Bradlee Dean - the Face of "Christianist" and GOP Hate

It never ceases to amaze me how hateful and down right vile self-congratulatory "Christians" can be. Other than tempestuous love affairs with themselves, the seem to hate just about everyone else - especially if that everyone else is gay. Or, black. Or, Hispanic. Or an immigrant. Or Jewish. The list truly goes on and on. Yet another example of this is phenomenon is Bradlee Dean, drummer for the Christianist rock group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. Dean (pictured above), who looks pretty damn effeminate if you ask me, has close ties with GOP wing nuts - including GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, one of the nuttiest of them all, has recently condoned the execution of gays. Applying the rule of thumb that the most strident homophobes are usually self-loathing closet cases, Dean must have some serious issues of his own. The Minnesota Independent recently looked at how Dean's rock group has become a quasi-fixture at Minnesota GOP events as well as Dean's kill the gays statements. Here are some highlights:
*
You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit ministry that brings its hard rock gospel into public schools, has been deepening its long-running ties to the Republican Party of Minnesota. Long a cause célèbre for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has twice lent her name to the group’s fundraising efforts, You Can Run (YCR) had a booth at the GOP convention in April, and the group’s frontman, Bradlee Dean, reports that gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer recently accepted an invitation to visit with him at Dean’s home. But recent controversial statements by Dean — that Muslim countries calling for the execution of gays and lesbians are “more moral than even the American Christians” — have drawn the ire of some both within and outside the party.
*
“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”
*
“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”
*
“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”
*
GOP chair Sutton did not respond to the Minnesota Independent’s request for comment on Dean’s rhetoric about executing gays and lesbians, but Emmer’s press secretary, Chris Van Guilder, passed along this statement from Emmer: . . . Tom did meet Bradlee Dean while campaigning, and may have doorknocked his house. Tom has also appeared on AM1280 and KKMS, including on Bradlee Dean’s radio show. Tom has appeared on many other radio stations and shows as well.Tom’s position on social issues has been very clear and consistent. He is a supporter of traditional marriage, and he strongly opposes any kind of violence or unfair discrimination against any group. . . .
*
Emmer’s campaign acknowledges that Emmer’s Minnesota House campaign donated $250 to You Can Run in 2008; the campaign has alerted the Campaign Finance Board because the donation exceeds the legal limit by $150.

*

For a generally progressive state, Minnesota seems to have some really scary whack jobs. Personally, I find it frightening that someone as blatantly untethered from reality as Michelle Bachmann ever got elected to Congress.