Debra Medina and the 9/11 Truther Movement

This will not be a long post. But this story upset me last night, and it is upsetting me again today. For those of you who may not know, Debra Medina is the Libertarianesque Republican running against Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the Republican primary for Governor of Texas. Yesterday, Medina was asked by Glenn Beck whether or not she thought there was anything to the notion that the United States Government, particularly the Bush administration, had any knowledge of, or were in any way complicit in the attacks. Ms. Medina's answer was as follows: "I think some very good questions have been made in that regard...some good questions have been raised that haven't been answered."

For this reason, Glenn Beck, Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, their advisers, and every journalist I've read commenting on the story, have ridiculed Debra Medina. This is not shocking in any way. I have a couple of friends who are "truthers" and any time I've seen them try to describe their views and show evidence of these views, they are laughed to scorn and labeled as "conspiracy theorists." It strikes me as so odd that so many people are unwilling to seek the truth.

For my own part, I am not a Truther. I think it is an illogical leap to blame the Bush administration because some questions are unanswered. I'm dumbfounded though, because that is exactly the opinion that Debra Medina espoused. She never once said she believed the U.S. governemnt was complicit. She explicity claimed in the interview that neither she, nor her advisers, were radicals. Medina simply said, "there are unanswered questions." Anyone who has done a cursory reading of the 9/11 commission report should know there are unanswered questions. For instance, why is it that WTC building 7 which collapsed on the same day,is not included? These and questions like it do not implicate anyone in the U.S. governemnt directly, but it absolutely is grounds for asking questions about the official story.

Debra Medina will likely lose her primary-and frankly, she may not have been the right person for the job period. But if this is what costs her the election, it is an embarassment to our society. If we cannot ask questions or are ridiculed for asking them, can we even say that we believe in free speech? I'm willing to admit that I have spent a lot of time in Libertarian circles and am more sympathetic to the "Truther" movement than most non-truthers. But considering the Republican establishment has been asking questions about whether President Obama was born in the United States, I have a hard time understanding how they could say someone is asking stupid questions...particularly when the unanswered questions in the case of 9/11 are much more important.