This Conspiracy-Toting Conservative Blogger Could Be Headed to Congress
In mid-May, Texas Republican congressional candidate Wes Riddle posted a new note on his Facebook page. It was written by his spokesman, Garrett Smith, and it was dire. "The reasoning for President Obama's impeachment," Smith wrote, "begins with the fact that the State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to Russia." According to the statement, Riddle—who has Rep. Ron Paul's endorsement and stands a good chance of winning in November if he can make it out of next Tuesday's runoff—believed that Obama's unprecedented giveaway included at least one island the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, "billions of barrels of oil" from offshore deposits, and unknown strategic advantages.
"The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy, not allowing the state of Alaska to participate in the negotiations, and...the public was not given any opportunity to comment," he wrote.
There were a few problems with this indictment of Obama: the president hadn't given away any islands; the treaty in question had been signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991; none of the islands, which are well on the other side of the international boundary, had ever been officially claimed by the United States; and Alaska's two US senators at the time had publicly endorsed the measure. Smith's rant, much of which was copied word for word from a WorldNutDaily article, was based on a falsehood.
Riddle's source for the Alaska conspiracy theory appears to have been a February op-ed in the birther site WorldNutDaily by former Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller. The Facebook note either paraphrases or copies verbatim large portions of Miller's piece (which Factcheck.org rated "simply false").
"Slavery in America was clearly harmful and wrong to the people who lived under it, but it proved to be the unintended transmission belt that brought Africans into the orbit of Western freedom," he wrote. "Are the descendants of slaves really worse off? Would Jesse Jackson be better off living in Uganda? Would we?
If anything, though, Riddle's out-there views have only endeared him to [teabaggers].
You don't think that the descendents of American slaves have it better than 95% of the Africans that remain in Africa?
Although millions of African-Americans remain unemployed and tens of thousands locked up under Obama's watch, they are still much better off than those who are living in Africa under kleptocracies and religious persecution.
Same with indentured servitude in the early colonies, if poor Europeans hadn't been willing to trade seven years of labor for passage to the colonies, their heirs would have remained in the Old World.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Catching these worthless slimebag teabaggers in their outrage-of-the-day lies from WorldNutDaily (and other sources) is a major source of entertainment. You can't possibly think it matters to me whether you think catching them in their lies is "worthless" or not?
LJ has no interest in debating issues. She would much rather throw Molotov cocktails at conservatives. She has no desire to even look at the evils on her side...even though there are tons. LJ...how do you see our splinters with that log in your eye?
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
LJ has no interest in debating issues. She would much rather throw Molotov cocktails at conservatives. She has no desire to even look at the evils on her side...even though there are tons. LJ...how do you see our splinters with that log in your eye?
(Translation: "We've Googled our brains out looking for a liberal that ran for Congress that was similarly racist, and can't find one...So, we'll attack the poster.)
