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Nativism at NewsBusters

September 18, 2009 11:20 am ET by Simon Maloy

In the eyes of the right-wing blogosphere, Andrew Sullivan is an apostate. Never mind that he shares their dislike of the Clintons, ignore his admiration of Condoleezza Rice, and forget that he was a big fan of staying the course in Iraq. Sullivan committed two cardinal sins for which there can be no absolution -- he enthusiastically promoted the candidacy of President Obama, and, even worse, he wrote mean things about ex-Gov. Sarah Palin.

But Obama and Palin are old news at this point, so Amy Ridenour has taken to the pages of NewsBusters to proffer a new reason to dislike The Atlantic's premier blogger. Well, it's not exactly "new," as it actually harkens back to the good old days of Know-Nothingism and immigration quotas. In Ridenour's view, Sullivan shouldn't be trusted because he's a "foreigner."

"Why has a man who is not a citizen of the United States been commenting on U.S. domestic policy for the last couple of decades as if he had a citizen's stake in the nation?" asks Ridenour, who goes on to demand that The Atlantic post a disclaimer on its website that makes clear that Sullivan isn't, you know, one of us... Imagine the nerve of a permanent resident of a country taking an interest in that country's internal affairs.

It's an interesting argument for Ridenour to make, given that a few short months ago she posted this blog entry approvingly quoting National Review's Mark Steyn attacking Obama's proposed health care reform. Steyn is also one of those untrustworthy foreigners, being of Canadian citizenship, who lives in America and comments on domestic policy regularly. Unlike Sullivan, however, Steyn is dead-set on never becoming a citizen of the United States -- he told Canada's National Post in 2006: "I'm a citizen of Canada, never been anything else. I don't believe in dual citizenship." Sullivan on the other hand has been trying to attain U.S. citizenship for a long time, but his HIV-positive status prevents him from doing so.

So, using Ridenour's own argument, whose commentary should we trust less -- an Englishman who wants to become a citizen but can't, or a Canadian who has no intention of ever becoming a citizen?

Better yet, let's just dismiss Ridenour's argument as the nativist garbage that it is.

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    • Author by mk3872 (September 18, 2009 12:13 pm ET)
         
      Class-A first-grade WAH-WAH whiner!
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    • Author by shaggles (September 18, 2009 12:13 pm ET)
         
      Is Rupert Murdoch a US citizen?
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      • Author by Bill R in Oakland (September 18, 2009 12:37 pm ET)
           
        Yes, Murdoch became a US citizen in 1985. Several people speculate that his main rationale for becoming a US citizen was so that he could own US television stations (foreigners are not allowed to do that).
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      • Author by yancy derringer (September 18, 2009 3:34 pm ET)
        1  
        Is Rupert Murdoch a US citizen?


        Yes, he became one so he could game our laws that prevent non citizens from owning too much media.
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    • Author by yancy derringer (September 18, 2009 4:07 pm ET)
      2  
      So, someone who isn't a citizen shouldn't be commenting/influencing USA politics? We should fear their involvement?

      The right doesn't have double standards; they have no standards at all.

      I wonder how many times Newsbusters has quoted non-citizen and convicted felon Sun Myung Moon's propaganda organ, the Washington Times. The paper's editors claim the paper has always had "independence" from Moon and his "messianic" agenda,

      which is a lie. One former follower, Craig Maxim, who entertained Moon around the world, said he personally witnessed Moon giving orders on what he wanted done with the paper to Josette Shiner Sheeran, a long time Moon follower who some believe actually ran the paper. Several editors quit the paper over editorial independence but that is not the point, which is that Moon wanted to move American right and empower the theocrats as part of his "messianic" agenda – those who read, work for, or quote approvingly the WT are helping him do just that. Moon doesn't have to tell someone like Wes Pruden what to write; he just hires them and turns them loose on our nation's body politic. I would argue that the government's failure to make Moon's organization register under the Foreign Agents Registrations Act has been the primary reason for the radicalization of the conservative movement and the making of the reality free right we see today. Moon outspent anyone propping up, funding and molding the conservative movement we see today.

      The first editor of the WT, the every conservative James Whelan, said point blank that it was a "moonie newspaper."

      Whelan also said this:

      "They (the Moonies) are subverting our political system. They're doing it through front organizations--most of them disguised--and through their funding of independent organizations--through the placement of volunteers in the inner sanctums of hard-pressed organizations. In every instance--in every instance--those who attend their conferences, those who accept their money or their volunteers, delude themselves that there is no loss of virtue because the Moonies have not proselytized. That misses the central, crucial point: the Moonies are a political movement in religious clothing. Moon seeks power, not the salvation of souls. To achieve that, he needs religious fanatics as his palace guard and shock troops. But more importantly, he needs secular conscripts--seduced by money, free trips, free services, seemingly endless bounty and booty--in order to give him respectability and, with it, that image of influence which translates as power."


      Subverting our political system...indeed.

      Now spend some time searching right wing blogs and sites as many of them fall all over themselves to quote Nile Gardiner, who is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and has written for many right wing publications including the National Review. Gardiner, is now blogging from across the pond but is still widely quoted by the right. Gardiner is a Brit and an excessively rabid right wing Obama hater who also regularly writes about the huge successes of Bush and Cheney.

      The right loves him because he is a foreigner and it makes them feel validated to see him agree with them. They don’t have clue who Gardiner is.

      One would think that when Gardiner was writing a front page article for the National Review about how horrible the UN is, he would mention that as second generation follower of Moons, Gardiner's "religion" and "messiah" ordered that the "U.N. must be annihilated" so the Moon organization “remake” it into Moon's vision. (Moon's front groups are working to get the UN to add a theocratic body/mechanism to its structure as part of his plan to theocratize the planet.)

      Oh, did I mention that Brent Bozell served on the board of the American Freedom Coalition, non-citizen Moon's front group designed, according to it president, to gather the not Christians, but the Christian "right" for political power?

      The AFC is the same group, William Cheshire, another conservative editor who had the principles to quit the WT when he realized the Moon organization used it, mentioned in this talk.

      Cheshire: (Moon) is backing the American Freedom Coalition, this strange mixture of moonies and fundamentalist Christians, who hope to organize at the grass roots and skew the American political system to the far right.


      According to Doug Wead, the AFC was one of the two most powerful conservative "grassroots" organizations in the country at the time Bozell was helping non-citizen and the self proclaimed "Messiah" with his "mission."
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      • Author by yancy derringer (September 18, 2009 4:12 pm ET)
        1  
        sorry for typos, I thought I hit "preview" but must not have.
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      • Author by unicorn144 (September 19, 2009 9:22 pm ET)
           
        In my recent articles about Rev. Moon and the arrival of the "Reich" with the darkest of "Moonshadows" it is the fact that Rev. Moon resists and tries to destroy the man God appointed to lead our Nation as the Messiah for the Black Race at the National Level: just as Mandela is for South Africa or U2 for the Irish: but Rev. Moon is at this point the Moses of Korea.

        According to Unification theology the Jacob of Korea did not inform the black members of his own church that Martin Luther King stood in the position of our Moses on the 430 years of indemnity they suffered in the West, starting at 1492; just as Israel suffered 430 years of slavery in Egypt" and Rev. Moon was well aware of this.

        Aaron Presley was given that God-given Voice of his to erase the invisible racist barrier in the air which seperated what black kids listened to from what white kids were listening to: and this was exactly what God wanted to happen: but Servant King and Prince Aaron were deserted by our Korean Joshua: he never showed: but My Generation did.

        The world knows of what Rev. Moon has showed them of his public side: but I know Rev. Moon for who he is: the prophetic figure foretold long ago whose fate and destiny are etched in prescient detail: the "Faithful and Wise Steward/ servant".

        Judgin Rev. Moon people disobey Christ: who told us to judge no one: lest we be judged; thus Rev. Moon is the "snare" himself at the Last Day; cause whatever you call him you will be at least partly wrong until he dies: as until then there is always hope I can reach him in time.

        Trapped in the Golden Cage of Babylon the Great our Korean friend now awaits his mortal consummation; but the Messiah is Immortal I'm afraid to say: that's the point of the Messiah: Immortality is our Destiny; to transcend Death as our Fate is then our true Destiny; first by Christ: and then for the New Race: the Children of the Resurrection.

        One person now stands and here says:

        "Rev. Moon! Why are you fighting the one God raised up to lead America at the Last Day? Why have you hidden the fact of our black Moses Rev. King and our white Aaron Prine Aaron Presley: these "two brothers" under the skin: for before we forget the "golden calf" of Elvis as Aaron fell with our parents generation, Aaron Presley was part Cherokee: you joined not with the two races of the Black and the Red who met the children of the White Race: of our internal Exodus from "Egypt"; racist Americs itself.

        Now Rev. Moon as the "Elder Brother" turns against us: to died as John the Baptist died in the Palace of Herod.

        We shall see: I have no intention of dying: like some people I know.

        The Wrath of the Lamb


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    • Author by unicorn144 (September 19, 2009 9:34 pm ET)
         
      It is the collapse of the Right centered on the Messianic destiny of one man from Korea: who did not listen.

      Moon and Busg will see more of North Korea: not less.

      The Wrath of the Lamb
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