Only the GOP has cranks and conspiracy theorists, according to absurd article

November 8, 2022

By Tim Worstall

How far do you have to look in American politics for cranks and conspiracy theorists? According to the Daily Dot, these only exist in the Republican Party. Which, given that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders actually all got elected for the Democrats is more than a little biased. Sanders seemed at one point to think that America having 21 types of deodorant was the reason children go hungry – some conspirazoid, huh?

But this is what the Daily Dot is doing. They have a series of posts leading up to election day detailing the “congressional cranks” and “conspiracy theorists” running in these midterms. The really remarkable thing is that all of these – bar one independent – are in the Republican Party. Which, given who actually gets elected for the Ds, cannot possibly be true. That the only cranks are on one side of the ideological divide.

Unless, of course, you are being very biased in your definition of who is a crank, who is a conspiracy theorist. Which of course is what the Daily Dot is doing here. Those who they agree with are people with interesting if controversial ideas, those they don’t agree with are cranks.

To give just a flavor here:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is as warm and fuzzy as a broken bottle. He yammers about freedom a lot, even as he arrests people for voting

Well, no. We can agree that DeSantis isn’t everyone’s favorite flavor – some even vote against him! – but he’s not arrested anyone for anything. He’s the Governor – Governors have no more power of arrest than the average citizen does. Floridians voted in a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons whose sentences are exhausted (ie, served, done and gone) in 2018, then in 2019, the legislature amended that to be a little more restrictive. It’s that second that DeSantis, as Governor, signed. Signed note, not written or voted upon. That’s not how legislation works. Further, under the law, the Governor doesn’t decide who gets arrested – that’s the police. Nor who gets prosecuted – that’s prosecutors. You know, this separation of powers thing in the Constitution?

So, in Florida some people who should not, under the law, vote get arrested for having voted. This is put by the Daily Dot as DeSantis arresting people for voting?

The Daily Dot ranks at No. 64 in the listing of U.S. news and media outlets. It gains some 24.4 million visits a month from this position. Just over 50% of the readership is in the 18 to 34 age group. The very people who can vote but might not, as yet, grasp these manipulative tactics.

The Dot would have us believe that the only kooks in politics are on the Republican side. Those of us of an age to note things properly know this cannot be true given who does gain office as a D. But that’s still the claim the Dot is making and it’s clearly a gross political bias.

Seriously, Bernie Sanders took his honeymoon in the Soviet Union. And it’s only Republicans who are cranks?

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