It’s becoming more and more obvious that attempting to find rationality in conservative politics is a futile task. It seems that just when you think the right can’t get any crazier, they surprise you with yet another bizarre statement. Recently, some bizarre conspiracy theories have taken center stage in the conservative movement, and instead of provoking a backlash, more and more people are agreeing with them. The right seems intent on not letting college hoops have a monopoly on March Madness, and the conservative media is highlighting every play.
Unsurprisingly, the birther movement didn’t disappoint in its quest to undermine Obama’s credentials as an American. Of course, since repeating the same old claims over and over again must get tiring for even the most committed ideologues, they’ve come up with some great new gems. Take this segment from Brian Kilmeade’s Fox News Radio show: Kilmeade gave 16 minutes of airtime to conservative author Jack Cashill. Kilmeade and Cashill spent their time talking about President Obama’s upbringing. What kind of views does Cashill have on Obama, you may wonder? Are his views conducive to a measured and intelligent discussion about the president? In a word, no.
Cashill is a birther, through and through. But he goes beyond the run of the mill “Obama was born in Kenya” ranting. No, that’s much too tame. He goes so far as to accuse Obama of having an illicit homosexual relationship with the poet Frank Marshall Davis, and he has said that he believes Obama’s Dreams From my Father was actually written by Bill Ayers. Oh, and he also thinks that Obama’s father might be Jimi Hendrix. Let’s just make this clear, OK? Brian Kilmeade of Fox News invited a man who honestly believes that the current president of the United States of America is a closeted gay man who has not written the two books that made him famous and whose father is a dead rock star. Really? This is what passes for news these days?
Not to be outdone by the lowly birthers, the right-wing “financial experts” had their highlights as well. Glenn Beck has a history of inviting people onto his show who claim to be experts, but really end up being nut cases. Remember the author who claimed to be a prophet? Well, Beck hates to disappoint his audience, and he’s kicked the insanity up a notch with a new guest. G. Edward Griffin was billed by Beck as an expert on the Federal Reserve. Apparently, this guy doesn’t like the Fed. And when I say that, I mean he really doesn’t like the Fed. Now, this isn’t an entirely popular view, but it has some support on the right. A well sourced book on the subject might actually help a person understand something that is fairly technical. Of course, you’d need to have a history of reliably reporting the facts before I could take your book seriously. Griffin, though, has an unfortunate tendency to not like reality, either. In Griffin’s world, cancer is caused by a deficiency of the vitamin B17, HIV does not exist, and that FEMA was not sent to New Orleans to help people but to “control them” in order to “bring the entire area under control of the federal government.” Not only are all of these views factually incorrect, they are deeply offensive to millions of Americans. It’s hard to know what to say to this guy. How do you deal with people entirely dissociated from reality? You give them a mouthpiece on Glenn Beck’s television show, apparently.
I don’t know what’s in the water these days, but it seems like more and more people are publishing weirder and weirder ideas. Look, Jimi Hendrix is not Obama’s father, and HIV exists. Some things are so obviously untrue that it boggles my mind that anyone believes them. Conspiracy theories may make good plots for summer blockbusters, but basing an entire political ideology on the belief that just about everything the government has ever said is a lie seems like a really terrible idea.
