Now, Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon really should be the sort of cult leader mainstream politicians steer a wide berth around.
Moon claims to be the Messiah, calls the Christian cross "satanic" and has paid black churches to throw away and bury their crosses, Moon has parlayed his considerable wealth, much of it from murky sources, into astounding national political influence, and the Washington Times, which Moon founded in 1982 and reportedly subsidizes to the tune of $100 million dollars a year, is central to advancing Moon's political agenda and often attacks Democratic and left leaning politicians. In light of the paper's history and ownership, it is notable that the Washington Times has so enthusiastically endorsed Harold Ford Jr. and perhaps just as striking how unabashed Ford has been about the Sun Myung Moon-owned newspaper endorsement he received in 2002. On Harold Ford's 2006 Tennessee Senate race campaign website, you can still see, prominently displayed, a 2002 Washington Times plug :
Conservative-leaning newspaper The Washington Times called Harold Ford Jr. "the kind of Democrat that Republicans should fear": "A young, black politician with deep Tennessee roots, Mr. Ford is the kind of Democrat that Republicans should fear. In a caucus that lacks both ideas and energy, he is full of both" (Washington Times, 11/12/02) Was Moon's pet attack newspaper partial to Harold Ford Jr. because of Ford's preciously bellicose call for military action against Iraq ? According to a statement from the US State Department website ( no longer available on the official state dept. site ) : [ from a US State Dept. article dated December 5, 2001 ] “Nine members of Congress have written a letter to President Bush, urging the administration to step up support for the Iraqi opposition to remove Saddam Hussein from power. ‘This December will mark three years since United Nations inspectors last visited Iraq. There is no doubt that since that time, Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons program. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf war status,’ the letter, dated December 5, said. The letter was signed by Senators John McCain, Jesse Helms, Richard Shelby, Sam Brownback, Joe Lieberman, and Trent Lott, and by Representatives Henry Hyde, Ben Gilman, and Harold Ford, Jr.”Was the Unification Church partial to Ford's war-advocacy ? Who knows, but given the sort of politics the Washington Times has historically advanced, and Ford's retrograde positions on war, reproductive, and gay rights, a case can be made that Republicans actually have not that much to fear from Harold Ford but that many Democrats, and many of their constituents, have a good deal to worry about if Democratic Party positions shift towards those of the NeoDemocrat, Ford-led DLC. Robert Parry, in The GOP's $3 Billion Propaganda Organ, written for Consortium News, provides comprehensive overview of the role Moon's newpaper has played in helping the rise of the American right, excerpted below:
A Majestic Spectacle ?: The Messiah Has Come ! A Washington Times story written the day after the event said Harold Ford, then a Congressman and now head of the right-leaning Democratic Leadership Council, was present in the US Senate's Dirksen office building on March 24, 2004, while Sun Myung Moon and his wife were crowned the "King and Queen Of Peace" and while Moon declared himself to be "savior, Messiah, returning Lord" before an audience that included several US Senators, dozens of House of representative members, and perhaps hundreds of foreign dignitaries.
"Mark Schuermann, a staffer for Rep. Ford, said that Ford did not attend the event, and did not participate in planning it. Schuermann also said that if Rep. Ford was on the Host Committee, "he was not aware that it had any affiliation with the Unification Church," and that Ford "does not accept Moon's claims to be messiah." So, Harold Ford Jr. didn't accept Sun Myung Moon as the "Messiah", lord, savior, and ruler over this that and everything : good. But, the Washington Times and The Unification Church both contradicted Rep. Harold's Ford's claim that he did not attend the event, as a subsequent Lee Penn story relates :
On March 24, The Washington Times identified Reps. Davis, Bartlett, Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Chris Cannon (R-UT), Sanford Bishop (D-GA), and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), as "assisting at" the March 23 banquet. So there it rests : Harold Ford wasn't there, or at least wasn't caught on film like other listed "Congressional Co-Sponsor" members such as Congressional Black Caucus Representative Danny K. Davis, who himself crowned Moon the new "lord", savior", and "Messiah" of.... well, pretty much everything in the Universe. In the end Ford might just have a scraped past this scandal on dumb luck - lack of seniority.
[ from The Money-Mooners Meet on Capitol Hill, by Bill Alexander, for Rick Ross.com ] And, so it goes.
Frederick Clarkson: Frank Cocozzelli: Bruce Wilson
Cult Paper Touts Harold Ford's Split With Democrats On Iraq | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
Davis and Ford are examples of the way that the religious right engages and compromises elements of the Democratic Party.
And make no mistake: the Unfication Church of Sun Myung Moon is part of the religious right.
Cult Paper Touts Harold Ford's Split With Democrats On Iraq | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
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