Eye On "The 30"

Beginning this month I'll be updating, as circumstances warrant, the efforts of "Senator" Robert Wagner (I-Addison) (yes, yes, I know that he's never been elected to a senatorial post but the guy's so friggin' needy that he calls himself "Senator," so let's humor him) to take over the Vermont Senate in 2012, as well as his cohorts in the Vermont secesher movement.

So far, it's only him and perennial electoral loser, Denny Morrisseau, "The 30's" token candidate for Rutland county who've recently publicized their intentions. A couple of the others of Vermont's perpetual loony candidates have indicated a desire to run but it may have just been their recent 2010 losses that prompted those claims - let's see if they come to their senses before treating their "one-more-time" candidacies for every office under the sun at the same time seriously. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann would have a better chance of taking Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco congressional seat than Morrisseau ever has of making a decent showing in Rutland county. In true fringer fashion, Morrisseau, who likes to call himself "The Very Foreign Minister of the Second Vermont Republic," garnered a whopping 1.8% of the vote in his 2010 senatorial bid.

Now to today's installment of "Eye On 'The 30'": over the weekend "Senator" Wagner posted another of his poorly considered choices for issue analysis (no, not another Teabagger this time) from a contributor to a racist, neo-Confederate publication that is loosely allied with the League of the South called Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, as well as to that incubator for neo-Confederate thought and theory, The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Justin Raimondo, here. You'd think that the "Senator" would have started to do a little homework to ensure that he doesn't make the same mistake that his associates at SVR and VTCommons have repeatedly made by tying themselves to neo-Confederate, white supremacist groups and individuals. A quick Google search reveals scads of material in which Raimondo is described as "an American neo-Fascist," as virulently opposed to marriage equality and is an oddly long-time supporter of the homophobic and openly racist Pat Buchanan:

Gay Buchanan Backer Defends His Candidate
San Francisco Chronicle
Jim Herron Zamora
February 23, 1996

Justin Raimondo is an openly gay man who believes that "Pat Buchanan is absolutely the best thing for America."

A longtime activist in conservative and Libertarian circles, Raimondo headed Buchanan's operation in San Francisco in 1992 and is volunteering for the 1996 campaign.

"I see no conflict between my political beliefs and my personal life," said Raimondo, 44. "Being homosexual is not like being a Libertarian or a socialist."

Raimondo's political affiliation flies in the face of the the views of many gay people, who consider Buchanan a bigot and hatemonger.

Buchanan has said he will keep openly gay people out of top White House positions if elected. But, according to Raimondo, the candidate knows and apparently doesn't care that his San Francisco supporter is gay.

"The whole gay agenda is just a sham," Raimondo said.

"The whole thing they say that Pat Buchanan wants to round us all up and send us to concentration camps is just a bunch of crap. It's a lie and a smear. He welcomes gay workers in his campaign.

"He does not think that homosexuality is all that great a thing. But I don't need his approval. Why does any gay person need anyone's benediction?"

Raimondo said a person's sexual orientation should be a private matter and that gay or lesbian people should not "force their sexuality on an unwilling public."

He also said he does not believe that gays and lesbians need "special protections" against discrimination.

Raimondo said he agrees with Buchanan on most issues.

"I'm a right-wing populist," Raimondo said Thursday.

"I support this political platform. I support America first."

He also endorsed Buchanan's opposition to U.S. intervention in Bosnia, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Raimondo, a New York native who has lived in San Francisco for 24 years, does not agree with Buchanan on every issue.

"I am pro-choice. But I agree with so much that Pat stands for. He has really gone beyond right and left to revitalize this country."

Raimondo, an analyst at the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, is the only Republican on the March primary ballot seeking the opportunity to challenge Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, in November.

In the 1992 campaign, Raimondo worked from his home handling media, organizing rallies and recruiting volunteers for Buchanan. This time around he hopes to help Buchanan "go all the way to the White House."

Buchanan wrote the foreword to the second edition of Raimondo's 1993 book, "Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement."

Raimondo's perception of Buchanan's stance on gays does not sit well with San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who is gay.

"He has a history of comments like this and is shunned by the gay community and their supporters," Ammiano said of Raimondo. "He loves to see his name in print. He's so contrary to what the perceptions are that it makes him so different people will write about him."

Buchanan has drawn the wrath of the nation's largest gay and lesbian Republican organization, Log Cabin Republicans, with 10,000 members in 30 states. Its executive director, Richard Tafel, in Washington, is urging members to help defeat the conservative commentator.

"The Republican Party is beginning to reap the harvest of pandering to the far right," Tafel said. ". . . Buchanan's irresponsible rhetoric about gays and lesbians should cause all Americans to shudder. Stopping Pat Buchanan now should be the goal of every gay and lesbian American."

"Senator" Wagner lauds this nutjob Raimondo as a "conservative voice" whose "good analysis... illustrates what the Independen(ce) movement in Vermont is all about."

Here is how conservatives describe "Senator" Wagner's nominee for an out of state "conservative voice" Vermonters need to hear.

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