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EVEN THE PARANOID LUNATIC FRINGE HAS ENEMIES
"Every conspiracy theorist in America is now going to give credence to whatever ideas they have about government conspiracies." -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., "Late Edition," CNN, Sept. 12, on the recent revelations that the FBI has been lying for six years on the use of incendiary devices at Waco.
In home videos made by the Davidians during the 51-day siege, with a video camera provided by the FBI and excerpted in the documentary "Waco: Rules of Engagement," one of the women killed in the siege describes how men just came in and started shooting. She asks, "This is America?" Echoing her, another Davidian says, "I thought this was the country of freedom of speech, freedom of religion."
Not as long as the Left can call you a "conspiracy theorist" or "religious fanatic," it isn't.
Indeed, whatever reservations the Left might have about the federal government storming a private home and gassing and shooting the civilians within are quickly quelled by invocations of the various liberal talismans. Merely mention "conspiracy theorists," "lunatic fringe" or "cult leader," and the civil libertarian instinct is squelched. Invocations of the National Rifle Association are also inspiring epithets for the Left.
The documentary "Rules of Engagement" shows Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., during the 1995 congressional hearings on Waco, satisfying the elites: "This is the approach of what I call the lunatic fringe, (which) still clings to the notion that there was a gigantic government conspiracy that brought about this nightmare. It is difficult to see how any rational human being subscribes to such a notion, but obviously many do."
(But not a rational human being like Tom Lantos, who has, at other times, compared the House of Representatives to "Hitler's parliament" and "Stalin's parliament.")
Rep. Lantos continued -- rationally -- by blaming the siege and resulting carnage on "the apocalyptic vision of a criminally insane charismatic cult leader who was hell-bent on bringing about this infernal nightmare, in flames, and the extermination of the children, and the women, and the other innocents."
At the same hearings on Aug. 1, 1995, then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was more concerned about someone somewhere out there believing a "conspiracy theory" than the possibility that the federal government staged a military assault on American citizens. Straightaway, he announced that one criterion for judging the hearings a success was whether they avoided giving "new life to conspiracy theorists."
Rep. Schumer went on to demonstrate his mastery of grenades when he contemptuously sneered during the hearings that flashbang grenades are harmless. As Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., soon pointed out -- with the concurrence of the ATF agent testifying -- flashbang grenades can blow off a face or a limb. Indeed, flashbang grenades are classified as destructive devices under federal law.
Perhaps Schumer had been too busy practicing saying "conspiracy theorist" over and over again before the hearings to have time to brush up on his flashbang grenades.
But just in case "conspiracy theorist," was beginning to lose its sting through overuse, Schumer made sure to denounce the committee's final report with another liberal talisman -- the dreaded NRA. "What the Republican majority is doing, once again," he said inexplicably, "is kissing the ring" of the NRA.
Well, well. So now it turns out the conspiracy theorists and lunatic fringe were onto something. The FBI has, it now admits, been lying about the use of incendiary devices at the raid for six years now. Though it was a lie when the FBI claimed that no incendiary devices were fired into the compound, the FBI now says it is (BEGIN ITALS)not(END ITALS) lying when it maintains that these devices did not start the fire.
Maybe. But let it not go unremarked upon that one would have been closer to the truth six years ago listening to the "conspiracy theorists" ably identified by Lantos and Schumer than by listening to Lantos and Schumer themselves.
On the Davidians' homemade videos, one of the Davidians says: "'We the people' don't run the government anymore. They do. And they tell all the lies they want." She might have been able to explain further, but she died on April 19, 1993.
