Rick Scarborough is a former Southern Baptist pastor from Pearland, Texas, who heads Vision America, Vision America Action and the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.
Among the first keynote speakers yesterday, meanwhile, was Rick Scarborough, the pastor and firebrand founder of Vision America, which had its own stall here yesterday laden with books he has written, among them Liberalism Kills Kids. He also wanted to discuss the Tancredo speech which he apparently liked very much. "I didn't hear racism," he told this reporter, before spelling out his worries. "America is a country of legal immigrants but the Left has turned it into a country of invaders," he offered bluntly. "Look at Europe and the rampant invasion of England. They are practicing Sharia law and I think this crew is going to fight that." Mr Scarborough also outlines how the US is a "special country" – more than any other in the world – and that is how God intended it. He adds: "If we are to become 30 per cent Hispanic we will no longer be America." (And therefore no longer special.) "That would be a bad thing.
On a conference call for Rick Scarborough’s Vision America, Bishop E.W. Jackson of STAND (Staying True to America’s National Destiny) America PAC claimed that the Democratic Party “embraces this anti-Christian, anti-God” worldview. Bishop Jackson continued to say that the Democratic Party is “nothing less than a party of dependence, [and] in effect created a new form of slavery on a liberal plantation that it wants to keep black people on.”
Bishop Jackson and Rick Scarborough joined Tom DeLay and Phyllis Schlafly in releasing a voter’s guide that shows the average score of Republican and Democratic members of Congress from the American Conservative Union. Scarborough called himself “a Christocrat” but that “as a matter of principle I simply vote Republican 90 percent of the time.” Schlafly added that “you’re better off to vote the straight Republican ticket than the Democrat ticket.”
All four speakers criticized the Democrats while praising the Tea Party. Bishop Jackson maintained that the Democratic Party represents “godlessness,” and stands for “fiscal irresponsibility, moral relativism or amorality, anti-Christian bigotry, and a foreign policy of surrender and appeasement.” Addressing concerns that the Tea Party was ignoring social issues, Bishop Jackson said that Tea Parties are “very, very socially conservative as well,” and Scarborough asserted that he receives “rousing ovations at Tea Parties when I talk about the God-factor.”
Save America...STOP Obama Tyranny National Coalition Chairman Dr. Rick Scarborough announced the successful conclusion of a petition drive: "In Support of The Tea Parties And Against Defamation."
Signers include such notable conservative leaders as Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Gary Bauer (American Values), Brent Bozell (Media Research Center), Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America), Richard A. Viguerie (ConservativeHQ.com), Morton Blackwell (Leadership Institute), Alfred S. Regnery (The American Spectator), Gov. Mike Huckabee, Judge Roy Moore, Don Irvine (Accuracy In Media), Tom McClusky (Family Research Council), Herbert I. London (Hudson Institute), Rev. Louis Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition) and Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum). Organizations listed for identification purposes only.
Scarborough observed: "Conservative leaders lining up behind the Tea Parties -- representing every segment of the movement -- include five rabbis, the Executive Director of Faithful Catholic Citizens and a number of well-respected pastors -- as well as the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America and the Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. Economic conservatives are represented by Seton Motley (Less Government), Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), Dick Patten (American Family Business Institute) and Jim Martin (60 Plus Association). Leaders working on defense and foreign policy include Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs), Elaine Donnelly (Center for Military Readiness) and Herb Zweibon (Americans for A Safe Israel). Jordan Marks (Young Americans for Freedom) is the executive director of the nation's oldest conservative youth group."
The petition calls the Tea Parties "one of the best hopes for restoring constitutional government," but notes they have been "subjected to an unprecedented campaign of lies, distortion and vitriol, most recently by the NAACP which called on them to 'expel the bigots and racists in your ranks.'"
Scarborough noted these attacks, "magnified by a compliant media," are part of an overall strategy: "The left is running scared. Its president is wildly unpopular. It is now looking at huge loses in the mid-term elections. It hopes that by stigmatizing and marginalizing the Tea Parties -- the most visible symbol of opposition to big government -- it will thereby discredit all opposition to this administration."
The Petition charges that the anti-Tea Party campaign also "represents a cynical attempt to manipulate minority voters and exploit their fear in the upcoming election."