Jerry Falwell Still Dead; or, Golly, Now I'm Really on the InterWebs

In celebration of my first anonymous flame exchange (see previous post), I decided to weigh in again on the national discussion around Jerry Falwell's demise yesterday.

Being of a genteel nature, I blanche at feelings of joyfulness around the death of any person. Falwell's death, however, puts a tremendous strain on my sensibility. Nonetheless, in the previous column, I tried to remain as factually accurate as possible. Bigots everywhere must indeed be saddened by "Dr." Falwell's passing, since he was such an effective purveyor of bigotry. Falwell did, after all, give the segregationist governor George Wallace a platform on the nationally broadcast "Old Time Gospel Hour." Falwell did rise to national prominence as a conservative Christian leader while attacking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and what Falwell termed "the Civil Wrongs Movement."

It is important, too, to shine a bit of light on Falwell's ongoing impact on our national political landscape. Falwell shaped the contemporary Republican party as much as Ronald Reagan did. George W. Bush has publicly expressed strong feelings for Falwell, and the president counted on Falwell's tremendous financial and network support to get him elected, just as Reagan did. This is all a matter of public record and easily available from countless sources.

Here are the first round of comments from the leading Republican candidates for president about Falwell's legacy:

John McCain, who in the 2000 campaign for president listed Falwell among the "agents of intolerance," changed his tune of late (another testament to Falwell's power amongst Republicans). McCain described Falwell yesterday as, " "a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country." (McCain was also the commencement speaker at Falwell's Liberty University last year.)

Mitt Romney called Falwell, ""an American who built and led a movement based on strong principles and strong faith."

And Rudy Giuliani, while inspecting the Republican debate site on Tuesday, called Falwell, "a man who set a direction" and someone who was "not afraid to speak his mind."

Note that the three top candidates all used weasel words. On one hand, none of them stated any direct support of Falwell's "principles" or "direction." On the other hand, not one of them spoke ill of the segreationist, gay-baiting, Apartheid-supporting late pastor from Virginia. (See a fine article about some of Falwell's rather scary, bigotted positions and political rise on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Website, here.)

It should be enough, I hope, to point to Falwell's long record of hate and intolerance and ask Republicans, whose party platform was largely built by Falwell's labor, if they wish to continue to support that record now that the bigot is dead. Falwell was a very public, hugely influential conservative. Although I'm sure his death is painful for his family, pointing out the facts of the man's history upon his death and asking President George W. Bush and the Republican candidates if they continue to side with him is not only perfectly fair, but also urgently necessary.

Jerry Falwell Dies, Bigots Everywhere in Mourning

The Baptist Minister, racial segregationist, anti-gay activist, and eminent Republican champion Jerry Falwell has just died.

Prominent since the 1960s, when he spoke out against Martin Luther King on his "Old Time Gospel Hour" TV program, Falwell founded the Republican political action group he named "The Moral Majority" in 1979. One of the architects of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential victory and a major source of support for current president George W. Bush, Falwell will be missed by Republicans nationwide.

Falwell visited South Africa in the early 1980s to support South African President Botha and the segregationist Apartheid regime there, urging conservative Christians in America to invest in Botha's brutal government.

In 1994, Falwell produced and sold a tape on his Republican, conservative Christian TV show attacking President Bill Clinton. The faux-documentary featured Paula Jones denouncing Clinton and went on to claim that both Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in a massive drug-smuggling operation, and that the president and Mrs. Clinton had murdered a number of their critics. In 1996, Falwell's dream of the destruction of America's public school system came close to success when Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole made it a platform plank in his campaign. More recently, Falwell claimed, while on Pat Robertson's 700 Club TV show, that gays, feminists, and members of the ACLU (among other liberal Americans), were directly responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001.

Although a strong supporter of the current Republican administration (especially its "Faith Based Initiatives"), Falwell suffered from poor health in recent years; his survival of a cardiac arrest prompted a personal call of support to him from President George W. Bush on May 30, 2005.

Jerry Falwell's impact on the GOP of today cannot be overestimated, and conservative Republicans everywhere are sure to mourn his death. I await the inevitable public statement about Falwell's passing from President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who gave the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University in 2006. The self-styled "Dr." Falwell founded Liberty University and was its chancellor at the time of his death. Falwell leaves behind the campus, a history of dedicated work against civil rights and public education, and a fundamentalist Republican party he helped in large part to create.