Where there's Perkins' smoke, there's fire

BUSINESS MUST be slow these days for Tony Perkins and the American Family Association.  Perkins, the Christian conservative  group's president,  has been increasing the volume  of his attacks  on President Obama, particularly now that red-baiting has become fashionable  among some of Obama's more temperamental opponents.

You wouldn't think that Perkins could be so nasty in his own venues if you saw him on TV as the sort-of grown-up kid from the Andy Griffith Show.  But now that the American Family Association was among the losers who seriously endorsed Rick Santorum, he's had to fully turn his aggrieved attention to Obama. Aside from spreading doubts about the president's birth certificate, Perskins urged  his constituents  to read a  column suggesting there is  an alarming Communist strain in  the President's behavior.   The right-wing writer, Sandy Rios, hisses  that the president has so weakened America  that it will encourage a Communist takeover.

Perkins says  he isn't exactly naming names but "We're looking at facts." To add more trash to the fire, Rios praised Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) for declaring there are 81 communists in Congress.

And Perkins' group defends its wholesome mission as defending family values, lunacy obviously not being one of them.  

Loews, Target just weren't anticipating...

I AM FOREVER puzzled by the dumb decisions by the front offices of major corporations. The very latest: the Lowe's home improvement giant's surrender to a wacky Florida Christian outfit by pulling its ads from a harmless TV series (The Learning Channel) on the routine lives of American Muslim families.

In a pathetic attempt at damage control, a Lowe's spokesman said the program had become a "lightning rod." If so, it was nothing like the lightning rod that flashed following Lowe's action. There have been buyer boycotts and coast-to-coast criticism by American Muslims, human rights groups and entertainment stars. And it appears it's just getting started.

Lowe's has a perfect right to choose the programs it will nourish with its ads. But for it to appear that it is shocked by the response suggests to me that very little thought and preparation went into the TV ad plan in the first place. Did anybody in the room raise the possibility that a show about Muslim families just might lead to grief these days when so many people can name their favorite enemies of wholesome American soil? The same can be said about the decision to pull the ads.

The so-called lightning rod was produced by a right-wing religious nuisance, the American Family Assn, that claims about 35,000 members - although we can never be certain about the numbers. We do know that it is intensely anti-gay and has stalked various other things that it considers a threat to American "biblical values." The group sponsored Rick Perry's prayer rally, which tells you something about its line of day-and-night jobs.

Last year, Target stores learned the hard way that you have to be careful about the segment of society that could be tarnished by a big company's direct, or indirect, action. In this instance, Target made a hefty contribution to an anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-whatever gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.). All hell broke loose even though Target could otherwise defend its reputation as having a commendable record on human rights within the company.

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel apologized to his employes saying "our decision affected many of you in a way I did not anticipate, and for that I am genuinely sorry."

The key word, I suppose, is "anticipate." Which is exactly what the brass at Lowe's didn't do, either.