Here's what I've uncovered so far [and if you have sourcing that can confirm or deny, please contribute.]
1. Phelps was reportely a propaganda operative for Saddam Hussein.
2. He was reportedly a propaganda operative for Fidel Castro.
3. Fred Phelps was reportedly very tight with Al Gore, along with photographic evidence.
4. He was reportedly a narcotics abuser.
5. It's widely reported that Phelps was a shady lawyer, and several others his family have been practicing lawyers.
Ha!
This is going to be good.
Phelps for supreme court justice?????????????????
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200010%5CPOL20001016c.html
"The 'God Hates Fags' web site was launched in the mid-1990s, many years after Gore sought and received the support of Phelps and his followers. But Phelps said he was no less vocal in his opposition to homosexuality when Gore was seeking his support in 1988. "He looked us in the eye and gave us assurance, that, based on his Bible beliefs, he was against the homosexual agenda and the killing of babies," Phelps said in a telephone interview." [snip]