Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They Aren't Out To Get You

The latest in right-wing conspiracies: Twittergate!

What's clear is that at some point Rauhauser noticed that he and the Beandogs shared an enemy in Howard and started encouraging them on Twitter. The Beandogs in turn began pretending that Rauhauser was their leader, intimating that they were being paid by George Soros and generally playing on the Tea Party's paranoia. Both the Beandogs and Rauhauser deny there's any collusion, just mutual admiration between Tea Party tormentors.

But Howard and his Tea Party buddies became convinced they were the targets of a massive Democratic conspiracy to control Twitter. Howard wrote a long blog post outlining his "evidence," and Twittergate was born! The Beandogs, having pranked the Tea Party with spectacular success, aren't actually that thrilled about it. "Now it's not funny anymore that they think we're working for Rauhauser," said TheRealSomebody. "Now I'm not getting credit for being the scumbag on the Internet that I am. Rauhauser is."

Our discourse has disintegrated into a replay of someone's freshman year in high school.

It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Elected To Congress

A lot of people are paying attention to Dana Milbank’s column about conspiracy theorists finding succor in Glenn Beck. The guy Milbank focuses on is currently in jail after going on a shooting spree with police. His intended targets were employees of the Tides Foundation, to which Beck has devoted hours of fearmongering.

Welcome to post-9/11 America, Mr. Milbank. What took you so long?

Milbank’s lack of self-awareness is astonishing. Our mainstream media has created these heroes of the right -- Beck was foisted on the nation to a large extent by CNN, remember? So it’s a little too late to complain that there are crazy people running the asylum. Y’all are the ones who handed them the keys.

Anyway, I linked to it last month but the definitive word on media culpability was penned by author Rick Perlstein in an excellent New York Times piece prompted by the Terry Jones affair.

There are lots of conspiracy theories out there, and it’s interesting to see which ones gain traction among our power elite and which ones do not. My favorite is the one about how Mark David Chapman didn't shoot John Lennon, author Stephen King did.

I first heard about it when the guy who cooked it up called in to a liberal talk show -- it might have been Thom Hartmann. The radio host hung up on him, but not before the guy could get the URL onto the airwaves. Apparently Stephen King has been harassed by this guy for years.

It’s crazy shit and yet, no one has launched a Congressional inquiry into this. It’s immediately written off as not credible. Yet conspiracy theories about the Clintons killing dozens of people including Vincent Foster or President Obama’s birth certificate get serious attention. It's all fun and games until someone gets elected to Congress and then suddenly this wacko conspiracy shit becomes public policy.

The left has its own conspiracy theories - and no, I’m not talking about the 9/11 Truth movement. That is one conspiracy theory which appears to be truly bi-partisan. I know plenty of people both right and left who cling to the belief that the government was somehow involved in 9/11, beyond just basic negligence. Let's remember: this conspiracy theory started on the far right, the anti-Semitic neo-Nazi nutjobs who claim no Jews were killed on 9/11 because they got the heads up.

Lefty conspiracy theories include Bohemian Grove, which is a real place and a real retreat for the nation’s really wealthy and powerful. The conspiracy part is that they all get together to decide who the next president will be -- hey, how else to explain how we got saddled with a dufus like George W. Bush, amiright?

We’re still waiting for the Congressional inquiry into that one.

Why do right wing conspiracy theories gain traction in the culture while left wing ones do not? Maybe because liberals don't send crazy people like Michelle Bachmann to Congress to spout their crackpot ideas about FEMA camps, perhaps? In the unlikely event that Christine O'Donnell wins a seat in the Senate, is she going to launch an investigation into those mice with fully-functioning human brains?

I repeat: it's all fun and games until someone gets elected to Congress.

Speaking of Manchurian Candidates ...

I’ve been following the goings-on of notorious right-wing cult leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon for several years now. Moon, founder of the Unification Church, has long and deep ties to the Bush Administration, the Bush family, and the GOP, as well as top leaders of the Christian right such as Tim LaHaye and the late Jerry Falwell.

He’s a creepy guy to the say least; if you think Scientology is weird, check out Moon, who calls himself Messiah and has his fingers in a dizzying array of global businesses (not all of which are legal, say Moon watchers). For instance, did you know that Moon supplies nearly all of the country’s sushi restuarants with fish? If you eat sushi, chances are you're supporting this creepy cult leader (I know, I eat sushi anyway, too).

About a year ago we heard rumors that the Bush family had bought thousands of acres of land in Paraguay adjacent to Unification Church land there. Some speculated that because there is no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Paraguay, this was Bush’s exit strategy. This struck me as a little silly and anyway, we do indeed have extradition treaties with Paraguay, so the argument was wrong.

But there’s clearly something going on, beause the land deal is real, and First Brother Neil Bush has been traveling with Moon in South America, as did George Bush Sr. back in the 1990s. Last week, Neil Bush was in Paraguay to meet with President Nicanor Duarte along with a group of Moon associates.

Strange.

I don’t know what’s going on, but some tin-foil hat types have wondered if the Bush family isn't a key player in Moon's stated plans to take over the world. That also strikes me as silly, but no one has yet explained to me what was up with that "coronation" of Moon and his wife at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in 2004. Understandably, those involved in this bizarre event, including former Rep. Curt Weldon and Sen. Lindsey Graham, have been too embarassed to talk about it and have hoped the whole thing would fade from memory. As if.

I also think it’s interesting that several “Moonies” were given prominent positions in the Bush Administration: for example, David Caprara, one of Moon’s top political players, was director of the Office of Faith Based & Community Initiatives. His previous gig with Moon was as head of the American Freedom Coalition, which the Los Angeles Times described as an organization "dedicated to repairing Moon's tattered persona in the United States" (Caprara is now with the Brookings Institution, BTW).

All of which is food for thought. I'm not saying I buy into the conspiracy theories but I do think it's disturbing that a destructive cult leader and ex-felon would have access to those holding the reins of power in America. I'm blogging about this today because I think it's fascinating, and Ken Layne’s column yesterday offers a good run-down on the Bush-Moon connection. Folks might get a kick out of reading it.