BlatherWatch

Ron sims kicks hutcherson ass in christian brawl

They ran off The Devil last night over at Town Hall.

But who was The Devil and who was doing the running was a matter of perspective; and both perspectives were capably presented and each had its own hallelujah choir packing the hall.

It was County Executive Ron Sims and Rev. Ken Hutcherson debating the question, "Is the gay rights movement the new civil rights movement?" It was an entertaining evening.

Hutcherson is the black former Seahawk cum Eastside megachurch preacher who led local and national anti-gay rallies; and bullied Microsoft last year to defeat a gay rights bill in the Legislature. He's a friend of Rush Limbaugh, and James Dobson and a charismatic Christian zealot with the charm and temperament of one of the Rottweillers he raises.

(Hutcherson also has a German-made wife, raises Arabian Horses and a small herd of chirrens on his Woodinville estate). 

Sims, a seasoned politician and policy virtuoso who just won a third term, is an ordained Baptist himself, and just as black. But there's a world of difference between them- their Christianities are like brothers of a different mother or twins who wouldn't recognize each other if they met on the street.

In 2004, Sims encouraged gay couples to sue King County because gay marriage is not legal. He did that to send the matter to the state Supreme Court, where it yet awaits a decision. That alarmed Hutcherson and inspired him to organize his "Mayday for Marriage" rally in Safeco Field which drew 20,000 souls from around the state and another in Washington DC just before the 2004 election which brought out around 150,000.

BlatherWatch filed into one of the tiny backstage blue rooms with Sims, and his communications guy, Sandeep Kaushik to wait for the show to begin. Sims was his amiable self, chatting easily about general topics that might arise in the debate ahead.

The event was sponsored by The Stranger, the idea of News Editor Josh Feit, who was nervously haunting the back hall. Feit said he'd lost arguments for years playing devil's advocate to each of the reverends, so he figured, "What the hell, let's get 'em together." It was a pretty good idea and Town Hall had to move the event into the large auditorium which ended up packed. 

Stranger Editor Dan Savage dropped by but had to leave early to get home to read to his son TJ, the spawn of his same sex marriage that Rev. Hutcherson is pretty sure he'll eventually burn in an eternal lake of fire for. Savage seemed relaxed considering all that...(we've always wondered, how do they keep that lake of fire going? Old tires? Presto logs?)

KING TV's Robert Mak, who was refereeing the debate dropped in and announced the format. There was to be an introduction from each man and after that, pretty much- no structure. Sims said, "No structure? Hey, I'm a Democrat..."

They gave us the signal and we filed out into the narrow hallway where we ran into Hutcherson and his posse. His church is mostly white- it's held, after all, in Kirkland's Lake Washington High School gym. They scare up some 3000 worshipers in two sessions of a Sunday morning.

His security help were thuggish in the way only fundamentalist Christian security can be- pushy, white, dressed in Christian gangsta wear, and earpieces that might have been iPods filled with Antonius or direct links to the White House basement. They gave out those vibes, the kind we'd gotten off the homeys guarding Jerry Falwell we saw once at a Sizzler in Pasco.

Rev vs Rev: we won't be missing this one!

Judging by how many times his name's typed on a daily basis by the bloggy bejammy-ed masses, King County Executive Ron Sims must be the local blogosphere's favorite politician.

The righties despise him and call him King Ron and "Tax to the Max," and haven't gotten over his easy re-election last November. (although if you read the Republican blogs after the election, they hardly mentioned his victory over the inarticulate hot-head, Dave Irons).

They blame Sims for everything that ever happened or didn't happen within a 100 mile radius of wherever they are; including the monorail, the light rail, the Nisqually Earthquake, the 1964 Seattle Freeway, the suspicious death of Wunda Wunda, the election of Governor Gregoire; the corn dogs at the Fun Forest; the Wah Me massacre, and the leaks in Windows 95.

We liberal bloggers love Ron Sims because he's one of the most principled and courageous politicians we know (he ran a very losing gubernatorial campaign which favored an income tax and gay marriage); he's the only state Democrat who gets it about new media; and because he comes to our Drinking Liberally Tuesday nights sometimes and actually engages us. (here's a podcast featuring him at DL this week).

Tonight, he and Redmond's megachurched and ordained bigot Rev. Ken Hutcherson will square off in a debate over the comparison of the civil rights movements of blacks and gays. Hutcherson hates any comparison, Sims doesn't.

They're passionate orators and preachers; plus both are Negroes, so they'll be dukin' it out on a level playing field of political correctness; and Hutch can't pull out the race card which he does any time he's losing an argument.

Hutcherson is not only one of those collection basket and gas-passing Christians, he's mean. If you'd like to know more about him, here's some poop in our inimitable prose and here are some scary quotes we got from his very lips when we were doing a piece on him last year for Seattle Magazine.

Hope to see you tonight at Town Hall- it's only 5 bucks and the fireworks should be the stuff of legends.

Gay Rights Debate: Rev. Ken Hutcherson v. Ron Sims
Thursday, March 2 , 7:30 PM
The organized fight for gay rights was still in its infancy as the civil rights movement was consolidating its greatest legal and social victories. The recent passage of Washington’s gay rights bill has foregrounded a debate within the African-American community about the relationship between the movements. Dr. Ken Hutcherson, Pastor at Redmond’s Antioch Bible Church, is an outspoken opponent of gay rights and takes strenuous issue with the equation of the two struggles; King County Executive Ron Sims (son of a Baptist minister and lay minister himself) just as vigorously takes the opposite point of view and has explicitly linked the two. These two influential figures take up the issue in a debate moderated by KING5’s Robert Mak. Downstairs at Town Hall, enter on Seneca Street. Presented by The Stranger and the Town Hall Center for Civic Life.
Tickets are $5 at the door only beginning at 6:30 pm.

 

have you slept with tim eyman?

That question was well discussed Tuesday night at the heavily male crowd at Drinking Liberally, the beery, weekly progressive networking evening at the Montlake Alehouse.

Though only occasionally attended by BlatherWatch, it's always fun, and attended by famous bloggers, name recognizable MSM people, liberal politicians, and a potpourri of political pros who can talk like sixty and drink like a hunnerd. 

The overriding question was, of course, is Tim Eyman Gay?

This in-depth discussion is available on the inaugural Drinking Liberally podcast, hosted by Goldy at horsesass.org. Though it's as puerile as any of us, it's funny as hell, and let's face it- podcasting is the only hope there is for America- ask Mike Webb.

Whoo boy! What a mitzvah it is for gays and lesbians, who finally got some rights in this state, to have Tim Eyman, the weasel-toned, murky-toothed running-back of Washington politics, beat all the ordained bigots to the punch getting an initiative and a referendum on the streets that would yank the victory out from under the happy, yet hapless minority.

When the gay rights bill passed through the Legislature last week and unhesitatingly signed by Governor Gregoire this week, the side affects were almost as momentous as the event itself.

Talk radio got a shitload of grist for their daily mill runs (running pretty thin lately); evangelicals got reams of hellfire for their sermons and loads of fear factor for their fundraising.

Fear of gays and gay rights has been a fundraising workhorse for years for Republicans and faith-based charlatans like the Revs Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Joe Fuiton and Ken Hutcherson.

There's nothing that can get up the blood pressure and out the checkbook for these so-called Christians than the thought of a blowjob without earthly retribution. What some people do in their own bedrooms is shocking enough to these good believers, but that they might have to rent them the bedroom is unthinkable.

Republicans thought they got a big fat cause celebre to use in the Fall elections- until Tim Eyman thrust himself into the mix.

Tim Eyman,barks like a dog and crawls on his belly like a reptile- we're thinking he may be one of those human-animal clones President Bush is talking about. Most people associate Eyman with self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, promotion of himself, and making money from promoting Tim Eyman.

He's always made his money by monkey-wrenching government by demagoging taxation. But when he heard how Queen Christine and the Democrats gave the green light to sickos who take it up the butt, he reportedly said, "There's gold in them thar ills."

He's not been all that successful dogging taxes lately- his most recent successes have been from stealing other people's ideas- like performance audits stolen from the late Mike Siegel who stole the idea from State Auditor, Brian Sonntag.

wednesday oddems: wheredeego? whydeego? the mystery of allan prell, the nerve of lou pate, KIRO, KIRO, KIRO!

The station is abuzz. KIRO staffers can't figure out wha hoppened to 9 to noon host, Allan Prell who disappeared into dead air so suddenly in the middle of last week. As we reported, staff was surprised he was fired on a Wednesday; not a Friday, customary for this kind of termination. This has the appearance of a sudden punishment or purge for something embarrassing or compromising. Why was he fired just two days before the Arbitron trends came out?  It's more logical, and customary to boot somebody after bad numbers. They were amazed he was fired so soon after the major promotional event, the Battle of the Talk Show Hosts. Did management know his days were numbered, employees wonder, even as they promo-ed him?
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Today at BlatherWatch, Prell's disappearance and firing rivaled the buzz and the hits we got when in April we reported on Rev. Ken Hutcherson, the Kirkland evangelical mega-preacher who stared down Microsoft last year in the name of the Lord, and defeated the landmark gay rights bill before the Legislature. We were surprised at this intense interest in Prell--KIRO's firing of local sports icon Tony Ventrella Monday didn't generate anywhere near the interest. (A reader wrote today that Ventrella "made the mostly benign Dave Ross, seem like a wild man.") Ventrella's picture and bio is still on the KIRO website, Prell's was wiped before anyone missed him. Prell just disappeared, Ventrella was fired, then allowed to stay for one last show last night and he bid the listeners adieu. That's rare on radio--also rare was the memo in the employee mailboxes saying that Ventrella was returning to the business world or some such.
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If BlatherWatch commenters had anything to say about it, Prell would have been saved and Dori Monson would have been booted.
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The name on everyone's lips is Ciscoe Morris, the quirky ex-lawnboy and who does the gardening show on Saturdays. He keeps popping up in conversations as the next 9 to nooner to replace Prell. His Wisconsin accent may be a liability, but on the upside, he  still speaks better English than New York Vinnie and has more broadcasting experience than Frank Shiers.
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Last week, while we were porking out in the Palouse, we missed that the vote on the union contract at KIRO and KTTH was completed and the AFTRA contract was decertified. In other words, the fools led by Lou Pate, (KIRO m-f, 1-5a) threw out their own union representation. The first vote was in May and it was a tie, with three votes in dispute. The NLRB examined the questioned votes, and disqualified two, leaving one to decide: union, yes; or union, no. An email from the union, identified to all concerned that the person who cast the disputed vote was none other than Michael Medved (KTTH m-f, 12-3p), the nationally syndicated neocon who broadcasts from Seattle. Medved is one of those who made no public stance on the union. Now, of course, everyone knows that he voted for decertification of the union he'd been a member of for nearly 30 years. At least he was true to his conservative union-hating principles. Not so true to his alleged progressive principals was Lexus liberal Mike Webb (KIRO m-f, 9p-1a) who favored the union-busting, even as he class-baits and decries "corporate masters," while hypocritically blowing off his own right to collective bargaining. 
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Speaking of blow-jobs, a quick-fingered producer cut conservative overnighter Lou Pate's remarks at the Battle of the Talk Show Hosts, when he reportedly said  that blow-jobs were the only thing about Bill Clinton he could identify with. The audience at home didn't get to hear that, but they did catch Pate's remark suggesting  KY Jelly for Mike Webb's penetrating problems. Mr. Clendening was not amused.
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Got any inside radio poop to scoop? Discretion assured. Send us an email at [email protected]

katrina, katrina: monday oddems at the nadir of the bush regime

--The remarks of one of John Carlson's callers last week typifies the dittohead mentality of the crowd loyal to the right-wing talk station. The guy blamed the National Education Association (the teacher's union!) for the crime and anarchy in New Orleans and suggested the Nat'l Guard start "gut shooting" the looters.
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--What is it with Michael Medved and his weird pronunciations? It was bad enough he tried to be a native Loozeanna speaker with that "N'Awlin's" business. He had the words but not the tune, because let's face it, he's an Ivy League elite, not a good ol' boy, though he tries to play one on the radio. He also drove us nuts saying "HAIRicane Katrina." It was like when he says, "Kew (rhymes with pew) Klux Klan." There's something wrong over there at Medved Central, it may be just a neocon thing, but we're beginning to suspect it's neurological.
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Here are a couple of topics you won't hear discussed on rightwing radio:

--A must-read for conservatives who always write us spouting the boilerplate you hear from Rush and Sean (you know who you are) is Thumbing Nervously Through the Conservative Rulebook by New York Times' Robin Toner. It's about how the conservatives in power have had their principles "challenged, again and again, by the messy realities of governing."
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--is the war really a lost? Has the civil war already started in Iraq despite the US? Is the best we can do is to get the hell out?
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--Jeff Reifman over at Evergreen Politics has published a list of advertisers on the rightwing station KTTH and suggests we boycott them. It's a formidable list--and though we know there's good intentions over there at one of our favorite websites, we gotta say it, boycotts like this never work. While we'd never set foot in a Walmart unless there was a disaster and we needed to do a little creative looting, (to provide for our family, of course) we give boycotts little credence as a political action. They're effective when they're focused narrowly, putting direct pressure on a specific entity who can really feel the pressure. We remember a few years ago when evangelicals called for a Disney boycott (you know how sinful they are, playing up to the fags the way they do; letting Minnie and Mickey cohabitate and letting those ducks run around with no pants). It fell on its face. As Rev. Ken Hutcherson proved, a threat by a group or the right person can be more effective than an actual boycott. Though most corporate entities aren't as timid as Microsoft is about such matters--Disney's Michael Eisner ignored the empty threats of Christian reprisal and carried on.
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--a reader writes that KIRO's Dave Ross, Allen Prell, Erin Hart and Mike Webb have been doing a great job reporting and calling bullshit on the Bush administration's incompetence. We'd say: here, here!
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--Right-wing talkers are in denial of the Bush administration meltdown. As always, they're changing the subject. Tonight Danny "Rabbit" Lapin, (KTTH Sundays, 7-10p) the religious right's "show rabbi," led an in-depth discussion on whether married women should wear make up. (his answer: a resounding Yea!) We listen to the rabbi faithfully and we've yet to hear him deal with the scandal that's indicted his friend and benefactor Jack Abramoff, and came closer last week to another of the rebbi's buddies, House Minority Leader, Tom Delay. Read our file on Lapin, here  Our friend, the apolitically correct and  media critic, Edgar "Choch" Manana, commented recently: "I'd just like shake Danny Lapin, and say, 'Dude--don't you know these are the people who made lampshades out of people like you?
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--KPTK media flack Heather Rosendahl made a special point of writing to tell us absolutely nothing. At least she responded for once. She did say there's a "surprise" coming up today on the Seattle liberal talk station. We already knew that and reported last week that the station was rearranging its syndicated talkers, ho-hum. We were hoping they'd leak us some inside dope to blog if there was anything actually exciting going on. We also whined bitterly--as we always do--about how stupid and cheap they are for not hiring any local talent. Maybe that's why they treat us like a ugly girlfriend after a so-so booty call--as everyone else in the explaining industry does, hoping we'll just go away. Everybody reads our drivel, but rarely do we get a mention or any respect for the wonderful work we do. Maybe there'll be an announcement of something exciting going on over at 1090AM today, and if there is, it'll be another example of them not knowing how to promote their way out of a paper bag...or out of the bottom percentiles in the market. Nobody listens to the station--which is the problem. So why don't they put an ounce of effort to otherwise promote it? We suggest running some ads on KVI...or NPR...or KIRO even.
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--Faith-based charlatan Pat Robertson is as welcome in the Bush White House as he was in the fortified mansions of such staunch Christian leaders as former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor, and the confiscatory Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, both partners in Robertson's African faith-based gold and diamond mines. As Max Blumenthal reports in The Nation, Robertson is really cleaning up after the Katrina disaster. His $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing is prominently featured on FEMA's list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief. Blumenthal writes: " His Regent University gave John Ashcroft a cushy professorship to cool his heels after his contentious tenure as US Attorney General. And Robertson's legal foundation, the American Center for Law and Justice, is spearheading the effort to rally right-wing Christian support for Judge John G. Roberts Jr.'s confirmation as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court."
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--IS THIS NEWS? DEP'T: Reuters reports that "At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast. One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton. Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corp.

rabbi daniel lapin: "the man who stands by his scandal-ridden friends"

Rabbi Daniel Lapin came home Sunday night from Washington DC, just in time to take the microphone on his evening talk show (KTTH Sundays 7-10p) midway though it.

BlatherWatch was listening in hopes the good rebbi might address some of the questions brought up last week in the national press.

Lapin is the ultra-orthodox Seattle rabbi tangled in the unfolding influence-peddling-and-everything else scandal in the Capitol and swirling around his close political friends: disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, meaneocon Tom DeLay, Christian conprop guru Ralph Reed and, distantly, neocon theorist and activist Grover Norquist.

Lapin dismisses the scandal as an accounting error.

So far Lapin has been only peripheral to the affair, but it's provided some good laughs for us, and his proximity to it has sullied the pure and sanctimonious image he always tries to maintain.

Lapin is the darling of the Christian right; friends and co-conspirator with stalwart national conservative supernovae like Delay, Norquist, Reed, Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, and Rev. Ken Hutcherson. These are people with profound influence in Washington these days.

The Washington Post reports Lapin had a private Shabbat dinner with George W. Bush last year.

We've reported the rebbi's speckled past and his many interesting political ideas on many interesting issues, including some whimsical ones on The Holocaust.

We were not disappointed--and not surprised to hear Sunday night some fancy dissembling from the influential "show rabbi of the religious right," as NY Times Frank Rich calls him.

The Washington Post reported last week that Lapin's name had come up in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings investigating Abramoff's dealings representing Indian casino interests.

In an email, Abramoff asked Lapin to help him sex-up his resume to help him get into the exclusive Cosmos Club whose members include Nobel laureates. "Most prospective members have received awards and I have received none," he whined. 

Lapin answered, "Let's organize your many prestigious awards so they're ready to 'hang on the wall.' "

Later that day, Lapin expounded, "Yes, I just need to know what needs to be produced ... letters? Plaques? Neither?"

Sunday, Lapin finally introduced the sordid Abramoff mess to his listeners by admitting that his old friend had become very powerful and done some things that were probably wrong.

But the emails promising to pad the resume? A "jocular interchange," he said in his haughty Afrikaner accent.

Then, amazingly, he blamed it all on the Post Intelligencer, the local daily whose Washington correspondent Charlie Pope reported the episode. Lapin never mentioned that the Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote a similar report on the same day.

"They stripped out the smiley faces and other emoticons," he said on the radio. That was a change from his last week's story, when he told Charlie Pope he couldn't recall the exchange, "I wish I could help you, but no, I have no recollection."

The thought of the sarcastic Lapin and the cynical Washington shark Abramoff adorning their emails with those annoying little :)'s strains our credulity.

The story that it was all in jest is also questionable considering Abramoff's email the next day  detailing some instructions of deception:

"Probably just a few clever titles of awards, dates and that's it," he wrote. "As long as you can be the person to verify them (or we can have someone else verify one and you the other), we should be set. Do you have any creative titles or should I dip into my bag of tricks?"

Lapin didn't mention the original WAPO story because a less embarrassing piece, The Republicans' Rabbi-in-Arms: Christian Conservatives See a Soul Mate in the Man Who Stands by His Scandal-Ridden Friends by Hannah Rosin appeared in Saturday's Style section.

For evangelicals who are used to reading about Jews as God's chosen people, he solves an essential mystery: "A lot of people are surprised when they leave church and encounter essentially Dershowitz Judaism, Jews who are liberal . . . ," says conservative activist Grover Norquist, who is also a friend. "Lapin is the opposite of that."

For conservatives searching for biblical foundations for their political positions, Lapin is validation from the original source. His specialty is finding support in the Torah for what turns out to be the current Republican platform: lower taxes, decreased regulation, pro-traditional family policies.

"The principles of the Republican Party and the convictions of our president more closely parallel the moral vision of the God of Abraham than those of anyone else," Lapin said at the dinner with Bush, hosted by Ralph Reed.

Lapin is a man of great charm and rhetorical skill. "He could talk a dog off a meat wagon," says a former KVI producer.

And he sure is a loyal friend. Rosin writes:

In an earlier set of e-mails, Abramoff calls his Indian clients "morons" and "monkeys." For that, Daniel Lapin found the language to criticize his old friend, calling his insults "horrible, awful." But he stops short of saying what Medved does, that as an Orthodox Jew Abramoff "disgraced the Torah." Instead, he edges more toward pastoral forgiveness.

"Abramoff created an extremely effective ideological machine, and I think that bothered many people on the moderate side," says Lapin. "Nobody claims Abramoff did anything different than anyone else. He's a friend of mine and I've seen him do many, many wonderful and decent things. My argument is that a human being is a very complicated amalgam. We've all done things we're not proud of."

If Mr. Abramoff is found guilty of any crime, we're praying that the good rabbi will remain consistent and call for the same measure of mercy that he'd show any other common criminal: bupkus.

rabbi daniel lapin: more national embarrassment

We've been telling you about him for months. He's Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the situationally ethical KTTH talk host (Sundays 7-10p) and "show rabbi" for the Christian right.

The Mercer Island ultraconservative famously introduced Tom Delay, the scandal-plagued House Majority Leader to now disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, who sits on the board (with talk jock Michael Medved) of Lapin's charity, Toward Tradition. Read blatherWatch's The Rabbi With The Tinfoil Yarmulke (And We Thought He Was Just Boring...)

Abramoff is being investigated by the Senate, the House, the Justice Department, and a federal grand jury for a plethora of questionable business practices and shady political dealings.

In Wednesday's Senate hearing into Abramoff's alleged defrauding of Indian tribes, the verity of Lapin's skewed moral compass was again exposed, this time revealing the trivial deceptive natures of both of these allegedly religious men.

Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank reported an email exchange between Abramoff and Lapin read in the hearing with Lapin agreeing to help pad Abramoff's resume: 

"I hate to ask you for your help with something so silly but I've been nominated for membership in the Cosmos Club, which is a very distinguished club in Washington, DC, comprised of Nobel Prize winners, etc.," Abramoff wrote.

"Problem for me is that most prospective members have received awards and I have received none. I was wondering if you thought it possible that I could put that I have received an award from Toward Tradition with a sufficiently academic title, perhaps something like Scholar of Talmudic Studies?"

There were titters in the audience as Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) read aloud the email, then outright laughter as he continued reading: "Indeed, it would be even better if it were possible that I received these in years past, if you know what I mean."

The rabbi, conservative radio host Daniel Lapin, gave his blessing. "I just need to know what needs to be produced," he wrote. "Letters? Plaques?"

Read more details of this silly, ass-kissing deception in this Seattle Post Intelligencer report.

Lapin is a leader in the national Values Community; friend of Rev. Ken Hutcherson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Watergate felon turned preacher, Charles Colson, "spiritual advisor" of Newt Gingrich and a hard-ass, pompous, self-aggrandizing, social conservative.

He helped Hutcherson organize and spoke at last year's antigay "Mayday for Marriage " rallies in Seattle and Washington DC, that proved so influential in the November election of George W. Bush.

The haughty silver-tongued former South African buys his own radio time Sunday evenings (7-10p) from Entercom’s local KTTH. His talk show is a folksy, “(Everybody needs a rabbi,” he always says) kulturkampf, interlaced with schmaltz, advice to the lovelorn and diatribing political monologues.

He's a champion of marriage between people of the same faith, same species, but different genders, of course.

He’s didactic and condescending and speaks in paragraphs--long paragraphs. Once syndicated, his talk show proved too boring for mass consumption, so now it’s vanity radio paid for by Toward Tradition.

Pacific Northwest goyim in general have little contact with Jews, especially religious ones, so listeners gush on-air and treat him like an exotic animal--sort of their pet Jew.

This man of god not only supports family values, faithfulness, integrity, and arranged marriages; but he's also for tax cuts, property rights, cuts for social programs, and capital punishment. He opposes promiscuity, abortion, homosexuality, welfare, crime, funding the arts, gun control, environmental regulations, and recycling.

He denies that poverty exists in the U.S.; and says Terri Schiavo’s death was "premeditated murder," and that Living Wills are suicide notes. To love your pets too much, by his lights, is unbiblical; and tattoos, birth control, piercing, abortions and assisted suicide are immorally equivalent.

Paid $165,000 a year by Toward Tradition according to a 2003 IRS filing, Lapin calls his Mercer Island organization a coalition of Jews and Christians formed to counter anti religious bigotry and preserve the social fabric. He is also co-chair of American Alliance of Jews and Christians, created with former GOP presidential also-ran Gary Bauer.

Its board of advisers includes Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Watergate conspirator Charles Colson, Abramoff, and Lapin's longtime friend and fellow radio talker Michael Medved.

He addressed the 1996 Republican Convention, after moving to the Seattle area and declaring personal bankruptcy after his Los Angeles investment company whose investors were his members of his synagogue went bust.

Click here for the blatherWatch opus: Rabbi Daniel Lapin, A Long Look Backward for the whole story on this troubling, divisive character.

Will the good rabbi apologize on his show, Sunday next? Probably not. Humility and contrition don't seem to be part of this religious zealot's psyche...but just in case, blatherWatch will be listening.

seattle arbitrons, doin' the hula for ratings: dori monson, kirby wilbur, john carlson, mike webb, mike siegel, carl jeffers, rabbi daniel lapin, bryan suits

Boyoboy, talk radio ratings are down across the board in Seattle and what to do? Local talkers have figured out some fanciful ways to perk up those sagging numbers...

rabbi daniel lapin, a long look backward

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, our hometown boy and Seattle talk radio connection to the broadening scandal around disgraced super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, keeps showing up in the media as the investigations unfold. 

BlatherWatch has found that controversy and troubled financial dealings have long been hallmarks of this Seattle area ultra-orthodox rabbi striving to be Rasputin to those with hands on the levers of government power.

The silver-tongued former South African buys his own radio time Sunday evenings (7-10p) from Entercom’s local KTTH. His talk show is a folksy, didactic kulturkampf, interlaced with schmaltz, advice to the lovelorn and diatribing political monologues. Once syndicated, it proved too boring for mass consumption, so now it’s vanity radio paid for by Lapin's nonprofit, Toward Tradition. 

Lapin, who NY Times columnist Frank Rich calls a “show rabbi” for the Christian right, actually introduced Abramoff to Delay, thus beginning the now notorious friendship between the born-again Christian up and coming in Republican leadership and the arch-orthodox Jew emerging as the go-to guy if you wanted to lobby the religious right after the Gingrich Gang took over Congress in 1994.

An ace self-promoter who used to be very accessible, Lapin isn’t returning blatherWatch’s calls nor any media inquiries these days as he keeps busting into national print and pixel counts across the blogosphere for his association with the notorious Abramoff.

Neocon talk-show host Michael Medved (KTTH m-f 12-3p) recently defended Abramoff to his syndicated talk-show audience, dismissing the controversy swirling around the embattled lobbyist. “He’s never been charged with anything,” he said, failing to mention that Abramoff is being investigated by the Senate, the House, the Justice Department, and a federal grand jury. Medved forgot to tell his audience about his own longtime friendship and association with the slimy Washington insider.

The latest layer is peeled back by veteran Seattle reporter Rick Anderson in next week’s Seattle Weekly. He details Lapin’s brother (LA business man/rabbi) David’s questionable involvement in the development of a sweatshop garment industry in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate west of Hawaii. Anderson writes: “Abramoff working for local political lobbying law firm Preston Gates helped stave off labor reforms threatened by the U.S. Congress.”  Read Anderson’s  “Meet the Lapin Brothers” here.

REV. KEN HUTCHERSON RESPONDS TO MICROSOFT

Phoning into the John Carlson Show (KVI m-f, 3-6p) Friday anti-gay evangelical political activist Rev. Ken Hutcherson described Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer’s credibility as a “fart in the wind.”

Ballmer, in an email today to employees, said Microsoft will formally support gay rights legislation in Washington state from now on. This was a turnabout after the software giant took a neutral position position after pressure from Hutcherson

“Obviously, the Washington state legislative session has concluded for this year, but if legislation similar to HB 1515 is introduced in future sessions, we will support it,'’ Ballmer wrote.

“He thumbed his nose at me,” said Hutcherson.”I had already won--anybody can make a decision after the pressure’s off.

“The Superbowl--the Legislature--is over and I won the game.”

Microsoft’s withdrawal of support was in the face of a Hutcherson threat of an evangelical national boycott. Though Microsoft denied that Hutcherson’ pressure had anything to do with it, (“He called me a liar,” says Hutcherson) it was widely seen as the deciding blow to a gay rights bill before the Washington State legislature last week. It lost by one vote.

“They flip-flopped, they changed their mind.” he said. "Whatever he says from now on will be like a fart in the wind.”

Carlson said he had never heard a preacher put it quite like that. Hutcherson laughed.

“Steve [Ballmer] isn’t very smart, telling me what his quarterback is going to do next year. Now I’ve got a whole year to get ready for them.”

Carlson tried to get the former pro-footballer to say how he would retaliate--or whether he’d make good on his previous threats.

But Hutcherson wouldn’t take the bait. He denied it was a threat. “it was a promise,” he said threateningly.

Hutcherson is a controversial, self-promoting political activist and founding preacher of a suburban megachurch in Kirkland, Washingotn. Click here for for a little history of him and his work. Then click here for some defining quotes.