When President Obama appointed Kevin Jennings to be he Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, I doubt he realized that his political enemies would attack Jennings with the unrelenting stridency of the Greeks attacking the city of Troy.But they did and it made for an interesting latter part of 2009 as the religious right and their cohorts pored through Jennings' past and pulled out almost everything they could find to use against him.
And when they couldn't find anything of use, they made things up.
I covered the entire incident and have provided a chronology of posts detailing each smear .
Part 1 - The initial attacks began in June and culminated with the "Brewster incident," when Jennings was accused allowing (and encouraging) the statutory rape of a child. After this charge was found to be incorrect, the attacks tapered off until December.
'Fistgate' and President Obama - religious right pushes a pitiful attempt of guilt by association
More attacks on GLSEN'S Kevin Jennings - Now the Family Research Council gets in the act
More right wing lunacy on Kevin Jennings courtesy of Kevin McCullough
Attacks on Kevin Jennings sleazy, un-Christian
The war against Kevin Jennings - now it's getting pathetic
The religious right thinks that character assasination is a Christian virtue
Support Sean's Last Wish and Kevin Jennings
Traditional Values Coalition attacks Kevin Jennings and . . . Tom Cruise?
The tea party idiots - will they go after the lgbt community next?
The possible attack on the President's lgbt appointees
The continuing attacks on Kevin Jennings - now Fox News gets involved
The new attack on Kevin Jennings - he said something ugly about God
Washington Times publishes ugly hit piece on Kevin Jennings
Let's not be so quick to blame Obama if Kevin Jennings is dismissed
New facts vindicate Kevin Jennings - the young man he counseled was of legal age
Religious right owes Kevin Jennings an apology
New attack against Kevin Jennings - the 'NAMBLA' connection
Smart answers to lies about Kevin Jennings - a list of talking points
Fox News corrects inaccurate Jennings article. Politico does the same
Join the Support Kevin Jennings Facebook group
How Fox News tried to help bring down Kevin Jennings
Who knew the American Family Association could moonwalk?
Religious right continues to attack Kevin Jennings, lgbt community with proven lies
Will it be 'death of a thousand cuts' for Kevin Jennings?
New lie lodged against Kevin Jennings - he 'advocates' murder
Kevin Jennings receives an 'apology' for inaccurate murder claim
House Reps have a problem with gay appointees but not with anti-gay hate groups
Rep. King's office knew charges against Jennings were false BEFORE sending out letter
King's anti-Kevin Jennings letter creates backlash
Sean Hannity smears Kevin Jennings, but suddenly HE is the victim?
Massachusetts hate group behind attack on Kevin Jennings' character
Attacks on Kevin Jennings get uglier
The increasingly rude attacks on Kevin Jennings' character and James Dobson gets involved
Part 2 - Believe it or not, all of the above was just a minor prelude to what came in December - a huge rush of blatantly inaccurate lies courtesy of Gateway Pundit, Big Government.com and others.
New smear launched against Kevin Jennings using old tactics of omission
Right-wing plan against Kevin Jennings: Tell a lie, let it get refuted, wait a while, repeat lie again
When fisting and oral sex are the same: The latest smear against Kevin Jennings
While they lie about Kevin Jennings, Michelle Malkin attacks GLSEN's funders
Latest smear against Kevin Jennings revists familiar lie - 'Little Black Book'
Right-wing site removes post calling Kevin Jennings a pedophile
Fox News cites me in article about Kevin Jennings . . . and almost gets it right
Uh oh! Peter LaBarbera and Americans for Truth tries to call out my blog
New low: Exploiting the voices of lgbt youth to attack Kevin Jennings
Attacks against Kevin Jennings becoming sad parodies
Fox News lies about Kevin Jennings coverage
Cliff Kincaid: Outcry against Ugandan bill a conspiracy to save Kevin Jennings
From 'Fistgate' to 'NAMBLA-gate' - The attacks on Kevin Jennings get stranger and stranger
These folks were going for the jugular, but in their stridency, the only throat they cut was their own. Their charges got wilder, more unbelievable and more unpalatable for the mainstream media to cover. To date, the only place were the charges against Jennings register are the "Obama should his birth certificate" sites and other webpages which claim to show proof that Jesus is coming back next week.
But don't let anyone fool you. The attacks on Jennings were about his sexual orientation and no dodge can obscure that. However when it's all said and done, Jennings' supporters weren't his biggest asset. His enemies were.
They were people with too much money, no common sense, and even less integrity.
And in the end, they showed their ignorance and hatred for the world to see.
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