Entry #035: William G Boykin

a.k.a Lieutenant General “My God is bigger than your God” Boykin

Purveyor of possibly the most staggeringly bizarre argument ever made, concerning G. Bush after his reelection: “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this”.

Boykin (now retired) was the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and has played a role in almost every recent major American military operation. He is also a born-again Christian, author of "Never Surrender: A Soldier's Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom". Boykin has cast the "War on Terror" in Biblical terms, seeing the war on terror as a battle between good and evil, or more precisely, between the soldiers of Jesus and the heretics (a Pentagon investigation concluded in 2004 that he had violated regulations by failing to explain these remarks were not made in an official capacity). As an example, listen to Boykin giving a speech about hunting down Osman Atto in Mogadishu: "He went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, 'They'll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.' Well, you know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Hence his nickname. Believes that terrorists are after America not primarily because terrorists hate freedom but because Muslims hate Christians and the U.S. is a firmly Christian Nation (see the entry for David Barton in the Encyclopedia).

Boykin’s relative loudness and official position eventually lead even to George Bush officially emphasizing that Boykin’s statements in no way reflected the point of view of the president or the administration (Rumsfeld took Boykin’s side, however). Pat Buchanan is also a fan of Boykin, apparently subscribing to the view taken by several WorldNetDaily columnists that the criticism of Boykin is an attack on Christian values in America by the Democratic Party.

Some quotes here.

A (relatively) sympathetic interview here.

And he's still running strong and bright. This time, apparently Obama has created brownshirt groups (Nazi-style) to force in healthcare. You can see Boykin interviewed by Bryan Fischer here. This one is worth having a look at as well.

Boykin endorses Santorum for the 2012 elections, and plenty of crazy is brought in the wake of that...and when subjected to criticism, he reacts just the way you'd expect from a first-class fundamentalist bigot.

More fantastically ridiculous paranoia here. (You didn't know that US Department of Treasury was undergoing profound changes to become sharia friendly, did you?) (also here) To think that this guy used to be in a position of actual power is pretty baffling.

Here's Boykin again claiming that Islam (and therefore secularism, since these are the same things) is Satan's willing whore. Reason-wise, it is still clearly going downhill for Boykin. And it started out pretty low.

He's now been added to the roster of the Family Research Council. Serves him right.

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Diagnosis: Batshit insane. Has probably contributed significantly to making the world a worse place to be.

Entry #034: Pat Boone

Singer, actor and writer Pat Boone was hailed (by the conservatives) as the conservative alternative to Elvis Presley back in the 50s. Currently, he is a political commentator, Christian activist and preacher, and a columnist for the fringeloon magazine WorldnetDaily. He is an ardent young earth creationist and has had several stabs at disproving evolution, such as this one; he uses the tried and dishonest “it’s only a theory”, “there is no evidence”, “Darwin recanted on the deathbed” fallacious arguments from authority (his authorities are uniformly preachers and Boone praises their credentials as award-winning missionaries and staunch Biblical literalists) + some novel ones I have, for obvious reasons, never seen before. Another attempt is discussed here (updated here). Boone later wrote an editorial in the form of a fairy tale where a young Prince Charming was seduced by a dwarf, got AIDS, and then overdosed.

Apart from anti-evolution, his columns are filled with the standard delusional moron stuff – Christians are a persecuted (particularly by the ACLU) minority in the US (discussed here and here), defense of torture (discussed here - the ignorance and dishonesty is astounding, even for a wingnut) and similar stuff.

He got attention for the claim that Democrats and others who were against the president during the Iraq War could be questioned for their patriotism – under an interview on this, he expressed his outrage against the opponents of George W. Bush (namely the Dixie Chicks) that their criticisms of the president showed they did not "respect their elders". He also vigorously defended Mel Gibson after the actor was recorded making an antisemitic rant.

He is also a vocal opponent of gay rights, and won some fame for his tasteful comparison between equal rights activists and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Boone apparently thinks that the “homosexual jihadists” should be sent to concentration camps because they are anti-freedom, or something like that); discussed here and here.

He is also a birfer (i.e. Obama is not a natural born citizen, but a Kenya-born Muslim, and hence not eligible for being a president). More on Boone's birferism here.

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Diagnosis: Complete moron; hateful, dishonest, zealous bigot and loon. Impact uncertain, but he is probably read by a lot of people who are initially sympathetic to his views – whether he comes across as spurring them onwards into wingnuttery or helping them come to their senses by displaying purefied idiocy is unclear.

Entry #013: Matt Barber

Our lucky 13th loon is Matt Barber. Barber is a columnist at Worldnetdaily (Where do they find these people, seriously?). Also policy director for cultural issues at DC-based Concerned Women for America (an anti-gay organization), and spokesman for Liberty Legal Alliance. Very, very concerned about gay people, convinced gay marriage is unconstitutional and that there is a gay conspiracy out there (and Obama is in on the conspiracy because the Supreme Court didn’t quite agree about the unconstitutionality (yes, that’s the reasoning)). Barber has absolutely no insight into how the legal system works, which does not prevent him from commenting on it with brazen confirmation bias, fact-twisting and outright lies. Argues for taking children away from gay parents. Like so many of his ilk, Barber is also a moral relativist when it suits his purposes. Also has a serious persecution complex and is worried about gay jihadists.



A (typical) quote in advance of the 2008 election: ”If Bill Clinton was the first black president, Barack Obama, if elected, will be the first "gay" president. No, I don't mean he'll personally decorate the West Wing, open a bathhouse in the Rose Garden or take up with Barney Frank. I mean he'll be the most radically pro-homosexual, anti-family president in history. He's very quietly pledged as much to the homosexual "Human Rights Campaign" and other fawning members of his homo-fascist fan club” (note the interesting characterization of Obama voters in the last sentence).

Trivia: try to find the logical structure of the argument presented here.

Oh, and just to emphasize: even if this is an old post, we haven't forgotten about Barber. He is as repugnantly insane as ever. You can see Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber discuss the New Gay World Order here. And here's Barber denying that he is a Dominionist - he just want fundamentalist Christians in all positions of power and the Bible to replace the Constitution (though he doesn't really recognize the distinction between the Bible and the Constitution).

Ok, Here we go again. And again.

Hey ho ... looks like Barber is in a predicament. At least he knows how to run with a slippery slope. This one sounds like a poor comedy scene, and would have been rather amusing as such. There really, truly is no limit. Breathtaking.

Here's Barber being a total loon and total asshole on the Sandra Fluke matter. And if you want to see Barber going batshit insane due to his fuming, directionless hatred of the SPLC ...

His most recent excursion into making shit up and passing it off as something resembling truth is ripped to shreds here. Would you believe it, but Barber is actually caught lying!

Here's Barber and Staver claiming that failing to overturn Obamacare is judicial activism through omission. You cannot make this shit up.

Every day Barber cranks up the crazy just a little bit. We cannot deal with every piece of delusional insanity, but I suppose we have a duty to check in every now and then. This is where he's at May 2, 2012. Ordinary sane people may not easily conceive of a way to top this one, but I am sure that Barber will continue to impress. More here. And yes folks, this is a guy who considers himself a fighter for morality and decency. At least the world becomes much easier to deal with when you have only one single enemy.

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Diagnosis: Moron; paranoid lunatic with a severe persecution complex; probably little impact beyond the group who already agrees with what he says (i.e. no power to persuade anyone).