The Edwards imbroglio: Left eye open, right eye blind

If Edwards can fairly be castigated for hiring bloggers who have published material offensive to Catholics, then why doesn't the Republican party suffer for its connections to Tim LaHaye, who has been deriding the Pope as the Antichrist since the 1970s?

How bigoted is LaHaye? Check it out:

It came to light that LaHaye's church in San Diego throughout the 1970s had sponsored an anti-Catholic group called Mission to Catholics. One pamphlet produced by the group asserted that Pope Paul VI was the "archpriest of Satan, a deceiver, and an antichrist, who has, like Judas, gone to his own place."

I started watching LaHaye in the 1970s. I can assure you that his Pope-bashing at that time was of the most primeval and superstitious variety.

He also has a problem with Jews, whom he has blamed for killing Jesus. A LaHaye quote: "Brilliant Jewish minds have all too frequently been devoted to philosophies that have proved harmful to mankind."

What kind of role does Timmy play in the conservative movement? Check it out:

In 1981 LaHaye founded the Council for National Policy—claiming, at one time, some 600,000 members. In the 1980s, the CNP was quite the political/religious machine; spawning countless campaigns and organizations. Included among its members were Ed Meese, John Ashcroft, Pat Robertson and, of course Falwell—as well as key think tanks, and activists like Grover Norquist and Oliver North. A lot of the "right-wing jihad" against President Clinton in the 1990s was funded by CNP supporters like Texas oilman and silver manipulator, Nelson Bunker Hunt, Richard DeVos of Amway and beer magnate Joseph Coors (the same crowd that funded the contras in Central America).

Impeaching Clinton was allegedly conceived by the CNP in Montreal in June of 1997. Falwell touts the CNP for helping raise hundreds of millions for ventures like Liberty University (the second largest Evangelical Christian University in America—surpassed only by Baylor (Baptist) University in Waco, TX). President Bush attended a CNP meeting at the start of his 1999 presidential campaign, and Rumsfeld took part in the group’s gathering last April in Washington, D.C. Republican political strategist, Paul Weyrich, once said: "Without [LaHaye], what we call the religious right would not have developed the way it did, and as quickly as it did."

(Emphasis added.) Also see here.

LaHaye was a key member of the John Birch Society in California. The JBS revived the ludicrous "Illuminati" conspiracy theory, previously the domain of such notorious anti-Semites as Gerald Winrod and William Guy Carr. In his books, lectures and other writings, LaHaye transported that canard into the "Christian" mainstream.

LaHaye was also one of "behind the scenes" figures involved with the creation of Fundamentalism's most notorious fake, Mike Warnke's The Satan Seller. That's the one which launched the whole Satan-gonna-getcher-kids meme which pseudo-Christians love so much.

Much of the paranoia which now characterizes Fundamentalism traces to the sick, sick Tim LaHaye -- recipient of Reverend Moon's funding and stalwart of the modern conservative movement.

Speaking of hate speech by bloggers connected to candidates, what about Free Republic participant and John McCain hireling Patrick Hynes? You should see what Media Matters has dug up on that guy.

It's the old, old story: Left eye open, right eye blind.