Well, it didn't take long after Lindsey Graham's snit fit this morning for the conspiracy theorists on the right to start popping up with new explanations why he's threatening to hold up Chuck Hagel and John Brennan's confirmations (something I personally think is nothing but hot air and empty threats from the Senate #1 Closet Case). And this one, let me tell you, is a doozy. As Josh Marshall explains:
From ground zero of Obama era conspiracy theories comes the conspiracy theory to top them all: that CIA nominee John Brennan is himself a Muslim.
What.
What. What.
Okay, a little explanation. This claim originated with ex-FBI agent John Guandolo, who left the FBI in disgrace afterbedding a witness in Rep. William Jefferson's corruption case. Subsequently he's become a major anti-Islamist, in no small part thanks to the support of uber-neocon Frank Gaffney, who claimed he was actually fired for opposing Sharia law. And yesterday he went on the radio show of anti-Islamist Tom Trento and made the claim about Brennan. It promptly jumped to WND.com, which laid out his whole claim:
"Mr. Brennan did convert to Islam when he served in an official capacity on the behalf of the United States in Saudi Arabia," Guandolo told interviewer and radio host Tom Trento.
"That fact alone is not what is most disturbing," Guandolo continued. "His conversion to Islam was the culmination of a counterintelligence operation against him to recruit him. The fact that foreign intelligence service operatives recruited Mr. Brennan when he was in a very sensitive and senior U.S. government position in a foreign country means that he either a traitor...[or] he has the inability to discern and understand how to walk in those kind of environments, which makes him completely unfit to be the director of Central Intelligence."
And more:
"Are you kidding me?" Trento balked at Guandolo's allegations. "The head of the CIA is a Muslim? For real?...Are you sure?"
"Yes I am," Guandolo asserted. "The facts of the matter are confirmed by U.S. government officials who were also in Saudi Arabia at the time that John Brennan was serving there and having direct knowledge. These are men who work in very trusted positions, they were direct witnesses to his growing relationship with the individuals who worked for the Saudi government and others and they witnessed his conversion to Islam."
What. The.
Hell.
I think Josh Marshall put it best:
And yes, it also occured to me that someone may have been watching too many episodes of Homeland.
With this lunacy, it's no wonder. This makes the plot of
The Manchurian Candidate look tame. I mean,
John Brennan? This guy? He's a Muslim sleeper agent? Even Michelle Bachmann wouldn't go this far in her anti-Islamist craziness.
There are really no words for this type of lunacy. None. Just when you think the loonies on the right can't sink further into madness, they keep on surprising you.