The Volokh Conspiracy - Oh, Good Lord:

Stop the ACLU favorably quotes this press release:

The Reverends Rob Schenck . . . and Patrick J. Mahoney will visit ACLU headquarters today to hand-deliver more than 20,000 petitions demanding that the left-leaning liberal attack group back off of terrorizing communities and individuals who seek to affirm America's Judeo-Christian values.

Schenck, who heads up Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, and Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, asked their respective members to sign the statements after the ACLU sued a small rural school district in Adams County, Ohio, over four displays of the Ten Commandments in front of public schools there. The ACLU won an order for the Commandments to be removed, then demanded that the school reimburse them for legal expenses. After Christian ministers in the community stepped forward with a pledge to replace the money taken from the school budget, the ACLU settled for $80,000.

"The ACLU is this generation's Ku Klux Klan," said Rev. Rob Schenck. "They gallop into small towns with legal hoods over their heads and terrorize good people by threatening to harm children by draining the coffers of local schools if they so much as dare to recognize our nation's true heritage. These ACLU bullies are nothing more than psychological terrorists." . . .

Yup, that's right, ACLU=KKK, presumably just like on the other side Bush=Hitler. Murdering blacks and threatening blacks is very closely related to filing lawsuits to enforce what courts have, rightly or wrongly, held to be the constitutional rule. Oh, and it's terrorizing, too: A terrorist who murders innocent civilians is a fine analogy for a lawyer who files a lawsuit that you think should be meritless (though under our legal system's rules is likely meritorious).

Might it be possible that someone you strongly disagree with is . . . simply misguided? Takes an erroneous view of the Constitution? Has a misplaced sense of priorities? Is something other than a Klansman, a terrorist, a Nazi, a fascist, or whatever else?

UPDATE: I wrote that "Stop the ACLU favorably quotes this press release" because the post quoted the release and then said "I'm not sure it will do any good, but its great to see that people are out there fighting the good fight with us."

The Stop the ACLU people now tell me, though, that they don't endorse the press release's description of the ACLU; an update on their post reads: "I do not think the ACLU are terrorists as in killing people. I don't think they are anything like the KKK as far as race goes. While I understand the feelings, I do not endorse these descriptions of the ACLU, but I do endorse the action of taking the petitions asking them to back off." I'm pleased that Stop the ACLU takes this view, though puzzled as to why they would nonetheless quote the press release favorably. In any event, my criticism of the press release, and of those who would endorse it, still stands.

	[Eugene Volokh, November 18, 2005 at 9:36am] Trackbacks Oh, Good Lord: Stop the ACLU favorably quotes this press release: The Reverends Rob Schenck . . . and Patrick J. Mahoney will visit ACLU headquarters today to hand-deliver more than 20,000 petitions demanding that the left-leaning liberal attack group back off of terrorizing communities and individuals who seek to affirm America's Judeo-Christian values. Schenck, who heads up Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, and Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, asked their respective members to sign the statements after the ACLU sued a small rural school district in Adams County, Ohio, over four displays of the Ten Commandments in front of public schools there. The ACLU won an order for the Commandments to be removed, then demanded that the school reimburse them for legal expenses. After Christian ministers in the community stepped forward with a pledge to replace the money taken from the school budget, the ACLU settled for $80,000. "The ACLU is this generation's Ku Klux Klan," said Rev. Rob Schenck. "They gallop into small towns with legal hoods over their heads and terrorize good people by threatening to harm children by draining the coffers of local schools if they so much as dare to recognize our nation's true heritage. These ACLU bullies are nothing more than psychological terrorists." . . . Yup, that's right, ACLU=KKK, presumably just like on the other side Bush=Hitler. Murdering blacks and threatening blacks is very closely related to filing lawsuits to enforce what courts have, rightly or wrongly, held to be the constitutional rule. Oh, and it's terrorizing, too: A terrorist who murders innocent civilians is a fine analogy for a lawyer who files a lawsuit that you think should be meritless (though under our legal system's rules is likely meritorious). Might it be possible that someone you strongly disagree with is . . . simply misguided? Takes an erroneous view of the Constitution? Has a misplaced sense of priorities? Is something other than a Klansman, a terrorist, a Nazi, a fascist, or whatever else? UPDATE: I wrote that "Stop the ACLU favorably quotes this press release" because the post quoted the release and then said "I'm not sure it will do any good, but its great to see that people are out there fighting the good fight with us." The Stop the ACLU people now tell me, though, that they don't endorse the press release's description of the ACLU; an update on their post reads: "I do not think the ACLU are terrorists as in killing people. I don't think they are anything like the KKK as far as race goes. While I understand the feelings, I do not endorse these descriptions of the ACLU, but I do endorse the action of taking the petitions asking them to back off." I'm pleased that Stop the ACLU takes this view, though puzzled as to why they would nonetheless quote the press release favorably. In any event, my criticism of the press release, and of those who would endorse it, still stands.