April 14, 2015 04:43 PM UTC

Rep. Ken Buck Gets His ISIS News from the Internet Tubes

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

So, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley)…

Yeeaahhhhh.

Today Buck tweeted one of the more ridiculous things we’ve seen in quite awhile. His official Twitter account sent out a headline and link to a story that says “ISIS is operating a camp…just 8 miles from the U.S. border.”

ISIS is operating a camp in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, just 8 miles from the U.S. border http://t.co/DS0iz0a3yU #copolitics

— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) April 14, 2015

Buck will probably say that he didn’t do this himself (the infamous “rogue staffer” excuse) or that his Twitter account was hacked (a favorite excuse from entertainers), but none of that really matters because the regrettable tweet in question came from his “official” Twitter account. If Rep. Buck does decide to take the blame credit for this re-tweet, he’ll probably say something like, “I thought it was interesting…it’s worth discussing even if it is far-fetched…” etc., but that won’t excuse this one bit.

Ken Buck, U.S. Congressman, just tweeted out a link to a story that says ISIS is operating a camp in Northern Mexico, just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, and that terrorists are being smuggled across the border into New Mexico.

We should remind you here that Rep. Buck should have access to some fairly decent information about this subject; his official Congressional bio notes that Rep. Buck is a member of Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration and Border Security and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations. So, either Buck is grossly under-informed, or he knows damn well that this story is a pile of crap but wants to stir up some fear nonetheless.

It is pretty silly on its own when a right-wing news “article” (The Judicial Watch Blog) reports a ridiculous story and eventually lands (some) credibility when a right-wing “newspaper” (The Washington Times) cites it as a reliable source in a subsequent article. But by Tweeting it out from his official account, Buck gives the story credibility it should not have.

Does anyone honestly believe that ISIS is operating a terrorist camp just outside of El Paso, Texas, and nobody knows except for The Judicial Watch Blog??? (Anyone, that is, aside from State Rep. Kathleen Conti, who is pretty sure that Al Qaeda is operating training camps in Colorado).

Anyway, really cool move, Ken Buck. You are quite the statesman.