My points here have nothing to do with my opinion of the ACLU, or the Trib’s editorial point regarding it versus Buck.

I’m just pointing out the truth, having grown up 45 minutes from Phelps’ home base of Topeka. Republicans and conservative Christians have been his targets for years before he began his anti-homosexual crusade. Anything conservative is anathema to him–its why he dropped out of Bob Jones University.

You still ignore the point of my post. Phelps is not a conservative and it is wrong to label him so just to defend the ACLU.

You said it was obvious that he is a conservative. I asked you how. You have not provided any proof. Changing the subject doesn’t change the fact that you have no proof.

As for the ACLU, I can cite and example where a state chapter defended a gun owner — that does not make the ACLU a pro-Second Amendment organization.

Keep talking, I’m having fun and it drives up my web traffic!

Kettle, I’d like to introduce you to black pot, and black pot, this is kettle …

So nice to see that you spend so much time on my blog! Perhaps enough time spent reading and you will begin to see the light!

Good job of selective editing — proving you are a master of misinformation! It’s nice to see you can craft a reality when it fits your job description. So many of us are inconvenienced by the truth. Thank you for making my point about Fred Phelps as a bad example of the ACLU defending conservatives. I assume you will demand that the Tribune not insult Fred Phelps by labeling him a Christian conservative!

As to the other cases you provide, I appreciate the time you took to provide them.

Cheers!

Amy

ACLU defends libertarian, conservative economics professor: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Feb-05-Sat-2005/news/25808494.html

ACLU defends Sen. Larry Craig: http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/freespeech/craig_v_minnesota_acluamicus.pdf

ACLU sides with Jerry Falwell: http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16040prs20020417.html

ACLU joins with conservative groups in supporting “5-11″ campaign: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-11_Campaign

Conservatives Dick Armey, Bob Barr join ACLU: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-11-24-aclu-usat_x.htm

Fred and his family began picketing a local park and gay-run businesses in Topeka while before I was a teen, and I grew up in northeast Kansas. The Matthew Sheppard murder propelled Phelps into his national activism.

Phelps has been and likely will always be a registered Democrat. His beliefs on issues such as welfare and race relations are very much to the left. Part of his leanings come from wanting to distance himself as far as possible from well-known conservative Christians like Jerry Falwell. Most recently, one of his grandchildren ran as a Dem for the Topeka City Council in an attempt to remove the city’s first openly gay member of that board.

Yesterday’s editorial reference to Phelps as a conservative Christian lit me up immediately. The Trib is welcome to its opinion on the ACLU v. Buck case, but to claim that Phelps is conservative is way off base. At the very least, this was sloppy fact-checking. I want the truth about this man and his full history to be obvious, not obscured behind political claims that have no basis in truth.

What makes it “obvious” that Phelps is a conservative? I see nothing in his past or present that is conservative. He is a crazy, lunatic.

As for your other point about the editorial overall, I’m not arguing against it. The Tribune has a right to its opinion and you have a right to agree but labeling Fred Phelps as a right wing Christian conservative to bolster an argument that the ACLU defends conservatives is inaccurate. Rush Limbaugh does not a pattern make. Show me a list of all the other conservatives the ACLU has defended? If the ACLU is so concerned with privacy rights of all citizens, then why didn’t it rush to the defense of Joe the Plumber or Americans whose identity has been stolen? Why not a class action lawsuit against the federal government for enabling identity theft of Americans?

Amy, your argument begins to lose credibility with this point. So 10-20 years ago Fred was a Democrat? So what. Isn’t it obvious, Amy and Troy, that now he is a conservative? It’s certainly good to hear conservative Christians denounce Fred and his church. They have been silent about Fred far too long. It’s people like Fred who give conservatives a bad name, and more mainstream conservatives need to speak up about this nut job, as you describe him. I can understand trying to distance yourselves from Fred, but I don’t think the Trib is too far off with its main point — the ACLU has defended lots of conservative causes over the years (I notice you don’t have any defense for the Rush Limbaugh point) and if you dismiss the Fred Phelps case, what do you say about all the others in which the ACLU has defended conservatives in the name of defending the Constitution? And what do you say about the Trib’s overall point, that Cooke and Buck are being flippant and political with a serious Constitutional issue? If this Fred Phelps point is the only defense you have, apparently the Trib is right on point about the editorial overall.