Sigh.
A brief summary, via Steve Benen:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) looked a little silly when he argued Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) may face criminal charges because he disagrees with the White House on Iranian policy. Yesterday, however, he quickly discovered he had some company among Republicans who were equally eager to appear foolish.
Yesterday morning, for example, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested he’s sympathetic to the conspiracy theory, too ....
.... By yesterday afternoon, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) went even further ....
.... Conservative media figures from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal are on board, too.
The point-by-point is actually kind of excruciating, but mainly in the context that someone actually needed to say it.
Yesterday we wondered whether Sen. Cruz (R-TX), who seems to be the main driver of this sideshow, was naïve or cynical. It would seem conservatives are going with cynicism.
Or, you know, who knows? Maybe they’re just blindly throwing darts hoping they’ll score a bulls-eye before the term runs out.
Or maybe it’s just a fundraising ploy.
Yeah, that’s probably it.
And, hey, you know, it wasn’t that long ago that I remember conservatives in my proximity fuming about Menendez and other New Jersey Democrats for some sort of local tradition of corruption. I wonder where Republicans think they’re going with this. No, really. Fundraising is a safe bet, but you never know. As Congressional Republicans continue their fevered downward spiral, one wonders if the malady is cynicism verging on antisocial dysfunction, or perhaps they have managed to convince themselves to believe all this. Their current power is heavily invested in reinforcement from the lunatic fringe, and at one point the Birther conspiracy rate among House Republicans broke eleven percent―and that was just the ones we knew about.
Republicans have been playing a dangerous game with these lower elements. Their politics are pure passion, and have no ostensible fidelity to facts or reality.
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Benen, Steve. “Watching a GOP conspiracy theory blossom”. msnbc. 10 March 2015.
This Is 