Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the wildest attacks, conspiracy theories, and other loony behavior from the increasingly unhinged right wing. Starting with number five:
5. Bryan Fischer
Bryan Fischer, a leader of the anti-gay hate group the American Family Association, returns to the list once again, for rehashing a favorite conspiracy theory about President Barack Obama: that he is actually a secret Muslim.
Fischer’s evidence? Obama claims to be a Christian, but since he used to be a Muslim (obviously), that means that Muslim clerics should have issued a fatwa against him for committing apostasy. According to Fischer, the fact that radical Islamists aren’t trying to kill Obama is proof that “his role as the president is advancing the cause of Islam.”
Someone should probably tell Fischer that inciting angry mobs to try to kill you just isn’t a feature of everyday life for most people. But if President Obama is targeted by extremists, at least he’ll have a team of hypermasculine homosexual stormtroopers to protect him.
4. Sandy Rios
Unsurprisingly, President Obama’s call for for military intervention in Syria has led to a good deal of anger and dissent on the right. There are plenty of reasons to oppose a military strike, but right-wing radio host Sandy Rios picked just about the worst one: the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
On the radio show she hosts for the aforementioned American Family Association, Rios explained that the “homosexual takeover” of the military has left it unable to launch a strike against Bashar al-Assad.
“When I looked at those battleships going into the Mediterranean, supposedly getting ready for battle in Syria, I couldn’t help think about all the stories I’ve read about how women now are in the ranks of the Navy, getting pregnant at exponential numbers,” Rios said. “When I think about the folding in and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the homosexual takeover of so much of our military I’m not sure how effective those naval ships will be.”
If Rios is looking for reassurance, perhaps she should have a talk with her AFA colleague Bryan Fischer. After all, as noted earlier, he makes President Obama’s hypermasculine homosexual stormtroopers sound pretty darn effective.
Audio of Rios’ remarks is available atRight Wing Watch.
3. Joe Wilson
Not to be outdone, U.S. Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) — best known for interrupting President Obama by shouting “You lie!” during his 2009 State of the Union address — suggested an equally inane reason to oppose military action: Benghazi!
“With the president’s redline, why was there no call for military response in April?” Wilson asked Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday. “Was it delayed to divert attention today from the Benghazi, IRS, NSA scandals, the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the tragedy of the White House-drafted sequestration or the upcoming debt limit vote?”
Wilson failed to explain why Obama would wait until each of the supposed “scandals” had been disproved to start a war aimed at distracting from them. One would’ve thought that Obama would have wanted a false flag to distract from House Republicans’ supposed “smoking gun” report, which was released in April (and debunked in May.) But since being crazy has worked out pretty well for Wilson in the past, don’t hold your breath for clarification.
2. Rush Limbaugh
Future Republican presidential debate moderator Rush Limbaugh returns to the list this week, for managing to blow Rios’ and Wilson’s crazy Syria theories out of the water.
According to Limbaugh, it’s “very possible” that President Obama actually helped to plan to and carry out the chemical weapons attack that has led the United States to the brink of military conflict in Syria.
Limbaugh made the claim on his Tuesday show, while discussing an article by Yossef Bodansky (who, as Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum writes, is “an Assad sympathizer who has previously suggested that the 1995 Oklahoma bombing was orchestrated by Iran and that Saddam’s WMDs all ended up in Syria). Bodansky claims that the Syrian rebels used chemical weapons on themselves, with either the foreknowledge or perhaps even the active support of the U.S. government. His evidence? Unnamed sources.
To Limbaugh, this represents quite possibly “the setup of all time.”
“What if Bashar didn’t do it? What if Bashar is being framed?” he asked.
While Limbaugh was careful to avoid directly endorsing the loony claim — he stressed that this is “the old, ‘We report, you decide’ thing here” — he did make it clear that he thinks that Obama is more than capable of such an action. “The regime’s agenda appears to be eliminating dictators in favor of Muslim radicals,” Limbaugh warned darkly.
Back in reality, Bodansky’s theory makes pretty much no sense at all. But in any case, we can hope that it makes an appearance in Limbaugh’s new book — which is about a time traveling history teacher named Rush Revere (that is not a joke).
1. WorldNetDaily
This week’s “winner” is right-wing conspiracy repository WorldNetDaily, which may have set a new standard for ridiculous anti-Obama attacks with its warning that the president is using official White House photos to send secret foot signals to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sadly, this is not a joke.
In an apparent effort to reclaim their crazy crown from The Daily Caller, on Tuesday World Net Daily published a column by Andrea Shea King, who was disturbed by a photo of the president with his foot up on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
“Is it possible I might have misinterpreted this photo, which played prominently on the Drudge Report site last Sunday? Is it possible President Obama had a White House photographer release this official image to the world to send a wordless message of support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Arab street and Islamic community in general?” King writes. “To convey his disdain and disregard for all things traditionally American? It is, after all, common knowledge that the Arab world considers the bottom of one’s shoes the ultimate sign of disrespect. And it’s not the first time he’s done it.”
King is at least right that it’s not the first time that President Obama has been photographed with his feet up on the desk. In fact, Obama joins George W. Bush and Gerald Ford as presidents who have been photographed doing so. Is it possible that King did misinterpret things, and Presidents Ford, Bush, and Obama weren’t all secret Muslim Brotherhood agents? I suppose it may be (though Michele Bachmann finds it doubtful.)
Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments section!
