Fred Phelps; Former Gore Supporter? WTF!

[BamaLefty]

Whoa! Never knew about this...

In the 1980s, the Phelps family were strong political allies with then-senator Al Gore. The home of Fred Jr., Phelps' eldest son, located in the Westboro compound, acted as Gore's campaign quarters for one of his senate races, and the Westboro compound was host to a fundraiser. Numerous photos exist on the internet of Fred Phelps Jr. and his second wife, Betty Phelps-Schurle, posing with Al and Tipper Gore in Phelps Jr.'s home. Phelps also served as a Gore delegate on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. <66>

During Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, Fred Phelps Jr. and members of Westboro campaigned for Gore, though simultaneously attacking Hillary Clinton. In January 1993, Fred Phelps Jr. and Betty Phelps-Schurle were invited to the inaugural ball in Washington, D.C.<67>

In the ensuing years leading up to Clinton's second presidential campaign, Gore and Clinton took stances increasingly in favor of gay rights. Consequently, Westboro turned against Gore, who nevertheless invited Fred Phelps, Marge, Fred Jr., and Betty back for the 1997 inauguration; they responded by bringing the entire Westboro congregation to the White House and picketing on the front lawn during the ball, <68> with signs proclaiming that Gore, Clinton, and both men's families were going to Hell, not necessarily for their stances on homosexuality, but because they had "betrayed" Westboro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps#Political_affiliations

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Was Phelps professing the virulent anti-gay whacko-ism that he does now?

Hard for me to imagine that he could have been a successful attorney doing what he does now. People do change, witness Zell Miller.

[w13rd0]

2. This is fairly old news...

...Fred Phelps, before he lost his f'n mind, was a civil rights activist (or lawyer, unsure). He was close to the people in power, and took their disagreement with him over the issue of gay rights as some kind of sign. He then just cracked completely and became a member of the lunatic fringe. That about brings us up to date.

We've plenty of examples of formerly somewhat reasonable people becoming complete nut jobs over the past decade. Zell Miller, Fred Phelps, Ron Silver, Dennis Miller, Joe Lieberman. We've also had a fair number of similiar "radicalizations" from and to the "left", though I won't start a flame war by listing any here.

[radio4progressives]

3. tipper gore was leading a censorship campaign that led to film ratings

i wonder if that is the connection?

[NYCGirl]

19. No, I think you're wrong. Film ratings have been around since 1968. NT

[fishwax]

22. it was music ratings that tipper was after n/t

[JI7]

4. Gore use to be pretty conservative leaning, especially on abortion

and gay rights type issues.

[SPKrazy]

9. Right You Are!

Couldn't Stand him in 1988, he was very conservative, and his wife Tipper was attacking the recording industry previous to this.

He has changed, or his message has (conveniently), whichever you choose to believe.

[JI7]

11. yes, he has changed his views on those issues

which explains Phelps current hatred for him.

[pocket]

5. old news

that was then, this is now

[mzmolly]

6. That's half the story.

In 2003, before the fall of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, Phelps wrote Hussein a letter praising his regime for being, in his opinion, "the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets." Furthermore, he stated that he, if U.S. Government and laws permitted and at the invitation of the Iraqi government, would like to send a delegation to Baghdad to "preach the Gospel" for one week. Hussein granted permission, and a group of WBC congregants traveled to Iraq to protest against the U.S. The parishioners stood on the streets of Baghdad and heavily patronized Baghdad establishments holding signs reading:

AL GORE FAMILY VALUES (with a cartoon of two men having anal sex) <65>
GO HOME (with a cartoon of Bill Clinton)
BABY KILLER (with a cartoon of Hillary Clinton)
BABY KILLER (with a cartoon of Bill Clinton)
FAG GORE
FAG USA = SODOM
STOP THE HOLOCAUST (in reference to Phelps' "Topeka Baptist Holocaust" campaign)
FAG USA (with a picture of an inverted, burning American flag)
USA SIN (with a picture of anatomically incorrect stick figures engaged in anal sex)
Phelps mourned the fall of Hussein's regime and has consistently criticized the invasion of Iraq, citing, "IRAQ+USA=SODOM" and keeping a toll on his webpage celebrating the death of every American soldier killed and pronouncing loyalty to Iraq.

Phelps has also repeatedly championed Fidel Castro for Castro's stance against homosexuality; in 1998 Harper's magazine published a letter Phelps sent to Castro in which he praised Castro and lambasted the U.S. (Castro did not respond to that letter and is likely to have ignored it given Phelps's intensely right-wing leanings.) In 2004, when a pro-homosexual Cuban refugee announced plans to travel to Cuba, Phelps sent another letter to Castro "warning" him of the man's plans and requesting travel visas for a group of WBC congregants so that they could follow the refugee around Havana with signs bearing anti-U.S. and anti-homosexual slogans. Castro also ignored that appeal.

...

In the ensuing years leading up to Clinton's second presidential campaign, Gore and Clinton took stances increasingly in favor of gay rights. Consequently, Westboro turned against Gore, who nevertheless invited Fred Phelps, Marge, Fred Jr., and Betty back for the 1997 inauguration; they responded by bringing the entire Westboro congregation to the White House and picketing on the front lawn during the ball, <68> with signs proclaiming that Gore, Clinton, and both men's families were going to Hell, not necessarily for their stances on homosexuality, but because they had "betrayed" Westboro. <69>

In 1998, Westboro picketed the funeral of Gore's father, screaming vulgarities at Gore and telling him "your dad's in Hell."

[MuseRider]

10. I think that the

pro homosexual Cuban he is talking about here was my neighbor and good friend. I guess I had missed all of this Phelps in Cuba stuff, glad Castro did not let him go. Funny.

[mzmolly]

16. Wow, it's a small world.

:hi:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mzmolly]

12. Do you have the link to such a quote?

I've not seen said remark. :shrug:

[JI7]

13. no

she supported and probably still does putting labels with ratings or something on music. similar to films. i don't believe she ever supported outright banning or censorship.

[w13rd0]

14. Actually...

...what was initially proposed wasn't labelling. It was using networked machines at music vendors to let consumers scan in the barcode for any product and listen to a sample, and read the lyrics. This was suggested as a way of letting parents (and others) make informed decisions on their choice of purchases. The RIAA said, "no way, too expensive, let's just slap some labels on the albums by black musicians"...

[mzmolly]

15. They had issues with hard rock as well.

Black Sabbath was a huge outrage along with Prince etc. In all honesty I think the labels help SELL albums.

[MrSlayer]

26. Black? No, no it wasn't just black artists.

Unless Slayer, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, W.A.S.P., Metallica and The Mentors are all albinos you are sorely mistaken on this. They went after the Metal bands more than anyone. I never quite forgave her for this fucking bullshit and quite frankly it cost Gore some votes in the election of 2000.

[HuskerDU]

29. Have to admit though, it was really funny when they read

Mentors lyrics in the halls of Congress!

[mzmolly]

17. That's what I think as well.

I remember when she was very vocal about her position and as I mother I fully agree with her frankly.

[Benfea]

21. Not handy, but if you listen to enough Jello Biafra spoken word stuff...

…you'll catch this little tidbit and more. Since Jello has been on the receiving end of Tipper's little crusade (he's one of the few who actually spent time in jail for having exercising his first ammendment rights), he has reason to know and he has been watching her very carefully, and yes, he generally has sources for this stuff when asked.

[mzmolly]

23. I've heard Jello speak on this, his paraphrasing is not quite accurate.

He and I don't see eye to eye on this - and a few other issues. ;)

[Warren DeMontague]

24. As much as I like "Holiday in Cambodia"

I'm not sure I consider Jello Biafra an unimpeachable source with no corroborating evidence.

[OzarkDem]

31. Welcome to DU

Do you have something to back that up with? No? Okay.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Oh, bullshit. They're both Deadheads.

I didn't agree with the PMRC, I think it was a bad idea- but the gist of it was warning labels for obscene lyrics, something people don't really think twice about, anymore.

To say that Tipper believes "Rock and roll is a satanic Plot" is ridiculous. I've seen pictures of her and Al on the '92 campaign bus with Bob Weir and Mickey Hart.

[OzarkDem]

30. Rush must be really proud of you n/t

[MuseRider]

8. He was a Democrat

I don't know what he is now besides crazy. I do believe it was his wacko son Fred Jr. who was mostly involved with Gore.

About the civil rights lawyer stuff you should read a little more before you give him a lot of credit for it (not you but I saw it up thread). Here is one place to start http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/

I just hate for people to think he was an actual good guy once upon a time, he really was not.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Hmmm. Is Hillary's noise machine getting nervous, perhaps?

Just wonderin' who is taking the time to dig all this stuff up all of a sudden.

[BamaLefty]

25. Puhleeeeeeeeeze

I'm certainly no Hillary fan. And I like Gore btw...

Just came upon something that I didn't know. I'm still 18.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. I was referring to other posts in the thread, but I hear you.

I didn't know it, either. It's certainly weird.

Fred Phelps is a prick of just mind-staggering magnitude.

[OzarkDem]

28. I thought Hillary and Cindy were major bait for trolls

Looks like we're adding Gore to the list for subjects for divisive threads.

I guess the RNC is worried about Gore running in 2008.

[AtomicKitten]

32. and don't forget the DLC.

[BamaLefty]

34. Don't know if you were referring to me,

but I'm certainly no troll. I have donated to DU and have well over 1k posts. I'm definitely on your side. :hi:

[oasis]

33. The Phelps' are a bunch of parasitic, power hungry, publicity hounds.

It's in their DNA. They obviously latched onto whoever they could back then. Gore, with the staff he had, was in no position to administer saliva tests to volunteers.