That's why I like it when the libs and media go after guys like this, always claiming he's a right wing Christian. Just giving them enough rope to hang themselves. The same thing is happening with the Karl Rove/Plame story. It's all going to bite them in the ass by the time it's over.

I fully support the first amendment, but I've also punched a guy in the face at a bar after he insulted me for the better part of an hour.

I'm thinking this guy falls under the face-punching category. People who look for trouble generally find it.

To be fair, Phelps isn't a Democrat in any sense of the word. Nobody claims him and I've never seen the MSM try to link him to the GOP. He's sui generis, so to speak. He's just an out and out asshole. (Oh, BTW, I actually have a bit of familiarity with the family, I'm a KS attorney who used to work with the state. One of his daughters was a lawyer with our department. Not to mention he was protesting my law school graduation ceremony from KU, though I never understood why.)

bob: How do you run on a Democrat primary without being a Democrat?

Digital Brownshirt:
"How do you run on a Democrat primary without being a Democrat?"

The same way David Duke ran in a Republican primary without being a Republican. The Democratic Party wants nothing to do with Fred Phelps, the same way the GOP disavowed David Duke. Or the same way the LaRouchites have infiltrated the Democrats in some local races. Let's be fair. Phelps doesn't represent the Democrats.

Although it is a bit rich that Phelps actually gained his notoriety (before he started bashing gays) as the preeminent liberal civil rights lawyer in Kansas. Now that is something I wish the press would emphasize. But I suppose that would deviate from the media's pre-determined script about Phelps.

Bob: Thanks. I can see your point with Duke, although I never noticed him being mentinoned on the news without the R attached to his name.

Now my next question is "Why would Phelps be invited to the '93 inauguration if he wasn't a welcome member of the Democratic party?" It's mentioned in the link Ace posted. This link shows a picture of Gore and Phelps at a Gore fundraiser being held at Phelps home. Sounds like a Democrat to my untrained eye. I realize that politicians get their pictures taken with all sorts of unsavory characters, but having a fundraiser at their home seems kind of unusual. Was Phelps just not as crazy back then as he is now?

I didn't even know Phelps was a lawyer before today, let alone a liberal, civil rights lawyer.

I don't know how he got invited to the 1993 inauguration, I'm assuming some of his Democratic friends from his civil rights days got it him in. Who knows? He was pretty well known by then as being a mean gay-basher so I can't explain it. I'm sure the pooh-bahs in the Democratic party wouldn't have wanted him there. Nor do I understand why Gore, or any Dem politcian would want to be seen with him. I have to presume it was some sort of foul up. Do you really think Al Gore, or any Dem (or GOP) politician would want to be seen with a guy who pickets the funerals of AIDs victims with signs saying, "God Hates Fags"?

Trust me, the Dems have plenty to answer for. And I can understand that after the way liberals play the "conservatives are racist homophobes" card at every opportunity, it would be delicious to hang Phelps around their neck. But honestly, you really can't.

As far as his previous career, he won numerous civil rights lawsuits against the state of Kansas. (I believe he even received awards from the NAACP and ACLU for his efforts---but I might be wrong on that.)

He was eventually disbarred for his unprofessional cross-examination of a witness. He claims he was disbarred because he kept beating the state in these cases. He became anti-gay because his son (or it might have been grandson--I can't recall) was hit on by a gay guy in a park in Topeka. It apparently drove him nuts. The whole family is nuts, he's got like 8 kids, all lawyers, most of them zealots like him. They live in a compound in Topeka. It's some bizarre shit.

Yeah, everything I've heard about him over the years has been pretty crazy. I don't know why the Dems would invite him to the '93 inauguration. Apparently, they got invited to the '97 inauguration too by Al Gore, but didn't attend. He'd already had a falling out with Al by then. The Phelps clan picketed on the front lawn during the ball. The next year he picketed Gore's dad's funeral. I can't stand Gore, but that's pretty f'd up just the same.

Must be quite a few Democrats in Kansas that do agree with Phelps though. He got 15,000 votes out of 103,000 in the '98 primary for governor. The high number surprised me.

> as the preeminent liberal civil rights lawyer in Kansas

So, isn't it possible this is intended to be some kind of bold-yet-lame parody perpetrated by the whole Phelps clan? Like if a bunch of AoS readers dressed up as hippies and anarchists and held an obviously over-the-top war protest? I don't know enough about the Phelpses to know how likely or unlikely that is, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.

I would say it's at least as fair to call Fred Phelps a Democrat as it is to call David Duke a Republican. More to the point, however, it is genuinely crazy that he is frequently held up as an example of the "religious right," when he's anything but a religious conservative.

Note that in addition to "God Hates Fags," Phelps is also fond of saying "God Hates America," "God Hates George Bush," and "God Hates Rush Limbaugh." But that doesn't play into the script of him being some sort of example of an extreme religious righty.

Phelps: the way to tell when your tent is just a little too big.

"God Hates Phelps"