Rachel Maddow: Interview w/ Former Right-To-Lifer Frank Schaeffer on Tiller, Hate Talk Murder

Run time: 06:47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC0qHnWsP5k   Posted on YouTube: June 02, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 02, 2009 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 5772

 
MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show - June 1, 2009. Rachel Talks with Frank Schaeffer, author of 'Crazy for God,' about his Huffington Post column in which he apologized as a former member of the religious right for what happened to Dr. Tiller.

SCHAEFFER: "Well, words have consequences. And what we did in the 70s and 80s, and my father, Dr. Francis Schaffer, Dr. C. Everett Koop, who became Reagan's Surgeon General, members of the Republican Party, who worked with us to make abortion part of the Republican agenda, the Roman Catholic allies that we had in the church, various people - we talked and our talk got more and more extreme, and less and less democratic, until finally my Dad actually went so far as to write a book called 'A Christian Manifesto,' where he said the use of force to change Roe v. Wade and roll back the law legalizing abortion would be legitimate, and he compared Roe and the American government to Hitler's Germany in the 1930s. And when you look at what happened to Dr. Tiller, there is a direct line connecting the rhetoric that I was part of as a young man, and this murder."

"And so people like me are responsible for what we said and what we did and the way we raised the temperature on this debate out of all bounds. And so when O'Reilly talks about the fact that 'these people' of the far left are against Fox or are against him or are trying to muzzle debate, he's telling a lie."

- snip -

"This is what helps unhinge a society, talking like this, and I was part of that and I apologized - and I apologize again - I'm sorry for what I did."

- snip -

"And what scares me is that I see the rhetoric of the Republican party right now, including the former Vice President, about our newly elected African-American President has the same sort of coded stuff in it. 'He's not a real American,' 'He's making America less safe,' 'He's a secret muslim.' Some Christians in the same groups that are pro-life groups are running around say 'he's the Anti-Christ.' They also know full well that we have people out there who would take it to the next step and say 'well, gee, if he's the Anti-Christ, if he's anti-America, if he's a communist, maybe the best thing to do is pull another trigger some other day.'

We live in a country where people get killed for their views sometimes - we're a very divided nation coming out of this culture war. It is irresponsible for people to just make these wild statements like Bill O'Reilly does and then step back after it happens and say 'oops, I didn't mean that.' Yes, they did mean it! They meant exactly what they said, and when you start calling people those sorts of names, the way I did back in the seventies and early eighties ... if people don't stand up and take back these angry words, they are still culpable for the next event that happens, and we need to be able to call it what it is."

Please (if you can) post her interview with Dr. Wicklund also. Thanks in advance.

She let him talk, and it was her best moment ever.

Wow.

I was on the edge of the couch and I seldom have the energy these days at 8 pm to move to the edge. This is one of the strongest recommends I have ever given.

And I have been here since 2002.

C'mon, folks.

I am pretty much speechless after watching that.

I cannot find the words to commend him for his statements. If this piece doesn't wake up more RW's, nothing will.

I was most impressed, to say the least.

I remember when Marjoe Gortner exposed the fundamentalist faith-healing revivalist circuit for being the con job it is, his having grown up in it and KNOWING it was a fraud, and the general reaction was
"Well, HE might have been a fraud, but MY preacher has a hot-line to God!"

And that was before Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart and the other scandals of the 80s and 90s proved him right. Even after them, nothing changed.

It's the same mindset. And largely the same demographic.

I'd like to see more of Frank Schaeffer. He was on CNN and TYT a few months or so ago, so it was nice to see him on MSNBC now.

Frank Schaeffer stated EXACTLY what needed to be said. This is an interview that needs to be seen by all Americans.
Devastating...

He is a favorite of mine at Huffington Post...he was on D.L. Hugely , I think his last show...he had impact.

He exposes the powerful on the religious right side...he exposes how the Republican Party used religion to inflame a nation with the culture wars instead of finding consensus.

Give him his own show on MSNBC.....Arianna needs to make him a featured blogger.

I grew up in Texas and was educated at Pepperdine in California. I campaigned for Bush I in 1980, 88 and 92 and for Reagan in 80 and 84. I trumpeted causes I knew little about based on biblical rhetoric I knew little about.

But, I continued to educate myself, fascinated by the many new things the world was teaching me, both good and bad. The truth, which cannot be ignored, tore my fabricated, insulated, religiously oriented perspective on humanity into shreds, bit by tiny bit. The truth, after all, is what you believe it to be. And you believe what you experience.

I offer my own apology for what contributions I had to the mess we are in today. Ignorance is no excuse. I have worked on every campaign since 1996 in favor of sanity to the best extent I am able. In that time, that has never included a Republican on a national or state ticket.

To Mr. Schaeffer, thank you for both your honesty and your courage. Apology accepted.

peace

there's an old saying that a ...

"belief system is not the beginning but the end of all wisdom" --

Sad to say, I also voted for Reagan in 1979 and '83 and Bush in '87 --

I only held democratic beliefs, but was really politically unaware.

I believed then that recessions and economic downturns were something

natural -- like the weather!!

In February '88, Bush made a speech to the pro-life movement and that

woke me up -- completely. In every way possible.

That was amazing!

Thanks for posting, Hissy.

part of this murder. He decried it, and he called out the transparency that exists still in the world he was once an integral member of. He deserves some high accolades for the manner in which he described his involvement and thought process since.

I hope this man is on other shows. People need to hear him speak. He has the unique power to truly challenge the nuts on the right since he used to be one of them at the deepest level.

Incredible.

The Religious Left THANKS YOU!!!!!:thumbsup:

and speak the truth. Wow.

They know exactly what they are doing. He admitted, and would know, that most of the heavies say one thing in public and another in private. I hope people are paying attention to what this former insider has to say, and stop being taken in by these charlatans.

balls to put forward this truth...everyone is so afraid of the republican media machine including all the democrats that no one will put this guy on the air, so there it is, it'll keep getting uglier and uglier in this country because no has the balls and the ones that have the power to put him on are too worried about their paycheck.

Republicans are quite aware of this, and use it for their gain & power & agenda. Pretty fucking sick that these republicans will do or say anything to enhance their fascist, racist, imperialistic, elitist, regressive, narrow- mined, controlling ideology.

Send along to every right winger you know and post to every facebook page even direct post to friends pages.

We must make Christian moderates put these people in their place and hold them responsible for their rhetoric. I got a buddy who is a right winger who already has condemned the guy who murdered Tiller, and I say, we need more ppl like my buddy out there telling them that they are crazy and wrong.

This man WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM before he decided to become part of the solution.

He KNOWS what's going on.

When he says that yes, O'Reilly et al absolutely DO know what they are doing when they
incite their deranged minions to violent actions they are too cowardly to carry out themselves,
he speaks as one who was a part of the very groups that cheer the murderers on. He carries a
rare credibility that the extremist right cannot refute. He was one of their own. There is
no greater credibility.

O'Reilly, Coulter, Malkin and the faux Christian groups who advocated this action and still
cheer it on in varying degrees, depending on how close they might be to a charge of incitement
to murder--they ALL will get as much mileage out of this, hide behind legalities until the
storm blows over, and claim unfair scrutiny when the heat gets too warm for their taste. Fox
and National Hate Radio love it, as it will increase listener quotas. The hate advocates will
have long sessions with their attorneys for the time being, making sure they say nothing that
will land them in front of a hostile prosecutor, but they'll be out there again, asking for more,
and, I sadly predict, getting it. In the meantime, they will be crying that the libbruls are
unjustly picking on them again. If their imaginary libbrul conspirators were halfway as genuine
a threat as they claim them to be, they'd be walking around with a corps of bodyguards that would
make Obama's Secret Service detail seem like high school prom chaperones.

Very very well said.

:fistbump:

Sounds like a helliuva read.

I grew up very active in a mainline church and was really surprised at all the religious right stuff that I finally started noticing in the early 80s. I didn't understand where it was coming from, and to me it seemed to happen so suddenly. Schaeffer's book was very enlightening about the birth of the movement, and also quite entertaining as to what his family really thought about the American fundie leaders.

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in the fanatical anti-abortion right's encouragment of and participation in violent acts against abortion doctors.

It was an excellent interview.

This shows how easy it is for demagogic leaders to use hate speech as an actual weapon, and then act as if they had no idea what it might cause.

Mr. Schaeffer's testament should me studied by students of political science, religion, and law enforcement. Well done, Ms. Maddow, for letting him talk to give his full account.

He is one of a handful of people from the religious world who dare to speak the truth about their own actions.

Glad he has come around and is now speaking out.

Schaeffer said it, the pro-lifers will say one thing in public, and another quite different thing in private. this points out the big problem sane people have: How do you tell which of those people are to be trusted and which are liars? Doesn't it seem fairly reasonable that the rest of us should judge ALL of them by their actions? By with whom they associate? If you do not exclude all of them and force the rational ones to live up to their words, and instead embrace all of them and wait for the results...the murders, and bombings, and threats will continue. That is the history, those are the facts. Maddow and others are not wrong in calling the pro-lifers(the extremeist side) the American Taliban. If you simply list the acts of violence the Taliban, and the Pro-lifers have done, you will see no reall differences. If you list the reasons each of those groups declare as basis for their actions, you will find no differences...they are done in the name of their preferred version of a god.

Think about it, when the Mansons' were running about would you invite all long haired 'hippie' types in southern California to come live with your family knowing full well charlie andhis 'Darlings might be amongst them? Of course not...then why in the world would you give carte blanche to all pro-lifers?

or is Schaeffer really getting passionately emotional by the end of his appearance? It sounds almost like his voice is starting to shake. Very powerful.

Powerful, truthful.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=452922&mesg_id=452967

INCiting people to commit crimes especially murder should be actionable. ESPECIALLY on broadcast media!!


recommended!

:kick:

and it is hard for me to look through and actually see all the ugliness, craziness and hatefulness, but it is there. I'm glad he spoke out and I hope that he will inspire others like him to really think about what they are doing and saying. It is really heartbreaking to know that such hate and rhetoric is growing.

Nice!