ignorance and bigotry.

[harriettubman]

I don't know what you're going to do about it. Most religions are ancient teachings over 4,000 yrs old. What do you suggest? Gays are stoned in Islam.

[mercury613]

There are many, many "ancient teachings" that we now have come to regard as morally repugnant. Just because an idea has entrenched itself doesn't mean it's good. Let's not go there, OK?

[adampap]

i'm just saying as a society we need to collectively condemn foolish ideas especially when they inspire so much hate and division. atheists like myself and moderate christians have a common cause in standing up against extremism, but moderates need to realize they are contributing to the problem by demanding that we respect faith.

[muscleboundH]

If Grinch believes in "traditional religion" then he should be prepared for his death by stoning due to adultery. PERIOD.

Newt was taught how to oppress and piss on people in Sunday school. I wonder if that is what he means by "historical religion"?

[MoeB]

It's part of the hypocrisy. Most religious people don't want to talk about THEIR "sins", only YOURS.

[rickyjimmy]

if you believe in traditional Christianity then slavery, domestic violence and host of other grievous crimes are okay.

if you believe in traditional Islam then you support honour killings.

separation of church and state...no­w that's an constructionist take on law making...y­ou adulator!

[gipper1]

Don't you have a wife to cheat on Newt?

[TovSquirrel]

It was a vote for bigotry (at least here in California), pure and simple.

Newt Gingrich and anything he has to say is irrelevant to the argument.

[MCpiano]

If the No on 8 groups want credibility, they should not try to paint it's opponents as right wing zealots. They need to go after Obama, Biden, Rev Wright, and others who are against gay marriage, not just white churches.

In California Obama won 60 - 40, but Yes on 8 won 52 - 48. So a lot of Obama voters voted for Yes on 8.

[luvobama]

So what to all of your points. This is a Civil Rights movement. Do you not remember the one in the 60s? All the same ploys, arguments and biblethumping was almost identical.

[harriettubman]

There's no comparision to the civil righs movement of Jim Crow and gay rights issue. None whatsoever.

I was all for discussing this issue and believed in domestic partnership but if this is how people are going to react, people will no longer want to discuss the issue at ALL.

[MCpiano]

Most people are for domestic partnership/civil union laws. I am for them. I have gay couples within my own family.

[harriettubman]

You sound illogical. You're part of the problem. Obama is against "marriage" as it stands between a man and woman but is for legal rights for all gays.

What next? Burn someone's house down? Geez.

[MCpiano]

I am not sure what you are saying, but Obama and Biden both stated they did NOT support gay marriage during the campaign.

Here in California there are the domestic partnership laws which give gays the exact legal right as hetero couples. And I support that.

I hope that is clear.

[MNCurler]

Look at all of the hate speech on this thread- how are you folks any different than who you preach against? You're not!! Newt didn't say anything wrong or off base- he was simply making a popint from his perspective and all of you folks want to shut him down and not allow this kind of speech, so please tell me how this is any different?

[NoMercy]

Because his perspective is inflamatory and INSANE.

and paranoid

[rixter1965]

Let's see when Republicans disagree with any policy put forth by Democrats, liberals, and progressive, their default criticism is to label it "socialist" and "communist­." And now there's an attempt by right-wingers such as Jonah Goldberg to equate Italian Fascism and German Nazism with the Left. (Of course, much of their success was their anti-Bolshevism, but why quibble with real history when fake history is available.­)

Who is forcing Newt Gingrich or any Republican or conservative to keep silent? Where are these violence-prone secular-gay militia men and women in their pink and lavender camo outfits storming the American Enterprise Institute with truncheons and brass knuckles? False victimization along with pseudo-patriotism the last refuge of scoundrels.

In a country where the no-establishment clause has provided more religous freedom than anywhere else, how could this debate even be happening?

Case closed.

[luvobama]

Because we are asking you to give up your civil rights. What don't you get?

[TXCourtney]

While I have not read all 1300 comments on the thread, I have not seen any that advocate "shutting Gingrich down" or violating his constitutional right to freedom of speech. Those that do so are clearly out of line.

Criticism of his assinine comments, however, is completely justified. His misuse of the word "facism" is a slap in the face to anyone who values history or the English language.

Facism is a system of government that is opposed to individual freedom (e.g. when Nazi Fascists imprisoned homosexuals in concentration camps). Liberals who support gay marriage do so because they want to see individual freedoms expanded--not because they want to destroy Christianity or impose a secular belief system on everyone. It's about strenghtening our pluralistic democracy--and there's nothing more anti-facist than that.

[harriettubman]

I've only read the first page. Did someone say they hated gay people? If so, I don't see it anywhere on the front page. Or is your definition of hate not agreeing with you?

[Heyman]

Who care what Newt says? FOX news cares. WOW!
Here's what OUR Constitutions says. EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL. That is why Massachusetts Supreme Court gave marriage rights to ALL! (Massachusetts Constitution is a photo copy of the United State Constituti­on.)
I know. I live in Massachusetts. I'm NOT gay. I believe in equal rights for all.

[ContraEgoiste]

"GINGRICH: Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment­."


Yes by Jesus, when are we going to do something about all those atheist protesting in front of maternities harassing and threatening women that won't have abortions. And when is the FBI going to crack down~on~the bombing of maternities and death threats to Obstetricians and midwifes by these heathens.

How much longer do we have to hear and read in the news about a gay couple moving into a neighborhood and ruining the matrimonial~bliss therein before the government steps in.

And I just shudder everytime I channel~surf and come across one of these presidents of these mega~clubs­~of~atheis­ts who use their constituent as a political~­voting~blo­ck to either; 1) Push an atheist~candidate. 2) Push a test~of~atheism on candidates. 3) Push elected~re­presentati­ves to pursue an atheist agenda and eliminate freedom of religion.

When is the government going to stop giving our taxes to those "secular based" initiatives and gay promoting organizations.

And don't you just find annoying having all those gays preaching how your eternal soul is doomed unless you turn gay, it is almost as annoying as those scientists telling you will be sucked into a black~hole forever if you don't study astronomy. And how about those commercials telling you that your life lacks purpose or direction if you are not gay.

I could~continue the~whole~day, I'm~just~saying, we~must~do­~something­~about~the­se people.

[jaschrod]

Of course you know that this goes right over a lot of people's heads. I told my wife yesterday that if I hear of one more gay marriage, I was going to get a divorce, burn down the house, and shoot the dog. See what these gay marriages have done to my marriage. Yep, it's their fought.

[eyecon]

Self-righteous Newtie. I love it. I am sure that Newt - a serial adulterer - thinks that all THREE of his "traditional" marriages are a pinnacle of civilized society.

[SweetBabu]

I was at the rally in San Fran this past Saturday. There was no violence, none at all. In fact, the atmosphere was one of love. As a straight woman, I was moved by the commitment of the people there to have their voices heard, and I was pained by their expressions of sorrow over the discrimination being enacted upon them. It was very moving to be part of it all.

Conservatives are in over their heads if they think they can fight this movement. Hate will not win.

[republifornian]

yes we saw the video of the castro were the christians had to be escorted by police as the residents were threating to"kill you all" we see just how peacful they are

[jaschrod]

Do you mean, where the Christians are in somebody else's neighborhood trying to shove their beliefs down their throats?

[Nikola Tesla]

Not staged at ALL!

[mercury613]

Where exactly is this video?

[Nikola Tesla]

Moronic provocateurs.

The crowd blew whistles and chanted "shame on you".

Is this what you cowards have a problem with? Pathetic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tGGYdY5tlY

[Morpheus Dreamer]

**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­*
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

For What It's Worth--Buffalo Springfield 1967. Thirty years later, we've come full circle, folks...

*THE REICHWING HAS DECLARED WAR ON US--THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION!*

http://noolmusic.com/blogs/YouTube_Music_Videos_60s_70s_-_Buffalo_Springfield_-_For_What_Its_Worth.shtml **********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­*********

[BlondeLebanese]

The perfect lyrics for the situation. Thank you...it gave me a chance to sit a while and think about the dishonesty and misinformation that has become the GOP. Kinda makes me want to break out in song.