Fred Phelps and family

[joneschick]

are planning to attend the funeral of the American soldier from Ashland, Wisconsin, recently killed in Iraq. Not because the soldier was gay, but to make their point that the reason we're at war is God's punishment for our acceptance of gays???? wtf? I heard it on the news on my way home from work, but I'm not finding a link now. I don't have the stomach to go to the Phelps website to see if it's announced there. Apparently they have been showing up at other soldier's funerals too. Too, too sick. What fine patriotic christian people.

[RalphReedsWreckedEm]

1. Awesome!

Fred Phelps is a classic example of a mainstream Republican. He is well within the norm of Republican thinking. I consider Fred Phelps to be the quintessential Republican archetype. I believe that the overhwleming majority of Republcians believe exactly as Fred Phelps does. Let him show America and the world just what the GOP is made of.

[Kurovski]

3. I think of him as an extremist.

He does not at all resemble the Republicans I know personally.

But the party would do well to speak up about the extremists that have been given a wide berth in the party.

[goddess40]

21. do the republicans you know say they don't like him?

Somebody is funding these wackos. I think they are like the the 'abortion' doctor murderers - the run of the mill republican may say publicly that they don't like the murderers but behind close doors many do a sick little happy dance. If they don't publicly denounce these jerks loud and clear then I question their motives.

[theshadow]

22. Actually, Phelps is A Non- Classic Example of a DEMOCRAT

I live in an overwhelmingly Republican city (and county), and most of the Republicans I know abhor Phelps.
============================================================
From the Topeka Capital-Journal.
http://cjonline.com/webindepth/phelps/stories/022501_gaycaucus.shtml

The Democratic tent includes the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., the state's best known anti-gay advocate. Phelps is a registered Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the party's gubernatorial nomination in 1990, 1994 and 1998 and for the U.S. Senate in 1992.

Phelps, pastor at Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, has protested gay people's funerals, and his followers carry signs with slogans such as, "God hates fags." He says his message comes from the Bible and people need to heed it, whether they find it harsh or not.

About a dozen members of Phelps' church were picketing Saturday's event and one sign said "Repent Or Parish" with another declaring the event to be a "Fag Show."

Brown mentioned Phelps on Saturday and said that when his name appears on the ballot in primary elections, he receives thousands of votes.

Phelps received his highest number of votes in his 1992 race, more than 49,000. He received more than 11,000 votes in his 1990 run for governor; 5,300 in 1994, and more than 15,000 in 1998.

Brown said he wants to know who the Phelps voters are, adding, "I want them marked."

[CatholicEdHead]

2. So he is going over there?

He was just in Minnesota recently. Protesting funerals of soliders is no way to get support.

[ewagner]

4. Checked the Ashland

Newspapers....no info about a soldier being killed....

If you can find a link please post it.

[mduffy31]

5. Where

I am out of Superior Wi, and when I read this I was ready to get a group together and shout this son of a bitch down, but I wasn't able to find anything. I held my nose and went to this assholes web site and there is a protest in Racine but nothing about Ashland, could you let me know where you heard this?

[Broca]

6. This from the Wausau Paper this morning

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhopinion/283556266776310.shtml

[ewagner]

7. Okay...Antigo...

I read about this soldiers death in the Marshfield paper....he played football at UW-SP and was only 24 years old....

I wish there was some way we or his family could get a restraining order to keep these sickos away from his funeral.....without giving them the publicity they thrive off of...

We need an ingenious way of shaming these folks...any ideas?

[sybylla]

8. So it's Antigo, not Ashland

And the editor is calling for people to ignore Phelps and his menagerie of the sick.

I'm torn. I could protest. I could ignore. :shrug:

[ewagner]

9. Same here

need to be "cerebral" about this......

[sybylla]

10. Plaid Adder has a good long article about this

on the front page. Maybe it will give you an idea.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3870670

[Viking12]

12. I'd say ignore....

Let them expose themselves as the loonies they are. A counter-protest would give the appearance of being equally as loonie (at least that's how MSM 'balanced coverage' would frame it). Sit this one out.

[joneschick]

19. Thanks for the clarification

I think I heard the news report and temporarily lost some brain function it pissed me off so thoroughly!

In other threads I have posted how some groups have countered his presence, but today (ta da!)I actually found a link

http://content.gay.com/channels/news/activist_way/mitchell_kevinbarker.html

Make their hateful presence into an opportunity to raise funds to counter the message.O8)

[B3Nut]

11. Keep it up there, Freddy-boy...

This cupcake has to have a deathwish, or he's just stupider than we had previously thought. Messing with the funerals of military dead, especially with a good chance of a pissed-off mother and military colleagues being in attendance, is a good recipe for hastening your own funeral.

What a pathetic asshat.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

13. Were it not for the family of the soldier...

I would go to Ashland and introduce Phelps to my good friend from Louisville, name of Slugger. The only thing I can think of that would be worst than this lunatic's protesting would be to cause a melee at this young man's funeral. As much as it galls all of us, I think we should stay away and let Phelps have the "spotlight" all to himself.

[ewagner]

14. Maybe that's the answer...

Maybe we can do something FOR THE FAMILY to show our support and minimize or marginalize the wackos outside....

how to do that?

Haven't figured that out yet.....

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. In every community...

Democrats and progressives should "take over" celebrations for Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, as we are seemingly the only ones who give a damn about the troops.

I don't know what to do for individual families without being intrusive, however. Even in such a public moment, we should respect the privacy of their grief.

[TheMightyFavog]

16. Never start physical shit with the Phelps clan...

Their entire family are lawyers, even though Fred has been long since disbarred. Anyone who makes a move on them gets sued for everything they have.

[MessiahRp]

17. Just a thought...

but Funerals should be exempt from freedom of speech and protest demonstrations especially from a group of assholes who wave "God hates Fags" signs.

Rp

[sybylla]

18. Funerals are private and the services would be as well

but that doesn't keep these morans from standing across the street with their hate printed in bold for everyone to see.

As far as I'm concerned, the Phelps clan is proof that if there is a god, he just doesn't give a shit.

[ewagner]

20. Marshfield Paper picked up story

Looks like the presiding Clergyman isn't going to take any crap from the Phelps family:


God knows what he wants us to do and he sees to it that we kind of respond to him," Worman said. "I'm not worried about idiots trying to come in and sabotage a religious service. (God will) take care of it for us."

[Sabriel]

23. One of my friends used a sign that said

"What if God LOVES fags, though? Think about it...."

That got him a few looks.