You've probably heard of Greg Abbott. Down here in Texas, he's the Attorney General and the Republican candidate for Governor in 2014.
Apparently Greg is a little concerned about his right flank, or he thinks that Wendy Davis has no hope of winning a general election against him, or he sincerely believes this shit. I'm going with number three, because at a certain point you just have to admit that a person is crazy. Abbott once employed Ted Cruz as his Solicitor General, after all.
This is what happens when Democrats haven't won a statewide office in 20 years, and often have barely put up a fight. Republicans in the state just let their freak flag fly:
Abbott, speaking at the Texas Tribune festival, said Minnesota Senator Al Franken won his seat, which was decided by a 312-vote margin, because of voter fraud and that his subsequent vote on the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, wouldn’t have been cast.
“Without voter fraud, Obamacare would not exist,” Abbott said.
That's right. See, Greg Abbott is basing his allegations that Al Franken was only elected because of voter fraud on exactly zero evidence, other than former Sen. Norm Coleman crying voter fraud, because of course Democrats never win elections unless they commit voter fraud.
“We’ve had farm (sic) more instances of voter fraud than instances of people not being able to vote because of the voter ID law,” he said.
Sure, Greg. For one thing, if people don't have voter ID, they've probably heard by now that you intend to prevent them from voting if they don't, so they don't even bother to show up. But since they didn't even bother trying to vote, that doesn't count.
In any case, Abbott apparently doesn't feel the need to bring up specific instances of voter fraud, probably because anybody who believes the "voter fraud" garbage he's spewing sincerely believes that "voter fraud" is defined as "minorities casting a ballot."
But if you think all this is a little tinfoil-hattish, Greg can do you one better:
Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running for Texas governor, reiterated on Tuesday that the state would “lead the charge” in bringing legal action against the federal government if the U.S. ratified the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty.
...
“By signing this treaty, the Obama administration has attempted to subject Americans' right to bear arms to the oversight of the United Nations,” Abbott said in a statement. “...This treaty contradicts the underpinning philosophy of our country and establishes the precedent that the UN has some level of authority to govern our lives."
Claims of voter fraud may be insane, but at this point they're essentially standard fare in the modern GOP. Stoking fears of the UN taking away your guns? Oh, that's straight tinfoil-hat shit right there. Even
Ted Freaking Cruz hasn't gone there (yet; give him a week, he's been far too busy reading Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor.)
The good news for Abbott is that right now, only political junkies are paying much attention to his insanity. But let me reiterate: this man wants to be Governor of the second-largest state in the country.
And this is what he believes.