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Utah Libertarian drops ‘anti-Christ’ from autodial ad

By PJO on August 1, 2008 9:59 PM

The AP reports Utah Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Dell Schanze “has removed the term ‘anti-Christ’ from a telephone ad campaign.” Schanze referred to Republican incumbent Jon Huntsman “as an ‘anti-Christ socialist’ in an autodial message. Schanze toned down a revised version of the ad, which no-longer includes the term. But Schanze maintains that Huntsman’s religious beliefs are falsely portrayed.”

15 Comments

  2. paulie cannoli August 3, 2008

    http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2008/08/another-lp-candidate-descends-into.html

    Now and then I reconsider my positions. For instance, I keep asking myself, because of 30 years of loyalty, whether my criticism of the Libertarian Party and it’s current slate of candidates is a tad bit too much. But it seems that anytime I think that the LP goes out of its way to produce another bigoted moron as a candidate to cement my opinion.

    According to news reports the Libertarian Party candidate for governor of Utha, Dell Schanze, was using an automatic dialing service to send taped messages to a few thousand voters per day. He was attacking the incumbent governor for being an “anti-Christ”. Last I checked the LP platform said nothing about Christ, for or against. The idea of a Libertarian candidate attacking someone because they are not putting enough religion into their political office is astounding since Libertarians historically have held to the absolute and total separation of church and state.

    When questioned about his name-calling Schanze argued what must be a new libertarian principle: “It’s not name-calling. It’s just a fact. Those who do not follow Christ’s principles are anti-Christ….” Here I thought the LP candidates followed libertarian principles. Well, not anymore apparently.

    Of course, these days Libertarians don’t have to be libertarians. They can be Republicans, conservatives, theorcrats, bigots, racists and whatever. The new Libertarian Party is “flexible”. There are now only “differences of opinion” between the varienty of libertarianisms. So why not endorse John McCain’s libertarianism or Obama’s libertarianism? With the new flexible, freedom-is-optional position of so many Libertarians why bother with a party at all?

    Schanze is promising to push such pro-freedom ideas as making abortion legal. He also claims he can cut fuel costs by 90% in the state. Apparently the man thinks he can control world oil markets and the supply and demand of billions of people.

    One former LP leader in Utah describes Schanze as “an anti-libertarian. He’s a bully, a bigot and a homophobe who has fired employees because they were gay or non-LDS…” While I would support his right to fire people because of his own bigotries I would also say that sort mentality ought to disqualify him as an LP candidate. Not these days! Hell, being a bigot probably helped him since it seems so fashionable in Libertarian Party circles.

    In one incident Schanze was alleged to be driving through a residential area at a high rate of speech, something many of the people who lived there found dangerous. Some of them followed him to confront him about his speed only to have him pull a gun on them. He claimed he only held the gun at his side to show it to the people. He gave one report of the incident to police but in a television interview he was more candid and gave a very different version. He was then charged with, and convicted of, falsifying a police report.

    Willy Starr Marshall, the Libertarian former mayor of Big Water, Utah, said that Schanze was unfit for the LP nomination because of his attitudes against gays, non-Mormons and other minority groups. One report says Marshall referred to an unaired radio commercial that Dell cut for his computer store in which he called gays “faggots” and “tinkerbells” and promised $100 off purchases to customers who are “rude and abuse to homosexuals”. Marshall said: “You have a constitutional right to be a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you can be a jerk and run for office” as a Libertarian. Apparently the LP of Utah thought being a bigoted jerk was was now within acceptable behavior for Libertarians.

    Andrew McCullough, the LP candidate for attorney general, said he was happy because having a Schanze on the ticket means they will get publicity. Apparently McCullough doesn’t care what kind of reputation the LP gets. Raping a Girl Scout, killling a couple of nuns, and urinating over the Communion wafer at the Catholic Church will also get one front page coverage in the local newspaper. Thankfully I haven’t heard any LP official, so desparate for any coverage at all, suggesting any of those activities just for the media value.

    There is only one reason we should want an LP candidate to get coverage and that is to promote liberty. Coverage of Libertarian Party candidates making demented statements about their opponents be “anti-Christ”, or fag-baiting gays is not just worthless but counter productive. Apparently the Utah LP doesn’t understand that, or they don’t care.

  3. Lance Brown August 3, 2008

    I don’t think using “anti-christ” is necessarily going over any particular line, but I have a hatrd time imagining someone convincing me it’s the best choice of words to make a given point. At the bare minimum, it’s such a loaded phrase that there’s virtually no way to control how people will receive it. It will resonate differently for different people.

  4. Gregg Jocoy August 2, 2008

    Interesting that the story generates comments here, but not at the AP story site itself. Perhaps the candidate should get a few of his supporters to make some comments there.

    I also don’t think this is a positive myself, although I assume I’ll be pilloried for saying so. Why is anti-christ over the line? Martin Luther said the Pope was the anti-christ, and the Pope returned the favor.

    When one considers some of the basic beliefs of the LDS church , wording like “anti-christ” seems well within the limits of acceptable political comment. Don’t forget, for many Utahns these are the End Times, and the anti-christ is a real entity, which many believe may appear as a preacher, business leader, military leader, and yes, even a political leader.

    Now, if Schnaze was using hyperbole, again, where is the foul? I use it all the time. “Money grubbing corporations” is not too far from “anti-christ” in many minds, and I certainly don’t want to subject my campaign ideas through a party approved pre-filter.

    As to the efficacy of this or that idea, I refer you to the phrase on Cynthia McKinney’s website:

    We Have to do things we’ve never done before in order to have things we have never had before

  5. Mike Theodore August 2, 2008

    I always found the robo-calls impersonal, but informative. On the other hand, there’s the Knapp idea, which is dripping with liquid bloody genius.

    The phone town hall meeting has the added benefit that the caller usually stops what their doing to listen.

  6. Arthur Torrey August 2, 2008

    Not quite on the same line as robo-calling (which Schanze could easily have set up to do himself if he’s a PC seller – the gear isn’t that hard or expensive) but way back in ancient history, the first time the LPMA made “major party” status, the first time, it was attributed to Peter Everett (the Secretary of State candidate) spamming — USENET with a campaign advert… Allegedly it was one of the first efforts by a candidate to make use of the Internet for campaigning!

    ART

  7. Thomas L. Knapp August 2, 2008

    I actually love the robo-calls. Since I live in a Democratic district, I can tell my friends “yeah, Bill Clinton called the other day. Then Hillary called and talked for a bit. Then the phone rings and it’s Jesse Jackson.”

    I was thinking awhile back about doing a robo-call campaign using fictional characters (without naming them — just getting voice actors who could sound like them) and not saying anything particularly political. At this particular time, perhaps have Batman or the Joker on the phone babbling fairly meaningless but entertaining stuff, then cut in with “I’m Tom Knapp, Libertarian for US House, and I approved this message.”

    They’d remember the call.

  8. G.E. August 2, 2008

    If the Ds and Rs do the robocalls, then Greens, CP, and LP should too. Why not? It’s not like an irate person is going to be like, “The Democrat and the Republican robo-called me, so I’m voting libertarian!”

  9. Trent Hill August 2, 2008

    LOL. Nice point GE.

    Yea–we’ve got a place here in LA that does a a call for 1.9 cents.

  10. G.E. August 2, 2008

    Plus, what’s the worst that could happen to a minor party candidate? Lose votes?

  11. Steven R Linnabary August 2, 2008

    I too was surprized to learn Schanze had a telephone ad campaign.

    OTOH, they ARE cheap. But everybody I’ve ever heard simply hates the “robo-call” programs.

    I have to ask why it is that so few opposition candidates use this seemingly cost effective tool? If the majors use them extensively, they must work.

    PEACE
    Steve

  12. G.E. August 2, 2008

    Mike, that is a really great idea. Much better than the auto calls.

  13. Mike Theodore August 2, 2008

    What my GOP congressional candidate did was pretty smart. He called a whole bunch of numbers in the district and hosted a telephone town hall meeting. People asked him questions and got responses. I was about to ask him a question on voter disenfranchisement, but my dad came home. He HATES campaigns calling.
    Now he won’t come close to winning, but it’s a good idea.

  14. Gene Trosper August 1, 2008

    Dell can be a bit sketchy at times, but he’s an overall stand up kinda guy..and a real crack up as well. When I lived in Salt lake City a few years ago, I used to go to his PC store and would talk to him every so often. A little too socially conservative for may tastes, but then again, he IS a product of the LDS church in Utah.

    I also must add that the man has balls of steel for the stunts he pulls with his paraglider.

  15. G.E. August 1, 2008

    I’m just impressed that he has a telephone ad campaign!

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