Two weeks ago, George Soros went on CNN claiming that Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are like Nazis dangerously trying to deceive the American people.
On Sunday, an organization that Soros funds attacked Fox News by cherry-picking 53 seconds from an almost 12 minute segment to make it look like host Chris Wallace and the network he works for support the disgusting views of the Westboro Baptist Church (videos follow with transcripts and commentary):
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court held that even the most repulsive hate speech — Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-gay rallies at military funerals — is entitled to First Amendment protection. At the top of its show this morning, Fox invited one of the leading purveyors of such repulsive speech, Westboro’s attorney Margie Phelps, as its sole commentator on this Court decision. Phelps, who is the daughter of hate church leader Fred Phelps, provided exactly the same kind of thoughtful legal analysis that Americans expect from Fox News:
QUESTION: Are the nine justices going to Hell?
PHELPS: I have no objective indicator otherwise. The default for mankind is Hell. [...]
QUESTION: So the justices are going to Hell? The President is going to Hell?
PHELPS: Absolutely on the President. That’s a big ten-four. I already answered on the justices. The President is going to be king of the world before this is all said and done and he is most likely the Beast spoken of in the Revelation.
Watch it:
From this 53-second clip, one might get the feeling Chris Wallace actually agreed with what Phelps was saying. Quite the contrary, from the start of the interview, the "Fox News Sunday" host was quite dismissive of his guest.
In fact, this is what immediately followed what Soros's shills at Think Progress dishonestly cherry-picked:
CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR: Several retired Air Force generals are now seeking to have ten lawyers. I don't know, quite frankly. I assume you're one of them disbarred, they say, because of your failure to maintain professional standards.
MARGIE PHELPS, ATTORNEY, WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH: Do you know that -- do you know that they ...
WALLACE: They -- if I may -- if I may -- Ms. Phelps, if I may ask the question, then I'll give you a chance to answer. They cite your "decades-long pattern of uncivil and unprofessional conduct." Go ahead.
So, immediately after what Think Progress clipped, Wallace told viewers that Air Force generals are trying to get his guest disbarred because of her "decades-long pattern of uncivil and unprofessional conduct."
But Think Progress withheld this from its readers, and this is what these shills do on a daily basis: they cherry-pick to attack their enemies.
As NewsBusters reported in 2007, their parent, Center for American Progress, is highly-funded by Soros.
Readers are encouraged to review the full video and transcript of this interview to observe that quite contrary to what Soros said on CNN two weeks ago, it is he and his minions like Think Progress that are deceiving the American people:
CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR: I'm Chris Wallace, and this is "Fox News Sunday."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE (voice-over): They target military funerals, saying the deaths of U.S. service men are the will of God, but the Supreme Court decides, repugnant or not, it is protected free speech. We'll talk with the leader of Westboro Baptist Church, Margie Phelps, about the case and actions one Supreme Court justice calls cool.
Then a partial government shutdown is avoided for now, as all sides try to reach a deal to cut spending and keep the government running. We'll discuss the key issues with two congressional leaders, the Democrats' number two man in the Senate, Dick Durbin, and Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Republican Conference.
Plus, the 2012 GOP field begins to take shape. We ask our Sunday panel about Newt Gingrich's semi-announcement and where he stands in the Republican contest.
And our power player of the week runs one of the first programs to face the budget axe. All right now on "Fox News Sunday."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And hello again from Fox News in Washington. The Supreme Court ruled this week that no matter how hateful, speech in public places on public issues is protected by the Constitution. Before we talk with one of the leaders of Westboro Baptist Church, Fox News correspondent James Rosen tells how we got here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES ROSEN, FOX NEWS: At funerals and other solemn events across the country, members of the Westboro Baptist Church have shown up to wave patently obnoxious signs and chant in-your-face slogans, all to protests the society they deem too tolerant of homosexuality and other perceived sins.
Many of the 100 or so parishioners of the non-denominational church in Topeka, Kansas are relatives of founder Fred Phelps, and while their actions are widely condemned, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Westboro's protest outside the 2006 funeral of slain Marine Matthew Snyder, who was not gay, was constitutional.
ROSEN: Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court's 8-1 opinion, citing the need to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we don't stifle public debate.
For Albert Snyder, the ruling reopened the wound of his son's death.
ALBERT SNYDER, SLAIN SOLDIER'S FATHER: We found out today that we can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSEN: In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the right of free speech does not provide a license for the, quote, "vicious verbal assault" that occurred in this case. At the Supreme Court, James Rosen, Fox News. Chris.
WALLACE: James, thanks for that. Joining us now from Topeka, Kansas is Margie Phelps, daughter of founder of Westboro Baptist, who is also the lawyer who argued the case successfully before the Supreme Court.
Ms. Phelps, before we talk about the case, let's talk about your church. It's not just U.S. soldiers, your church says that 9/11 and that the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia were also God's will.
And after the shootings in Tucson, you said, your church did, that 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green was better off dead and you wanted to picket her funeral. Question, how does an innocent 9-year- old girl end up in this?
PHELPS: Well, if you study the scriptures, you would know that no human is innocent, and that when a nation makes policies of sin, that the God of eternity deals with that nation by pouring his wrath out on that nation. And every description of that kind in the scriptures expressly includes, down to little saplings get caught up in that matter.
So what we're saying to this nation is that they're dying for your sins, and if you want it to stop, you have got to repent and mourn for your sins and stop.
WALLACE: Well, let's talk about interpreting God's will. Your father, Fred Phelps, the founder of the church, was five years old when his mother died of throat cancer. The aunt who raised him was killed in 1950 in a car crash. Was the death of his mother, was the death of the aunt, was that also God's will?
PHELPS: It absolutely was. I'm quite certain, knowing my father as I do, that for him to do the work that he has ended up needing to do in his life, it was absolutely needful to remove those women from the landscape.
There is no question. God holds the breath of life of every human in his hand and he has these things mapped out. And he does them according to his good will and pleasure. So every bit as much --
WALLACE: Ms. Phelps, if I may. Isn't it possible -- I mean, I wouldn't dare to interpret God's will, but isn't it possible that God was sending a warning to your father about the kind of church that he was going to establish, and in fact, God was trying to tell him not to establish that kind of church that would commit these kinds of acts?
PHELPS: Well, I don't see a cause and effect there. But in point of fact, the church was established, and he has been the pastor for nearly 60 years. And an amazing and marvelous work has been brought from this little church and this little body.
WALLACE: The dictionary defines a cult, a cult this way -- a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society, under the direction of a charismatic leader.
Most members of your congregation are members of your extended family. Many of them live in a compound along with the church in Topeka, Kansas. Isn't Westboro Baptist a cult?
PHELPS: Well, of course, you can imagine you're not the first person to make that suggestion, and my dad would probably laugh at the notion that he's charismatic. What he is God-fearing. Of course, we live very mainstream. We're in your schools. We're in your jobs and we're every day a testimony.
But at the end of the day, call us a cult, call us anything. Just publish the words. At this point, all of that name-calling has become white noise, as the entire world looks over at this message. And, in fact, this case put a megaphone to the mouth of this church.
WALLACE: You talk about your father as God-fearing. Your father had 13 children. Two of your brothers, Nate and Mark, say that your father abused your mother and abused you kids. They describe savage beatings and violent outbursts. In fact, one of your brothers, Mark, said this -- "we had to watch out for this madman."
PHELPS: Well, Mark always had an overactive imagination. Both of them have been gone for decades. All of my parents' children who went to serve God, which is actually nine of the 13, not 11 of the 13, but nine of the 13 commune with him and my mom daily, and they are wonderful people.
They taught us the truth about what the Bible says. You don't see that anymore. And they stand uniquely. They are the only two of their generation in this world that I have seen who are actually a testimony to what the Bible says and to the cause of God and truth. And we're very thankful to have them, very thankful.
WALLACE: Let's turn to the Supreme Court's ruling this week, and I want to put up on the screen your reaction to it. You said, "This is not my victory, this is God's victory. There is no shutting up the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ."
PHELPS: Right.
WALLACE: Is the ruling by the Supreme Court this week God's will?
PHELPS: Of course it was, or it wouldn't have happened. He holds the hearts of the team in his hand. He put us out on the battlefield.He told us to go out and tell the nation that your soldiers are dying for your sins and you've got to stop sinning if you want that mayhem to end.
He would not have done that and then left us to the devices of mankind, unable to complete that good work. So, of course, it's his good will. And we're very thankful and we praise his name for it.
WALLACE: Then, Ms. Phelps, how do you explain another Supreme Court ruling in 2003 -- in Lawrence v. Texas, the court ruled by a margin of 6-3 that a law prohibiting sexual acts between same-sex couples was unconstitutional. They said there was a right of privacy for consensual same-sex couples. Is that also God's will?
PHELPS: No, in fact, it's a curse from God. In fact, we picketed outside the Supreme Court the day they were having those arguments. And I recall specifically my dad and I being there, among others, and we told that crowd waiting out there, oh ye, oh ye all you having business before this court, (inaudible) and bend over.
It is sad that the Supreme Court is the conscience of this nation. And on that day, this nation, when they issued that opinion, this nation crossed a line of no return with the Lord God almighty. And in the scriptures--
WALLACE: But if I may, ma'am, you're the arbiter then of when it's God's will and when it's God's curse. Let me ask you, are the --
(CROSSTALK)
PHELPS: We're not the arbiter, Mr. Wallace. We can just read plain words and we know that the scriptures are full of passages that when a nation has crossed the line with policies of sin, that one of the ways God curses that nation is by sending them leaders who are immoral. That's what has happened in this nation and every one of its branches of government--
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: If I may, ma'am, are the nine justices on the Supreme Court -- are the nine justices going to hell?
PHELPS: I have no objective indicator otherwise.
The default for mankind is hell. Unless you bring forth fruits meet for repentance, the assumption is that you will end up in hell when you quit your life on this earth. There is a duty of every human to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. I have seen no evidence of that in a single leader in this nation.
WALLACE: So, the justices are going to hell? The president is going to hell?
PHELPS: Absolutely on the president. That's a big 10-4. I already answered on the justices. The president is going to be king of the world before this is all said and done, and he is most likely the Beast spoken of in the revelation.
WALLACE: Several retired Air Force generals are now seeking to have ten lawyers. I don't know, quite frankly. I assume you're one of them disbarred, they say, because of your failure to maintain professional standards.
PHELPS: Do you know that -- do you know that they ...
WALLACE: They -- if I may -- if I may -- Ms. Phelps, if I may ask the question, then I'll give you a chance to answer. They cite your "decades-long pattern of uncivil and unprofessional conduct." Go ahead.
PHELPS: Right. And the complaint was dismissed. They never even mailed it to us, it was dismissed so quickly. And they included in the complaint the brief that I filed with the Supreme Court and various of our religious publications. It was falling from the beginning.
Now, check this out: the Pentagon has declared war on this little church. And when they did that, they declared war on God almighty. They have epic failed, to use their language, and in God's view of this matter, to use their belly badass term, it's tango down. They are not going to win this fight that they have brought. And the line...
WALLACE: Ms. Phelps -- Ms. Phelps, I have a minute left. I have one more question to ask you. We have less than a minute left. Some of your signs say "Thank God -- thank God for dead soldiers."
PHELPS: Right.
WALLACE: Do you see no moral difference between a fallen American service man and the al-Qaeda terrorist he is fighting, who is slaughtering innocent people for jihad? Do you see any moral difference between the American soldier and the al-Qaeda terrorist?
PHELPS: Yes, there is a difference. The American soldier is worse, because he pretends that he's fighting for liberty and a Christian nation. And there is not a bigger lie on the face of this earth today. Those soldiers are fighting for same-sex marriage and all the lesser included sins. And there is not an ounce of nobility in the United States military in this day. If you fear God, you won't put that uniform on.
WALLACE: And that's -- and that, apparently, is worse than -- and that apparently is worse than slaughtering innocents. Ms. Phelps, we want to thank you so much...
PHELPS: They are slaughtering innocents.
WALLACE: ... for talking to us today, ma'am.
PHELPS: Thank you.
