The mainstream media has plenty of time and space to devote to Sarah Palin's Hollywood hi-jinks, but apparently has little interest in delving into her fantastic religious connections.  

A few weeks back, I interviewed Rachel Tabachnick about a movement of religious conservatives called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The story, which appeared at Alternet on Monday, March 1, was given the rather tantalizing title, "Heads Up: Prayer Warriors and Sarah Palin Are Organizing Spiritual Warfare to Take Over America". The subhead was also a juicy tease, advising that the NAR was likely "the largest religious movement you've never heard of" (http://www.alternet.org/news/145796/).

All-in-all, the piece was probably the most extensive article/interview yet published on this movement. While the piece didn't go "viral," it did provoke an interesting response. Within a few days, it became one of the "Most READ," "Most EMAILED" and "Most DISCUSSED" articles at Alternet.

A number of websites and blogs linked to the story, including such popular sites at The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, TruthOut, and Beliefnet. A host of lesser-trafficked blogs including God's Poetry Factory, God Discussion, End Bigotry in Venango County [Pennsylvania], The Oread Daily, and "The Christian Radical," also linked to - or ran --  the story.  

There were tweets, Reddits, and Diggs.

The mainstream media, however, didn't pay it any mind.

From his dining room table in 1977, the decidedly anti-gay Rev. Donald Wildmon built a multi-million dollar ministry and media powerhouse. Now, although he has retired, AFA's beat goes on.

You wouldn't recognize him if you ran into him on the street; you couldn't pick him out of a lineup; you've probably never seen him on television. Nevertheless, over the past thirty+-years, he has been one of the Religious Right's most effective campaigners against whatever he perceived to be indecency on television and in the movies. He was feared by corporate leaders, and, along the way, he became one of the country's predominant and persistent scolds.

Now, after thirty-three years at the helm, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, an ordained United Methodist minister who founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977 to fight indecency on television (it changed its name to the American Family Association (AFA) in 1988), and American Family Radio, has called it quits as chairman of the organization.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a full-time fighter against gay equality, has raised a fair amount of money from national Christian conservative organizations to combat same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C.  

Over the past few years, Bishop Harry Jackson has been more than a trusted ally of the Religious Right. As an indefatigable fighter against equality for gays and lesbians, he's gone well beyond the call of duty. These days, from his church headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, Jackson has led a coalition of mostly African American religious leaders in a major battle over same-sex marriage with the District of Columbia's City Council.

On Dec. 19, Washington, D.C. officially legalized same-sex marriage by a D.C. Council vote of 11-2.

Case closed? Probably.

But that hasn't stopped Bishop Jackson.

In a crowded universe of conservative mandates, declarations, and statements, two more, `The Mount Vernon Statement,' which aims to unify the three legs of the conservative movement, and the soon-to-be-finalized `Contract From America,' which wants nothing to do with social or national defense issues, may end up dividing the conservative movement.

If it seems that mandates, declarations, and statements are flying out of the offices of conservative movement leaders faster than participants in short track skating at the Winter Olympics, that's because they are. In the past few months, desperate for an identity other than "Just say No-ers," conservatives have become quite adept at issuing documents declaring the tenets of principled conservatism.

Rick Scarborough comes up with a document aimed at fusing the Religious Right's social agenda to the Tea Party movement

In the end, despite the laughs generated by Sarah's Palin's hand-o-prompter speech to the National Tea Party Convention in early February, there wasn't a heck of a lot noteworthy about the event. Prior to the convention Tea Party groups from around the country aired their displeasure with what appeared to be a money-making venture. However, despite the inside-the-Tea-Party-turmoil, the convention did manage to attract some 600 Tea Party supporters from across the country; it received a bevy of mainstream media coverage; and, it had its fair share of outrageous moments - Tom Tancredo's immigrant-bashing opening remarks being chief among them.

One convention development that might have slipped past the mainstream media's coverage was a new effort by some longtime Religious Right leaders to hoist them-selves aboard the Tea Party bandwagon.

Her memoir, `Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made In My Darkest Hour,' takes readers on a three-year odyssey from the depths of despair, to the former mega-pastor's being `cured' of his homosexual `compulsions.'

The mega-takeaways from Gayle Haggard's new memoir about the trials and tribulations she went through after her husband Ted's involvement with a gay prostitute and his solicitation of drugs came to light in November 2006, are: 1) she forgives him, 2) he has put it all behind him; and, 3) he is now free of any and all homosexual "compulsions."

The man who dressed as a pimp and was responsible for a series of surreptitious videos `exposing' ACORN may wind up in the company of real pimps if he is convicted and serves time for being part of a plot to tamper with the phones in the office of Senator Mary Landrieu.

On his way into the offices of ACORN (the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now), dressed in a pimped-out outfit circa the 1970s -- fur jacket, cane, and fedora hat -- James O'Keefe looked confident and ready to deal. And deal he did.

"O'Keefe exploded onto the right-wing media scene in the fall of 2009 with a series of videos that prompted calls for congressional investigations into ACORN, including one video showing employees of the community organizing group advising O'Keefe and young woman, who were posing as a pimp and prostitute, on effective strategies in breaking the law," Politico's Andy Barr recently pointed out.

Raising questions about music education doth not `soothe a [Religious Right] savage breast'

As the culture wars moves into the second decade of the 21st century, the religious right continues to use the "gay agenda" as its premier launching pad: The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins is upset over the possible passage of ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) which, he maintains would release hordes of cross-dressers into America's workplaces. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality is apoplectic that President Barack Obama dared to name the first transgender person in a presidential administration, Amanda Simpson, as the Senior Technical Adviser to the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

In a recent article headlined "Sour notes -- 'homophobia' and music ed," published by the American Family Association's OneNewsNow news service, Professor Louis Bergonzi was raked over the coals for pursuing the "gay agenda" by daring to raise questions about the way traditional music education is conducted.

Larry Jones, the founder of Feed the Children, has been fired over charges that he spied on the organization's top executives, surreptitiously accepted money from a supplier, and kept a cache of pornographic magazines hidden in his office. That's only the tip of the iceberg!

Over the past three decades, you've probably seen its advertisements on television, in newspapers and magazines, encouraging you to donate money to provide food, medical supplies, and clothing to needy children across the globe. The Oklahoma City-based Feed the Children, founded 30 years ago by Larry Jones, is a Christian, international, non-profit relief organization, which, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, it is the seventh largest charity in the United States based on private support.

After years of getting away with a series of shady activities -- and enriching nearly everyone in his immediate family -- Jones has some serious explaining to do. The founder, president and public face of Feed the Children has been fired from the organization after being accused "of taking bribes ... hiding hard-core pornography" in his office, and planting "microphones in the offices of top executives who opposed him," Charisma News Service reported on January 5.

With a nod, a wink, apologies, and great appreciation to Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:
 

It was the best of times (the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African American president in U .S. history), it was the worst of times (the killing in Iraq and Afghanistan rages on), it was the age of wisdom (a time to find solutions to difficult problems), it was the age of foolishness (birthers, deathers, gun-toting anti-Obama protesters), it was the epoch of belief (can we really come up with meaningful health care reform?), it was the epoch of incredulity (Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck), it was the season of Light (could real solutions to climate change be at hand?), it was the season of Darkness (tea partiers were on the move), and, it was the spring of hope ("Yes We Can"), it was the winter of despair (Is this the change we believed in?), we had everything before us (a brand new day), we had nothing before us (same as it ever was), we were all going direct to heaven ("It's a Beautiful Day"), we were all going direct the other way ("I still haven't found what I'm looking for) - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Links to 18 of the stories I covered in 2009:

Kinkified GOP

According to RedState.com's Erick Erickson, Real Housewives of Atlanta or New Orleans' House of the Rising Son has nothing on a number of the state's elected Republican officials (http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/07/when-breaking-out-the-gu illotine-it-is-best-to-chop-off-all-heads-at-once-the-costs-of-cl eanup-are-cheaper/).

Are you ready for another round of `GOPers Gone Wild?' Should Lisa Baron's book see the light of day, it could ... well ... blow the socks off a number of Ralph Reed's conservative cohorts.

If over the past few decades you didn't take Ralph Reed seriously enough, you clearly misunderestimated the man.

Whatever else Reed might be, he is a serious man. He was serious when, as Executive Director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, he helped make it the most important and influential religious right group in the 1990s. He has had a serious post-Christian Coalition career, turning his Century Strategies, a public relations/political consulting group, into a high-powered enterprise. In 2000, it took some of Reed's serious smearing of John McCain in the South Carolina Republican primary to get George W. Bush's flagging presidential campaign back on track.

However, according to Lisa Baron, a former spokeswoman the Christian Coalition's Reed (she was Lisa Gimbel at the time), there's a side to the cherubic-looking, soft-spoken one-time political wunderkind that cable television viewers and political observers might not be able to square with the man that Time magazine once called "the Right Hand of God."

Tired of being 'Happy Holidayed' everywhere she went, Boss Creation's Martha Boggs came up with the end all/be all in Christmas tree decorations

When it comes to the "War on Christmas," you never know what to expect. Which so-called "incident" will be blown totally out of proportion? Which religious right organization will threaten the most boycotts of stores not righteously Christmasy enough? Which Fox Television News commentator will take the lead in mustering the troops? What super-Christian Christmas-related products might be offered up to a beleaguered public?  

The answer to the last question is the CHRIST-mas tree, which is brought to you by a company called "Boss Creations," an enterprise that apparently nothing to do with "The Boss", Bruce Springsteen, or even Hugo Boss.

It does have everything to do with the "War on Christmas." And, if you're looking for a "which side are you on" moment, check out the new "CHRIST-mas" Tree -- an 5-7' simulated wooden cross planted in an adjustable phony Christmas tree.  

Prior to issuing a video expressing his opposition to the legislative proposal, a gushing Warren regaled the Fox News Channel's Steve Doocy and Martha MacCallum by chiding atheists, bringing them the good news about Christmas, and invoking Rodney King.

A few days before issuing a video (http://www.crnewswire.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=siteContent.defaul t&objectID=18098) opposing legislation in Uganda that would impose the death penalty for that country's homosexuals, a playful and downright jolly Pastor Rick Warren, author of the mega-best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life" and the Pastor of Lake Forest, California's Saddleback Church, appeared on the Fox News Channel to promote his book, "The Purpose of Christmas."

In the 4-minute-plus interview, Warren smiled and laughed. He told Fox's Steve Doocy and Martha MacCallum that this is the season for "celebration," "salvation," and "reconciliation."

He closed out the segment, by invoking Rodney King's "Can't we all just get along?"

While a number of religious leaders had already spoken out against the the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009, Warren remained silent.

Now, after a media mini-maestrom, it is good that Brother Rick -- as Cornell West might call him -- has stated his opposition.

Conservative Christian evangelicals organizing massive voter registration drive to derail legislation in support of Civil Unions in Hawaii  

Last week I learned two things about Hawaii: First, thanks to The New Yorker's Sam Tannenhaus, I found out just how much Sarah Palin couldn't stand the place during her brief stay there; and, Second, my much-trusted Hawaii-based religious right watchdog informed me of a move afoot by the state's Christian Right to put the kybosh on any possibility the state legislature might pass a Civil Unions bill next year.  

According to The New Yorker's Tannenhaus, Chuck Heath, Sarah's father, told Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe, authors of "Sarah from Alaska" (PublicAffairs; $26.95), that the reason that his daughter dropped out of the college she was attending in Hawaii - the first of four colleges she ultimately went to - was because she was uncomfortable in the presence of so many Asians and Pacific Islanders. "They were a minority type thing and it wasn't glamorous, so she came home," her father said.

Enough Sarah Palin for now; on to the state of Civil Unions in the state of Hawaii, or the lack there of.

Direct mail fundraising appeal urges FRC supporters to stand against what it claims should really be called the `Discrimination Against Christians in the Workplace Act'

Despite what you may have suspected, thought, or maybe intuited in this brave new world of tweets, Facebook and MySpace social networking, and You Tube's viral videos, there is still a place for direct mail fundraising appeals that are delivered directly to your mail box by the U.S. Postal Service. And, at the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council (FRC), the six-page letter appears to still be king.

As has been the case for years with religious right organizations, the most popular direct mail subject matter -- and fundraising fodder -- is the gays.

This time around there's an added bonus; a warning from Perkins that ENDA could unleash a horde of cross-dressers in your workplace.

Why can't Rick Warren -- the mega-church pastor, the best-selling author, the man who hangs out with world leaders, and who has an opinion on just about everything -- bring himself to condemn the horrific anti-gay legislation pending in Uganda?

Anyone that has followed the career of Pastor Rick Warren knows that he is a very busy man. The founder of the Lake Forest, California-based Saddleback Church has things to do, people to see, and projects to push forward. In this maelstrom of activity, Warren apparently does not have the time nor will to condemn one of the most horrific and outrageous anti-gay proposals to come down the pike in years.

As of this writing -- one day after World AIDS Day -- Warren still refuses to condemn legislation that is currently being debated in Uganda that would make gay sex punishable by death.

A. Larry Ross, a Christian-oriented PR man extraordinaire, has taken `The Road' to religious audiences in search of buzz and box office

Two movies with doomsday scenarios highlight this year's pre-holiday Cineplex fare.  "2012," a special effects spectacular starring John Cusack, is based on the Mayan calendar, whose end date -- not the end of the world most scholars agree -- is December 21, 2012.

In its first weekend at the box office it took in $225 million -- $65 million domestically and $160 million internationally. At the two-week mark, "2012" had brought in $110 million domestically and nearly $350 million internationally.

A hearty testament to the drawing power of apocalyptic movies!

The other film is "The Road," adapted from Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. "The Road" opened in theaters on Wednesday, November 25. (McCarthy is also the author of such best-selling books as "No Country for Old Men" and "All The Pretty Horses.")

"The Road" is a complicated tale about a father and son attempting to survive in post-apocalyptic America.

A. Larry Ross, president of A. Larry Ross Communications -- a Christian media company -- was asked by the movie's production company to take the film to the faith-based community. Ross believes that since "The Road" has already generated significant buzz as well as Oscar chatter, Christians should get in on the action: "The impact [of this film] will not be in the theater but over coffee when discussions happen," said Ross.

And while few expect "The Road" to equal "2012"-type numbers, the film has certainly generated buzz, thanks in part to A. Larry Ross.

 

Religious Right Leader Excoriates His Own for Aiding and Abetting 'End Of Times' Hype and Hysteria

Move over Nostradamus, "Rapture" kings and queens, "End Times" prophets, and Y2K hucksters. Here comes the real "end of days," brought to you by the Mayan calendar: Not!

In its first weekend, the film "2012" was a box office sensation; it took in $225 million -- $65 million domestically and $160 million internationally. "2012" is an special effects spectacular, combining the star power of its cast with the kind of doomsday scenario -- derived from the end of the Mayan Calendar - that apparently is being lapped up by movie audiences everywhere.

Talk about going global!

In attempt to both explain and neutralize both the hype and the hysteria generated by the film's doomsday scenario, Gary DeMar, president of an organization called American Vision ("Exercising Servanthood Dominion"), recently wrote a column titled "Avoiding Doomsday Hype and Hysteria." In the piece, DeMar - who is not so well-known amongst the general public -- excoriates those Religious Right leaders that have consistently set a date for the end of time, the rapture, etc.

National Association of Evangelicals' resolution on immigration trashed by the Institute on Religion & Democracy's Mark Tooley

If you think that the debate over health care reform has taken some decidedly nasty, and often unexpected, turns, just wait until the issue of immigration returns to the spotlight on Capitol Hill.

Imagine rowdier Town Hall meetings and a slew of anti-immigrant tea parties. As Al Jolson, one of the early 20th century's stars of vaudeville, might have put it, "you ain't seen nothing yet!"

While the national debate over immigration may be a ways off, an assortment of evangelical Christian organizations are already at odds over the issue.

In early October, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) -- which has over 40 member organizations and is made up of nearly 30 million U.S. evangelicals -- passed a resolution endorsing "comprehensive" immigration reform.

In no time, Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion & Democracy pounced.

Bill Robinson's Correction Concepts Inc. is proposing an all-Christian prison based in the small town of Wakita, Oklahoma.

If Bill Robinson gets his way, Wakita, Oklahoma, a small town near the Kansas border consisting of 380 residents, will be the home of the first all-Christian prison in the U.S. Robinson, who runs a Dallas-based outfit called Corrections Concepts Inc. (CCI), hopes to have the facility up and running within 16 months.

Founded in 1898 and located in Grant County Wakita (pronounced Wok-ih-taw) was "featured in the 1996 blockbuster movie 'Twister' starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in which [the town] was destroyed by an F4 tornado ...," Wikipedia notes.  

OneNewsNow, a news service of Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, recently reported that while there are a number of prisons with "Christian or faith-based units," no prisons have "an all-Christian staff." "All of the employees will be Christians," Robinson said. "We have an opinion letter from the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] that says we can do that." Christian guards and staffers would supervise volunteering inmates.

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon-owned Washington Times fired three top executives on Monday, November 7, "amid reports that the paper's top editor might also be leaving," the New York Times reported. However, despite billion dollar losses, a series of editorial shake-ups over the past few years, the tough economic climate for newspapers in general, and ownership by the controversial Moon,  newspaper officials are assuring its staff and readers that it doesn't intend to cease operations.

The dismissed included Thomas P. McDevitt, the president and publisher who was a former pastor at Washington's Unification Church, Keith Cooperrider, the chief financial officer, and Dong Moon Joo, the chairman. Jonathan Slevin, a former vice president of the paper, was named acting president and publisher.  

This week, three years after a sex and drugs scandal torpedoed the powerful pastor, he is back

After a much publicized HBO documentary, a feature story in People magazine, an appearance on Oprah, an aborted church-supervised restoration program and travels around the country, Ted Haggard has decided its time to convene a prayer group in the living room of his house.

Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals and founder and pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who resigned those posts after revelations of his sex and drugs scandal came to light three years ago, recently sent out a tweet announcing the upcoming meeting: "For those of you who love the Word and payer (sic), Gayle and i are having a prayer meeting at our place next Thursday [November 12] at 7:00. You are welcome!"

"This is a Thursday night prayer meeting in our home," Haggard later commented. "What we want to do is be able to tell our schedule and our story and know that we're covered in prayer. And we want to hear their stories and give them the assurance that they're covered in prayer as well."

The International Coalition of Apostles was formed in 2000 and represents probably the biggest religious constituency that most Americans have never heard of. As President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Council, which purports to represent roughly ten million Hispanic Protestant evangelicals and five million Charismatic Catholics, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is now the ICA's highest profile apostle; it should be national news. Rodriguez has prayed together with Barack Obama and shared a podium with the late Ted Kennedy. Dubbed the Hispanic Karl Rove, Rodriguez  played a significant role in helping craft the Third Way's "Come Let Us Reason Together" governing agenda and has publicly declared his intent of fusing together the message of Billy Graham with the message of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich) has repeatedly protested that he isn't trying to kill health care reform. But, as Stupak told the arch-conservative CNSNews service on Thursday November 5th, he hasn't been able to reach a compromise with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concerning language dealing with abortion in the H.R. 3962 health care bill. So Stupak is still poised to enact his threat to lead a block of Democrats up to forty strong to join with Republicans and block the health care bill from getting to the House floor when it comes up for a vote, either over the weekend or early next week.

First openly gay nominee for spot on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is attacked by Traditional Values Coalition, Focus on the Family and the Alliance Defense Fund

Thus far, no video has surfaced of her saying "I would hope that a wise Jewish lesbian with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion," a la the recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, nor has any bizarre petition shown up with her signature affixed to it, a la Van Jones, the president's former point man on green jobs. Nevertheless the Christian Right -- led by the always agitated folks at the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) -- is up in arms over Chai R. Feldblum's nomination to become a Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces civil rights laws.

Feldblum's record indicates that she is a perfect fit for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; a compassionate advocate for the rights of the disabled and the disaffected. Au contraire say several Religious Right groups: Her appointment will be a victory for the 'forces of darkness,' and mark the end of 'religious liberty.'

Feldblum is the first openly gay or lesbian to be nominated to the EEOC -- as one of five commissioners, her nomination must be confirmed by the Senate -- which issues regulations implementing anti-discrimination laws and which authorizes test case litigation under anti-discrimination laws.

Ahmadinejad's visit to the United Nations stirred Mike Evans and Joel Rosenberg, two leading Christian Zionists, to once again open fire on Iran

I am in New York City standing up for Israel and against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Please pray for me. I have been boycotted by the UN because of our 9/11 NoVisa campaign. - Michael Evans, September 23, 2009

They're not Evans and Novak, and they're not officially tied together like Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, or even Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, but best-selling authors Michael Evans and Joel Rosenberg appear to be busting out their anti-Iran arsenals at just about the same time.  

While Mike Evans was fighting to keep Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, out of the United States - thereby preventing him from speaking at the United Nations (he failed) - and battling the U.N. to get press credentials for its session (which he eventually received), Joel Rosenberg, fresh from a successful 9/11 National Town Hall Meeting, was warning that "Rumors of a major war between Iran and Israel in 2010 continue to swirl here in Washington and in Jerusalem."  

Reading stories about the religious right often led me to questions as to how organizations in the group came up with so much money.  I ran across several reports about ministers like Gerald Smith being hired as a union buster.  Business men like Henry Ford saw unions as a threat to their fortunes.  During this period some anti-union sentiments were connected to fears of Communist infiltration.  Growing up in Oklahoma and living in a white collar town meant I received a two fold indoctrination on the evils of unions.  As a general rule of thumb the religious right has been anti union.  It has a legacy of hostility towards organzied labor. Christian talk radio often uses the word "union" in the same disdain they would  mentioning  the ACLU.

Matthew Hagee is ready to step into his father's shoes, but Pastor John Hagee is not quite ready to leave the building

As a number of older Religious Right leaders pass on, retire, and/or slip reluctantly into history, many of their sons are heeding the call, and are stepping in to take their place. Jerry Jr. and Jonathan Falwell have succeeded their father, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, in the running of Liberty University and in the pulpit at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where their father had presided for 40 years before his death; Gordon Robertson has taken on a major role at Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network; and for the past several years, Tim Wildmon has been playing a significant role in the Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association.

Now, it's closing in Matthew Hagee time.

He's a preacher, a talented singer, an author, the host of his own television program, and he's waiting in the wings for his father, Pastor John Hagee -- who late last year underwent open heart surgery -- to ride off into the sunset.

Does Matthew have his dad's fire in his belly? Will he be as controversial a figure as his father? Is he ready for prime time?

Ignacio Reyes and David Schmidt have the look of a boy band; they're young and flashy, earnest and media-savvy. As leaders of the group Live Action, they're committed to organizing a corps of young anti-abortion activists. Pro-choice groups should take notice.

During a town hall meeting hosted by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a neatly attired young man rose to ask the congresswoman a question. He identified himself as Ignacio Reyes: "We know that over 90 percent of abortions are purely elective, not medically necessary. Why is this being covered when abortion is not clearly health care?" The question -- fair and asked politely -- was greeted by a round of applause and cheers from some in the audience. "Abortion will be covered as a benefit by one or more of the healthcare plans available to Americans, and I think it should be," Lofgren responded.

On hand to videotape the proceedings, and quickly post it on You Tube, was David R. Schmidt. (Schmidt's video is titled "Dem Congresswomen Admits ObamaCare = Taxpayer Funded Abortion Coverage" -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTYvK4h44RU)

Both Reyes (the questioner) and Schmidt (the videographer) are members of Live Action, the anti-abortion organization founded by Lila Rose.

The video quickly bled over into a number of other outlets, from Web sites and blogs to newszines and news aggregators; LifeSiteNews.com's story was headlined "Cat out of the Bag: Dem Congresswoman Admits ObamaCare Covers Elective Abortions," and the Heritage Foundation titled it, "Townhall Downfall: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) Admits Obamacare Will Fund Abortions."

Perhaps not surprising in this age of proliferating media, Live Action's activists had become significant content providers. This wasn't a Susan Boyle moment, and their video will never top then-candidate Barack Obama's speech on race which within 48 hours garnered nearly 1.5 million viewers, but it did provide for another serious distraction for President Obama's health care reform project.