Friday, April 24, 2009

Pamela Geller vs. LGF

So I wake up from a nap and, curious to know what's happening out there in blogland, I check Memeorandum and see this headline from Little Green Footballs:

Pamela Geller: Poster Girl for Eurofascists

OK, to boil it down: Next month, Geller will attend a conference in Cologne, Germany, on the Islamicization of Europe. One of the key figures in the German group sponsoring the Cologne conference is Manfred Rouhs. He has appeared at events with neo-Nazi activist Axel Reitz who, in turn, has appeared at events with neo-Nazi activist Christian Worch.

Whence these associations? I've explained it before, but I'll explain it again: The mainstream "conservative" parties in Europe have refused to address effectively the issues of immigration and multiculturalism. (In Europe, multiculturalism takes the form of pandering to their massive number of Islamic immigrants.) Because mainstream politicians have forfeited leadership on these legitimate concerns of their citizens, the vacuum has been filled by the likes of Reitz and Worch. Ergo, if there is a conference in Europe addressing the question of whether Islamicization is a threat, it won't be organized entirely by "respectable" types.

Thus, Johnson's guilt-by-association attack on Geller highlights the real problem we face in America: If the Republican Party and the mainstream conservative movement don't recognize and respond to our own citizens' concerns about immigration and multiculturalism, then those issues will be taken over by similarly disreputable groups.

What should Geller do? Cancel her trip to Germany? I think not. Rather, she use the occasion to alert Germans to the consequences of cowardice by their leaders. Germans, perhaps better than any other people, are aware of the heinous results when democracy fails in a time of crisis.

Anyone who has read William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich knows that Hitler never would have come to power if the mainstream conservative parties in Germany had more effectively addressed the problems of the Weimar Republic. The German people were desperate for leadership, a credible alternative to the ineptitude of the Social Democrats who dominated Weimar, and Hitler -- who had shrewdly studied the tactics of the Social Democrats in his native Austria -- appeared to offer such an alternative.

Knowing that history, one sees why so many conservatives were frustrated and outraged about George Bush and John McCain's open-borders stance on immigration. Anyone who paid attention to talk radio -- and I was doing a talk-radio tour to promote Donkey Cons while S.2611 was being debated in the Senate -- knew that grassroots conservatives were about 110% against the "shamnesty." And yet the Republican leadership allowed this opposition to be smeared (and, indeed, John McCain himself smeared them) as "anti-immigrant" and worse.

This was a Weimar-style failure of leadership. The Republicans in Washington were doing the exact opposite of what the people who had elected them wanted them to do. No surprise, then, that the GOP lost the 2006 mid-terms. And then the Republicans nominated as their 2008 presidential candidate the chief Senate advocate of "shamnesty," who proceeded to demonstrate he was as inept and tone-deaf on economics as he was on immigration.

So, here we are in 2009. The Republican Party is now nearly irrelevant in Washington and Obama and the Democrats are gearing up to push their own "shamnesty." And what's Charles Johnson doing? Is LGF rallying conservatives to oppose the Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda?

No. Pamela Geller is doing that. Every freaking day. And also getting smeared by LGF every freaking day. The result? She's doubled her traffic in the past year.

Given the threat we face here in America, I'm willing to let the Germans evaluate how much of a fascist threat Rouhs and Reitz pose to Germany, and I'm willing to let Pamela Geller decide which conferences she does and does not attend.

Mark Steyn, Kathy Shaidle, Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller -- we're all "Rightwing Extremists" now.

UPDATE: Linked by Atlas Shrugs, who laughs at the idea of pro-Israel neo-Nazis. Folks, the tectonic plates of politics are shifting, as I've realized ever since I noticed liberal feminist Phyllis Chesler citing The Camp of the Saints. And if anybody feels tempted to hit my tip jar, please don't resist that temptation.

UPDATE II: Linked at Hyscience, who calls Pamela a "common sense-thinking conservative who's willing to speak out for what she believes in."

I like "Rightwing Extremist" better. Easier to remember. BTW, trivia time: "Pamela" is Greek for "honey."

UPDATE III: Robert Spencer accuses me of writing "sensibly"! And he thinks he's got a libel problem. Next thing you know, I'll be accused of being "a top Hayekian public intellectual." No, wait . . .

37 comments:

  1. I am 100% --no, make that 200% - behind Pamela Geller. Wish I could post comments to her site easier, but this will have to do: Keep up the great work, both of you.
    JB

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  2. Great post.

    I've had enough of Charles' bizarro attacks on Pam Geller, Bobby Jindal, Robert Spencer, and conservative Christians.

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  3. The result? She's doubled her traffic in the past year.And oddly LGF's traffic appears to have rapidly declined /sarcasm off

    Mody Dick comes to mind.

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  4. This is the same Pam Geller who was pushing that "Obama is a secret Muslim" and "Obama is not a citizen" crap back before the election, right ?

    Yea, I think I'll go with Johnson on this one.

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  5. When I first started blogging I came across LGF and gave it a shot.
    I offered a mild rebuke to one of Johnson's pontification and was told in his most "mature" fashion to start my own blog if I didn't like what he said.
    That was all I needed to see how shallow this clown is.
    I haven't given this egocentric jerk the time of day since.

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  6. Robert Spencer is gonna keep telling it like it is. Charles is going to keep on believing the Earth is older than 6000 years (what an idiot!). And Pamela is going to continue on with her common sensical conservatism (keep on that good fight over Obama's birth cert, Pam! and I think you're on to something with that Malcolm X love child angle. Keep digging and exposing the truth, babe!)

    There might be some Germans who wear funny looking coats at this conference, but why should we care? ISLAM is the root problem in this world!

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  7. I think your post is pretty solid but I also think that Charles is correct about who these people are.

    I think Pam is acting with honor and is doing what is needed, but we can't let it blind us to reality. I think these guys are playing the Soviet South Africa game. Or as Frank Pantangli said to Michael Corlone:

    Your father did business with Hyman Roth but your father never trusted Hyman Roth If we are to deal with these guys lets do it with eyes wide open.

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  8. Chuck's gone off the deep end. I used to be a big fan of LGF several years ago, but jeez, what a wacko he's become.

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  9. NO, it's NOT OKAY to associate with and promote neo-fascists and neo-nazis because you are concerned about the effects of immigration.

    NOT OKAY. NEVER OKAY.

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  10. You know which Party knew how to handle immigration right? The Know-Nothings. You would have been a fantastic member of that party, except it was largely Northern...I mean, we're all aware at how you Georgians handled immigration: Auction at the docks.

    Gellar's hatred of Muslims stinks almost as badly as you trying to enter the mainstream of politics. Kooks lecturing kooks on how to be more marginal. Nice work.

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  11. This whole guilt by association thing by Chuck has gone way too far. This is not like Obama associating with Ayers and Wright, as well as other far far left folks, for long periods of time, going to the church for 20 years, etc. This is a matter of Pam and the others going to a conference to speak about Islamofascism with a group that is pro-Israel. Kinda hard to be a neo-nazi with a pro-Israel viewpoint.

    Personally, I have gotten tired of his attacks on Creationism. I am not a Creationist, I float somewhere between Darwinism and ID. But, I see no problem in teaching all three in schools, though Creationism should not be taught as science. Charles is certainly entitled to his opinion, and, it's his blog. But, man, he is rather fixated, and it looks like he is afraid of different viewpoints to be allowed to be given.

    Anyhow, I delinked Pam years ago, I think it was about her getting in a blogwar with a couple of my good blog friends, but, she is going back on the blog roll.

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  12. "Pamela" is Greek for "honey." And Geller is Greek for bad plastic surgery.

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  13. Stacy

    you are becoming the elder statesman of the conservative blogs. I think that was a compliment. Both Atlas and LGF are infrequent sites for me. LGF lost any appeal for my after he attacked Beck, who is an enigma wrapped in a twinkie.

    Gellar at least is shooting at the enemy.

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  14. Geller is Greek for bad plastic surgery? Then Anonymous must be Greek for "too cowardly to come out and be catty in public"
    No. 1 : I think Pamela is beautiful.
    No. 2 : what does this have with the real fight we're in?

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  15. Even worse. Another Guest is Petra Edelmannova, chair of the Czech National Party, a fascist organisation that has led a vicious racist campaign against Romany Gypsies in the Czech Republic. Last month Edelmannova co-authored a booklet called “The Final Solution to the Gypsy Issue in the Czech Lands” that advocates “relocating” Czech Romanies to India.
    Last year, the National Party wanted to place a controversial memorial to war victims at the location of the wartime internment camp for Romanies in Lety, south Bohemia.

    "We believe that such people are not worth to have memorials built. We build a memorial to those who achieved something," Pravo quotes Edelmannova as saying about the Lety victims. "When people do not observe good hygiene and then spread infectious diseases, it is in fact their fault," she added.

    According to historical documents, 326 people perished in the Lety camp and more than 500 of its inmates ended up in the extermination camp in Oswiecim (Auschwitz). The NS argues that the Lety camp was only a work camp where Romanies died of common diseases.

    Edelmannova is known for her radical opinions about Romanies and other races living in the Czech Republic. The paper recalls that she promotes the idea that these minorities should emigrate or return to their homeland.

    "We support the emigration of Gypsies currently living in the Czech Republic to India. Racism is natural fear of danger," Edelmannova said last year according to Pravo.

    http://dokmz.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/far-right-party-wants-to-relocate-roma-to-india/

    http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_291

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  16. For some reason my last attempt to weigh in on this went down the memory hole.

    I will restate for the record that
    LGF's influence on the "blogosphere" was highly overrated in the story by Dave Weigel. Sure he influenced particular bloggers. But the B-o-S was in full swing prior to 9-11, and 9-11 itself was far more responsible for the rise of many prominent sites today.

    Regarding the "feud," it's fair to say Pamela doesn't do "subtle," nor does she worry overmuch about exact word meaning in her writing. You have to allow for that in reading her blog, otherwise it's a bit harsh in tone.

    Having said that, she provides important information. Is that unusual? No. Even in classic news organizations, not all information comes packaged in the wrappings we want. We each have to decide our own threshold of tolerance there. We also have to decide whether we think it's a good idea to seem supportive of a given writer.

    Charles is clearly infected with a knee-jerk urge to purge. Not a very helpful characteristic in an independent.

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  17. I absolutely disagree.

    American conservatives should stay away from the German or European far right. It´s a misunderstanding to think we have anything in common. Why does Geller have to go? What are these Germans to her? We don´t need them. The day we need them we are finished.

    I also have to say that opposing illegal immigrants is NOT a good issue for conservatives. It always brings out the nasty cranks. While the majority of Americans wants control of the borders, even most Republican voters are repelled by talk of "shamnesty" and "deportation". Christian conservatives certainly are. It´s sometimes more a problem of tone than substance but the fact remains: who has ever won an election running on an anti-immigration platform? Not even in border states have voters gone that way, including in 2006.

    Secure borders and some kind of regularization (aka shamnesty, aka path to citizenship) is the majority position in America. All the evidence says so. Deal with it. Wishful thinking is not conservative.

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  18. It was said earlier but I join in support of Pam Geller. She supports Conservatives and Republicans, not when things are easy, but when things are hard (I always liked her "I AM GEORGE BUSH" Vlog).

    Democrats switch on their issues on a dime. Like Donald Douglas, she stands firm on the issues.

    I never went to LGF, but he has walked down the same path as Andrew Sullivan -- not a Conservative. If you want to claim the mantle of Republican and Conservative, it helps to have friends claim that too. (Does anyone know if Andrew Sullivan has any Conservative friends anymore?)

    I stand with Pam Geller.

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  19. I also have to say that opposing illegal immigrants is NOT a good issue for conservatives. It always brings out the nasty cranks.So, that means that anyone who actually wants to enforce the friggin' law is a nasty crank? Well, count me in. You can just call me an Extreme Nasty Crank Right Wing Extremist.

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  20. It's interesting to note the blind acceptance of the "European far right" premise of this whole imbroglio.

    For some of you, suddenly it seems totally reasonable that Israel-supporting jews would climb over broken glass to team up with the kind of far-right "groups" that we supposedly defeated in WWII.

    Jean Claude Revel had a lot to say about this phenomenon. For a while, it was "safe" for both the left and right to look upon the specter of post-WWII naziism or fascism (in any form), and make a great show of (supposedly) trying to root it out and destroy it. Obviously, we have to remain vigilant. That's not what is actually happening, though. Instead of looking at the influence of these supposed "movements" and realizing they are small, and losing influence daily, some chose to inflate their prominence and use them as props in some bizarre attention-seeking performance.

    The race does not go to the driver who spends all his time looking in the rear-view mirror.

    While focusing on a defeated movement the is almost universally reviled--even by a huge percentage of our enemies--we are ignoring the real spread of undefeated ideologies like that of the Taliban.

    It's much easier, far more convenient, and a helluva lot safer to make a great show of dragging out the pathetic few "European right wing" groups that exist and rattling their cages, than it is to deal squarely with the growing problems of the new jihadists. What a pathetic tactic.

    Thanks to the blogosphere, this tactic is now flagged, and the users of it are given a well-deserved "smackdown" (a-la McCain). That's why the LGF blog is in FAIL! status. And it's why intelligent people are finding better things to do with their time.

    So, for all the hand-wringers, thanks for all the WARNINGS! But roll up your sleeves and get to work on the real problem.

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  21. Nice Post!! Pam needs to keep telling it like it is. Charles is an egomaniac and sees neo-nazis at every turn. I used to think he saw that Islam was the problem, but now he's just out to get anyone that doesn't agree with him

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  22. looks like your nice german fellows don't like the Jews though

    The ganghttp://www.nrw.vvn-bda.de/texte/0509_winnenden.htm

    http://www.rhein-berg-online.ksta.de/html/artikel/1239772089506.shtml

    the kind of neo-nazi guis are no conservative, what they want is to set disorder, and frighten the population, to go at the "castagne" like Hitler's felllows did at the beginnings, is their "high" trip

    Besides Germany isn't a dhimmi country like UK and or Neederland, where communautarisms dictate the laws.

    I am sure that Frau Merkel keeps all her attention on the subject, and it is funny that Americans wants to lecture us how to behave with our communauties, they have no ideas how people are interconnected here, I tell ya, you'd better watch your back in your country, where the crime ratio is much higher than in our countries

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  23. You all on both sides of this issue, keep talking about what "conservative" Pam Geller should and should not do.

    I'd remind each and every one of you that Pamela IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE, but rather a LIBERTARIAN. As in L-I-B-E-R-T-A-R-I-A-N. The title of her blog comes from LIBERTARIAN Ayn Rand, not from some Conservative philosopher like Edmund Burke.

    Libertarian Republican blog has had Atlas Shrug on our Blog Roll since the beginning, and we fully intend to keep it up there. Keep on fighting the good fight Pamela. Conservatives may get squishy on you, but we Libetarians fully support your efforts to expose Worldwide Islamo-Fascism.

    Eric Dondero, Publisher
    Libertarian Republican

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  24. I found Pam through LGF. I had seen LGF linked from other conservative sites and gave it a try. The times I did take the time to read LGF teed me off. Don't knock Glenn Beck. He's upfront about what he feels and what he's saying, and I agree with him about almost everything. At least he stands for something and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. He's not passing himself off as news, just opinion. When I was linked to LGF recently, I found Pam Geller and am really glad that I did. LGF could take some tips from her ballsy way of putting it out there. Andrew Sullivan, Jr. should do a little soul searching and cross on over to the dark side if he doesn't agree with the conservative point of view. Rock On Pam from another Pam. I read you every day now.

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  25. Guilt by association isn't fun or fair when it's happening to you, is it? See Obama/Ayers

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  26. Is the a Left Wing Commie site or just a left wing?

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  27. I agree wholeheartedly. The BNP, for example, is the only British party that's advocating actual resistance to immigration and to the outrageous demands of resident Muslim punks.

    Where else can a Brit go these days if he's infuriated by the surrender of his country to a disgusting culture and religion? Yes, disgusting.

    The ever-so-delicate main parties of Britain are pansies about the ghastly Muslim presence and are raising their legs like a cur dog in the face of their dissembling viciousness. So, if throwing votes the BNP way is a vote for the policies you want and it turns out that the main parties figure out that this is a C-L-U-E about which way their electoral fortunes are headed, well then, that's the way to vote.

    Datechguy is right about being judicious about whom you vote for, but what's judicious about voting for the appeasement and delusion parties?

    To argue that support for [hateful non-PC political party of your choice] will serve up an instant totalitarian regime is to invoke the dreaded "slippery slope" argument, as though the next election in [country] just HAS to result in a tectonic shift. The BNP is readily characterized as something wholly alien and bizarre in the context of 21st-century Britain . . . but the Muslim? Why he's for tea and crumpets, rugger, and Jolly Old like you wouldn't believe.

    Consider these facts cited by Bruce Bawer in his recent article, "Heirs to Fortuyn? Europe's turn to the right":

    "In 2001, 65% of rapes in Norway were committed by what the country's police call "non-Western" men—a category consisting overwhelmingly of Muslims, who make up just 2% of that country's population. In 2005, 82% of crimes in Copenhagen were committed by members of immigrant groups, the majority of them Muslims."

    And this in a European government that has experienced a teeny electoral backlash. Faced with similar statistics evidencing disastrous political, economic, social, legal and cultural changes, the governments of Europe collectively suck their thumbs and watch the Wahhabi mosques grow like mold in the heart of Europe.

    If you erased the word "fascist" from Johnson's site, it would be like the two lumps of coal and the carrot of a snowman left after the first spring thaw. In the practical world of politics something more is needed that just finger pointing and hand wringing.

    For that matter, a lot of idiots in the U.S. voted unreservedly and wholeheartedly for a deeply suspect Obama, he of the racist background and mystery agenda, and dumped two Democrat majorities in his lap to boot. That's "moderation" for you, I guess, and more than fine with the people who fret over sneaker factories in the rain forest and Pam Geller's making common cause with people in Europe actually willing to resist the Muslims.

    I'm sick of people whose sensibilities are just ever so precious and refined about the backgrounds of some folks but are simply indifferent to the inundation of their country by foreigners hostile to or, at best, indifferent to the culture and laws. Cultural and political suicide is fine with them but Pam's giving a speech in Cologne is reason to call for Defcon I?

    This is not a bridge playoff tournament at the senior citizens' center. It's a fight in the parking lot with the other side wielding crowbars and table legs. Google "antifa" for a taste.

    People who like to walk around with a board between their legs don't have much to contribute and they exist behind the shield that Orwell's hard men have built between them and the filth.

    And here's a news flash for those types: just throwing around the work Nazi or neo-Nazi isn't proof that the nationalist parties of Europe are interested in "lebensraum" for Danes, Brits, or Finns, or intent on Treblinka redux. There are many ways to preserve one's nation and we're being forced to pursue the difficult one of supporting small opposition parties and abandoning main-stream parties that just will NOT trim their sails to protect the interests of native-born citizens when in conflict with hostile and freeloading foreigners.

    My guess is that nationalist parties are supported by people who've got their eyes wide open and are tired of the #$@^ that's ladled out by the really top drawer swells that, for now, are running things. Think "compassionate conservatism."

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  28. William Teach,

    I want to win, what about you? I said the debate brings out people who sound (and sometimes are) angry and mean in the eyes of voters who then do not vote for the candidates. And that´s a fact.
    Being politically smart is unconservative now?

    You can enforce the law when you are in power. But first I would advise you to read Richard Nadler´s article in the February 23 National Review. Or are they now RINOs too?

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  29. I checked up on this Rouhs guy whom Charles Johnson rants about. Germany has strict laws regarding sale of Nazi material, and he adheres to those.

    Further, his web site initially was given a 'Far Right' designation from the German Ministry of Interior. After talking with Rouhs, they found the designation unwarranted and removed his site from the list.

    Finally, this whole "European Far Right Movement" thing is a Myth.

    We can relax. It's only a blogger gone awry.

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  30. I think your post is pretty solid but I also think that Charles is correct about who these people are.I think that when you're a Stalinist, everybody else looks like a Nazi. "Charles" is swallowing far left propaganda, to be generous about it.

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  31. Secure borders and some kind of regularization (aka shamnesty, aka path to citizenship) is the majority position in America. The fact that the left has to lie like this suggests a lack of confidence in their own position.

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  32. "Even worse. Another Guest is Petra Edelmannova, chair of the Czech National Party, a fascist organisation .."

    Is there any national party which is not fascist in the eyes of the left? Let's face it, in your eyes "nationalism" is a term interchangable with "fascism".

    A lot of left-wingers blew into the GOP after 911. Sadly, they have retained almost all of their left-wing outlook on politics and culture.

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  33. I am something of an admirer of right wing extremist political movements. To me a word like fascist is not an insult. But I do not consider this obnoxious woman right wing or fascist except in the sense that she might fit in like that in Israel.

    I am a white gentile from America. I reject the phony GWOT and the invasion of Iraq. Call me an isolationist if you like. I do not believe the average Muslim is a drooling murderer to be, the way she and the other neocons and Israeli hit squad types would have us believe.

    So to me she is an utterly repulsive neocon. Give me an honest liberal in place of a neocon any day of the week.

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  34. I have been sent Pam's very well-put comments several times now, and googled to find out more about her.
    This is a wonderful site! Full of right-thinking people with communications skills! Rare.And the Blogger-in-Chief is a most sensible and reasoned man!
    I must say that the only thing that seems conspicuously absent in Pam's writings is her failing to name who the folks are who are responsible for running the O show. It's not like they can't be found, nor is their pattern obscure.
    I don't see how we can engage an enemy without his identity ascertained.
    Does anyone here see any chance of a banding together of all the conservative orgs? If we could form a huge group, and agree to agree on some issues, and agree to disagree on those more opaque, we could triumph.
    Otherwise, we're just having a pissing contest, and we all lose.

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  35. Pam Geller speaks the truth and her "critics" can only sling mud? The person who slings mud just loses ground, that's all.

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  36. Ah this is fun to look back on.

    Pam & Spence are in FL saving a girl's life and you critics are... blogging about it.

    Or ignoring it, in which case you are equal to most liberals.

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  37. i would like to correct this blog. Writing here from Italy, immigration is mostly done by christian Romanians not muslims

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