Not Just Whistling 'Dixie': Peroutka Stands Up for Southern Secession - UPDATED x2!
jhutson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Jul 30, 2014 at 10:34:14 PM EST
Cross-posted from The Huffington Post.

Michael Peroutka, the Republican candidate for Anne Arundel County Council, stood up for secession and the white nationalist League of the South, at a hastily called, standing-room-only press conference on July 30 in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Peroutka has been under fire for months for his involvement in and leadership of the League of the South, a white nationalist group that advocates conservative, Christian theocracy and secession to form a Southern Republic. Top Democratic and Republican leaders had called for him to resign from the group.

Most prominently, Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan, Jr., recently disavowed Peroutka because of his involvement in the racist and theocratic group. Hogan campaign spokesman Adam Dubitsky said: "Larry absolutely disavows him. Those views have never been a part of the Republican Party and they never will."

But before the state press corps, Peroutka refused to resign from the the League, which he calls "a Christian, free market group."

But for all of his effort to come across as  bold , principled, and forthright, he managed to reveal himself as both weaselly and demagogic.

One People's Project, an anti-racist group, has posted a YouTube video of the entire press conference, including Peroutka's Q & A with reporters. View the video:

'Not a Mistake'

Peroutka, the 2004 presidential candidate of the Constitution Party, twice affirmed that his pro-secession remarks at the League's 2012 national conference in Alabama were "not a mistake." In that keynote address, he had spoken favorably of secession. He had concluded by grabbing a guitar and asking the crowd to "please stand for our national anthem." But instead of singing "The Star-Spangled Banner," he belted out a raucous chorus of "I Wish I Was in Dixie." "No, I don't think it was a mistake," he told reporters (see 22:18 in the One People's video).

View an excerpt of Peroutka leading the League in "Dixie":

Peroutka then tossed a red herring into his own press conference, but one that failed to divert attention from the matter of Peroutka's advocacy of Southern secession and his relationship to the League of the South. In fact, his evasiveness only drew further attention to it.  

Peroutka asserted that Professor Warren Throckmorton had "altered" the revealing 2012 video of his controversial comments and "Dixie" chorus at the League convention before posting it online. In fact, Throckmorton had reposted the entire, unaltered, 51-minute video on the conservative Evangelical Christian blog Patheos.  The video was shot by Michael Cushman, a former member of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, who now leads the League's South Carolina chapter. Cushman had posted it at RedShirtArmy, a League-affiliated YouTube channel.

Cushman, in an irate comment posted under Throckmorton's piece, demonstrates that the video is authentic, because he insists that he made it, and he demands credit. He complains that "neither this hit-piece nor the Leftist bloggers who are linking to it give me any credit for shooting this video." He adds, "Nor did they ask my permission to post it on their websites." The unedited video on Patheos is identical to the one on RedShirtArmy. Several outlets, including RightWing Watch, Raw Story, and Gawker, have posted clips of the video, crediting Throckmorton with the find.

But it is the substance of the video that Peroutka would rather we not focus on. In the video (starting at 26 minutes), Peroutka stands up for secession as an alternative to working within a democratic system that he sees as beyond repair or reform:

"I don't disagree with Dr. Hill [League of the South president] at all that this regime is beyond reform, and I think that's an obvious fact, and I agree with him."

He then edges up to the kind of theocratic government he envisions, after the Union is destroyed and the South rises again. He said:

"However, I agree that when you secede, or however the destruction of the rubble of this regime takes place and how it plays out, you're going to need to take a biblical world view, and apply it to civil law and government. That's what you're still going to need to do. We're going to have to have this foundational information in the hearts and minds of the people or else liberty won't survive the secession either."

But his relationship with the League did not end there. In fact, it is as current as his post-primary appeal for support from League members on July 8.  Peroutka emailed his thanks to League President Michael Hill and his fellow members for their friendship, work, and hospitality, and solicited their financial support. Hill separately called Peroutka's unexpected winning of the GOP nomination for Anne Arundel County Council - as well as a seat on the GOP's Central Committee there - "a victory for us."

One week later, Hill discussed on the League's website some of his ideas of how we get from here to the new Southern nation. In Hill's July 15 essay, titled "A Bazooka in Every Pot," he calls for "guerilla war" and "three-to-five-man" death squads to assassinate elected officials, journalists, and other public figures in order to accomplish the League's secessionist goals.

"To oversimplify," writes Hill, "the primary targets will not be enemy soldiers; instead, they will be political leaders, members of the hostile media, cultural icons, bureaucrats, and other of the managerial elite without whom the engines of tyranny don't run."

Peroutka nevertheless refused at his press conference to denounce any of the content on the League's website, because "people can go there and see for themselves."

In a prepared statement, Peroutka declared, "Not only am I NOT a racist, but I am an anti-racist." Yet he remains under fire from Democrats and fellow Republicans for his involvement in the theocratic, racist group, of which he is not only a former board member but is auditioning for a role as its most proudly defiant member.

Peroutka faces Democratic challenger Patrick Armstrong, who released prepared remarks of his own:

"Mr. Peroutka reaffirmed and defended his support of an organization that promotes secession and unapologetically seeks a white southern nation. Voters in District 5, a community packed with veterans, employees of Fort Meade, the National Security Agency, and the US Naval Academy, should be appalled that a man who believes our national anthem is 'Dixie' is seeking elected office to represent them on the Anne Arundel County Council."

Steve Schuh, the Republican candidate for Anne Arundel County Executive, reacted to Peroutka's press conference by backing away from this GOP pariah. "I simply cannot support someone who is a member of an organization that appears to be racist or that advocates for the dismemberment of the United States," Schuh told the Capital Gazette.

Yet the GOP remains in disarray about Peroutka's candidacy, which provides a bellwether for theocratic groups seeking to leverage national influence by running for local office. The Gazette reported: "Joe Cluster, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, said he was disappointed in Peroutka's decision to stay with the group but that the party had made no decision on the future of Peroutka's candidacy."

Peroutka had set out in his stem-the-tide press conference to prove that he is not personally racist. However, what this GOP official demonstrated was his readiness to smear critics while maintaining his participation in the League of the South, a group that advocates "guerilla war" and white nationalist death squads to advance its theocratic, secessionist goals.

So bigger than questions of individual bigotry, this county-level race is now a referendum on national issues of secession and theocracy.

Update x1

Professor Warren Throckmorton weighs in, at the conservative Evangelical Christian blog Patheos, on Peroutka's false charge that the 2012 video of Peroutka's notorious speech and "Dixie" performance before the League of the South was changed. "Au contraire, Mr. Peroutka," writes Throckmorton, "you do not speak truly." Throckmorton posts this video of my question to Mr. Peroutka, and his answer:

Throckmorton summarizes:

You can go to the posts where those clips are embedded (on secession and on 'Dixie') and see that I did not alter his words. And in the second post (on 'Dixie' as the national anthem), I included the entire video as recorded at the conference by League of the South leader Michael Cushman. Jonathan Hutson points this out as well in his Huffington Post article.
Update x2

The Baltimore Sun published a blistering editorial on July 31, titled "Southern Discomfort: Arundel council candidate stands up for pro-secessionist, pro-Confederate group and denounces those who see racism there." The Sun pointed out Peroutka's secessionist, and theocratic, statements and actions:

"Supporters of the League of the South can debate all they want whether their organization is truly a neo-Confederate hate group, as the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified them, but it would be much harder to argue that it isn't an oddball extremist group with some hair-raising ideas. That they support Southern secession and rally behind all things Confederate pretty much defines the Alabama-based league. "These are not just some folks who spend their free hours dressing up in Civil War garb, whistling 'Dixie' and recalling the good old days. No, they genuinely want to make the South independent and by their own admission 'seek to protect the Anglo-Celtic core population and culture of the historic South.' The rest of the nation they see as mostly corrupt and insufficiently Christian."
The Sun takes note of my question on the infamous 2012 video of Peroutka's keynote address to the League of the South, and Peroutka's response that it was no mistake:
"Republicans have handed Democrats a golden opportunity to make inroads in a county that had been increasingly dominated by firebrand conservatives who rail against government at every level. If Anne Arundel Democrats aren't talking about the League of the South and its views on race relations between now and November, perhaps they'll be quoting Mr. Peroutka's recent lectures on such matters as whether the Maryland General Assembly has 'lost its validity' or opposing separation of 'God and His law from civil government.' "Or maybe they'll just play the video in which Mr. Peroutka asks his League of the South convention audience to stand and join him in the 'national anthem' and then proceeds to sing 'Dixie'. He was given a chance to retract that embarrassing 2012 episode, too, when reporters asked him during Wednesday's news conference if he had said that in error. His response? 'No, I don't think it was a mistake.' Well, somebody made a mistake, and it looks to be the voters of District 5 who get a chance to make amends in November."
Make no mistake, Peroutka's involvement in the white nationalist League of the South is now a white-hot political story soon to burst beyond the bounds of Maryland politics, since it deals with national issues of theocracy and secession, in the shadow of our nation's capital.



Display:
and publicly tell people to vote Democratic for this one office.
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. (Apologies to responsible dog owners who keep their dogs free of fleas).

by NancyP on Thu Jul 31, 2014 at 11:32:17 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (195 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (110 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (250 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (176 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (156 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (329 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.