Last updated on February 19th, 2013 at 09:52 am
Rachel Maddow completely annihilated the paranoid delusions of Rand Paul and highlighted the dangerous fact that he gets a say on major policy issues.
Video via MSNBC:
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Well, here in America we don’t have the meteor strikes. As for conspiracy-loving elected officials we are still well-stocked there. Not too long ago a conservative website published this story saying that Chuck Hagel, the president’s nominee to run the defense department had received money from a group that he did not want to disclose to the Senate as a source of income. “One of the names listed is a group purportedly called Friends of Hamas.” Friends of Hamas, that sounds terrible. That sounds not just terrible. That sounds illegal. Also, it sounds kind of made up, right? Not only is there no known proof that Chuck Hagel had any link to such an illegal and scary organization, not only that, as our friend Dave Weigel over at Slate points out, there is no evidence that “Friends of Hamas” even exists anywhere. So crazy right? Some whack job conservative website says something with no proof that happens to be inflammatory, and it both very unlikely and totally unsupported by any facts. Somebody is wrong on the internet, big whoop, right? But in Russia they have their media deniers, and in America, we have Republican Senator Rand Paul. Who as a senator actually gets to take part in the decision on whether or not Chuck Hagel gets to be defense secretary, and here’s Rand Paul’s take on this on talk radio a few days ago.
(Clip of Sen. Paul on talk radio saying he is very troubled by the non-existent Friends of Hamas.)
I am very troubled by it, it being Chuck Hagel’s imaginary connection to the organization, that only exists on a Breitbart server, and apparently in Rand Paul’s mind. That is who gets to vote to confirm the defense secretary, very troubled by this terrorist organization that he heard about in a chat room somewhere. Don’t feel so bad, Russia, every country’s got them, we just give them more power than most countries do.
Republicans filibustered Chuck Hagel’s nomination yesterday, that has never ever happened before in the history of this country. No cabinet nominee has ever been blocked by a filibuster. We have been hit by meteors, but this was never done. Now the Senate is in recess. The confirmation will probably happen in a week and a half, unless of course we have to hear Rand Paul chair hearings on the birth certificate of the president, or something more compelling than us needing a defense secretary, when we’ve 66,000 Americans deployed in a hot war.
The underlying problem that Maddow was getting at is that there is no buffer between the whack job conservative media, and Republicans who serve in powerful positions in our government. Some may argue that bigger issue is that someone like Rand Paul got elected to United States Senate, but in the history of Congress there have always been a few flakes, weirdos, oddballs, and lightweights holding office. There have always been ideologues and fringers like Rand Paul floating around in our political atmosphere. The difference between then and now is that the Rand Paul’s of today have a whole facts optional, but ideology required, media complex feeding their delusions.
The conservative media complex as grown so large and the Republican Party so weak that this sort of Friends of Hamas wackiness influences even the sane Republican members of Congress. (This helps explain why someone like the relatively sane John Boehner has to say so many nutty things to keep his own caucus in line.)
Chuck Hagel is being filibustered by one vote. If Rand Paul’s seat was occupied by someone who wasn’t guided by whack job media, Hagel probably would have been confirmed by now.
When a elected officials start placing their own personal grudges/need to validate the Iraq war and their desire feed their paranoia with the baseless gibberish of a right wing website ahead of the nation’s need for a defense secretary, they become a detriment to national security.
The problem is that yesteryear’s crazy right wing newsletter that reached hundreds has become the crazy right wing website that reaches millions. The far right insanity genie is out of the bottle, and it is jeopardizing national security for paranoid partisan profit and gain.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
