SPLC: Phony ‘Civil Rights’ Group Dishes Out Hate for ‘Hate Groups’

In a story about the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) accusing conservative Christian groups like the Family Research Council of “hate,” The Washington Post described the SPLC as a “civil rights organization.” But The Social Contract, a public policy journal, investigated the SPLC in a recent issue and found that it used “ritual defamation” as a weapon “to advance a far-left agenda and a device to raise more money from gullible liberals to add to its $200 million slush fund.”

The SPLC is  a “slime machine” that has also targeted the Eagle Forum, the Heritage Foundation, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) The Social Contract says.

The “slush fund” reference is to the $200 million in “reserve funds” that its directors have invested “in hedge funds and offshore bank accounts in places like the Cayman Islands,” The Social Contract claims.

While the group claims to find political extremists on the right (and once labeled this writer a member of a sinister group of “Patriots” for writing critically of the United Nations, President Obama, and the homosexual lobby, among other things) it is the SPLC that has an agenda far outside the mainstream. The group’s “Teaching Tolerance” project even ran an article praising unrepentant Communist terrorist bomber Bill Ayers as a “civil rights organizer, radical anti-Vietnam War activist, teacher and author.” An “editor’s note” goes so far as to say that Ayers “has became a highly respected figure in the field of multicultural education.”

In fact, his past is finally catching up with him, as law enforcement authorities investigate his possible role in the 1970 bombing murder of a San Francisco policeman, and his former employer, the University of Illinois, rejected his request for “professor emeritus” status because he and his wife Bernardine Dohrn had dedicated a book in part to the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy.

Since RFK was opposed to the Vietnam War and was in fact the leading anti-war candidate at the time, this makes the claim of Ayers being an “anti-Vietnam War activist” a total lie. Ayers favored the war but wanted the communist North Vietnamese to win. They did, with the help of Ayers and a liberal Congress cutting off aid to non-Communist South Vietnam.

While the Post and other liberal media treat the SPLC with respect it does not deserve, the Social Contract has carried a series of articles exposing the SPLC, including one by a left-winger, Ken Silverstein, who notes that the group’s headquarters has become known as the “Poverty Palace.” Silverstein quoted one authentic civil rights leader as calling one of the leaders of the SPLC a fraud and a con man.

One of the articles, by Kevin Lamb, examined the SPLC’s close cooperation with the major media, which are not surprisingly anxious for sensational stories about alleged right-wing extremists and “haters.”

Also, not surprisingly, the SPLC is a source of “authoritative” information for the George Soros-funded Media Matters group, which specializes in smearing media organizations opposed to the Obama Administration agenda. Media Matters is run by a former conservative turned homosexual activist by the name of David Brock, and his apparent grudge against his former colleagues, who rejected his lifestyle, seems to motivate his animus.

The SPLC and the FBI

While Media Matters will undoubtedly continue to cite the SPLC as a credible source, a far more serious matter is that somebody in the FBI has recommended the organization.

As noted by journalist Phil Kent, who did a YouTube video on the problem, the FBI has listed the SPLC as a credible source of information on “hate crimes.” Inexplicably, the page still exists, despite the discrediting of the group by The Social Contract.

Kent points out that the SPLC, as part of its “Teaching Tolerance” project, ran an “activity” for students called “Thanksgiving Mourning,” promoting the United American Indians of New England as a resource. Its site calls for the freedom from prison of convicted killer Leonard Peltier, who murdered two FBI agents.

Killing FBI agents sounds like something that could be considered hateful. Perhaps the FBI ought to take notice of the real agenda of the SPLC.

Now under scrutiny for targeting the well-respected Family Research Council (FRC) as a “hate group,” SPLC President Richard Cohen and SPLC’s “Intelligence Project Director” Mark Potok have scheduled a live webcast for the media on December 7 at 2:00 p.m. EST to try to defend their smear tactics. Perhaps the liberal media are getting tired of the SPLC routine and need to hear some justification for continuing to use their smears disguised as “news.”

Potok has already appeared on the Chris Matthews Hardball show on the hard-left MSNBC television network to publicize his false attacks on the FRC.

The latest stunt from the SPLC was apparently designed to try to prevent Congress from considering the views of conservative Christians as the Senate takes up the gays-in-the-military matter.

Gulag Note, Phil Kent video cited above:


Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and may be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.

Images & video added by Gulag Bound

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