David Barton belongs in a tent in Tennessee in 1911. But he’s a right wing fav instead just like ‘Pastor’ John Hagee who says the Catholic Church is the anti-Christ. Oh I could go on . . . I do go on. And on.

(Oy. This post got away from me. It’s long and should probably be two posts. But do check out the photo below.)

Did you know Newt Gingrich is a fan of David Barton? Barton is the ‘historian’ made famous by Glenn Beck on his FOX show, and who’s now all the rage in conservative christian circles. If I ever see the likes of Romney with this guy, I may start believing that the End Times really are near. Whoops!  Too late. Already happened. Grab your children near . . .

Mother Jones tells us a bit about Barton today (h/t Kay at The Fifth Column). Juicylicious video there where he says things like :

BARTON: The Founders did not support slavery or engage in the practice.

Really? Washington, Jefferson, Madison were not the only slaveholders, but they were among the largest – owning hundreds of slaves each.

BARTON: The US fought the Revolutionary War because the Founders rejected the British Empire’s endorsement of slavery.

Really? The Founders were afraid or unable to deal with slavery when writing the US Constitution. They decided to let future generations deal with it.

BARTON:  the Founding Fathers “already had the entire debate on creation and evolution,” and sided with Creationism.

Really? The theory of evolution was presented in Charles Darwin’s seminal volume, The Origin of Species. It was published in 1859.

This is genuinely crazy stuff and should be laughed out a fourth grade classroom. It would have been 30 years ago.

But Barton is not a one-off just doing his thing on Beck’s show. He is a name in  the Christian Reconstructionism wing of the Republican Party. And there are a lot of them. The photo below was taken at Ralph Reed’s most recent  gimme-your-money-suckers event put together for the rubes by his Faith & Freedom Coalition (they use the ampersand in the logo see, cuz it’s more logoish). Feast your eyes upon those who would lead America into a new 18th century.

Christianists and profiteers together again

 Richard Lee – author of the American Patriots Bible, something the Twelve Apostles meant to get published but just didn’t get around to it.

Ralph Reed – first rate con man coordinated scam on Indian tribes with Jack Abrahmoff. Made them both rich.

Glenn Beck – Mormon. Megalomaniac. Got rich demagoging (seems to work every time).

Pastor John Hagee – Evangelical, preaches that the Catholic Church is the “whore of Babylon” as found in the Book of Revelations. McCain was ‘grateful’ for his support in ’08.

David Barton – da man

Jim Garlow – says gay marriage will lead to enslavement of Christians. Honest.

Tom Mullins – leader of Christ Fellowship church with a gajillion parishioners or whatever. Not crazy best I can tell.

Robert George – led boycott of this years’ RNC convention cuz they allowed gay Republicans to attend or something.