He regrets that.
That is a story same as Wiley Drake and the Army of God is a story, or the Bush family association with Sun Myung Moon is a story.
Politics is a culture of personality, I didn’t make those rules.

Which brings us full circle.
Part of your job is to watch your boss’s back. Perkins has people now, he is on the national stage, and his fortunes will rise and fall on any number of variables.
His words are available for people to decide for themselves who Perkins is, and part of your job is to provide that access.

Max Blumenthal wrote you were a racist’s racist, a few days after his ‘hotlinking lesson,’ his fear, anger and his technical ineptitude public.
Why he hit you and not Bridges is anyone’s guess, but hit you he did. Took your words and didn’t make his case. Stomped all over your blog. Autopsied.

I see no evidence you are a racist, and I am sorry you have been falsely accused.

The Family Research Council website was hotlinked.
You and your co-worker Jared Bridges chose to respond publicly. Those facts are not in dispute.
In the ‘hotlink lesson’ you told us a story, one with sub-texts. Politics. Laws. People. Loyalty. Trust. Stewardship.
Friends. Enemies.
Somewhere in this story I believe, is God.
I’m tired.

As always enlightening, thanks.
Go under the Mercy.

BD, I lived in a Southern state for almost all my life and I never once heard of that group. Most people–including those in law enforcement and the media–had never heard of them. They are a small fringe group that almost no one heard of until recently.

He had seasoned staff to vet his appearances.

No, actually, he didn’t. State legislators in Louisiana don’t have staffs at all. In fact, during the time he was a representative, the annual salary was $16,800 with a $6,000 expense account. That’s barely above the poverty level, so most legislators have another job on the side.

He’d already been involved with the Family Forum he helped start for five years, it’s plausible he did know what he was doing and who he hung out with.

Again, the LA Family Forum is small organization with a staff of five (not all of whom are paid). It’s not too surprising that someone who started a small politically insignificant organization would not know about other small politically insignificant organizations liked the CCC.

Perkins is not a moderate and most certainly not stupid, facts in the public record remain true no matter who originally broke the story.

Yes, he spoke at a luncheon for the CCC. That’s never been disputed. The SPLC lists dozens of other politicians who also spoke at their events without realizing what the group stands for. Where’s the “story” in that? Is there any evidence ever been presented that Perkins is a racist? No. The only one who has ever made such a stupid, slanderous accusation is Max. B. Of course, he also says the same about me and relies on “evidence” that is even flimsier. So that sort of tells you what sort of credibility he has as a “journalist.”

The Vancouver Sun article(s) were not written by Blumenthal.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre report(s) were not written by Blumenthal.

The Vancouver Sun cited Blumentahl, correct attribution, common practise, appropriate ‘pattern.’

Perkins was in his second term in the Louisiana house when he spoke at the Council.
I remain skeptical he didn’t know, given he had also worked in law enforcement and media in his home state.
He had seasoned staff to vet his appearances.
He’d already been involved with the Family Forum he helped start for five years, it’s plausible he did know what he was doing and who he hung out with.
Yes, in state (or any) politics, he’d have to rub shoulders with the fringes, you want to play you pay, guilt by association is a reality.

Perkins is not a moderate and most certainly not stupid, facts in the public record remain true no matter who originally broke the story.

I don’t know what Perkins feels, if you say he is devestated, there is no reason not to believe you.

If the information were valid, then “drawing your own conclusion” would be the proper response. But both Max and The Nation have lost credibility because they refuse to correct the errors in the story.

As for Tony Perkins, whether he was aware of the source of the list or not, the fine by the The Federal Election Commission was real.

That’s certainly true. But because the FEC believed that he was unaware, they dropped the fine from $80,000 to $3,000.

If he was aware of the neo-confederate reputation and history of The Council of Conservative Christians or not, he chose to speak to them.

That’s true, and he has never disputed that fact. State politicians are a lot like bloggers. They interact with people and groups everyday that they really know nothing about. Did the Edwards campaign really know that much about Amanda Marcotte when they hired her? Probably not. So they suffered the “guilt by association.” The same is true of Perkins who was devastated to find that he had spoken to a racist organization.

They are considered racist by the NAACP, LULAC, SPLC ADL, and CPAC.

As well as by the GOP, the DNC, FRC, and anyone else who has read much about them.

Here is some information from The Vancouver Sun regarding the 1996 campaign and Perkins acknowledgement of his speech to the Council of Conservative Christians.

Guess who wrote that article you linked to? That’s right: Max Blumenthal. Notice a pattern? Ever time this story comes up his name is attached. Do you really think if there was anything to it that CNN, ABC, the BBC, the NYT, etc., would just ignore it? They aren’t exactly friendly to FRC.

Russ - As a writer, Max Blumenthal is a public figure, the whole point is to draw your own conclusions about his information.

As for Tony Perkins, whether he was aware of the source of the list or not, the fine by the The Federal Election Commission was real.
If he was aware of the neo-confederate reputation and history of The Council of Conservative Christians or not, he chose to speak to them.
They are considered racist by the NAACP, LULAC, SPLC ADL, and CPAC.

Here is some information from The Vancouver Sun regarding the 1996 campaign and Perkins acknowledgement of his speech to the Council of Conservative Christians.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702100003
Again, Perkins is a public figure, whether there was intent, the facts are real.

I haven’t had problems with hotlinking (yet) but I can fully appreciate the cost. I think the term leeching sums it up.

Glad you were able to sort it out and put a file in Ian, it most certainly costs more than money.

The whole thing cost me big. I lost a huge portion of my posts and spent weeks trying to recover what I could; some have never been recovered. I lost readers from weeks of intermittent site access; about a 50% drop. I am only just returning to the previous traffic levels, two years later. And, I spend more on hosting services to increase bandwidth and server space.