The wingnuts seem to be getting awfully desperate to derail John Brennan. How much? Two major right-wing muckety-mucks are promoting the smear that Brennan secretly converted to Islam, and therefore we risk having a radical Muslim running the CIA.
Some background--earlier this week former FBI agent John Guandolo went on the radio show of anti-Islamist Tom Trento and claimed Brennan secretly converted to Islam back in the 1990s. Guandolo, for those who don't know, has long claimed he was forced out of the FBI in 2008 after objecting to increasing Muslim Brotherhood influence in the bureau. In reality, however, he resigned rather than face almost certain termination for banging a key witness in former congressman "Dollar Bill" Jefferson's corruption trial. Despite this, Guandolo has made a name for himself as an "expert" on radical Islam. So it didn't take long for his claim to get legs on the wingnut intertubes.
It started on Tuesday, when two of American Family Radio's top hosts, Sandy Rios and Bryan Fischer--bought into Guandolo's claim without so much as batting an eyelash. That morning, Rios brought on former congressman Fred Grandy to discuss the Brennan nomination.
Grandy: The influence of Islam as a religion among top intelligence authorities in this country is not limited to John Brennan. Whether or not that influenced his political determinations probably has more to do not so much with Islam but to what degree has been cooped by Saudi authorities. It seems to me that you can practice Islam but still be an American citizen and loyal to the Constitution if you’re an officer in the CIA, but what we don’t know whether or not that conversion might have been instigated by Saudi authorities who then used it to perhaps remold his thinking vis-à-vis the Saudis, the Qataris and others who are allies of the United States but the principal funders and underwriters of terrorism around the world.
Rios: Well I think the proof is in the pudding. When he redefines jihad to mean something that it doesn’t mean, to water it down; when he rewrites the training manuals for our law enforcement, for those that would protect the United States; it’s all very, very frightening and suspicious to me. And wasn’t it John Brennan who calls Jerusalem, ‘Quds’?
Later that day, Fischer picked up the story on
Focal Point.
How in the world can this guy [Obama] be up nine points in national defense? He wants a guy to be the director of the CIA who may be a Muslim covert. There’s a highly-placed source, I can’t verify this because it’s only come from one source but John Brennan who President Obama wants to be his CIA director, there’s a well-placed source that says everybody understands in the intelligence community that he converted to Islam when he was on an overseas assignment. He’s allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate his administration.
Even by AFR's admittedly low standards, this is embarrassing. You'd think that a guy like Guandolo would be the last person you'd want to rely on as a source. But no--they just ate it up without questioning it.
Yesterday, Glenn Beck got into the act, claiming that it's more than reasonable to ask whether Brennan is a Muslim. He wrung his hands that the media isn't willing to ask "reasonable" questions anymore. Hmmm--could it be because the media actually has some standards? Apparently Beck's own team at The Blaze didn't get the memo, because they put up a piece that is somewhat more skeptical of Guandolo's claims.
So let's get this straight. A guy who has been proven to be a baldfaced liar makes a disgusting smear without any proof whatsoever--and yet, the wingnut talking heads are running with it. I thought they at least had some dignity.