YAF Watch: Keeping an eye on a college hate group of young Republicans.

[madfloridian]

This blog is keeping an eye on the group called Young Americans for Freedom, a group from Michigan State University which has been designated as a "hate" group.

Here are some of the groups hated by YAF:

African Americans
Baby Seals
Episcopal Church
Hindus
Homosexuals and Transgendered
Immigrants
Jews
Muslims
Native Americans
Yankees

Today they are hating John McCain and plan to protest him there at MSU. One of them even has a picture of himself burning a John McCain shirt.

Shirt burnings and Mock assassinations


YAF has made many anti-McCain posts on their website. YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow has gone as far as to post a picture on Facebook where he holds up a burning John McCain campaign shirt.

Burning shirts is not the only activity YAF members have done to show their disapproval of Presidential candidates. In 2006 when Kentucky YAF Chair Morgan Wilkins was an intern for the College Republican National Committee she spoke about a mock assassination game to recruit new College Republicans. According to the Michigan Daily:

"Her other ideas include an event called "Fun with Guns," in which young Republicans would use a BB gun or paintball gun to shoot cardboard cut-outs of Democratic leaders such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) Wilkin's idea of mock assassinations of a a former Democratic candidate and a future candidate was not well received in the political establishment. Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean and the Michigan Democratic Party called on Republican Chair Ken Mehlman to denounce Wilkins. Mehlman did denounce her, and she was fired from her internship.

The College Republicans use the Rovian tactics of ridicule and humiliation which they call Controlled Controversy

The Leadership Institute teaches the same principle. Controlled controversy -- making your point in a manner so bombastic that your opponents blow their cool -- is a Blackwell specialty. Before the 2004 Republican Convention, the conservative elder personally went to a drugstore and bought little pink heart stickers, bandages and purple nail polish. At home, he made the "Purple Heart Band-Aids" that he later distributed in Madison Square Garden to mock John Kerry's war wounds. From Blackwell's perspective, the Kerry camp's outrage at the gag was a tactical disaster. Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe, Blackwell says, kept the story alive for days by "running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

...""The moral is that if it's your tail that's being clipped, you want it clipped once," concludes Blackwell. "But if you get a chance to clip your opponent's tail, clip that puppy as often as you can."

Here is more about that girl who got fired, Morgan Wilkins. She had the distinction of being named Countdown's Worst Person in the World.

Take time to read more of the posts at YAF Watch.

They have done some very good work. We need to be aware of groups like this because their very nature is to be obnoxious as they can be.

[MadHound]

1. Hey, it's free speech.

We are also free to point and ridicule them whenever they show their slimy heads, which I think is the best way to deal with these sorts. Don't argue with them, mock them, let them and the world what stupid idiots they are, and they will dry up and blow away. Do it early and often.

[PDJane]

2. Yet another example...

of why Republicans aren't funny. What puerile and vicious people.

[TheMightyFavog]

3. IIRC, YAF's been around since the Vietnam War

THey were assholes then, they are assholes now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Americans_for_Freedom

[Jackpine Radical]

42. Yup. I remember them from my late-Pleistocene college days.

We referred to them as the Young American Fascists.

[ClayZ]

4. You should see some of them on MySpace!

They are as hateful as you can get! They HATE Liberals. It is disturbing!


for example...yikes!
http://www.myspace.com/stoptheenemy

K and R

[madfloridian]

5. Why do they hate McCain and Ron Paul so much?

Yes, that is an ugly site.

[Naturyl]

22. McCain and Paul don't always toe the fascist line

Any departure from complete ideological purity is punishable with severe and swift measures.

[Chomskyite]

18. And I say this:

Let's give them reason to KEEP hating us. Let's win some elections and push their fat dads out of the committee rooms.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Idiots. This is their first line describing the site...

" About me:
In a world were terrorists want to destroy you, the most important decision in your life is the leader of the free world!"

Maybe they should hire someone to spell for them since they are only just entering college...

[grantcart]

7. Very disturbing

Very disturbing except for hating the Yankees which of course the entire rest of the country does. Do they burn Yankee jerseys? That could get expensive.

[bumblebee1]

8. They don't like Yankees?

I guess Derek Jeter and ARod have at least two strikes against them.

[madfloridian]

9. LOL Here's the kind of Yankees they don't like.

http://yafwatch.blogspot.com/2007/07/confederate-cowboy.html

[Swamp Rat]

10. Well, Hell's bells! I guess I made this just in time:

[madfloridian]

11. Another good one, Swamp Rat.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Maybe the folks watching the little Nazitards could make a few calls

to military recruiters, and also put them on numerous recruiter mailing lists. ;)

Btw, don't they hate African Americans too? Or are they too chickenshit to post that on their websites?

Better yet, give their names to Israeli Intelligence Agencies. :)

[madfloridian]

14. Here's how they feel about African Americans

http://yafwatch.blogspot.com/2007/07/yafs-anti-african-american-ideology_26.html

[Swamp Rat]

15. I bet their FBI files are thicker than the Detroit Yellow Pages.

And I suspect many of them will end up in prison, thus making America more safe.

[Chomskyite]

19. Unfortunately it's more likely . . .

. . . those files would contain records of what the FBI did to HELP the YAF do what it's doing.

[FREEWILL56]

28. FBI files?

Oh you mean their freeper resumes. Young Asshole Freepers and unfortunately they will never go away, but will lurk and multiply in small out of the way corners until one day. AAGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Anybody invent freeper pest strips yet?

[Naturyl]

23. Nice one

BTW, do you make these available for free re-use?

[Swamp Rat]

26. You are welcome to download them

They are not for sale or for profit for anyone (including myself at this time). My pix are an exercise in catharsis, and havin' fun for free. :D

www.swamp-rat.com

[Naturyl]

27. OK, thanks. I've seen some I might use elsewhere. (n/t)

[Mr_Monday]

12. The only thing I truely despise

about College Republicans is that arrogant smirk they always wear.

[madfloridian]

16. A superior smirk.

When they are not superior at all...except in their own minds.

[SpiralHawk]

30. And their chickenhawk status

Shame. Shame. Shame. They follow their chickenhawk leaders...

Very queer what fear can do as it infests the republicon soul...

[Raine]

17. They aren't Republicans

they're Libertarians ... anyway that's the way they used to promote themselves. I remember them from back in the late 1960s-1970's.

[JVS]

20. "which has been designated as a "hate" group." This is exactly why the passive voice is bad in...

journalism! Who designated them a hate-group?

[madfloridian]

24. Designated by...

"This is a blog dedicated to tracking the actions of the Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom, a right-wing student activist group that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. We will also be tracking other YAF groups across the state of Michigan and the nation, as well as other organizations, such as the Minutemen, with which they are affiliated."

[JVS]

25. Thanks.

[madfloridian]

36. The "passive voice"

The more I thought about it, the more I decided to respond. First off, I am not a journalist. I try to be very accurate, but I don't follow the rules of grammar and composition that are this involved.

The paragraph I posted for you was at the top of the right side of the frontpage of the website.

I usually got A's in composition in college and kudos from my professors. So I take your thoughts with a grain of salt, and I think I had no more room in the subject line.

I think I made my points well.

[JVS]

38. Passive voice can be used without problem, but when it obscures who is the agent of the action...

it functions against the purpose of language. It obscures rather than clarifies. That's why I had to ask who categorized. Other than that I have no problem with your post. It's just that the first sentence left me with a question.

[madfloridian]

39. It was at the link at the top of the page..

But thanks for not having too much of a problem with my post. :shrug:

Damning with faint praise...good tactic.

[JVS]

40. The first link? That was to the YAF site themselves! Your post sucked and the top is not where...

that link was. Your top link was this
http://spartanspectator.blogspot.com/search?q=McCain

How's that for faint praise?

I was willing to ignore that bit because I just wanted the info. But since you've turned this into a discussion of what a great fucking post you made, I'm not letting it fly.

[madfloridian]

41. Now that is being honest.

:rofl:

Actually I said at the top of the page. I don't think I mentioned the first link. It is right under Our Mission at the top right.

http://yafwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/shirt-burnings-and-mock-assassinations.html

[madfloridian]

37. Duplicate post.

.

[Naturyl]

21. Hate for the sake of hate

Just like Fred Phelps and his family of troglodytes. Good job, guys.

[madfloridian]

46. Yes, you said it very well. I doubt they really hate...but they act like they do.

Hate for the sake of hate. I don't think many read my link to the tactics of deliberate outrage

It appears that tactics introduced by Rove involve using things that deliberately upset.

Frankly I doubt anyone could actually feel that much hate. But perhaps they have pretended to do so long that who knows.

[Thothmes]

29. Out of idle curiosity

Who designated them a "hate group"?

[AspenRose]

33. See #24

eom

[Thothmes]

47. Thanks, missed it.

[Echo In Light]

31. Note how ignorance and hatred is equated w/"freedom" for these sociopaths

[LibertyLover]

32. I almost can't believe I'm about to say this, but my junior and senior years

in high school I was a dues-paying, card-carrying member of YAF. Now, in my defense, it was almost 40 years ago and YAF, at least the chapter I was in, was nothing like that. Truthfully, it was more a social club than an in-your-face political activist group. One spring we sold grasshoppers as a natural pest control to make money for the group. We liked Goldwater, mostly because he spoke Navajo LOL. How times, and YAF apparently, have changed.

[Joey Liberal]

34. They are modern day Nazis n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

43. As I said above, "Young American Fascists."

That's what we called them in the 60's.

[madfloridian]

35. A disturbing look inside the group and its leader. From SPLC

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=869&printable=1

"Friends in High Places
Despite its notoriety, MSU-YAF is widely supported by mainstream conservative politicians and power brokers in Michigan. The group was influential enough in rallying support for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative — the deceptively named affirmative action ban that Michigan voters approved in 2006 — that MCRI Executive Director Jennifer Granz thanked MSU-YAF by name in her election night victory speech. Last May 2, a few days after the SPLC named MSU-YAF a hate group — a move that received a great deal of public attention in the state — Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis endorsed MSU-YAF and defended Bristow on a talk radio show. "This is exactly the type of young kid we want out there," Anuzis said. "I've known Kyle for years and I can tell you I have never heard him say a racist or bigoted or sexist thing, ever."

Kari Lynn Jaksa considers herself a Republican conservative, but quit MSU-YAF because it gained a reputation as a home for "racists and fascists" under Kyle Bristow. "Frankly," she said, "he's embarrassing."

In fact, Bristow and his minions frequently single out and ridicule individual MSU gay, lesbian, and non-white students online, posting their photos and calling them "freaks," "scum" and "savages." Last September, Bristow criticized MSU's decision to establish a Chicano/Latino Studies doctoral program in a news release headlined, "MSU Offers Doctorate in Savagery."

And last March 31, roughly one month before Anuzis defended Bristow against accusations of bigotry, Bristow posted this comment on the MSU-YAF website: "If Christopher Columbus didn't bring civilization to the Americas, the Indians would still be running through forests in loincloths, scalping each other, shoving bones through their noses, worshipping pagan gods, and spreading syphilis. Thank God Christopher Columbus put an end to this backward culture."

A group like this endorsed by the Michigan Republican Party chairman???

[mojowork_n]

44. Like the Supreme Court's "I know it when I see it" standard for obscenity,

the label "hate speech" *is* a little awkwardly applied sometimes. Turns out, the 'eye of the beholder' definition doesn't always work for everybody.

So -- THANKS, KUDO's, Great Job -- digging up the Southern Poverty Law Center link, and the very specific characterization.

I have to admit, when I first logged in to this thread, I CTRL-C'd (copied to clipboard) that list of hated groups. ("What do these groups have in common, baby seals and... compact flourescent light bulbs, too?")

Not because of anything contained in your post, but because it's just a difficult issue. Like the definition of "terrorism" (one man's terrorist is defended as another's 'freedom fighter'), by it's nature, the issue is subjective.

Worse, what's the definition of "harmful" hate speech?

Ten thousand drooling, knuckle-dragging swastika-tatooed mulletheads in plaid shirts with the sleeves torn off aren't nearly as dangerous as one old hoary country club pundit in a navy blue blazer, casually knocking back a few before making a TV appearance to praise Barack Obama for his 'cleanliness'. (As opposed to all those "stereotypical" African-Americans... Robert Novak last night on MSNBC's Abram's report...

[Warren DeMontague]

45. To be fair, I don't really like the Yankees, either.

Honestly, though, I could give a fuck about baseball. ;-)

[live love laugh]

48. Republicans ARE a hate group. eom

[DFW]

49. YAF means what? I used to confront these guys back in 1970

I graduated as a "first-year senior" from one of those prep schools
in New England. As I had attended other high schools prior to that,
I never fit in with the "old boy" network that was already in place
even among 18 year olds. One of the groups that was operating among
the student body was the so-called "Young Americans for Freedom."

I soon had a new name for the YAF, and it was adopted by much of the
student body: YAF= Young Assholes for Fascism.

I see they haven't gotten any more civil in the meantime.