The latest ridiculous rumor making its way around the right wing media and blogosphere — and even Congress — is that the Obama administration is negotiating with Egypt to release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind imam responsible for the first bombing at the World Trade Center in 1993.
ThinkProgress notes that the whole thing started on Glenn Beck’s website, with an anonymous source saying that the release of the sheikh was being “actively considered.” Then it spread to Erick Erickson’s Red State blog. The administration has issued multiple denials of the story, calling it “utter garbage,” but that didn’t stop a group of Republicans in the House from writing a letter to the DOJ saying they were “concerned” about the “reports.”
Are these people serious? There’s no way in hell the Obama administration is going to release Rahman. It would cause them enormous problems with absolutely nothing to gain from it. Nor, by the way, would the Egyptian government want us to release him. He’d pose as much of a threat to them as he does to the United States. This is another right wing delusion that, in their fevered minds, magically becomes true because it fits their preconceived notions of Obama as a terror-loving Muslim atheist commie pinko fascist (and probably gay too).
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Jordan Genso
September 24, 2012 at 1:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And when he doesn’t get released, the Tea Party Republicans can take credit from preventing the Obama Administration from getting away with their double-secret plan.
Zinc Avenger (Sarcasm Tags 3.0 Compliant)
September 24, 2012 at 1:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I dunno… It’s missing that spark of true wingnuttiness like “ZOMG n0BAMA IS GUNNA MAKE SHAKE OMMAR ABDUL RAMEN VICE PREZ. THEN ABDICATE MAKIN SHAKE OMMAR PREZ”
Dr X
September 24, 2012 at 1:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t know why they would even worry about this since they’re all going to be rounded up and put in liberal re-education camps. Shouldn’t that be the most urgent concern?
Didaktylos
September 24, 2012 at 2:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’d be in favour of releasing him at say 50000 feet mid-Atlantic …
zippythepinhead
September 24, 2012 at 2:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Didaktylos @ 4 says: “I’d be in favour of releasing him at say 50000 feet mid-Atlantic …”
… too bad you can’t the windows on airplanes.
naturalcynic
September 24, 2012 at 2:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s only half of the secret plan. The Sheikh is being exchanged for the first contingent of about 500k of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that are going to work on staffing the FEMA re-education camps.
lofgren
September 24, 2012 at 2:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You know he would just pull a Bane and then return to disenfranchise wealthy executive superheroes.
yoav
September 24, 2012 at 2:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have an idea for a new game, come up with the most insane stories, send them as “anonymous tips” to Glen Beck and lets see how many we can get published before they catch on.
gshelley
September 24, 2012 at 3:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If these people weren’t so delusional and blind to reality, I’d say the liberal press have to take some of the blame for this for their complicity in the way Obama has actually handled the “war on terror” and that if they’d been more vocal about the administration abuses, no one would seriously think they would want to release someone like this.
But they are delusional, so it matters not
Michael Heath
September 24, 2012 at 3:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is doubly ironic given the numerous terrorists attacks since 9/11 which involved terrorists President Bush’s administration once held but then released, including Gitmo detainees. I believe one of those released is suspected in the recent Libya attack.
matty1
September 24, 2012 at 3:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When you say ‘new’ do you actually mean you’ve been playing for several years, cause that would make a kind of sense. Unfortunately the answer to ‘how many we can get published before they catch on’ appears to be aleph null.
sailor1031
September 24, 2012 at 3:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“This is another right wing delusion that, in their fevered minds, magically becomes true…”
Nah! This is just deliberate, cynical pre-election rubbishing of Obama. Just GOP SOP.
Ben P
September 24, 2012 at 4:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is what I’ll call the “human centipide” of the right wing news cycle. Here’s how it goes.
Step 1 – Some crazy member of the Conservative internet community (RedState, Free Republic etc) cites unrelated evidence and makes crazy allegation. “Obama is planning to release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman!”
Step 2 – Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or equivalent picks it up on his show and presents it as “anonymous sources,” and/or “wouldn’t it be crazy if this happened!” and/or “I’m just asking questions.”
These first two steps are interchangable and non-exclusive.
Step 3 – From Step 1or2 – Fox News political commentators run the story with the tagline “it’s been reported that….Obama is planning to Release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman,” they criticize the move and ask why Obama hasn’t responded to these allegations.
Step 4 – Fox News “serious news” correspondents ask the administration if they’re planning to release the Sheikh, they say no.” Then run with the story “Obama denies he’s planning to release convicted terrorist.”
Step 5 – Fox news “opinion” people then pontificate on why Obama would ever consider this in the first place, and bring on someone like Andrew McCarthy (see the link in Ed’s post) to say that “Obama’s planning to release him anyway, we can’t trust Obama”
Step 6 – Conservative internet community runs with speculation as to why Obama would release terrorists, go to step 1.
Raging Bee
September 24, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
yoav: they’d NEVER “catch on,” because they don’t give a shit about truth.
busterggi
September 24, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If only they knew the real plan.
All of Rahman’s organs are going to be transplanted into up to seventy-two virgin donors who will then fly to Iran where Rahman’s organs will be removed and he will be reassembled.
richardelguru
September 24, 2012 at 5:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
By coincidence I just saw this in the BBC site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19706404.
It must be Opposites Day.
bmiller
September 24, 2012 at 5:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
busterggi: Wrong wrong wrong! He will not be reassembled from the 72 virgin parts. He will be CLONED. There will be 72 new Sheikhs, all with secret long-form Hawaiian Birth Certificates, who will be sent as sleeper agents back to the United States!
Ben P
September 24, 2012 at 5:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
nononononono…
What you do is go to RedState, create a pseudonym and post as a sort of concern troll.
Say that you’re a “lifelong democrat” “who voted for carter and Clinton” and you’ve “got friends” who are “highly placed” inside the administration and that they can’t go public with this story because Obama’s thugs would go after them, but they’re “seriously concerned” about X or Y that the administration is doing. Throw in some tidbits about “silencing dissent” and fearing that these actions are unconstitutional.
Modusoperandi
September 24, 2012 at 10:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Michael Heath “This is doubly ironic given the numerous terrorists attacks since 9/11 which involved terrorists President Bush’s administration once held but then released, including Gitmo detainees. I believe one of those released is suspected in the recent Libya attack.”
That’s impossible because He Kept Us Safe®. And also the George W. Bush administration never existed.*
* Time goes: Jesus, Washington, Reagan, FDR, LBJ, Carter, Clinton, Obama. Jesus gets it again when He gets back. Hopefully soon, as only He has the power to undo all the damage all the five presidents since Reagan have done.
fifthdentist
September 24, 2012 at 11:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ BenP, you forgot a step, the one where the the Looney Tunes brigade of Palin, Limbaugh et al and Fox “news” ask: “Why isn’t the lamestream media reporting on this important story? Obviously they’re in the tank for Obama.” At which point the lamestream media keeps the story going a few more days, all the while denying its validity but, hey, people are talking about it so we gotta talk about it. We’re just asking questions.
lorn
September 24, 2012 at 11:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Figures … Obama will want to get the guy out of detention far enough ahead of Obama’s swearing in so the sheik can get a nice suit to wear when Obama signs the terms of surrender to the caliphate and declares the US a Muslim nation.
Releasing the guy … just releasing him … the claim is both weak and uninspired. Clearly this shows a lack of courage and knowledge of propaganda dynamics.
If you are going to manufacture a lie go for a really big lie. Half-efforts won’t give you the outrage necessary for people to overlook the lack of sense and evidence. You want people to overdose on disgust and hate before their logic centers have time to activate.
Modusoperandi
September 25, 2012 at 2:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
lorn, Obama’s doing it so that ACORN will have one more illegal to vote for him.
tacotaco
September 25, 2012 at 6:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Assuming you meant to say you can’t open them, that’s not entirely true. Most airplanes do have
cockpitflight deck windows that can be opened. They open inward though, so to do so you have to depressurize the cabin.On the other hand, cabin doors open outward, and so they potentially can be opened under pressure. There have been deaths when pressurization systems have malfunctioned and pressurized the cabin while the plane is on the ground. When someone goes to open the door it flies open and hits them in the head. So if you’re ever the person to open the door on a private jet that’s been sitting for a while, make sure you stand to the side as you undo the latch.
sosw
September 25, 2012 at 7:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@tacotaco
Just to expand on your point, smaller planes often aren’t pressurised, and some have windows that open outward and can be opened in flight (e.g. for aerial photography).
jnorris
September 25, 2012 at 9:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is what passes as Republican mid-east policy.
=8)-DX
September 25, 2012 at 9:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Of course Obama is gay. Which is why his gay marriage to his lesbian wife Michelle is such a scandal!
Modusoperandi
September 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How gauche. Romney’s planes aren’t pressurized. He has people to breathe for him.