Andrew Breitbart’s recent death at the age of 43 has allowed talk show radio host Michael Savage to resurrect a supernatural conspiracy used to slime the Clintons. Savage postulates that Breitbart had “secret tapes” which would “destroy Obama.” Therefore, they had him killed. Somehow. Savage believes the absence of evidence--if the tapes are never published--proves his theory. There are some logical holes in Mr. Savage's story. First, why would anyone bother? Fox has published slanders on a basically daily basis since its inception. Second, absence of evidence usually means no evidence. Third, if the Obama administration was abusing power, Breitbart would already have been criminally charged over the Sherrod incident. And Fourth, If God struck Breitbart down, then what implications are logically drawn?
Back in the Clinton years, the Right Wing advanced conspiracy theories that Mr. Clinton and his wife were having political adversaries killed. No explanation for how the Clinton’s actual enemies such as Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter or Ken Starr survived; no real motives; no proof of means; disbelief of things like hand written suicide notes.
Apparently, many Republicans believed the Clintons were supernatural beings with supernatural powers; the Clinton death list played into these superstitions.
Andrew Breitbart’s recent death at the age of 43 has allowed talk show radio host Michael Savage to resurrect this supernatural conspiracy meme. Savage postulates that Breitbart had “secret tapes” which would “destroy Obama.” Therefore, they had him killed. Somehow.
First, why would anyone bother?
Certainly, the “secret tape” story was just chumming the waters. Like his edited Sherrod videos, Breitbart was setting up some later intended set of propaganda to feed the ignorant and the already biased.
But let’s say its true there are such tapes. Anyone who believes the Obama Administration cares hasn’t ever watched Fox. On any day for the last ten years.
Second, the fact no “secret tapes” have surfaced likely means there were no tapes.
Savage builds his conspiracy theory on the opposite idea. If the secret tapes aren’t produced, Savage claims this lack of evidence proves the President, or some left wingers, had Breitbart killed.
Actually, the fact that something doesn’t exist is proof it doesn’t exist. Can one trust Breitbart’s claims there were “secret tapes”? After all, Breitbart bragged about being a sociopath and was caught fabricating evidence in the Sherrod incident. So were these tapes more like the purported Iraq WMD’s which GW Bush, Cheney and some of their top people claimed existed?
We know one fact. Breitbart was alive and had ample opportunity to publish whatever he had. The fact that Breitbart had not already produced the purported “secret tapes”—maybe say at the time he first claimed to have them-- is strong proof that there were no “secret tapes, ” proof that Breitbart fabricated the story from whole cloth.
There is an outside chance Mr. B was creating or selectively editing something. And they’ll publish it later. So what. Most likely, we simply have page 100 million in the “Republican good, Democrat bad” advertising campaign. Given Mr. B's past acts of fabrication, anything Breitbart publishes is correctly viewed with skepticism.
Third, Savage’s theory is not consistent with the Obama’s Administration behavior. No abuses. Just phony charges of abuses by biased and delusional.
If Obama was truly abusing his authority as President, then Mr. Breitbart and his organization would have been criminally charged for the dishonest attacks on Ms. Sherrod. Many left wing protestors have been prosecuted for less. And sometimes rightly so. However, Obama and the prosecutor’s office left Ms. Sherrod the daunting task of pursuing her damage claims against Mr. Breitbart in the courts as a private litigant.
If anything, Sherrod’s firing shows how much influence the Republicans have over our government, even with a democratic administration.
And last, Playing on the superstitious angle, Mr. Savage ignores all contrary evidence. Breitbart’s in-laws mention he had previous heart trouble and it looks like he died from that at a relatively young age. His family at least has raised no spector of foul play. And they are in a much better place to know than Mr. Savage.
If one’s going superstitious, I’d go another way: perhaps God was displeased with Breitbart’s deeds and actions. The Bible has several stories where God strikes down the wicked. So maybe that happened here. God struck Breitbart down. Makes as much sense as Savage’s theory. Republicans take heed! Stop opposing laws and policies enacting the Bible's express teachings!