If you're a political junkie, there's been no better thrill ride than tracking the rise and fall of to-the-right-of-the-Tea Party Texas gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina. The protegee of sometimes out-there libertarian-GOP 2008 presidential candidate and Texas congressman Ron Paul stunned politics watchers when a poll showed her closing in on a sitting U.S. senator, Kay Bailey Hutchinson as the March 2 Republican primary neared -- a remarkable development that raised the possibility of a run-off with Gov. Rick Perry in an anything-can-happen year of anti-incumbent fervor.
But then Medina surely got knocked down a peg, if not several pegs, by an unlikely source: Glenn Beck, the non-titular head of the anti-Obama backlash. Last week, Beck interviewed Medina on his radio show and stunned her with a question -- did she think the U.S. government was involved in 9/11 -- which led to an equally stunning answer: "I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard." Medina's efforts to backpedal from that comment have not only been not very successful but linked her back to another mildly-popular-but-debunked idea, the "birther" theory that Obama is not a citizen.
Now, here's something new that may not help Medina either. Attytood has learned that the Texan is slated to appear at a Sunday San Antonio rally (confirmed on her schedule here) with the founder of the Oath Keepers, a new and highly controversial group of mostly former military and police officers that's attracted negative scrutiny from the likes of the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Law Poverty Center for its notion that law-enforcement officers should disobey any orders deemed unconstitutional.
The Oath Keepers were founded shortly after Obama's inauguration by another Ron Paul acolyte, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law grad named Stewart Rhodes. Its cornerstone is a list of 10 orders that members will not obey. The paranoia-infected list says an Oath Keeper will not "to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps" or "force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext." Another not-to-obey order on the list, involving state sovereignty, would surely appeal to Medina, who believes in the theory -- popular in the South in the era of segregation -- of "nullification," which means that states can elect not to follow laws handed down in Washington.
On Sunday, the Oath Keepers' Rhodes and gubernatorial hopeful Medina are slated to speak together at a San Antonio barbecue organized by an effort called Take Back Texas. A third speaker at that rally is slated to be a former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, also an activist with the Oath Keepers, who believes that local sheriffs are the ultimate law authority and who gained notoriety in the 1990s when he refused to enforce the federal Brady Bill gun law. "The greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our federal government," Mack writes on his website. Unlike Rhodes, appearing with Mack is nothing new for Debra Medina, who made several joint appearances with Mack in a Take Back Texas tour in December.
Medina's appearance with Rhodes and Mack on Sunday could cast a new spotlight on her indulgence of conspiracy theories -- but it could have been far, far worse for the Statehouse wannabe. Initially, Medina was also reported by Take Back Texas as a speaker at an earlier event Sunday in Austin that was to include a radio host named Jack Blood, whose Web site enthusiastically supports the alternative theories of 9/11 that got Medina into trouble on the Beck program. But the Austin rally has now been canceled.
This from an attendee at the nutroots shindig? Both sides have wackadoos. 38% more weirdos on the left than there are on the right.— Mr. Smith
A Tea Party 9/11 Truther? Watch the right wingers' heads explode trying to wrap their minds around it.
So, where did you get that number, Smith? Isn't that the percentage of WMDs that Hussein developed for 9/11. Oh wait. That's nuts. Ok, maybe it's the number of people who don't want health care reform. Oh wait. That's nuts, too. Don't throw stones with the way your party is destroying lives on the grounds of a conservative platform.— HandNik- 1st of all, this lady is a kook. 2nd, I would like to hear handnik elaborate on his "destroying lives" comment. That's a pretty serious charge. I think it requires some backing up.— pjsz1261
- "Don't throw stones with the way your party is destroying lives on the grounds of a conservative platform." You're giving them too much credit. "Just say no" doesn't exactly qualify as a platform.
- Oh and the Republicans as the party of "no" talking point is getting tired. The only people buying it are the same ones selling it. Sometimes "no" is the right answer and most independent minded Americans also say "no" to Reid/Pelosi's vision of healthcare reform. They also say no to a deficit that is literally teetering on the verge of being impossible to ever pay back. And they are saying no to big government. The Republicans have plenty of problems, but on the whole it seems this is still a center right country and Obama Reid and Pelosi are veering too far left. Remember, independents elected Obama and they are fleeing in droves now that they see the direction this administration is headed...."party of no!" "destroying lives!" "where are the WMDs?" "racists!" shout these often enough and they just become background noise. Come back to the middle gang.— pjsz1261
- I suggest you stop allowing the media to spin Medina's words. Listen to the entire Beck interview. And also keep in mind Sarah Palin said much more than Medina ever did, yet no one cares. Interesting. I guess the transparency, integrity, and honesty that Medina will bring to state government has the status quo panicked. ;-) http://www.dailypaul.com/node/125775 http://www.infowars.com/neo-con-hierarchy-launches-dirty-tricks-campaign-against-real-constitutionalists/ And just for fun, two words for you "Operation Northwoods".— HolisticMomma
- From what I've read about the Oath Keepers (on their website) they are law enforcement officers who have pledged to obey the Constitution and not allow themselves to be turned into extensions of any kind of dictatorial and unconstitutional leaders. To put it in a historical (not hysterical) context, these guys won't follow the orders of tyrants.— Mark Glaeser
Comment removed.- Calling anyone who questions the government a "conspiracy kook" in the media is a sure guarantee to torpedo their credibility.The same government arrest and convicts people everyday,on the charge of conspiracy.How come calling them kooks when they charge you don't work?— oakster
- ""Just say no" doesn't exactly qualify as a platform." Neither does spending other peoples money.— RG
- Mark, don't you realize that the notion that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" only applies to the left? Imagine if the Oath Keepers were military personnel who refused to fight the Iraq war? Will and the lefites would be hailing them as heroes.— RG
- These people are lunatics created by the republican party, I'm lovin it. I hope Obama refuses the nomination. Palin gets elected president. She has a Texan as a running mate and we all sit back and the watch the three stooges’ movie. I think that kind of disaster is the only way Americans are going to learn anything. It’s getting embarrassing to be an American. lmao.— Ron
- LOL! RG has been reduced to defending the Oath Keepers. This gets more hilarious by the day.— Talking point sleuth
- And TPS is reduced to attacking anyone who dares question his beloved government. Mainly because there's a Dem in office, but thats just coincidental, right?— RG
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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