When last we encountered Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas, he had just appeared on the radio show of conspiracy-theorist extraordinaire Alex Jones– as none other than George Galloway did a few years earlier.
Michelle Goldberg wrote in The New Republic:
In late July [2009], …Gohmert… appeared on Jones’s show to discuss the “nation-ending” potential of Obama’s policies and the country’s incipient march toward eugenics and fascism. “Did you hear about the White House science czar calling for putting stuff in the water to sterilize us?” Jones asked him. Gohmert allowed that he had not, but he didn’t seem particularly surprised. A few minutes later, Jones asked the congressman for his thoughts about “the youth brigades, national compulsory service,” that the Democrats had in store. “[T]his stuff has been done before,” Gohmert said. “It was done in the 1930s, and that was not the only place it’s been done.”
“Mao did it,” added Jones.
“Well, that’s exactly what I was thinking of,” replied Gohmert.
Now Gohmert has gone a step further by jumping on the “terror babies” bandwagon. According to this theory, pregnant women are coming to the US as tourists, having babies, and then returning with their newborns to their home countries, where they are raised to become terrorists. Because of a clause in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, originally enacted after the Civil War to give former slaves citizenship, anyone born in the US is recognized as a US citizen. So after decades of indoctrination, these “terror babies” will return to the US as full citizens to carry out their nefarious deeds.
Makes perfect sense, right?
This plot was originally propounded by Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle, also a Republican, who said she got the information from former FBI officials, whom she refused to name. Questioned by CNN’s Anderson Cooper for details on the plot, she responded:
“When your folks called me in the preliminary, that was part of the conversation. They did not tell me you were going to grill me on specific information that I was not ready to give to you tonight. They did not tell me that, sir.”
Cooper interviewed a retired FBI agent, who said there was no evidence of any such ludicrous plot. Then he talked to Congressman Gohmert. See for yourself (as much as you can stand, anyway):
As an antidote, you can (in the US, at least) watch Jon Stewart’s take on the brouhaha:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Jon Stewart & Anderson Cooper Look at Gaping Holes – Security<a> | ||||
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So how crazy are things getting on the Republican right? So crazy that Pat Buchanan– Pat F***ing Buchanan— thinks former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went “too far” when he compared those planning to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan to Nazis.
It’s “absurd,” said Buchanan. “There is no valid comparison there.”
(Hat tip: Andrew Murphy)
