RNC Hopeful Tied to Hate Group

Saul Anuzis, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party now mounting a challenge to beleaguered Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, endorsed a right-wing extremist who engaged in homophobic and racist activities.

According to ThinkProgress, the Southern Poverty Law Center this week revealed that Anuzis, a front-runner for the RNC post, had defended and endorsed Kyle Bristow, the former head of the Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. His support came after center designated MSU-YAF as a hate group in 2006.

"Throughout the 'years' Anuzis professes to have know him, Bristow and MSU-YAF have engaged in a series of disturbing racist and homophobic activities," reports ThinkProgress. "MSU-YAF staged events like 'Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day,' held a 'Koran Desecration' competition, jokingly threatened to distribute smallpox-infested blankets to Native American students, and posted 'Gays Spread AIDS' fliers across campus. Bristow is on record saying 'Homosexuality kills people almost to a degree worse than cigarettes,' adding, 'these [pro-gay rights] groups are complicit with murder.' He also invited Holocaust denier Nick Griffin, who is the leader of the whites-only British National Party, to give a speech at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, MI."

ThinkProgress reports that on a radio program in May 2007, Anuzis said, "This is exactly the type of young kid we want out there. I've known Kyle for years and I can tell you I have never heard him say a racist or bigoted or sexist thing, ever."