Johnny Carter, a Summerfield, N.C., resident running for the Sixth Congressional District (pictured right), looks and sounds more like a right-wing evangelical, arch-conservative Republican. Believe it or not, however, Carter is straight-up Democrat.
The race for the Sixth District will shape out to be an interesting one. Congressman Howard Coble, 76, has been in the office for over two decades. At his old age, people are beginning to wonder if he should continue in his special line of Washington, D.C. work.
The main Democratic challenger is Jay Ovittore, a young painter and working class fellow from Greensboro, N.C., who will be 35-years-old in May. But, the N.C. Democratic Party recognizes two Democrats in the race to unseat conservative Coble. Johnny Carter will have to face Jay Ovittore in a primary.
Carter’s website — aside from looking like a complete HTML nightmare — houses some of the most conservative, religious and anti-gay messages I’ve ever seen come out of the Democratic Party.
From his site’s Faith section (all caps, grammatical errors, are Carter’s; my comments in [brackets and red]):
WITH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS BEING REMOVED FROM THE COURTHOUSE AND PRAYER
LEGISLATED OUT OF THE SCHOOLS ALONG WITH THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, A SPIRITUAL
VACUUM HAS OCCURRED. THE OCCURRENCE WAS PLANNED.[...]
ITEMS OF NOTE:
U.S. MINISTERS ARE BEING FORBIDDEN TO PREACH CERTAIN SERMONS ON CANADIAN TV AND RADIO, SERMONS AGAINST CERTAIN SINS. [Anti-gay, religious right talking point - Preachers can't preach against "the gays"][...]
LAWS ARE BEING PUT IN PLACE IN CANADA, EUROPE AND AMERICA TO CRIMINALIZE WITNESSING OR SHARING BIBLE TRUTHS. [Again, anti-gay, religious right talking point - Preachers can't preach against "the gays"]
THE LAWS ARE BEING DRAFTED UNDER THE GUISE TO ADDRESS “INTOLERANCE, DISCRIMINATIONS AND HARASSMENT”. BUT THERE IS A DEEPER MEANING TO ALL OF THIS.
CANADA, SWEDEN, AND ENGLAND ARE PROSECUTING CHRISTIANS FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DETERMINED IS HATE SPEECH, FOR PREACHING AGAINST SIN.
THE NETHERLANDS CONSIDERED PROSECUTING POPE JOHN PAUL FOR HIS STAND AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY BUT DECIDED AGAINST IT BECAUSE HE WAS A HEAD OF STATE. (NOW THAT’S FUNNY) [Again, a lot more anti-gay, religious right talking points - Preachers can't preach against "the gays"]
[..]
IN 1778 BAPTIST WERE PERSECUTED BY BEING ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE, AMONG OTHER THINGS, DOES THAT NOT SOUND FAMILIAR? [Um... sound familiar to me: All those anti-gay religious zealot folks always claim us LGBT folk are child molesters]
But that isn’t all folks. A lot of LGBT activists have been riled up over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s ties to Christian Reconstructionists. Johnny Carter might not be too far away from being one himself:
THIS BATTLE IS A SPIRITUAL ONE, WE BELIEVE “WIN THE SPIRIT, AND THE FLESH WILL FOLLOW”. THEY BELIEVE “CONQUER THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT WILL FOLLOW”. AND FOR THE VAST MAJORITY THEY ARE CORRECT. IMAGINE A GENERATION FROM NOW, WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THE GOSPEL. DO I HEAR THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE SLAMMING SHUT? WE
ASK FOR MIRACLES AND BLESSING BOTH PERSONAL AND NATIONAL, BUT HOW CAN A JUST AND TRUE GOD BLESS THIS COUNTRY, AMERICA HAS FAILED GOD, WILL HIS CHURCH FAIL HIM ALSO. THIS COUNTRY IS NOW CONSIDERED IN THE POST CHRISTIAN ERA.[...]
SAVE YOUR FAITH SAVE YOUR COUNTRY
Carter even plays to nativist and anti-immigrant sentiments in his talking points on Illegal Immigration. The man truly sounds like a Republican, except perhaps for his stances on education and healthcare (although his education talking points seem a little ill-conceived and not thought out at all).
According to paperwork filed with the N.C. Board of Elections, Johnny Carter has only $5,000 as of his first filing in August. The statement of organization for his election committee confirms he is running on a Democratic ticket.
UPDATE/CORRECTION (2:00 p.m. Jan. 7, 2008): Throughout the piece the Democratic candidate Johnny Carter was identified as “Johnny Walker.” My apologies. This is what happens when are tired and stressed and work a more than full time job, and then forget to double check your work. At least I was consistent, right?
UPDATE 2 (9:15 a.m. Jan. 8, 2008): In the comment thread below, my friend and InterstateQ.com reader Casey points out what she sees as my equation of “homophobe” with “Republican.” She’s a bit right, in a way, although the N.C. GOP isn’t really all that grand (in fact, I can’t right off hand of any GOP allies in our state). As Ryan, another good friend points out, it seems as though a few former Republicans are running as Dems in the upcoming ‘08 election.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
You misidentify “Johhny Walker.” His name is Johhny Carter.
Although he says he has lived in Greensboro since he was 4 and claims to have “long been interested in politics”, he has has voted only once, in the general election two months ago.
January 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Thanks Roch for the correction. I’ve corrected the piece and made a notation at the bottom. Thanks also for the further info on Carter.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Don’t you hate those Dems that only truly agree with the party on a few issues? Man, too bad they won’t just change their affiliation
There are actually 3 Democrats that I know of running this cycle who are either former Republicans or might as well be. Two of them are running for statewide office as 2nd-tier candidates.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Y’know Matt, I’m kinda irritated at your choice to use “Republican” as a synonym for “homophobe.” You know better. This nut is evidence that liberals can be homophobic, just as the Mayor of San Diego, or Senator Smith from Oregon or any of dozens of Republicans I could name are evidence that being part of the GOP doesn’t exclude you from being an ally. Particularly coming right after your indictment of Barack Obama for being less than gay-friendly, you’d think you’d be wiser than to believe homophobia is a GOP monopoly. At the very least, do try to remember that a lot of what our work today is is trying to persuade conservatives of the rightness of our cause, and writing them all off as haters is hardly conducive to that.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Casey, you got me.
But, in my defense, I did say “N.C. Republican.” I have very, very little, if any, faith in the N.C. GOP and people prone to act like them. If you lived in North Carolina, and even if you retained your Republican identification, I think you’d be inclined to agree.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:48 am
“This nut is evidence that liberals can be homophobic…” — Casey
Casey, what makes you think Carter is a liberal?
January 8th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Matt – fair point, even though I have hope, and even some knowledge, of some decent conservatives out there. Without retracting my previous points, I do repudiate my irritation. *grins* Forgive me.
Oh, and Roch – I was basically going off of the notion that he identifies as a Democrat, and definitely has liberal economic views, and a philosophy that seems to require significant state involvement in most aspects of people’s lives. As Matt noted, definitely in terms of health care and education, he’s in line with his party affiliation. Maybe I was being too casual in using liberal as a synonym for Democrat, and if so, I apologize – but I think it was justified. Progressive, however, would have been incorrect (not that I don’t know plenty of ‘phobic progressives).
May 27th, 2008 at 7:25 am
another n carolina campaign came out to specifically target and attack GLBT Native Americans :
http://www.factcheck.org/politics/print_xxx_marks_the_spot_where_campaign_ads.html
Analysis
This ad first aired Sept. 25 in North Carolina. We’ll leave our readers to judge for themselves whether masturbation, prostitution and sneering references to “XXX” and sex are proper subjects for a political ad. We’ll confine ourselves to the ad’s factual accuracy, which we find wanting. The ad then goes on to use the time-dishonored tactic of making fun of government-funded research by giving twisted or incomplete descriptions of the subject matter. “Miller has no trouble spending your money,” says the announcer, his voice dripping with contempt, “he would just rather spend it on sex.” On screen a large “XXX” appears over Miller’s smiling photograph. The announcer continues, saying Miller “voted to spend your money to study the sex lives of Vietnamese prostitutes in San Francisco . . . spent your money to study the masturbation habits of old men . . . (and) something called the Bisexual Transgendered and Two-Spirited Aleutian Eskimos, whoever they are, (and) even spent your tax dollars to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia.”
We have mounted a national education campaign to address social and economic disparities in the GLBT community – please visit our campaign!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-campaign-for-native-glbt-funding-justice
Two recent national philanthropy reports have released information indicating that Gay Funders contributed $37 million in one year to GLBT organizations across the United States. Native American Two Spirit People, the poorest of all the GLBT communities, received only 4 small grants of about $2,500 each. The average grant to gay organizations nationally is $16,000 a year. Gay funders have a mission to serve all equally, but it’s time for a summit with the Two Spirit People here in our ancestral domains to help the funders achieve their mission. Two Spirit People have significant spiritual and ceremonial roles in our Native cultures, and Gay Philanthropy has a significant role to play in realizing a vision of funding-justice and social justice with our people.
http://www.twospirits.org/
http://www.2SPR.org
http://www.itsg.20m.com