"Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa..." The Gap's 2009 holiday ad. Source: YouTube

The religious right’s annual “War on Christmas” is ramping up early this year, and at least one Minnesota-based company is on its hit list. For the past few years, the American Family Association has targeted retail corporations that use the word “holiday” instead of “Christmas” in their holiday marketing. On Thursday, the group said it’s a trend that began with the Nazis.

AFA lists Eden Prairie-based SUPERVALU, which runs Cub Foods, as a “retailer against Christmas” because the company “refers to Christmas decorations as ‘holiday’ on website and weekly ads.”

Bloomington-based Best Buy does a little better, making the list under “Companies marginalizing ‘Christmas.’” Best Buy was the AFA’s primary target in 2006, but ended up capitulating.

Minneapolis-based Target is the state’s only retail corporation listed among “Companies FOR ‘Christmas’” by the AFA. Target incurred the wrath of the AFA’s first War on Christmas campaign in 2005 with a massive Christian boycott. The company relented in mid-December of that year in response to AFA pressure.

The AFA’s main target in the War on Christmas this year is the Gap, Inc., and its subsidiaries Old Navy and Banana Republic. On Nov. 11, the AFA launched a two-month boycott of those brands.

“Last year, Gap issued this politically-correct statement to Christmas shoppers: ‘Gap recognizes that many traditions are celebrated throughout this season and we feel it is important to display holiday signage that is inclusive to everyone,’” wrote the AFA. “Christmas is special because of Jesus. It’s not just a ‘winter holiday.’ For millions of Americans the giving and receiving of gifts is in honor of the One who gave Himself. For the Gap to pretend that isn’t the foundation of the Christmas season is political correctness at best and religious bigotry at worst.”

The Gap responded with an ad campaign that does include the word “Christmas,” but remained true to their commitment to be inclusive. The ad features young adults in a holiday cheer:

Two, Four, Six, Eight, now’s the time to liberate
Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa, Go Solstice.
Go classic tree, go plastic tree, go plant a tree, go add a tree,
You 86 the rules, you do what feels just right.
Happy do whatever you wanukkah, and to all a cheery night.

The AFA was not amused.

“Did you notice it? Gap compares Christmas to the pagan holiday called ‘Solstice.’ Solstice is celebrated by Wiccans who practice witchcraft!” cried the AFA in a press release.

In a statement the Gap accused the AFA of dishonesty. “Our brands have periodically used Christmas in their holiday season advertising. With this year’s Gap and Old Navy ads, we hope that the AFA will update its Web site, which has claimed that Gap Inc. ‘refused to use the word Christmas in its advertising,’” the statement said. “This is untrue.”

While the AFA is targeting domestic retailers, their rationale goes back to Nazi Germany.

On Thursday, Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issues Analysis, penned an article called, “Nazis Started War Against Christmas,” which inexplicably conflates the Gap’s advertising with Nazi “holiday” ornaments.

He refers to a Daily Mail article about secular Christmas ornaments used in Germany during the rise of the Nazis to make the case that the Nazis were atheists.

“The Daily Mail story refers to ‘the atheist Nazis, who tried to turn (Christmas) into a pagan winter solstice celebration,’” he wrote. “Can you say ‘Hello, Gap?’ The Gap responded to pressure from the American Family Association about the absence of ‘Christmas’ in their advertising by producing a commercial that does mention Christmas, but then adds ‘Go Solstice’ in the next breath.”

He continued, “The Nazis hated Christmas for one simple reason: it celebrates the birth of a Jew. The left hates Christmas because it celebrates the birthday of the first Christian. But isn’t there something faintly anti-Semitic about that? After all, Christians can hardly be accused of systemic racism when we believe the Savior of the world lived his life on earth as a Jew.”

Al Franken (Photo: Aaron Landry) and Norm Coleman (Photo: WDCpix.com)

Two days into Minnesota’s statewide election recount, Al Franken and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman are challenging ballots at a pace that could end up sending more than 1,700 disputed votes to the state’s Canvassing Board to sort out. Each campaign claims the other’s challenges are frivolous, but frivolous or not, they are both making them at a rate that’s increasing rather than slacking off, as some said would happen. The challenged-ballot count remains neck-and-neck: Coleman’s crowd has challenged 374 so far, Franken’s 360.

As the number of challenged ballots grows — it’s at 734 combined as of today, with 42.33 percent of ballots cast Nov. 4 now recounted — the margin between the rival candidates shrinks. Figures from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, which is posting updates every night at 8 p.m., now indicate that Coleman’s lead over Franken has shrunk again and now stands at 129. It’s only a snapshot in a process that hasn’t yet reached the halfway mark, but it’s a snapshot in which the vaunted Coleman “victory” appears to be fading fast.

The picture that’s emerging is of a recounted total that remains a near-tie, with the election hanging on the judgment of the five state Canvassing Board members’ evaluation of the growing stack of challenged ballots.

Tonight’s totals, which don’t include the 734 challenged ballots, have Norm Coleman at 534,687 votes (212 fewer votes than the original count indicated from the same ballots) and Al Franken with 494,930 votes (126 fewer than on the first count of the same ballots). Subtracting those votes lost in the course of the recount so far brings the pre-recount gap of 215 down to a 129 margin that currently favors Coleman.
Note: The Star Tribune has slightly different numbers based on the secretary of state’s figures as well as on reports the Strib gathers from individual counties or recount sites after 8 p.m. With 46 percent of ballots recounted statewide, the Strib puts the gap between Franken and Coleman at 136, with greater numbers of challenged ballots for each: Coleman, 409; Franken, 414.