Posted on 01/09/2010 9:09:37 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
...Romney’s argument with the Iowa talk-radio host starts with the two discussing their shared affinity for W. Cleon Skousen. “You and I share a common affection for the late Cleon Skousen,” the radio host says. The former governor agrees, affirming Skousen was his professor."
Who is Cleon Skousen you might ask? In answering that question, it’s hard to even know where to begin. Skousen was by turns an FBI employee, the police chief of Salt Lake City, a Brigham Young University professor, consigliore to former secretary of agriculture and Mormon president Ezra Taft Benson and, well, all-around nutjob.
Skousen was active with the John Birch Society throughout the 1960s, even going so far as to write another book titled The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society, accusing those that criticized Birchers as promoting Communism.
Skousen’s Communist paranoia may have reached it’s apotheosis in 1970 when the Mormon church and BYU in particular began receiving a tremendous amount of external pressure to change the church’s policy on denying the Mormon priesthood to blacks. Skousen, then a professor at BYU, published an article entitled “The Communist Attack on the Mormons” and noted that critics were employing Communist tactics which were “distorting the religious tenet of the Church regarding the Negro and blowing it up to ridiculous proportions.” The Mormon Church reversed course on its discriminatory practices in 1978 and began ordaining black men to the priesthood.
..."I sincerely doubt that Mitt Romney believes anything near as outlandish as many of the things Cleon Skousen espoused, and to be fair Skousen wrote on numerous topics with wildly varying degrees of intellectual sobriety."
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Tea Party Convention all the way! :)
Glenn is even pushing Skousen’s book, the 5000 year leap.
BTW, Skousen was never a member of the John Birch Society. His son was.
Yeah I don’t doubt that the majority of John Birch Society members mean well nor that many of their ideas are right on. They just have a bizarre legacy that’s all, and the whole array of sponsors at CPAC is strange. Regardless, I am just happy Palin is headlining her own convention and I like the feel and breed of people involved with putting the Tea Party Convention together. :)
I find it hard to believe that he could have become Governor of MA without such a radical connection becoming extremely well known during the campaign!!!
Like minds had better come together or we're all going to have another 4 years of Zero.
whoever posted “mlk 4 romney” in the keyword section, i think u mean “milk* 4 romney.” LoL
Is the Tea Party Convention going to be covered by CSPAN? I wish I could go! I will pray for its success.
Skousen’s “The Making Of America” is one of the best books I’ve ever read about American history, and the proper role of constitutional government, without any doubt!!!
can somebody explain to me the bad baggage the john birch society has? they seem to believe in good things...do they have a racist path or something i’m not aware of?
Thank you for clearing that up!!!
It’s too bad the National Review article doesn’t have a comment board.
Ya gotta love yellow journalism.
Isn’t the National Review the late uber conservative intellectual Bill Buckley’s pride and joy???
Over the past five decades the JBS has engaged in undermining every aspect of political conservatism. They've engaged in character assassination of some real patriotic Americans. Calling President Eishenower a communist dupe. This dispicable behavior prompted conservative icons Bill Buckley and Russell Kirk to renounce the JBS founder Robert Welch. Even Barry Goldwater steered clear of the Birchers.
The fact that the JBS vehimently opposed Reagan's two campaigns for Governor and his three serious runs for President should be enough proof for any fair minded conservative to conclude that the JBS is a bunch of fringe malcontents. The JBS can't be taken seriously.
Chevydude, I was wondering the same thing! At face value, the JBS appears harmless, even a good organization.
I think despite whatever well-meaning intentions many of its members have, much of its history has been tainted by extreme racism, anti-semitism, and all sorts of random connections to weird cult-like fringe groups.
But it seems odd to me that an organization claiming to stand up for Constitutional principles would be so eager to sponsor CPAC, which I believe, (despite Ron Paul’s presence) is the ultimate “establishment” group. Not that I want JBS to sponsor the Tea Party Convention either...
Also, it appears, that if the “Republican Party” is attempting to put on a “united” front at CPAC by having such a bizarre array of sponsors like JBS and GOProud and then speakers like Romney, Huckabee, and Ron Paul-—it’s doing a really really BAD job. Just seems like a bunch of confusion and mixed signals to me. The Tea Party appears to be a far more cohesive bunch with a greater ability to present a strong vision and coherent message.
...Yes I recognize Glenn Beck was one of the upstarters of the “Tea Party” movement in its initials stages, but I am pleased leaders like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann are the ones taking the reins, motivating its direction, and becoming the movement’s official faces.
Communist Goals (1963) Congressional Record—Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, January 10, 1963.
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
Good for you.
We should categorically dismiss the Birchers around here, and seeing people defend them on the Palin thread was painful. I guess now that Romney is connected to them, it's politically correct to denounce them, but that shows the weakness of some people's convictions and honesty.
I wouldn't care if the Birchers supported every candidate I do, they are a vile group that should be categorically dismissed by conservatives, and not only when we can connect them to someone we dislike.
________________________
I find it difficult to judge the conservatism of NR by one of it's reporters, especially one that chose to appear on 30 Rock with Alec Baldwin.
BTW, this article is from 2007.
My regard for Romney just went up a notch.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.