Over the years I have followed right wing :family values"
groups to know what the enemy is up to so to speak. One of the groups I
have monitored is Eagle Forum - Phyllis Schlafly's organization that is steadfastly against women's rights, gay rights (even though Schlafy has a gay child) and which has a strong racist under current to it - like most lily white "Christian" organizations. Moreover, Schlafly's an egomaniac with a ego as large as Donald Trumps - which is why she has been eager to endorse Trump's fascist agenda. Now, in a delicious coup attempt, it appears that Schlafy is at risk of being dethroned from her organization by board members who support of Ted Cruz. Making it more delicious, one of Schlafy's own children is seemingly are part of the would be palace coup. Here are highlights from The Daily Beast:
One of the right-wing’s most prominent empires is reeling—and its president says it’s Ted Cruz’s fault.
Eagle Forum, a conglomerate of conservative groups which anti-feminist icon PhyllisSchlafly started in 1972, has been rocked by inner turmoil over the last week that has pit family members against each other.
And the group’s head, Ed Martin, says Cruz’s campaign is using its much-discussed “dirty tricks” to sow conflict in the organization as revenge for Schlafly’s endorsement of Donald Trump.
Schlafly, one of conservatives’ most prominent and visible leaders, played a key role in blocking the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment, and her group claims 80,000 members.
Martin said the Cruz team set its sights on Eagle Forum when Schlafly endorsed the Texan’s opponent. And he said Cruz supporters in the organization leaked private emails to the campaign, and that Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, confronted him about statements in the leaked emails.
Since the first Republican nominating contest, the Cruz campaign has faced allegations that its staff uses underhanded and shady tactics to pull off wins. Cruz himself apologized to then-candidate Ben Carson for an email that went to Cruz supporters the day of the Iowa caucuses suggesting Carson was about to pull out of the race. And Trump regularly criticizes Cruz’s personal integrity, leading rally crowds in chants of “Lyin’ Ted! Lyin’ Ted!”
Not everyone blames Cruz, of course. Adams and other board members—allied against Martin—adamantly dispute that 2016 politicking had anything to do with recent tensions. Nevertheless, the rift shows just how tense this election cycle has become for the Schlaflys, one of the conservative movement’s founding families—and just how fast seemingly unassailable organizations can descend into chaos.
[T]he board passed resolutions to fire Martin as president of that particular organization and to take control of its bank account, which Martin said holds $4 million. When that happened, Schlafly dissented, registering her support for Martin. Martin’s leadership of a separate Eagle Forum group went unchallenged.
Martin’s sudden firing threw Eagle Forum into chaos, with the anti-Martin board members and Schlafly herself issuing separate statements with contradictory explanations of what went down. It seems likely that more fights will come as Eagle Forum’s board and leadership struggle for power.
For some, these fights are personal. One board member who voted to depose Martin, Anne Cori, is Schlafly’s daughter.
Cori endorsed Ted Cruz in January. Fellow board members Cathie Adams, Eunie Smith, Rosina Kovar, and Carolyn McLarty have all endorsed the Texas senator as well.
Schlafly didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from The Daily Beast. But in an interview with World Net Daily, she indicated that she thinks the group’s troubles are political payback. “This is a complete takeover attempt,” she told the site.
In my view, Schlafy is one foul individual and the collapse of her organization would be a positive development for America. The ultimate irony is that while she blathers about "family values," the groups actual values are akin to those of the notorious Borgia family in Italy.
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