MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow dropped a bombshell on Wednesday night–one of the religious right’s most loathsome characters is out of a job. The American Family Association has fired its longtime chief issues analyst, Bryan Fischer.
Maddow reports that the firing came after Israel’s major daily newspaper, Haaretz, reported that Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and several other RNC members were going to Israel–and the AFA was picking up the tab. Haaretz wondered–loudly–how Priebus could be going on a trip funded by an SPLC-identified hate group. Watch Maddow’s report here:
The AFA’s branding as a hate group comes mostly due to Fischer. Fischer has said a number of things that any responsible political organization would consider a firing offense. For instance, he thinks the Gitmo detainees brought their treatment on themselves, that Native Americans deserved to be wiped out for not accepting Jesus, that blacks on welfare “rut like rabbits,” and that Muslim immigrants have to become Christians if they want to stay in this country.
According to Maddow, AFA president Tim Wildmon dismissed Fischer as “just a talk show host” who is no longer officially aligned with the AFA. Reportedly, the last straw for Wildmon was a number of remarks about Adolf Hitler and homosexuality. Apparently, this was just too toxic for the AFA, coming so soon after the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I find it hard to give Wildmon much credit for this. After all, Fischer should have been gone long ago.
Fischer hasn’t responded on his Twitter feed as of yet. Apparently the ax fell just hours after Wednesday’s edition of his daily show on American Family Radio, “Focal Point.” Knowing what I know about Fischer, he’s going to say something at some point. Stay tuned.
