Newsweek's conspiracy 'debunking' targets the right

Thank God for that. Still, it's a wonder it took them this long.

Newsweek recently issued a Liberal's "A Conspiracy Manifesto of the vast Rightwing Extremist's Conspiracy Theories" article... only instead of calling the piece a "manifesto" author David Graham called it "debunking fringe beliefs." Apparently manifesto was a little too communist sounding.

The elaborations on each debunking (in bold) as written in Newsweek won't be articulated below but parts of the "refutations" are (normal font). Here are the Flying Spaghetti Monsters that Mr. Graham battles and his coup de grâce, in part, to each. The full article can be read here.

1. Barack - not born in the US. It's fully debunked.

2. AGW - a hoax.  But the science stands: warming is real.

3. Goldman Sachs intentionally created the economic crisis. This theory is tougher than others to debunk

4. Democrats' health plan = death panels. And fact-checking outlet PolitiFact named the theory the "Lie of the Year".

5. Obama - a secret Muslim. A record of unambiguous support for Israel.

6. Palin - not the mother of her 1-year-old son, Trig. No one else has picked up the theory publicly.

At this point you just have to catch your breath. David Graham is going the whole nine yards and leaves no stone unturned.

7. ACORN... a liberal conspiracy to steal elections. The James O'Keefe videos... nor anything else proves a vast left-wing conspiracy.

8. FEMA = detention camps. Too silly to discuss.

9. CAIR - trying to infiltrate Capitol Hill, spread jihad. There's no proof... to encourage international jihad.

10. Obama - conscript Americans into a civilian defense corps. ... a speech Obama made... for the importance of... Peace Corps... far cry from an American Gestapo.

11. Time magazine wants to restrict the Internet to licensed users. ... licensing to combat anonymity... is quite the opposite of censorship.

12. 9/11 - an inside job. Not even the staunchest mainstream George W. Bush bashers believe this one.

13. The Omnibus One-World Government, Unified Currency, Dollar-Abolishing, Free Trade-Advocating Theory of Everything. Eh, sounds plausible to us.

There is more Mr. Graham wrote on each point, including "proponents" and the "kernel of truth." His list of proponents of any given myth reads like a Liberal's version of murder's row - attorney Orly Taitz, WorldNetDaily and editor Joseph Farah, Senate candidate Alan Keyes, rogue Canadian climate scientist Tim Ball, journalist and British aristocrat Lord Christopher Monckton, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Reagan administration policy analyst Barbara Honegger, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), and on and on and...  you get the point.

Howev'ah! Not being content, or sure, that he slew all the dragons David Graham gets all Conan the Barbarian with it and starts swinging his sword wildly - assorted tea partiers, angry town-hall-meeting attendees, the blogosphere, and the Internet. The Internet? Blame Al Gore. Anyone else? David gets really inclusive by throwing Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi into the fray as well!

A bizarre observation: Mr. Graham does not list Gee Dubya! Otherwise, about the only other conspiracy theorist missed was Iranian Thugocrat Mahmoud "There was no Holocaust" Ahmadinejad.

With cover-all point #13 concluding the list I can't really imagine what other conspiracies would remain unaddressed. If Mr. Graham was describing a litany of short-wave radio whacko freaks who were mixing in Atlantis and alien visitations and incubators I might understand the labeling of "conspiracy theorists" but... the people he's branding know how to brush their teeth, hold jobs, play nice with others, believe in personal responsibility, and generally comport themselves well in most settings - save for Muammar.

If I didn't know any better I'd swear that Newsweek had David Graham write this who had Obama write it who had Ayers write it who had Alinsky write it. Now if I believed that - I'd be on the list. No thanks.

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