Evangelical fundraising campaign by Ralph Reed's coalition depends on demonizing Barack Obama

Lying through your teeth is a solid traditional value if the cause is fundraising to destroy Barack Obama. I took note last week of Andy Kroll's reporting on the inflammatory flyer sent out to evangelicals by Ralph Reed for the Faith and Freedom Coalition. The flyer sought to link Barack Obama with Nazis and, for good measure, communists. Kroll has now managed to keep his gag reflex under control and explore the rest of the incendiary 11-page letter.

Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition and once referred to by Time magazine as the "right hand of God," founded the FFC in 2009. Mitt Romney has praised the organization and Reed is returning the favor by working to shore up support of right-wing Christians for the Republican candidate. They don't have an acceptable alternative to vote for, but despite all Romney's efforts to shape and reshape his views in their image during the primary campaign and since, many evangelical rightists are still not convinced he is one of them. He likely will get their vote but not their money or an enthusiastic get-out-the-vote effort.

So Reed's FFC fundraising letter focuses not on any good points about Romney that might have been dredged up, but on demonizing President Obama:

That Faith and Freedom Coalition mailer also included 10 more pages of inflammatory, debunked, and malicious rhetoric, a right-wing grab bag of Obama hatred. In this letter to potential voters, Reed claims that Obama wants an America where "government bureaucrats micromanage every aspect of your life," the taxman "seizes most of what you earn," and death panels'yes, those fictional death panels'determine whether you live or die. Reed insists that Obama will destroy capitalism and replace it with "Socialistic economic theories."

Here's the most inflammatory line: If Obama wins reelection, "he can complete America's destruction." This warning, naturally, is presented in bold print.

It doesn't matter whether Reed actually thinks any of the flyer's claptrap is true. Most of the targeted recipients already believe the piles of lies, distortions and exaggerations about Barack Obama it contains and would never vote for him anyway. Reed's objective is to raise enough money from these true believers so a pernicious "voter guide" can be shipped to millions of other voters who so far may be at least a little skeptical of the demon depiction of the president. Success convincing these voters depends on one of the traditional values Reed doesn't tout on his résumé: profuse, unrepentant lying.

Under the law, Reed gets to conceal the names of the big donors who contribute so-called "dark money" to keep the coalition humming.