Stooping to a new low, even by Southern Poverty Law Center’s standards, the SPLC recently smeared well-regarded family-values organizations as ‘hate groups’ for championing faith-based moral views, including opposition to gay marriage and support for the military’s DADT policy.

The Family Research Council (FRC) was among the insulted parties and decided to fight back, using the modern tools of intellectual warfare.

On December 15th the organization launched StartDebatingStopHating.com, a website and newspaper ad (the latter appearing in Politico and the Washington Examiner) that denounced the speech-chilling “character assassination” tactics of the SPLC, while supporting the “vigorous” and “responsible” exercise of free speech. Those who sign an online petition show their solidarity with the FRC, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and others who are protecting the traditional family. Many heavy hitters signed the full-page ad including Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Tim Pawlenty, Phyllis Schlafly, Frank Gaffney, Alveda King, and David Limbaugh.

The Alabama-based non-profit, started by attorneys Morris Dees and Joseph Levin, Jr. in 1971, tracks the speech and conduct of those they dub as ‘haters’ (e.g. the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), and champions the civil rights of destitute minorities. But in recent years the SPLC has become known for its aggressive campaign of slamming mainstream conservatives and independent thinkers by likening their views to, say, those of the National Knights of the KKK. In addition to the FRC, the SPLC has slimed Iowa Congressman Steve King, Indian-born writer Dinesh D’Souza, African-American law professor Carol Swain, and prominent immigration enforcement leaders and writers, to name a few. Even the films “Gods and Generals” and “The Lord of the Rings” are suspect. The former is scorned because the Civil War flick “is told from the Confederate perspective,” and the latter is suspect because it is “Eurocentric.”

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Big Peace took less than a day to start driving the Left up the wall and jumping the shark, which is probably exactly what Andrew Breitbart had in mind in the first place.  But if you can get beyond their dreary predictability, these attacks do serve an important purpose – they illustrate exactly why sites like Big Peace are so necessary.

No review of lefty anklebiting would be complete without a hat tip to the nonentity task force otherwise known as Media Matters.  Some guy there named Matt Gertz started things off by chiming in on Day One about how – I’m paraphrasing just a bit – Andrew Breitbart and Big Peace editor Frank Gaffney are the unholy spawn of a three-way between Glenn Beck, Mussolini and Satan himself.

Gertz called Breitbart a “liar,” which must be true because “liar” is documented by a hyperlink to yet another Media Matters piece, which itself boils down to the argument that ACORN’s eager assistance, on multiple occasions in multiple locations, to people representing themselves as trying to traffic in child prostitutes, really wasn’t immoral because the journalist who caught them on tape was not wearing a sufficiently flamboyant pimp hat.

Gertz also asserted that the “Big” sites have some sort of pro-birther agenda; I must have missed Andrew Breitbart’s memo.  But hey, why let facts obstruct a good meme? (more…)

And now there are Four.

Yesterday, Andrew Breitbart’s fourth “Big” website, Big Peace, launched, fittingly born on the Fourth of July. Editor-in Chief Peter Schweizer, a scourge of liberal mendacity and hypocrisy, is joined by the redoubtable Frank Gaffney and Jim Hanson of Blackfive in a blog devoted to foreign policy and military affairs. Already, Peter and his crew have fielded an impressive array of bylines, including several retired military officers, the brave authority on Islam, Nonie Darwish, and the estimable Jed Babbin, among others. It’s an auspicious start to what will quickly become a must-read, indispensable national security blog.

The timing couldn’t be more propitious. With the war in Afghanistan approaching an important turning point — will American troops withdraw, as President Obama promises, or will they fight to win, as General Petraeus wishes? — the role of the Pentagon and the State Department are ripe for examination. As never before, the Pentagon is embroiled in a struggle for its very soul, with the PC, “green” bureaucrats pitted against the professional officer class, while Foggy Bottom, on its continuing, quixotic quest for “stability,” continues to be less an instrument of American foreign policy than a protector of the status quo — especially that of our enemies.

On a personal note, I particularly welcome this blog and hope to contribute to it myself from time to time. I was born on one of the major Marine Corps bases, and was raised in various military duty stations around the country. Having been present both at the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, I’ve seen first-hand the causes and consequences of American foreign policy in action, and know how important it is. Small decisions in Washington today may have immense consequences thirty or forty years down the line, so it’s vital that we try to understand their ramifications early and often. (more…)