Republican presidential candidates should have known they would be asked about Jade Helm 15, the military exercise in several southwestern states that has the nutty wing of the Republican Party, affectionately known these days as "the Republican Party", thinking the federal government is sneakily establishing martial law, complete with locking up all the "patriots" and taking away everyone's guns. The tin foil hatters were validated in their fear by new Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who showed that former Gov. Rick Perry was the smart one (please don't tell me if Perry weighed in equally stupidly)(actually, yes, that would be fun, do tell me).
So given a chance to be the Texas Republican who retains a connection to reality, Sen. Ted Cruz chose instead to remember the base he's playing to:
Cruz was more plugged in. "I have a great deal of faith and confidence in Governor Abbott," said the senator. "He is a long-time friend and mentor of mine. You know, I understand a lot of the concerns raised by a lot of citizens about Jade Helm. It's a question I'm getting a lot. And I think part of the reason is we have seen, for six years, a federal government disrespecting the liberty of the citizens. That produces fear, when you see a government that is attacking our free speech rights, or Second Amendment rights, or religious liberty rights. That produces distrust."
You know what else produces distrust? Demagogic politicians telling reality-detached people their paranoid fantasies are true. Worth a read, Paul Krugman wonders what Democratic politician would give credence to something so crazy, and notices intelligent conservatives indulging paranoia in other areas:
Paranoia Strikes Derp.
UPDATE: Well, turns out Perry went off in his own direction. He disagreed with his successor, but not because his successor is giving credence to paranoid delusion. No, Perry just thinks it's wrong to question the military. "Itâs OK to question your government. I do it on a regular basis. But the military is something else. Our military is quite trustworthy. The civilian leadership, you can always question that, but not the men and women in uniform."
Does Perry not get that the military is part of the government, and supposedly as open to questioning as any other part of the government? Can't there be a happy medium between believing the armed forces are out to impose martial law under guise of training, and saying you can't question them at all?
Artist's conception. Not actually Ben Carson
I'm not aware freshly officially declared candidate Ben Carson has jumped on that crazy train,
but he has his own crazy railroad. Carson is running for president on the basis of being popular on the conservative speaking circuit, which popularity he gained by going on a wingnutty rant at a National Prayer Breakfast with President Obama in attendance. Speaking of which, why do presidents go to this thing when they aren't themselves on the theocratically ossified right? Carson fit right in; Obama, not so much. Salon writer Jim Newell accumulated a bunch of examples of Carson being himself, from saying Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery and worse than 911, to saying the solution to peace between Israel and Palestine is to move Palestine to Egypt, and prisons produce homosexuals.
If you want your sleep disturbed tonight, just ponder on the fact Carson used to be allowed to work on brains.
cross-posted at MN Progressive Project