Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
This is from last week but it's still hilarious. Rep. Debbie Riddle of Texas (what a shock) goes full-on stupid advancing Louis Gohmert's silly "terror babies" theory on CNN, then is shocked when Anderson Cooper actually acts like a journalist and demands evidence.
"When your folks called me in the preliminary, that was part of the conversation. They did not tell me that you were going to grill me for this specific information that I was not ready to give to you tonight. They did not tell me that, sir. "
She claims this comes from FBI agents, but the FBI has officially denied that there is any evidence supporting this claim at all. She tries to change the subject and he doesn't let her. Here's the video:
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You can forgive her for being surprised to encounter a journalist. After all, they have been widely supposed to be either extinct or, like Bigfoot, mythical. Something used to scare little Young Republicans, not actually lying in wait to leap out of a closet.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 9:43 AM
I want you to ask the questions I want you to ask so I can give you the answers I want to give.
Posted by: Ellie | August 20, 2010 9:50 AM
To be honest I was certain that CNN had been bought out by Twitter a couple of years ago so I'm rather surprised that they have journalists working there as well.
Posted by: dogmeat | August 20, 2010 9:50 AM
When you watch Gohmert and Riddle you get just an inkling that they're aware they sound like lunatics. Gohmert just digs in but Riddle gets confused. Ah, Texass, land of loons.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2010 9:52 AM
Shorter Riddle: This isn't actually happening, but it's theoretically possible. So we better kick out all the Mexicans.
Posted by: Brandon | August 20, 2010 9:53 AM
Sorry, left out the link. Gohmert's crazy on youtube for those with the stomach to listen to him.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2010 9:56 AM
I wonder if Ms. Riddle supports abortion in the the case of anchor babies
Posted by: History Punk | August 20, 2010 9:58 AM
Having worked with a number of FBI agents I maintain the theory that the supposed 'FBI agents' in question are just playing with them.
Posted by: tim | August 20, 2010 10:00 AM
I'm surprised she didn't mention Manbearpig.
Posted by: Ian Gould | August 20, 2010 10:00 AM
Interesting question, can also be broken down:
Does she support abortion for "non-terrorist" anchor babies?
Probably no, we can just send them back to their home country where they can die naturally.
On the other hand abortion for "terrorist" anchor babies would fall under the category of a preemptive strike, wouldn't it?
Posted by: dogmeat | August 20, 2010 10:01 AM
The FBI agent concerned wasn't called GORDON COLE!!! by any chance?
Posted by: Matty | August 20, 2010 10:17 AM
In this Gohmert video (the CNN interview with Anderson Cooper
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/anderson-cooper-and-louie-gohmert-have-at-it-on-terror-babies-conspiracy-video.php
When he first starts talking about his FBI informant, he says something along the lines of she approached me on a plane and told me about this (around 1:23 mark) then around the 6:54 mark, he says that he won't reveal the name of his source, he won't reveal his name. So which is it, Rep Gohmert- did a male or female former FBI agent tell you about the terror babies.
I apologize now for putting you all through this... I also apologize for my state that keeps electing these and the other kooks.
Posted by: Donna | August 20, 2010 10:24 AM
This was almost funny in its stupidity. I especially liked the 'the emperor has no clothes' bit that came out of nowhere. What the hell was that about?
Near the end, it almost seems she is trying to suppress laughter, as if even she is struck by the ridiculousness of what she is saying.
Posted by: Ashley Moore | August 20, 2010 10:25 AM
Maybe the Botox seeped from her upper lip into her "brain?"
Posted by: How | August 20, 2010 10:29 AM
One thing that lept out at me was her statement about "dirty bombs" killing "a million or more" people. Considering the common definition of a dirty bomb is conventional explosives with radioactive material strapped to it, that would have to be a really big bomb to kill as many as she said. Either she really has no idea what she is talking about, or she is intentionally trying to scare people (both equally likely, I think).
Posted by: BigJ | August 20, 2010 10:33 AM
I don't see any video:(
Posted by: rijkswaanvijand | August 20, 2010 10:33 AM
She doesn't help herself any by demonstrating before the world that she has no idea what the hell a dirty bomb is or what it does.
Posted by: Chuck C | August 20, 2010 10:42 AM
May I have a show of hands?
How many of us suspect that the whole "anchor babies" thing is a lead up to a serious assault on the Fourteenth, which just happens to have a slightly broader effect than denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants?
Once again: the leadership of the Right may act stupid [1], but let's not kid ourselves that they really are.
[1] A lot of "stupid" is only stupid if you assume that people want what you do or what they claim to want.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 10:45 AM
"What's your evidence?" "It's common knowledge!"
Rumor is Truth. Forget test scores; the ability of such idiots to get elected is the worst indictment of American education that I can even imagine.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 20, 2010 10:46 AM
I suspect that dirty bombs are just the tip of the iceberg of what Riddle does not know about.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2010 10:46 AM
Best part of the "interview" of Gohmert by Anderson Cooper-- Gohmert proceeds to completely lose his shit over being asked for actual evidence, and Cooper can't help but crack a grin at him.
Posted by: Gretchen | August 20, 2010 10:52 AM
Wow! An excellent example of incoherent argumentation, making assertions with no evidence to support them, utilizing fear-mongering statements as a way to evade tough questions, and finally, when all else fails, just make up stuff that is demonstrably incorrect.
The emperor has no clothes indeed. Unfortunately for her, rep Riddle was the one caught naked on this one.. Great job on Anderson Cooper's part.
Posted by: JM | August 20, 2010 11:14 AM
I don't know, I think the size of her flag pin indicates a valid and rational opinion on matters of border security.
Posted by: Josh | August 20, 2010 11:33 AM
Whenever I see flag pins mentioned as an indicator of nationalism (or some aspect thereof), I'm reminded of the graphic novel Pyongyang in which a person's nationalism was measured by the presence of the flag pin, its proper location, orientation, and quality. (In the graphic novel, a scene of four or five North Koreans are shown, one disappearing each time, each time with an explanation of why some aspect of how they were misusing the flag pin was grounds to ship that person off to a labor camp.)
Flag pins are perhaps the most shallow form of national pride. People should be measured not by the enameled metal stuck on their lapel (or improperly* off the lapel in Riddle's case), but by the (lack of) quality coming out of their mouths as well as the actions they (don't) take when in power. Of course, that's a lot more difficult to do than to stick an obscenely large flag pin in one's clothes before sitting in front of a camera.
* From the flag code (which many right-wingers claim to support and some say should be law), on how to display a flag pin (emphasis added):
Posted by: Umlud | August 20, 2010 11:52 AM
AC: "Have they given your office actual ... proof?"
DR: "That information we are still gathering."
If I were interviewing, I would have burst out laughing at that point.
Posted by: pough | August 20, 2010 12:00 PM
*sigh* Another reason to love Anderson Cooper.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | August 20, 2010 12:23 PM
Perhaps the journalist ought to give her a chance to double down; "Well, since you're not prepared to substantiate that claim in detail, no doubt you'll agree to appear again tomorrow night after you've better prepared to discuss it?"
Posted by: abb3w | August 20, 2010 12:45 PM
"Terror Babies" has got to be the stupidest theory these bozos have come up with yet. Do they even bother thinking these things through? Like, if you're a terrorist with limited resources, is it really a good investment to produce an incredibly expensive human being who will take 20 years to grow and may not end up believing the shit you believe? Just so that the child has US citizenship, which is mostly irrelevant to his ability to commit a terrorist act?
Also unexplained is why the people who are here to breed "terror babies" don't just commit acts of terrorism themselves. Heck, they're already here and prepared to spend many thousands of dollars on a baby, you'd think they'd go the more direct route.
Posted by: Steve Reuland | August 20, 2010 12:51 PM
As a former journalist, I understand why Rep. Riddle would not want to provide her sources, nor can I imagine that Anderson Cooper would want to disclose his sources as well.
Posted by: Rod Mitchell | August 20, 2010 12:56 PM
The big flaw in Gohmert's tactic, as fearmongering, is the time lag. Is it so big a stretch to expect him to escalate his story to terrorists' offspring having powers like that of the original terror baby?
It's Alive: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071675/
After all, it wasn't so long ago the right was arguing that no prison in America could hold the Gitmo detainees...
;-)
Posted by: Chris Winter | August 20, 2010 1:05 PM
@Rod Mitchell,
As a journalist, maybe not but as an elected representative, not so much.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2010 1:05 PM
MikeMa,
Thanks much for the link. It was informative. While Riddle's alarm seems to be based entirely on a confused belief that the terrorist-baby plot is already in action, Gohmert reveals that he is fully aware that this is all just his guess about what could maybe happen.
In that clip, Gohmert keeps referring to a security hole that he sees as being evidenced by the fact that there are indeed women who come here deliberately to have their babies. It sounds like his point is that he can imagine one of those woman raising her baby to someday return as a terrorist, and therefore the babies must actually be a serious threat, so serious as to justify changing the constitution.
As Steve Reuland point out, once the terrorist-intending woman is actually in the country, legally or illegally, surely she would just go ahead and commit terrorism, not take a chance on living to raise her child, and take a chance on the child agreeing to become a terrorist, and take a chance on terrorism being something they'd still want to do in a few decades. Besides, if the woman can get into the country without being a citizen, surely her child could do the same in a few decades should he/she wish to commit terrorism.
Posted by: JuliaL | August 20, 2010 1:12 PM
That's because when they say "terrorist" they don't mean what you and I mean. They mean "terrist" as in a minority going to Harvard Law and becoming the democratically elected President.
Posted by: Dennis N | August 20, 2010 1:35 PM
Wow, she has a weird affect. Is she on something or does she have a speech impediment.
Posted by: Robert S. | August 20, 2010 1:41 PM
I would say that to me her affect effected alternating waves of disbelief and incredulity, possibly because the effect of her demagogic tone of voice affected my desire to give her the benefit of the doubt.
(Yay for the English language!)
Posted by: Umlud | August 20, 2010 1:51 PM
Watching Riddle leads me to believe that the most serious reading she may do on a given day involves the back of her cereal box. Gohmert seems like he may also read WND and Stormfront.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2010 2:01 PM
So that why the right wingers need so many guns,they need to protect themselves from the terror babies.
Posted by: Paen | August 20, 2010 2:32 PM
Just so I'm clear, are these monkey babies or human babies?
Posted by: Leni | August 20, 2010 2:43 PM
No kidding. Parents make grand plans for their kids all the time, about what religion they'll be, their profession, their family life - and lo and behold, it turns out the rascals grow up to have their own ideas regardless.
Can you imagine spending 20 years of your life planning this intricate "terror baby" plot against the United States only to have the kid decide he's going to become a graphic designer and breed Yorkies in his spare time?
Posted by: DaveL | August 20, 2010 2:51 PM
http://blogs.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2010/08/birth_numbers_at_lbj_no_longer.html
Apparently only 63%. Which is still rather startling, but it isn't over 81%. Illegal births at LBJ.
Strange affect seems to be the tip of the iceberg with this woman.
Posted by: mark boggs | August 20, 2010 3:05 PM
But the best part has to be her reflexive axiom that "those who are her illegally are not here legally."
Brilliant!
Posted by: mark boggs | August 20, 2010 3:07 PM
Probably something to do with the fact that apart from the occasional blink, her whole face down to her upper lip is completely frozen.
Botox? Face lift? Probably both.
It's almost shocking to find that she's only 60 years old.
Posted by: tacitus | August 20, 2010 3:08 PM
Looks count in politics. As with the rest of society, they count double extra for women. Starting with Botox at 30 isn't unknown, with the usual surgical escalations as time goes on. Offhand I wouldn't hazard a guess as to whether the POG is particularly demanding or not.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 3:37 PM
Sheesh I could only keep listening until 1:16. I was worried my brain was going to explode. Can those Southern/republican congresscritters please stop pretending they have valid national security point and just admit they're saying and doing all this crap out of racism and jingoism?
Posted by: Sal | August 20, 2010 3:44 PM
That one can go on the schedule after "stop pretending that 'States rights' is about anything other than racism."
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 3:47 PM
No, they can't. Thanks to those liberal professors and politicians, racism is The Hate That Dare Not Speak Its Name.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 20, 2010 4:39 PM
D.C. @18,
I have both my hands raised.
Posted by: James Hanley | August 20, 2010 4:42 PM
Thank you, Professor. I was feeling neglected.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 5:02 PM
D.C.,
You're not in my classroom. You can address me as James without giving offense.
Or "sir" would be nice.
Or "Oh, Captain, my Captain."
Posted by: James Hanley | August 20, 2010 5:11 PM
Dishonesty can't be blamed on education. Add to that the fact that people *want* to believe those who match their ideology and the fact that people appear to lack critical thinking skills is largely explained. Riddle was reelected in 2008 with over 64% of the vote, she outspent her opponent $100k to $8k. Her major attempts at writing legislation appear to be directed towards establishing poll taxes, eliminating people from the voting rolls, hunting down illegal immigrants and publishing information about sex offenders.
Given the little bit of data I was able to dig up in about 30 seconds of searching, I would hazard to guess that the Republicans could have placed a dead coyote on the ballot and would have been successful with an (R) after it's name.
Again, can't blame education for ideology.
----------
Rod,
If a journalist attempts to present a story with no evidence whatsoever to support it, allegedly from an agency that has flat out denied the claims, and has a ludicrous claim of an undisclosed source who spoke to them on a plane during a random encounter, would you really publish that story?
Posted by: dogmeat | August 20, 2010 5:14 PM
Never doubted it. However, I'm also old enough to have been brought up using courtesy titles -- and I figure the ones like "Professor" don't get enough respect as it is. You worked for it, I'm glad to use it.
And I'm counting the days until $DAUGHTER gets to be "Doctor Bunny" too. Although I may use it a bit less in her case.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | August 20, 2010 8:35 PM
She actually offered as evidence that "it's being talked about by members of congress". Are you kidding me?
Posted by: Taz | August 20, 2010 9:14 PM
It's easy to understand why the nutters believe the whole 'terror baby' idea. After all, isn't that the whole birther conspiracy thing. Rev 1: Plant evidence that biracial baby was born in Hawaii so that someday he can be elected president and destroy the country. Someone realized that took too long and had kind of long odds -- and look at how many people figured out the scam. So now, of course, our enemies are just going to make lots of babies to attack us.
Posted by: Gerry L | August 21, 2010 12:26 AM
Typical insane conservative:
1. Make psychotically false claim.
2. Present zero evidence to back it up.
3. Play persecution card.
4. When other side makes valid points with facts to support it, INTERRUPT so that you're not exposed as the lying scumbag you are.
5. Repeat. Ad nauseam.
Posted by: Aquaria | August 21, 2010 1:00 AM
@Rod : I'm a journalist but consider that 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'. Of course we don't reveal our sources but the nature of the industry is that people can then just take each claim on their merits. I would in this instance suggest that even if Riddle's sources are genuine, they too are mistaken.
Posted by: Rokkaku | August 21, 2010 10:35 AM
Her sputtering got so bad at the end that she actually said that there was no other country in the world that you could enter illegally. Wow.
I suppose she meant to say no other country where the child of someone there illegally would be a citizen, but of course that's wrong too.
Posted by: BaldApe | August 21, 2010 1:03 PM
Texas definitely elects some strange lunatics. One of their more prominent GOP politicians thinks the earth is 6,000 years old. He also thinks the sun orbits the earth and Heliocentrism is a Jewish plot.
Texas also ranks near the top in most measures of various social problems. Evidently, fighting against Jewish Heliocentrism and terror babies is more important than actually governing.
Posted by: raven | August 21, 2010 7:34 PM
Her store-bought choppers don't fit right.
Posted by: wrpd | August 22, 2010 1:45 AM
If Anderson was a real truth teller and seeker he would have, at the conclusion of this segment, said "What is in the water in Texas? How do they keep electing these obvious idiots?"
Of course his job would be on the line if he said such a thing but if someone had the guts to say such a thing I'll bet Americans would donate to a fund to keep him getting an income.
Posted by: Greg | August 22, 2010 10:11 AM
Re Greg @ #58
Anderson Cooper is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and is thus independently wealthy. He doesn't need the job at CNN to put rice and beans on the table.
Posted by: SLC | August 22, 2010 12:13 PM
First-time poster here; been reading for a while
Re: #39
Can you imagine spending 20 years of your life planning this intricate "terror baby" plot against the United States only to have the kid decide he's going to become a graphic designer and breed Yorkies in his spare time?
Am I the only one here who saw scenes from the movie "American Dreamz" while reading this?
Posted by: cheesynougats | August 24, 2010 10:47 AM
Judging from the comments, none of you are from Texas. The fact is that crime and gang activity, in Houston, has tripled. Most are illegal immigrants that get sent back to their country, only to return. We no longer can feel safe. These illegals have no fear or values. They will shoot and rob you in the middle of the day! They are so brazin, they stole a State Representatives car that has State Official plates giving them entrance to our capital bldg. When the car was recovered, five immigrants were found fleeing from the vehicle.
Live in TX, in fact... live in SW Houston and see if your attitude changes.
Posted by: proud texan | August 31, 2010 2:01 PM