From the Washington Times:

Yosi Sergant has been asked to resign from his post as Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts[.]

Big Hollywood’s  Partrick Courrielche broke the story of these – to say the least – controversial NEA conference calls on August 25th, calls obviously designed to promote President Obama’s domestic agenda, especially health care.  

The Washington Times picked up on the story, contacted NEA Communications Director Sergant and asked him about the calls. He denied the NEA was responsible for sending out the conference call email invitations:

WASHINGTON TIMES: Hey, I understand that there was a conference call on August 10th that the NEA invited producers, artists, marketers, etcetera.

SERGANT:  The NEA didn’t invite…We were a participant in a call.  It was a third party that did the invitation. 

WASHINGTON TIMES: I see.  I was wondering If you could send me, if possible,  a copy of the invitation?

SERGANT: Umm…It didn’t come from us, so I don’t have it to distribute.  You’d go to them for that.

Courrielche’s follow-up piece proved the complete opposite was true. Not only had the invites come from the NEA but from Sergant himself.

During all this Glenn Beck picked up the story:

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This past Sunday on “This Week,” George Will wondered if the NEA hadn’t broken a few laws. Coerrielche followed this up on Tuesday with a post complete with contradictory audio with Sergant claiming a filmmaker named Michael Skolnick was the “third party” responsible for the conference call, and Skolnick matter-of-factly stating he was asked by “folks” in the White House and NEA to “bring artists together.”

Predictably, the Huffington Post spin on today’s resignation announcement is to make it look like this is some kind of right-wing witch hunt led by Glenn Beck:

Beck attacked Sergant and the NEA on his Fox News talk show, accusing the agency of propaganda efforts similar to those used by Nazi Germany. And now Sergant has been tossed overboard, making him Beck’s second victim in his campaign to rid the administration of perceived radicals, socialists, communists, fascists, anarchists and all other manner of nefarious influences. …

Sergant is, by all accounts, a highly-talented grassroots organizer and promoter, but communications director for the NEA is a position that requires a high level of political dexterity: the arts agency is constantly under fire from extremist activists who see it as propagating a liberal, libertine agenda. The day the culture war is finally declared over, there will still be skirmishes over the NEA.

No one’s arguing there’s a culture war, but if Sergant wanted to be a General on the front-lines he should’ve kept his story straight and not arrogantly assumed every artist puts partisanship above principle.

SECOND UPDATE: Patrick Courrielche responds to the news of Sergant’s reassignment here. END UPDATE.

If there’s any program Republicans like myself would be willing to immediately de-fund, dismantle, and move its resources over to Head Start and “green initiatives” (is porn more important than Mother Earth?), it’s the NEA. For the asking, millions upon millions of dollars in federal relief could be transferred to hunger programs, breast cancer research and third-world vaccinations. But no, obviously the screening of skin-flicks featuring Gorillas takes precedent:

The NEA was given $80 million of the government’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill to spread around to needy artists nationwide …

[I]ncluding a $50,000 infusion for the Frameline film house, which recently screened Thundercrack, “the world’s only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla.” …

[T]he weekly production of “Perverts Put Out” at San Francisco’s CounterPULSE, whose “long-running pansexual performance series” invites guests to “join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun.” …

[A]n additional boost from a $25,000 stimulus grant [will go to] “The Symmetry Project,” …

The show depicts “the sharing of a central axis, [as] spine, mouth, genitals, face, and anus reveal their interconnectedness and centrality in embodied experience[.]”

In the flesh — and there’s a lot of it — it amounts to two people writhing naked on the floor, a government-funded tango in the altogether.

So “for the children” I ask my friends on the left for the children to embrace this new spirit of bi-partisanship for the children and let us come together for the children, dismantle the NEA for the children, and use this money for the children.

The Match Up: 

• The Beauty Queen – Ms. Carrie Prejean – Miss California, now Miss USA 2009 Runner Up.
• The Drama Queen – Perez Hilton. He has a B.A. in drama, is a gay activist blogger, and co-opted his professional name from a celebrity with whom he has a personal fascination. He was a judge in the Miss USA pageant.

Ms. Prejean was the underdog. She’s not a slugger. She’s just a dumb blonde, right? 

Mr. Hilton, on the other hand is the notorious gay activist blogger – a verbal street brawler known for picking and winning fights by jumping victims in back alleys and clobbering them with whatever he can get his hands on  - pipes, tire irons, beer bottles.  

On the surface, the pageant appeared to be a well refereed event. Even Hilton looked freshly scrubbed and donned a toothy grin throughout the evening. But the fix was in. What we didn’t see was that Hilton had a horseshoe hidden in his right glove. This was one match he wasn’t going to lose – not on national television. He figured he had one punch and it had to be a knock out. 

There they stood, face to face – both representing different philosophies, opposing beliefs. The moment dripped with anticipation. Then Hilton threw his punch. Gay Marriage! Of course. What else from Hilton. Yes, the hotly debated issue of redefining marriage to include gay unions was supposed to be a knockout punch. But it only grazed her chin. She stumbled slightly, recovered and shot back her reply. According to her, the definition of marriage should remain as it has been defined throughout the history of our country – between a man and a woman. 

She knew it wasn’t PC. But she was, after all, Miss “California” -  a state that just voted (Prop Eight) to uphold the current definition of marriage. She is also a woman of faith – holding a belief consistent with the majority of the state of California (not to mention consistent with Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton). But more importantly, her answer was authentically truthful to her own personal beliefs. 

The camera cut to Hilton in time to catch his jaw drop – his face crestfallen. If you listened closely enough you could even hear the horseshoe fall out of his glove.  This was clearly not the answer he expected. Who in this world has the temerity to proclaim a personal position so politically incorrect on national television? Apparently there’s one person – Ms. Prejean. Doesn’t she know that people like Hilton can destroy her? That she might never work in this town again? And even more tragic, she may never get invited to a Janeane Garofalo Oscar party?  

For Ms. Prejean, it was clearly a seminal moment in her life – with defining clarity and simplicity she expressed a personal belief. Standing for something, and telling the world doesn’t need to be complicated. I wonder if any of our politicians were watching? 

Now if Hilton had even a modicum of self respect he would have gone home and licked his wounds. But pathetically, Hilton couldn’t contain his rage. It’s as if he decided to continue his brawl in the parking lot where he caught up to Ms. Prejean and sucker punched her getting into her car. And while she was down, he continued to wail on her.   

You’ve all seen the clips by now. Hilton viciously berated Miss California on TV and YouTube, calling her a “bitc*” and reportedly a “cun*”. And where does this rage come from? Ms. Prejean shared her beliefs.  

As America struggles to reclaim its soul and find true leaders for the future, regardless of political philosophy, you have to admire any display of bravery, courage, or sacrifice made on behalf of “principle.” 

Miss California has transcended beauty queen status. She is now much more than a pinup girl for our soldiers. She is a soldier – and leading a charge. 

As for the pageant “judge”, he set aside any pretense of objectivity and egregiously used his position of power to advance his cause. When he ranted that if Miss California would have somehow won the crown, “I shi* you not, I would have gone up on that stage, I would have snatched that tiara off her head and run out the door!!!” – you have to ask.  Who at the pageant organization thought it was a good idea to make a bigoted heterophobe a pageant judge? 

Maybe that person is Keith Lewis- co executive director of the pageant – or maybe his boss Donald Trump? Trump ducked responsibility for Hilton’s assignment on Bill O’Reilly’s The Factor. Lewis stated (speaking of himself) that he “…is saddened and hurt  that Miss California believes that marriage belongs only to a man and a woman.” Well I’m saddened that Keith Lewis is saddened. 

Help me out here. The directors of the pageant are offended when a contestant expresses a belief contrary to theirs? – a viewpoint which by the way is mainstream – nothing radical about it. So, help me out here. Is being guilty of such an offense a de facto disqualifier for contestants? If so, disclose it to the contestants in advance. Flat out tell them what beliefs are acceptable to the committee, and which ones are not – which religions and churches can be attended and which ones can’t.   

Hey, why not issue a booklet to contestants containing all the acceptable answers and viewpoints of the committee. Give them time to consider the option ahead – when they’re in the spotlight and they may need to choose to abandon their core principles for the sake of receiving the tiara……. Tiara, or beliefs. 

In fact, just send out a mass email to the country with all the acceptable positions of the committee and forego the charade of running the pageant as a propaganda machine? 

Maybe the title of this piece should have been Beauty and the Beast. And the Beast isn’t confined to Perez Hilton. You decide.