A (Belated) Response to a (Strange) Hoax

Almost two weeks ago, I received a many-times-forwarded message with the subject “Congressional Reform Act of 2011” (see Debunking 'Congressional Reform Act of 2011' on this site). On the surface, it appeared to be a typical piece of Tea Party/neocon invective that was unexceptional in any way; it started off with the obvious lie that it had originated with Warren Buffet, and then went on to call for a number of “common sense” responses to problems that don’t really exist, etc., and looked like something that had been making the rounds on Facebook a few days earlier. When I looked to see if I could tell where this message had originated, however, I was struck by a genuine surprise: It had, by all accounts, been sent out by the Chair of the Democratic Party of Comal County, Texas!

“While I personally do not fully agree with all of these suggestions, they are a good place to start,” this good lady writes at the beginning of her message. In that the contents of the message were ultimately written by the kind of people who make Democrats feel nervous about living in Texas, I would imagine that she would not agree with them. Why things she does not agree with would be “a good place to start,” however, I have no idea.

The idea that the leader of an organization representing besieged Democrats in a frighteningly Red state would be sending out rightwing literature was too much for me to accept and so I immediately sent her an email message to let her know I had received it. I expected she would probably let me know that she had been a victim of identity theft, but figured there was also a slight chance she would embarrassedly admit to accidentally disseminating something she had not bothered to verify (or even read very carefully to ensure it was in keeping with her party’s ethos).

When I had not received a reply after three days, I followed up with her again, once again emphasizing my affiliation with this site and my intention to publish an article about the hoax to which she had, one way or another, been party. That was a week ago and, as of this writing, she has still not had either the sense or the courtesy to reply to me or the readers of this site.

Seemingly coincidentally, right after I sent my first message to the Chair of my local Democratic organization I received a friendly and somewhat solicitous message from a gentleman who shared her last name. A little investigation revealed that this individual is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat, that he is also a member of the Democratic Party of Comal County, and that he is, in fact, the husband of the woman who had sent out the message being discussed here. We traded a few messages but, when I asked him about the email message that had originated with his wife, it went quiet at his end and our correspondence ceased.

And so, in the absence of any kind of a response, I am left to conclude that the most recent rightwing hoax to cross my desk originated with … a local office of the Democratic Party. This is certainly not an auspicious way for an organization of this sort to start off any year -- all the less so one in which we are about to experience what might be one of the most crucial national election cycles of our lifetimes and in which the Democrats will need to be on their game.

Breaking News: Perry Enters Presidential Race

Speaking from a flag-packed stage in Charleston, S.C., Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his long anticipated entrance into the 2012 presidential race.

"I declare to you today as a candidate for president of the United States!" Perry announced during a speech that resonated with conservative imagery, support for industry, and references to Ronald Reagan, and which spoke to rightwing Republican and Tea Party concerns.

In keeping with the other current GOP candidates, Perry made vague criticisms of the Obama administration and observations on the economy core elements of his platform.

"We reject this president's unbridled fixation on taking more money out of wallets and pocketbooks of American families -- and employers -- and giving it to a central government," Perry said. "Spreading the wealth punishes success."

Perry also held Obama accountable for everything from the recent downgrade in the U.S. credit rating to the country's increasingly perilous place in the world, noting that "Our president has insulted our friends and encouraged our enemies."

Following his speech, Perry's wife and children joined him on stage while a crowd chanted their support for him.

Teabagged in Searchlight, Nevada

SEARCHLIGHT, NEVADA -- My wife and I had the unpleasant experience of being stuck in a traffic jam deep in the desert east of Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, March 27, as a result of a Tea Party rally taking place just outside of the little town of Searchlight. I had originally posted about this to my travelblogue but, as I prefer for that site to remain apolitical, shifted the piece here instead.


During our slow drive past thousands of cars parked alongside both sides of the road, we had the opportunity to look at the Teabaggers -- angry, shambling, salt-of-the-earth racist slobs clad in pieces of American flag, whose rebellion against "big government" completely coincidentally serves the needs of a big business establishment that must despise them even more than the average college-educated moderate.

Did Jews get scared when they saw rallies like this in 1930s Germany? The few blacks and Mexicans driving on the road through this mob scene looked nervous and kept moving.

"Ugh. I find these people to be repugnant," my friend Geo, a professional magician, said to me. "I had a group of these people show up at one of my shows a number of months back. Unfortunately this was prior to my being aware of who and what they were. So I missed a golden opportunity to mock them on stage."

On some level, however, I actually feel sorry for them, because they are just shills and too dumb to see that they are being manipulated and used by the same establishment they think they are protesting. They are, for example, opposed to the Healthcare Bill because it supposedly deprives them of some freedom. Conveniently, however, this also just happens to serve the needs of pharmaceutical insurance companies who want to maintain the status quo. A lot of the Teabaggers clearly are just hateful, nasty people, but I am not oblivious to the fact that a lot of them are just normal folks who are both scared and not bright enough to think for themselves (and, as history has shown, that is an ominous combination).