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.