Posts tagged Bill Clinton
Judge Napolitano’s Major Fail
Fox news commentator Judge Napolitano has recently committed political suicide by publicly associating himself with ridiculous 9/11 conspiracy theories. He said in an interview that he questions what has come to be established as the obvious truth and Common Sense of the matter.
“I think 20 years from now, people will look at 9/11 the way they look at the assassination of JFK today,” he added, in an interview with radio host Alex Jones. “It couldn’t possibly have been done the way the government told us.”
I was surprised to hear that Fox, which typically holds a center-right tendency, will not be taking any action in response to these surprising comments. I was personally shocked to hear these anti-Common Sense remarks coming from a man who has at times acted like a Common Sense warrior in the past. I even own one of his books. He has such a down-to-earth and vast knowledge of history, our Constitution and the way that the law should properly be carried out based on the principles the country was founded on. He may not have directly stated that he believed 9/11 was an inside job but this is still too much of a step over the edge. When he hints at lending undeserved credibility to crackpot conspiracy junk, he not only diminishes his own credibility but also the credibility of the other ideas he promotes as an individual. The Common Sense warrior becomes a Common Sense liability and stands counterproductive to the spirit of what he champions. I used to admire him a lot and now I need to be ashamed of that.
It is a shame that the Tea Party and the Campaign for Liberty find themselves infiltrated with conspiracy theorists and other fringe elements. The traditionalist position stands against the tyranny of the status quo and that makes the position of liberty seem like that of an outsider sometimes. This creates temptation to ally with others who feel like outsiders to build a stronger force. 9/11 Truthers are treated as fringe outsiders by the elite – and rightfully so, unlike the Tea Party movement. However, they also have an anti-big government, anti-establishment streak to their rhetoric which deludes some into believing that the Truthers and the Tea Party should be allies. All too many Tea Partiers carelessly accept them into their ranks and weaken the viability of their own positions. It reinforces the fringe image of their platform propogated by elitists, propaganda artists and Big Media. People like Judge Napolitano cripple themselves through such pandering.
I think the former President is giving these people no more or less credibility than they deserve. It is a very unusual day that I give more props to Bill Clinton on an issue than I do to Ron Paul. I can’t criticize his approach to this – it’s perfect. He listened to them say their junk and he gave the appropriate response. Blunt and plain Common Sense at its finest! In the second and third videos you can even see near the end some burly security guards removing the hysterical hecklers from their presence. Classic! Oh, and don’t forget how Clinton said “how dare you” in the third video. I think that line is good for this issue in more than one way. In failing to make a statement like Ron Paul or Bill Clinton to these arguments, Judge Napolitano has diminished the integrity of the messages he claims to back. Judge Napolitano, how dare you!
Napolitano may just have to go down the path of Debra Medina after his comments the other day. Debra Medina was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of Texas early this year who supported the Tea Party platform of liberty and showed a lot of promise – until that fateful day she went on the Glenn Beck show. Glenn Beck is of course a spokesman for many in the Tea Party movement, even if he gets a big head and tries to run the show sometimes. Beck had been considering endorsing her beforehand but he just had to ask her about 9/11 because there were some chilling rumors that she thought that it was possibly an inside job. Instead of giving the direct, obvious answer, she dodged the question, jumped around and declined to take a strong sense. Needless to say, in her interview for Glenn Beck’s seal of approval, she failed. Her bid for governor, which was gathering steam in the final weeks leading up to the primary, took a dive because she failed to distance herself enough from the radical fringes. She got what she asked for and was steamrolled in the primary and driven out of the picture by candidates who might not have had as much Common Sense as her on other issues, but at least had the Common Sense NOT to make a fatal mistake that cost her entire political career. Now she had her chance and if anyone is to take her place they must learn from her mistake. I suspect there will be repercussions for Judge Napolitano as well.
The bottom line is that 9/11 was not an inside job. It was not perpetrated by the government in any way. Period. Anyone who has questions or doubts on the subject should watch this video. No one with any Common Sense should associate themselves with fringe conspiracy theories. Fox News President Roger Ailes should take appropriate action against Judge Napolitano if he wants to save his network’s reputation. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC said it right: “Ailes has to fire Napolitano, and if he doesn’t Beck, Hannity and O’Reilly need to condemn Ailes and Fox and call them unAmerican for not firing him. Go ahead, put your outrage where your money is.” Now the difference between when Olbermann reads that quote and I do is that Olbermann is trying to sarcastically smear them while I’m trying to give them helpful advice. Standing true to principles in politics sometimes means shedding off some dead leaves and unfortunately our dear Napolitano has outlasted his usefulness if he promotes fringe conspiracy theories. If nothing else then Beck certainly can’t let him substitute host on HIS show anymore. It’s for the good of the movement – and that is bigger than any one man.