Demagogue

This is a quick follow-up to Zoe’s post last week about delusional claims by the American Family Association that its anti-gay boycott of Ford Motor Corp. is responsible for driving down the automaker’s sales. In her post, Zoe punched plenty of holes in an e-mail message by AFA founder Don Wildmon bragging about the boycott’s impact. But it was this idiotic statement by Wildmon that stood out to me:

It is clear that Chairman Bill Ford is willing to take Ford into bankruptcy to appease a small group of homosexual leaders.

This hysterical comment is ridiculous, and the proof is self-evident.

If it were “clear,” as Wildmon claims, that the automaker’s chairman of the board “is willing to take Ford into bankruptcy” just to please gay organizations, then there would be no point in AFA continuing its boycott. After all, a corporate boycott is only an effective strategy if you believe the company’s top executives will base their key decisions on sales and profitability.

If Wildmon’s assertion were accurate, Ford’s board of directors (many of them own hefty shares of Ford stock) would not stand idly by and watch him “take Ford into bankruptcy” — no matter what the reason.