Is Bradlee Dean Michele Bachmann’s Rev. Wright?
Thursday, July 07, 2011 at 6:00 am
- 31 Comments
At the RightOnline Conference last month in Minneapolis, Rep. Michele Bachmann became the third Republican presidential candidate to get glitter thrown on her by the “glitterati.” The reason? Her longtime relationship with Bradlee Dean, head of the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries. Dean’s invective towards Muslims, Democrats and especially the LGBT community has earned him notoriety in Minnesota politics, yet candidate Bachmann has yet to weigh in on her relationship with Dean. As Bachmann’s star rises in the GOP presidential field, the controversial pastor is likely to become a campaign issue in the months ahead, much the way President Barack Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright was seized upon by conservative activists in 2008.
Candidate Obama’s pastor came under media scrutiny during the Democratic nominating process for some comments he made in his sermons. The attention forced Obama to speak out against his pastor and for Wright to resign from his position.
A strong friendship
While arguably not as close as Obama’s and Wright’s relationship, Bachmann and Dean’s ties date back several years. In 2005, Bachmann, then a state senator, gave Dean’s ministry a letter of endorsement after Dean sent her a copy of his comic book, “My War.”
“Your work is a testament to the struggle our youth are facing in making the right choices in the face of controversy and peer pressure,” she wrote. “I commend you on writing this book for parents and youth alike.”
She was also a guest on the Dean’s “School of Hard Knocks Roxx,” a radio show on Christian station KKMS.
The following year and just before she won her first campaign for the U.S. House, Bachmann attended a fundraiser for You Can Run (YCR) and offered a lengthy prayer in which she referenced the “last days” and plead with God to increase the ministry’s reach ten-fold. Dean’s ministry had seen criticism for doing assemblies at public schools that some say violated the Constitution for using taxpayer dollars to fund overtly Christian endeavors.
Bradlee Dean, in a press photo for his Christian rock band, Junkyard Prophet
“Lord, I thank you for what you have done at this ministry… how you are going to advance them from 260 schools a year, Lord, to 2,600 schools a year,” she said. “Lord, we ask thy faith that you would expand this ministry beyond anything the originators of this ministry could begin to think or imagine. Lord, the day is at hand! We are in the last days! The day is at hand, Lord, when your return will become nigh. Pour a double blessing, Lord, a triple blessing on this ministry.”
Bachmann would return to the ministry in 2009 as the headliner for its fundraising gala. But she appeared by video instead.
In a four-minute video message, Bachmann said, “I’d hoped to be there, but unfortunately the future that’s being forged here in Washington, DC … is one that saddles today’s youth with tremendous debt, a diminished world presence, and diminishes their God-given freedoms.”
She was in Washington preparing for her “House Call” on health care, a tea party event she and other Republican members of Congress paid for with taxpayer funds.
She praised You Can Run’s mission at YCR’s “Appeal to Heaven” gala. “It a tough job that you do, but someone has to do it. I thank God that he has given you the strength and the resolve to fight for our timeless values.”
And she reiterated her support for their work evangelizing in public schools. “We can’t overlook the outright rejection of God in the public school classroom, and the outright scorn of Christianity in our public square,” she said. “Moral relativism is exalted and faith in Christ is derided.”
Anti-gay record
Dean’s fiery preaching on his radio have garnered a lot of interest. In May 2010, he suggested that Muslim nations that execute gays and lesbians are “more moral” than American Christians.
“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said during YCR’s May 15, 2010, radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”
“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”
He has called gays and lesbians predators and pedophiles. “The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”
Dean has accused Rep. Keith Ellison of trying to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and claimed that Ellison, who is Muslim, is using the homosexual agenda to bring about Sharia law. He’s said that “homosexual activists” are going after children because, he charges, one in twenty homosexuals is a child molester. He said that Obama broke the law when he appointed a lesbian to be a U.S. Marshal.
Dean has repeatedly called for gays and lesbians to be put in prison. On the radio show in 2010, Dean’s co-leader Jake McMillian praised the actions of the African nation of Malawi, which had recently arrested a gay couple for getting engaged.
“They are very conservative,” he said. “They sentence people for crimes against nature.”
Dean added, “They are very moral; they uphold the laws.”
McMillian continued, “We have got countries all over the world that are standing for what’s right and what’s wrong. In Rwanda, there’s legislation right now that repeat offenders of homosexuality will spend their life in prison.”
“Yes!” interjected Dean.
“Because they love and value life and they love and value that which God gave,” said McMillian. “And so they enforce laws against that which destroys life which again is crimes against nature.”
Near universal condemnation
Tom Emmer with YCR's Jake McMillian (right) at the 2010 GOP convention, via Facebook
While Dean has friends in religious right candidates like Bachmann, former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and GOP-endorsed 2010 gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Dean has garnered criticism from a diverse array of interests: LGBT groups, the Muslim community, conservative churches, “ex-gay” advocates, Democrats, Republicans and independents.
It began with Dean’s remarks on his radio show in the summer of 2010 that appeared to condone the morality of Muslim nations that execute gays and lesbians. His statements sparked uproar from may quarters, even those that view homosexuality as evil.
Exodus International, a group that advocates “ex-gay” therapy, a practice that has been discredited by most major medial groups, condemned Dean’s statement.
“Using Old Testament scriptures to condemn a person to death is not ‘loving’ … it is incomplete theology and powerfully irresponsible,” wrote Randy Thomas, the group’s spokesperson, at the time. “To say that murderous actions are more ‘moral’ than tolerating free will is to completely ignore that Jesus did not call for the deaths of sinners. He died and paid the price for all of our sin, including those of us who have or do struggle with homosexuality. I pray that Mr. Dean will correct his focus and reconsider the message he is choosing to proclaim.”
Mac Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center, the church that played host to Bachmann’s famous speech where she said that God told her to run for Congress, was moved to condemn its associations with Dean as well. LWCC hosted YCR for a youth program in 2009.
“LWCC does not support financially or in any other manner, nor is an affiliate ministry of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries,” the church said in a 2010 statement following Dean’s controversial statements. “Our faith community at LWCC believes it is the love of God who draws all men (people) to Him, not condemnation or judgment.”
The Minnesota Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Dean’s words as well, saying the group “strongly opposes any kind of violence or discrimination against any group,” and called on Minnesota Republicans to speak out against Dean’s statement. Few, if any, did.
“The YCR representative makes at least three outrageous and incorrect claims in the radio interview,” CAIR-MN said in a statement. “That ‘Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,’ that executing homosexuals is ‘moral,’ and that Muslims are a ‘foreign enemy.’ Statements like this show the level of ignorance and bigotry that exists in our country.”
Bradlee Dean, giving his May 20, 2011, invocation before the Minnesota House
But the peak of Dean’s time in the spotlight came in May 2011 when Republicans invited him to give the invocation before the Minnesota House.
Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, condemned his appearance. “Bradlee Dean has a long track record of hateful speech, and his intolerance has no place in the ‘people’s house.’ His presence sheds light on the true motivations of the anti gay marriage constitutional amendment groups. This isn’t about voter choice; it’s about systematic discrimination against a group of people.”
Republican Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers echoed those sentiments. “That type of person will never ever be allowed on this House floor again as long as I have the honor of serving as speaker,” he told his colleagues.
The Minnesota Legislature’s two openly gay and lesbian members took great offense to Dean being allowed to lead the House in prayer.
“In my 30 years in the House, I have never seen such a hateful person be allowed to deliver the opening prayer,” Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, said.
“Mr. Dean has a long and well-known record of intolerance, something that should have no place in the legislature, let alone in a prayerful blessing,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.
Others, including Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, among others, decried his prayer.
Tom Emmer
Even before the House prayer controversy, Dean’s words caused considerable stress for one man’s political campaign. Tom Emmer attended the same 2009 YCR fundraiser that Bachmann headlined, and his campaign gave funds to support the ministry.
So when Target donated $150,000 in support of Emmer’s ultimately unsuccessful gubernatorial bid last year through the Republican political action committee MN Forward, Emmer’s ties to Dean — and Dean’s stance on LGBT people — took center stage.
Groups like the Human Rights Campaign launched campaigns to pressure Target to give money to pro-gay candidates, nationwide scrutiny came to Emmer’s campaign, boycotts were initiated, and Target’s CEO ended up apologizing to company employees for the donation. Throughout the controversy, Dean’s central role was not ignored, as this illustration for SFist’s story on the relationship shows:
Image: SFist
Bachmann and Dean reunited
Still, despite Dean’s ability to stir controversy, candidate Bachmann shows no sign of distancing from him. In fact, the two will be sharing a stage at Freedom Jamboree in September, a GOP nominating event hosted by tea party activists.
Bachmann’s campaign has repeatedly refused requests for comment about her relationship with Dean and You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter31 Comments
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 7:14 am
I can feel the love of the prophet jesus from where I sit and read this…
Jeff Wilfahrt, Rosemount, MN
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 8:32 am
As I sit here in Anoka County where this man’s “church” organization is still being seen at Walmarts in our area and in the Elk River area, this does not surprise me in the least nor will it make MB look bad with voters in this area or across MN. Michelle will take Minnesota in the Primary folks…….get used to it. Im not saying she will win the Pres seat, but she will win the primary.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 8:54 am
Wow, this is sad. I am surprised by the photo with Target, Tom Emmers, Dean then the death penalty for gays. How horrible. Is this really an organization she supports. Unbelievablely sad. I live in her district and she comes off as a nice person who cares for her people but now that I have read this, I am disgusted. I am aware she is against gay marriages but to want some dead is a new level of conservativism. I can’t believe this is happening in MInnesota. Is this really a tea party belief? I don’t know a lot about the tea party. Anyway….this is way way sad.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 9:16 am
You’re right, AM. There are too many people who secretly or not so secretly agree with Dean (“I’m not saying I agree with the death penalty for queers, but you have to admit . . . “).
Bradlee Dean is also white. That will make a world of difference to the Rev. Wright bashers, whether they care to admit it or not.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 9:52 am
Are people so naive of history that they do NOT see the correlations of hate here? Does anyone remember gas chambers? I grew up on the east coast, I had a grandfather who fought in that war. I remember.
My daughter just read Anne Frank. And as a little girl that age, is tragically drawn to her story. I will promise NOT to let my children forget.
The hardest thing I am doing as a parent is to not indoctrinate my children, its scary, I see the attractions of hard core organized religions, trying to bring up children that will make the choice on their own is hard.
I have made comments about Not wanting an HG or Tim type to be alone in a room with my children, I hate being in a state with the likes of bradlee dean or michelle bachmann’s family. It actually makes my skin crawl and my eyes tear up at the un natural crimes against nature they commit and get away with every day under the name of God.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 10:42 am
The headline should red “Is Michele Bachmann Bradlee Dean’s Hitler?” because we already know Dean is her Goebbels.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 11:00 am
I’ve always wondered about the relationship between Dean and Bachmann, but always thought it was Bachmann who was mentoring Dean.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Marie,
I agree.
But if it’s any consolation, prejudice in America appears to be on the decline overall. Imagine the impossibility of same sex marriage being treated seriously by any national politician a mere 15 years ago.
I suspect that the apparent surge we’re seeing in political and verbal attacks on LGBT people is only a reflection of the panic the right-wingers feel as they watch their cultural authority, at least on this issue, wither and die. The culture is turning against their bigotry, and they feel that unless they use every dirty trick they have, they’ll have lost. Hence, the visibility of these bigoted attacks.
This is no time though for complacency. The lessening of intolerance hasn’t happened by itself as if by some force of historical determinism. (I know you agree.) We still have to fight.
I live around the Loring Park area, which is right next to downtown Minneapolis. More and more I’m seeing male-male and female-female couples walking around holding hands. I hope this small but very significant act is an indication of an increased sense of security, and a sign that in fact a social and ethical shift for the better is underway.
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 11:40 am
Eric, … thank you for the words of encouragement. I get emotional on a Mom level when I read about certain people. The ones that are directly praying on the children. When I was single (meaning without children) it was easier to clique myself with like minded people and just ignore the evils of people on the extremes. Simple protests were fun, I voted the right way, so I felt “protected”. Having children changes lay of the land.
I remember when you wouldn’t see people of different color walking down the street hand in hand! So your right we are better today, it just seems scary, at least in our state at the moment.
I interact with families, married folks, so same sex couples I have as friends aren’t holding hands, they are usually running after a kid or if its a rare non kid moment, are slumped in a chair exchanging parental horror stories with me. So yet again, we have come a long way :)
Bradlee will be at the state fair this year. sigh
Comment posted July 7, 2011 @ 11:12 pm
It stymies one, when you think of who calls themselves a minister these days. Bradlee Dean is certainly not espousing Christian tenets when you hear what comes out of his mouth.
As far as the Loon from MN…well…what can one say about her? Wacko is as wacko does.
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 4:00 am
Speaking of same-sex couples walking around holding hands in the Loring Park area, it was exactly this amazing sight of a male-male couple sauntering along the Waterfront in the summer of 1990 holding hands, one’s head resting on the other’s shoulder, very contented and happy that prompted my move to Seattle the following year. I wanted to live in a place that was tolerant and safe enough to allow this. This was TWENTY-ONE years ago at a time when the religious right was fomenting anti-gay hysteria and intolerance throughout the nation, taking advantage of the mushrooming AIDS crisis. I am just thankful for the tightly-knit gay community in Seattle that got me through this terrible time; I still miss that certain sense of belonging, the joie de vivre and overall campiness that is no longer, having been more or less abandoned during our journey towards full equality and inclusion in American society – a journey that still continues.
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 8:31 am
She believes that the end of the world is “nigh” and presumabley that the apocalypse is a blessing due to the return of Jesus. Do you people really want to give someone who welcomes the apocalypse full controll over the most pwerful military and largest nuclear arsenal on earth? Are you people insane?
Patria socialsimo o muerte!
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 8:31 am
Bradlee Dean, Michele Bachmann, and the rest of the fundamentalist nutjobs are child predators in the worst sense of the word. I’d sooner trust an openly gay individual around children than I would any of the deviants inside the Dominionist tribe of cult warriors.
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 8:45 am
“So when Target donated $150,000 in support of Emmer’s ultimately unsuccessful gubernatorial bid last year through the Republican political action committee MN Forward, Emmer’s ties to Dean — and Dean’s stance on LGBT people — took center stage.”
And I haven’t stepped foot inside a Target store since.
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 9:02 am
@Kfreed
You make it sound as if you wouldn’t trust an openly gay person around children. You sir, are the worst kind of person. There is no room in a rational society for people to be so wilfully ignorant as to associate child molestation with homosexuality. You sir, are worse than people like Michele Bachmann, at least she can admit her bigotry.
PATRIA SOCIALISMO O MUERTE!
Comment posted July 8, 2011 @ 1:32 pm
Yes, Kfreed needs a re-read :)
I wondered what the out come was towards Target at the pride festival this year? I saw their family booth there as always.
Pingback posted July 9, 2011 @ 12:16 pm
[...] Bachmann has supported Bradlee Dean, had of the “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide International” [...]
Comment posted July 9, 2011 @ 10:03 pm
Hey Bradlee, Sebastian Bach called, he wants his hair back.
Comment posted July 9, 2011 @ 10:31 pm
Some Biblical Principles you might find interesting, Bradley. I dare you to preach these Biblical “truths” you insignificant, uneducated coward. Sweet dreams, son. I mean Sheriff, haha!
Marriage consists of one man and one or more women (Gen 4:19, 4:23, 26:34, 28:9, 29:26-30, 30:26, 31:17, 32:22, 36:2, 36:10, 37:2, Ex. 21:10, Judges 8:30, 1 Sam 1:2, 25:43, 27:3, 30:5, 30:18, 2 Sam 2:2, 3:2-5, 1 Chron 3:1-3, 4:5, 8:8, 14:3, 2 Chron 11:21, 13:21, 24:3).
Nothing prevents a man from taking on concubines in addition to the wife or wives he may already have (Gen 25:6, Judges 8:31, 2 Sam 5:13, 1 Kings 11:3, 1 Chron 3:9, 2 Chron 11:21, Dan 5:2-3).
A man might chose any woman he wants for his wife (Gen 6:2, Deut 21:11), provided only that she is not already another man’s wife (Lev 18:14-16, Deut. 22:30) or his [half-]sister (Lev 18:11, 20:17), nor the mother (Lev 20:14) or the sister (Lev 18:18) of a woman who is already his wife. The concept of a woman giving her consent to being married is foreign to the Biblical mindset.
If a woman cannot be proven to be a virgin at the time of marriage, she shall be stoned (Deut 22:13-21).
A rapist must marry his victim (Ex. 22:16, Deut. 22:28-29) – unless she was already a fiancé, in which case he should be put to death if he raped her in the country, but both of them killed if he raped her in town (Deut. 22:23-27).
If a man dies childless, his brother must marry the widow (Gen 38:6-10, Deut 25:5-10, Mark 12:19, Luke 20:28).
Women marry the man of their father’s choosing (Gen. 24:4, Josh.15:16-17, Judges 1:12-13, 12:9, 21:1, 1 Sam 17:25, 18:19, 1 Kings 2:21, 1 Chron 2:35, Jer 29:6, Dan 11:17).
Women are the property of their father until married and their husband after that (Ex. 20:17, 22:17, Deut. 22:24, Mat 22:25).
The value of a woman might be approximately seven years’ work (Gen 29:14-30).
Inter-faith marriages are prohibited (Gen 24:3, 28:1, 28:6, Num 25:1-9, Ezra 9:12, Neh 10:30, 2 Cor 6:14).
Divorce is forbidden (Deut 22:19, Matt 5:32, 19:9, Mark 10:9-12, Luke 16:18, Rom 7:2, 1 Cor 7:10-11, 7:39).
Better to not get married at all – although marriage is not a sin (Matt 19:10, I Cor 7:1, 7:27-28, 7:32-34, 7:38).
Don’t judge, lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1-3).
Comment posted July 10, 2011 @ 12:24 am
Bradlee Dean and Michele Bachmann are genuine christians.
Rev. Wright and Obama are NOT.
You judge by watching their fruits.
Readers should check Bradlee Dean website where he exposed the LIES spread on him.
http://youcanruninternational.com/
Comment posted July 11, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
Thats what Dominionists say right before they try and take away everyones citizenship rights. And they are wrong. They are not only the tail, but the ASS!
Comment posted July 11, 2011 @ 3:48 pm
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/11/28/172929/14
Comment posted July 13, 2011 @ 10:49 am
I agree with Reuel. Jesus’ main message was that we need to hate “the other” especially teh gays.
Furthermore, those who claim that Jesus preached about peace, love and understanding are most likely gay and/or librul-commie-nazi-muslim-bedwetting-America-haters who enjoy making babies cry.
Comment posted July 13, 2011 @ 11:50 am
Scary guy. I couldn’t imagine the horrors he would be willing to repeat if he actually had the means.
Comment posted July 16, 2011 @ 3:01 pm
Gramma Millie- Please tell me you’re joking. Otherwise, you’re an idiot.
Pingback posted July 20, 2011 @ 5:09 pm
[...] prayer session Bachmann asked God to expand the anti-gay ministry of Bradlee Dean. Dean has been described as “Bachmann’s Jeremiah Wright” since his radical statements pose a political problem for [...]
Comment posted August 31, 2011 @ 10:34 am
Andy Birkey is piling up his condemnation. Andy Birkey is in serious trouble.
Pingback posted September 11, 2011 @ 7:37 am
[...] may come to regret her superfandom for Dean. One news outlet has already suggested that Dean might be her Jeremiah Wright. It’s easy to make such a comparison. Dean has amassed [...]
Comment posted November 9, 2011 @ 1:20 pm
I’m a conservative Christian and I dumped Dean years ago. He is wrong on most issues even when the basic premise was true. Hate is not the way to deliver the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is done with love and patience. Misquoting the bible is what he does best, like Eric (up a few comments) he doesn’t understand what he’s reading. The Bible must be taken in it’s entirety and not piece meal or of course, it will be mis-quoted by both it’s detractors and it’s worst enemies, false prophets like Dean. Athiests aren’t the worst enemies of Christ, it’s guys like Dean that turn people against God and makes the way for those of us that desire to see people saved very difficult. I for one was glad to know that he’s been kicked off the airwaves. His lackies no longer darken the door of any Walmarts in Sherburne county and I have done my best to convince people that I know whom go to Tea Party meetings to distance themselves fromhim. Like leftists, Bradley Dean uses fear to prey upon peoples emotions. Courage is only found in love, hate is cowardly and finds itself in fear and ignorance.
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