Bobby Jindal's Hate Group Relationship

Among the would be Republican presidential nominees the willingness to prostitute themselves to the Christofascist/Tea Party element of the party base seems to no few limits.  But even among these self-prostitution individuals, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal seems to take self-prostitution to new levels.  Hence his agreement to headline a rally organized by The American Family Association, one of the vilest of the Southern Poverty Law Center certified hate groups.  What makes Jindal's pandering all the more disgusting is the fact that he's not some uneducated rube.  He's Ivy League educated but is only too happy to embrace ignorance in the quest for political power.  A piece in Media Matters looks at Jindal's shameless embrace of hate and ignorance.  Here are excerpts:

Louisiana Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal is the keynote speaker for a rally funded and organized by an anti-LGBT group that has blamed gay people for causing the Holocaust and advocated imprisoning homosexuals.  So why isn't his appearance garnering national media attention?

On January 24, Jindal will keynote a six-hour prayer event at Louisiana State University called "The Response: A Call To Prayer For a Nation In Crisis." The event is sponsored and funded by the American Family Association (AFA), one of the most extreme anti-gay hate groups in the country. It's also being staffed by a number of notorious anti-LGBT activists.

The event has drawn protests from members of the LSU community. On January 22, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution expressing displeasure with the event, and a university spokesperson has clarified that the rental of an LSU facility "does not imply any endorsement."

Jindal has thus far dismissed criticism of the event, according to The Clarion-Ledger:

Asked if he agreed with the American Family Association's agenda, Jindal sidestepped that question and said, "The left likes to try to divide and attack Christians."

Jindal said the protesters themselves should consider joining the prayer rally. He said they "might benefit from prayer."

AFA's status as a hate group is largely thanks to the work of its spokesman, Bryan Fischer, whose anti-LGBT remarks go well beyond mainstream social conservatism. Fischer's inflammatory comments about gay people include:

• Repeatedly calling for the criminalization of homosexuality
• Blaming gay people for the Holocaust
• Linking homosexuality to pedophilia
• Arguing gay people are disqualified from holding public office

[A]side from a few outlets noting AFA's "controversial" stances, national coverage of Jindal's association with the hate group has similarly been glossed over by the media. It's a stark contrast to the tremendous media attention surrounding GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's infamous 2002 speech to a white nationalist group. When it comes to GOP politics, media outlets have a hard time seeing what's newsworthy about a hate group like AFA being used to cement the campaign of a potential presidential candidate.