David Horowitz denounces MSU-YAF's Nick Griffin Event

"Don't stand so close to me..."
MSU YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow poses with David Horowitz in happier times. I guess the Honeymoon's over

The Islamo-fascist website Indymedia.org is claiming that a British anti-Semite named Nick Griffin was part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week at Michigan State, where he was sponsored by Young America's Foundation. Both of these claims are lies. There was no Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week event at Michigan State and Young America's Foundation did not sponsor Griffin. The Indymedia article makes other malicious false claims such as "David Horowitz likes to roll with people associated with groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens." This is a very old slander which I refuted when it was first made but in dealing with fascists you are dealing with people who never retract their slanders or cease to repeat them.

I don't know if David Horowitz got the point that it wasn't the Young America's Foundation that sponsored Griffin, but the ever-controversial Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. YAF and YAF are tied to one another, yes, but this wasn't that.

More Information at 'Inside Higher Ed'

Griffin was invited to Michigan State by the campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. He was supposed to give a one-hour talk about Islam and then answer questions for an hour, but audience members started shouting at him shortly after he started his talk and he shifted to Q&A format so he could answer what was being shouted at him.

The event took place on the last day of (but was not part of) Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, an event organized by David Horowitz to sponsor speakers on campuses nationwide to criticize radical Islam. Organizers of the speech at Michigan State said that while they supported Horowitz’s activities, it was “a coincidence” that they brought in their anti-Muslim speaker the same week as Horowitz was planning his activities. Horowitz disavowed the event, but some Muslim leaders said it was a perfect demonstration of their prediction that his activities would make it easier for others to attack Islam on campuses.

...

Kyle Bristow, a junior and chairman of the Michigan State group that brought Griffin to the campus, said that he didn’t agree with all of the speaker’s views, quipping that aside from Pat Buchanan, “there’s no one I agree with 100 percent.”

He said that because Griffin has “recanted” his past Holocaust denial, that shouldn’t be an issue. What should get attention, he said, was that a speaker was shouted down and that organizers of the event were later “chased by a mob with sticks and bats.” He accused the Michigan State police of not taking the attack seriously.

...

Terry Denbow, vice president for university relations at Michigan State, said that he was at the event and personally called the police when he saw the incident after the speech, and that four police cars arrived almost instantly.

I could have sworn that I read, or heard, that Griffin was brought in as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness week by MSU-YAF. I'll have to see if I can find that. I MAY have been imagining things.

MSU-YAF Nick Griffin Fallout Reveals Strange Conservative Split

(Image courtesy of Spartan Spectator

As reported earlier in this blog, Michigan State University's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) brought BNP Chairman Nick Griffin - Islamophobe, Racist, Jew-hater and Holocaust Denier - to speak on the "dangers" of Islam this last Friday. It was poorly publicized, but word got out anyway, with mostly counter-protesters (and a possible entourage from Stormfront) attending.

What followed was pretty predictable, though not without a shock or two. According to the Lansing State Journal the protesters shouted and chanted Griffin down, so much so that he abandoned his speech in favor of an extended Q&A session. After some time, the protesters left en masse, and someone pulled the fire alarm. And after the speech, exiting YAF members were apparently chased by a "mob of extremists carrying baseball bats, canes and sticks. The mob shouted “let’s get them” as the YAF members ran towards safety."

(The folks at YAF-Watch claim to have seen the chase in question, but reported there were only 8 people in the "mob," and only one person with a cane, though that "does not minimize the reality of the assault." YAF responded angrily that it was two dozen people, most of whom had canes and pieces of lumber (the baseball bats and sticks seem to have vanished) and that "lying" YAF-Watch members should be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law" if they say otherwise in a criminal investigation.)

But what's really interesting is that, as news of the event and its aftermath reached the conservative blogosphere, not only was there some condemnation of MSU YAF's having brought Nick Griffin to speak, but MSU YAF showed what may be more of their true face.

The controversial - some would say "Islamophobic" - conservative blog Little Green Footballs quickly condemned MSU YAF for their choice of speaker, calling it the "boneheaded move of the year."

If this was another case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” it couldn’t possibly be more misguided. From the statement by Kyle Bristow, it’s clear that the YAF (not related to Jason Mattera’s group, the Young America’s Foundation) knew exactly who Griffin was when they invited him.

The YAF should apologize for this, and renounce any associations with the BNP or Griffin. It’s an indefensible move, and a gigantic mistake. Do the right thing, and distance yourselves now while you can still control the damage.

Did MSU YAF take the hint and try to save face? Of course not. Instead, they went on the warpath against LGF, calling them "Prissy RINOs" (Republicans In Name Only).

In case you do not read Little Green Footballs, the blog is pro-Muslim, left-wing, politically correct, and basically a front for neoconservative foreign policy (instead of defending their culture, they want to build schools in the Anbar province). They are basically a puppet of the multiculturalists and believe that Islam is not the enemy of Western civilization and Christendom. Only Bush-bots read the Little Green Footballs blog.

Instead of writing about threats to Western civilization, the LGF blog has recently attacked organizations who are fighting the culture war by doing more than just posting stuff on a blog that only like-minded people read.

Many of the comments on the LGF blog are critical of Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, and paleoconservatism. If you are not a big government, globalist, middle-class-hating, promoter of economic treason, then LGF doesn't like you.

LGF and Al Qaeda both have something in common: they hate Western civilization and those who stand up for it.

The sparks probably won't stop flying on this one for a while, but it's fascinating what this exchange has exposed. First of all, it proves that Kyle Bristow and company do indeed have poor reading comprehension skills. If they think LGF is "pro-Muslim" they either haven't been hanging out there for long, or they missed a lot of water under the bridges.

Secondly, there appears to be more to the dislike of Ron Paul than just his policies and opposition to the war in Iraq. MSU YAF describes itself as paleoconservative - indeed, that's Kyle Bristow's username on the blog - and rails against "Rudy McRomney." Meanwhile, LGF has nothing good to say about Ron Paul, mostly because of the "interesting" followers his campaign is attracting (namely, neo-nazis, america-firsters, "truthers" and the like).

Anyone who thinks all Conservatives are on the same page in the same section of the big tent is obviously smoking something wacky. But it's interesting to see the fractures so prominently showcased via this cross-blog sniping.

MSU YAF to Bring BNP's Nick Griffin to Speak

Some time ago, I blogged about Michigan State University's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, and how they were planning on suing the Southern Poverty Law Center for listing their chapter as a "Hate Group."

There's been no word of any forward motion on the lawsuit, but, in typical MSU YAF fashion, they seem to have shot themselves in the foot by bringing a genuine racist, anti-Semite and Holocaust denier to speak on campus.


MSU-YAF to Host Nick Griffin of the British National Party
Griffin will Speak about how Islam is Taking Over Europe

East Lansing, Mich. – Nick Griffin, the chairman of the British National Party (BNP), will deliver a speech at Michigan State University on the issue of how Europe is rapidly becoming “Eurabia.” He will be speaking on October 26, from 7 to 9 p.m., in Room E100 of the Veterinarian Medical Center. The student organization that is hosting the event is the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).

Kyle Bristow, the chairman of Michigan State University chapter of YAF, said, “It is an honor to host Nick Griffin at my university. Griffin is going to explain how multiculturalism, mass immigration, and Islam are destroying Western civilization.”

Of course, these are the kinds of things that YAF like to harp on. What's unknown is if they truly understand what Nick Griffin, and the BNP, stand for.

In a nutshell, the British National Party is an extreme nationalist party that is against non-white immigration and race-mixing. Since Nick Griffin became its Chairman, they have backpedaled from vocally expressing some of their more extremist stands, such as open admiration for Hitler and the Nazis, and started couching their xenophobia in bland, less obvious terms.

That said, the veneer isn't too deep to penetrate. The BNP's Constitution still states: "The British National Party ... is wholly opposed to any form of racial
integration between British and non-European peoples. It is therefore committed
to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring... the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948." Membership is still denied to persons who are not "Indigenous Caucasian," meaning that they hail from the British Isles.

Nick Griffin was prosecuted for "incitement to racial hatred" after publishing a holocaust-denying magazine, making several anti-Semitic statements, and publicly denying that the Holocaust took place. As late as 2006 he had not recanted those statements, and went on record saying “It’s well known that the chimneys from the gas chambers at Auschwitz are fake, built after the war ended.”’

Interestingly enough, the BNP claim to have Jewish members, but will only allow in Jews who can prove British descent.

MSU YAF's nemeses at YAF Watch have been chronicling the matter quite heavily, as you might expect. In response, YAF alumnus Jason Van Dyke and YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow have tried to deflect criticism by pointing out that YAF, itself, is not anti-Semitic (with Bristow's insinuating, falsely, that my letter to the editor insinuated it was). They also claim that Griffin has "recanted" his previous statements, but have thus far failed to provide any sources to back it up.

In a nutshell, YAF's argument is: We can be bad because leftists are bad people, too; the BNP is a legitimate party; anything Griffin said back then doesn’t matter because he might have been seriously inquiring as to the veracity of the Holocaust for non-racist purposes, regardless of where he and the BNP were at that time; and besides, it’s YAF’s “understanding” that he’s recanted it all; so come and listen to him talk about how Islam is super-bad news and make up your own mind, regardless of the facts.

The audience might be quite lively. According to YAF Watch, not only have the racists at Stormfront made noises about attending, but Anti-Racist Action of Wayne State University is planning to come protest. And MSU Student groups are planning on attending and/or protesting as well, of course.

I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from any member of YAF as to their stance on Nick Griffin's more radical statements, or the BNP's views on race. I have challenged them to say whether they stand by their speaker, and so far it appears they do.

The question is how much of Griffin's views are shared by MSU YAF. And, if not, whether their invitation is just another cynical attempt to make the campus Left look manic and violent by bringing a real monster around to protest.

Fred Thompson: The Incredible Non-Candidate

Poor, poor Fred Thompson.

Have you ever seen someone NOT want to do something so bad that it's horribly obvious he's just doing it to avoid being henpecked?

Because that's what Fred Thompson reminds me of now - some poor guy who's been sent out to get groceries at four in the AM, and can't or won't say 'No.'

It's never a good thing to throw a fit or look as unhappy as you feel when you're on such a mission... so you soldier up, say 'yes dear' and march there and back, all the while grumbling inside and thinking 'Why me?' 'Why now?' 'What did I do to deserve this?'

So he purses his lips, stands up there and talks, which he's good at. He's an actor, after all - he DOES know how to deliver a line.

But he also knows how to fake emotions, doesn't he? So why can't he fake any enthusiasm for the role he's running for?

You'd think someone of his caliber could at least turn on the charm. But when you catch him in front of audiences, or on the go, he seems to have all the zip and zoom of someone headed into the dentist for a root canal.

That's hardly inspiring, to see someone so UNinspired trying to become the President. It almost makes you wonder why he's doing it.

Me, I have my own theory. It's called Anybody But Them.

See, Giuliani looks terrible in a dress, and is too in league with teh Gay. John McCain won't play by anyone's rules but his own. Mitt Romney's one of those Mormon weirdoes. And everyone else gets small change in the polls, either because they have no real recognition or they're too maverick - especially that Ron Paul guy.

Sure, maybe one of them could win against Hillary or Obama, but no one's entirely happy with anyone. There isn't a central, uniting candidate who can hit all the buzzers at once.

And when you're running against someone who can - like Hillary or Obama - that's a serious, serious problem.

So someone, somewhere, got told to recruit someone who could appeal to the Right voters. And who did they find? Fred Thompson, the next Ronald Reagan.

I mean, he's an actor, isn't he? Yes. And no one's got anything bad to say about him, do they? No.

So that makes him perfect... right?

Well... the problem is that Reagan had drive. Reagan had passion.

Reagan WANTED to be President, and it showed.

Fred Thompson... I'm not really convinced this is a role he wants to play. It's like that someone just kept pestering him and pestering him until he finally said "uncle," but he's got no real enthusiasm for it.

Put it another way: do you remember the old Robert Redford movie, The Candidate?

The parallels aren't terribly striking, except for my theory that Thompson had someone hunt him down to run. Robert Redford's character didn't plan to win - just to tweak the establishment's nose - but he finds his stride and actually goes for it, after a while.

And there's a moment at the end of the movie, when he's won the election, and he sits down with the guy who recruited him and says words to the effect of "What do I do know?" All the other guy can do is look at him.

I wonder if we'll see something similar in the next few weeks.

At any rate, his first big debate's tonight. Maybe we'll see the fire in his eyes, now.

But I doubt it.