The Two Faces of Dick Armey

We will leave it up to the reader to determine whether Dick Armey has made serious errors in in judgment.  Dick has supported a Conservative Far Right Christian position especially when it comes to Church and State issues.  It is apparent from the data collected, that the first amendment may be in danger from his past and future actions.

Dick Armey's office stated that his position is that Certain Religions aren't   "Real" religions.  What is a real religion, Mr. Armey?  What you have been practicing?  He says on the one hand that only certain Christian denominations are valid.  Read the following and remember: "By their Works may they be known."  This is a summary of information collected from several sources about Dick Armey.

(Remember it is best to investigate on your own when looking at allegations about anyone.     Don't believe us, think for yourself and investigate for yourself!  And remember, the First Amendment Coalition and Religious Freedom Coalition of the South East do not represent any political party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving ourselves in the political process.)

DICK ARMEY - MASTER SCAREMONGER

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines scaremonger as, "one inclined to raise or excite alarms especially needlessly." It's an excellent definition, but for anyone struggling to understand it at the gut level, I'd suggest trying to visualize the face of Former Representative Dick Armey. Many people already knew this, but I didn't realize just how true this is until I saw the fearless leader of Freedom Works on Meet The Press yesterday.

I cannot recommend watching his shockingly inflammatory "performance," but I also would be remiss not to recount ten great scaremongering tricks that he displayed. Truly, I don't think that I've seems such virtuosity since Dick Cheney was responsible for defending our civil liberties.

1. Distract - Blame the bad behavior on the left. Apparently, moveon.org ran a 2003 ad, which compares the Iraq invasion to Nazi war crimes. That's in bad taste, and totally irrelevant.

2. Diminish - Downplay the bad behavior. "There are always colorful people that show up with town hall meetings, a lot of people with a lot of colorful statements." We're not talking about your weird uncle coming to the holiday party in high-water pants. We're talking about people screaming and chanting anything and everything from rude questions to the Pledge of Allegiance to prevent any substantive dialog from occurring.

3. Deny - According to Armey, Freedom Works, "...encourage them [colorful people] to go and make their points clearly, assertively and with good manner." This does not exactly jibe with a Washington Post article that quotes him on the Freedom Works website as saying, "If you are going to go ugly, go ugly early."

4. Reveal - He characterizes a single-payer option as, "...the largest hostile government takeover in the history of the country..." What's worse is that, "...somebody in a bureaucracy with a degree in sociology..." could be in the position to deny you healthcare. Today, of course, an insurance industry bureaucrat who has no degree is already doing the same thing.

5. Involve God - Armey was sure to relate the fact that he and his Minister have discussed Medicare, and the right to withdraw from it. This way, we know that he goes to church and that his religious leader shares his fear of liberals.

6. Wear the Flag - Armey proudly declaims, "...freedom, the right to buy your own insurance..." Really?

7. Praise Capitalism - There are, after all, 1,300 insurance companies; if only government would get out of their way, they would make everything all better. To hear such talk, you would never think that the status quo is a problem. And didn't we just learn out that too little government involvement can be just as bad too much?

8. Act Grassroots - Armey extols the "...enormously impressive grassroot[s] uprising across the country..." while failing to mention that, "...major financial [Freedom Works] backers have included MetLife, Philip Morris and foundations controlled by the archconservative Scaife family, according to tax filings and other records." That last bit is courtesy of the aforementioned Washington Post article.

9. Demonize - Check out the Freedom Works web site, where you will be greeted by the least flattering photo of Nancy Pelosi ever taken, the word "unconstitutional" and the reminder that "Health Care Is Not A Right." (That whole life, liberty and pursuit of happiness thing apparently does not apply to health.)

10. Yell - When all else fails, use volume to drown out your opponents.

What's sad is not that Dick Armey would resort to all of this; he's just a politician, turned lobbyist, who misses the limelight. Sad is that these scaremongering tactics are so effective. They make it easy to forget that we rank #37 in world health, a statistic that tends to whitewash the avoidable human suffering it symbolizes.

General Information

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey's intelligence has been roundly questioned. A high-school adviser discouraged young Armey, who has been described as "the Republican leadership's one-man brain trust," from even thinking about going to college. Armey matriculated anyway and earned a D in "Philosophy of Life," which prepared him for a career as a professor of economics at a mediocre Texas university. There a dean ruled that he didn't merit tenure. Armey moved on to Congress.

As stated in the Flynt report: "Dick Armey only breaks into the national news when he opens his mouth to say something smart. The Representative from Texas's 26th District hit his pre-impeachment peak of visibility during a radio address in 1995. Eager to produce pithy commentary on the Washington daisy chain, he spiced an otherwise-forgotten (press conference) by pointedly referring to Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank­who admits to being not only gay but also a Democrat­as "Barney Fag."

"An apology was in order from Armey, but the former educator is much more proficient at denials and deflecting blame than he is at taking responsibility for his own behavior. "I do not want Barney Frank to believe for one moment I would use a slur against him," insisted Armey, a statement that contains no acknowledgement of wrongdoing or remorse.

""I had trouble with alliteration," continued Armey. Frank and fag are not remotely alliterative. "I was stumbling, mumbling," stumbled Armey. "Barney Frank is a friend of mine."

"At the time of this slur, Dick Armey had been a member of three Congresses and had voted for every antihomosexual law or amendment that was introduced. He had also voted against every legislative initiative that might possibly benefit gay Americans. Was the public to believe that Dick Armey would willingly be seen in Texas with his friend Barney the fag? "I don't use the word in personal conversation, and I don't approve of anyone who does," Armey insisted. By this standard, he could be said to disapprove of three-quarters of his constituents.

"Dick Armey harangued the members of the press.  The media had been guilty of relating the facts as they had spewed from Armey's own mouth. "I take strong exception to the airing of the tape," he stated, "and even the transcribing of a stumbled word as if it were an intentional, personal attack."

"Armey complained that the short-lived commotion over his "unintentional mispronunciation of a name" was shifting attention from the "real issues."   Armey, the economist, might have calculated that he spent more time backpedaling from his comment than the news had devoted to reporting it, time Armey might have better applied to "real issues."

"Protesting, finally, perhaps a little too vehemently, Armey added, "To have my five children, or anybody else's five children, turn on their television today and see a transcript of a mispronunciation on the air­as if I had no sense of decency, cordiality, respect or even good manners­is unacceptable."

"The entire episode might have been comedy if it had been conceptualized by Jay Leno's writers. As it happened, the story illustrates Representative Armey's determination to not be perceived as the type of person that he truly is. "

Congressman Armey popped into prominence again on April 6, 1998.  While in his home state to address about 50 students at Coppell High School, Armey broke from the lesson plan to editorialize about President Bill Clinton. "I believe he's a shameless person," Armey said in his speech. "If it were me that had documented personal conduct along the lines of the President's, I would be so filled with shame that I would resign." 

The next day, Armey showed that he had learned to be resolute since his limp-willed fiasco over calling a homosexual a fag. "I stand by my remarks," said Armey, "which reinforced the importance of personal responsibility. I could not let these children think this President is a good role model. Parents expect this standard from teachers, football coaches and CEOs. We should be able to expect the same from the President."

Parents and citizens alike should also be able to expect a standard of personal responsibility from our Republican Majority Leader, but from Armey there's only a two-faced interpretation of a double standard. Armey, who was unable to take responsibility even for a hurtful comment directed at a colleague, has no business selectively lecturing the President about his failings as a role model. 

If Armey were to apply his standard of shame fairly, he would be required to include fellow Republicans Dan Burton and Helen Chenoweth with the President, and actually­if Armey were truly responsible­he would require himself to "be so filled with shame" that he too would resign.

Dick Armey's "documented conduct along the lines of the President's" was reported in the May 4, 1995, Dallas Observer. Three women who had been students when Armey was a professor at North Texas State University went on the record to document Armey's "inappropriate" behavior.   Susan Aileen White (who earned a master's in economics from the institution), Anna Weniger (who subsequently acted as an economist for the New Mexico legislature) and Anne Marie Best (a future economics professor at Lamar University) all took offense at Armey's inappropriate behavior toward female students. Weniger left the university for several months, partly because of Armey's actions.

Not all the women at North Texas State were offended by the professor's advances. Armey's current (and second) wife had been one of his students. 

"We must be better role models," writes Dick Armey in his "Values Agenda," a treatise on Recovering Our Moral Emphasis. "As public officials, whether we want to or not, we will be role models, and we must act accordingly."

A true hypocrite, Dick Armey is the role model for anyone intent on character assassination, derisiveness, insensitivity, refusing to take responsibility for personal behavior and judging others by a standard stricter than one judges oneself.  Visit the following sites and meet the REAL Dick Armey.

Click here to see "Our Man in Saipan" and click here to see "Sweating it out in Saipan"

Click here to check out Muslem Extremist Terrorists