Everyone Needs To Accept The Fact That No Such Disneyland-To-Vegas Train Exists And Move On, Already

A few weeks ago, Washington, D.C. was host to CPAC, a yearly gathering of the conservative activist base, out of which bold new political innovations were supposed to blossom. It seems to me that this didn't happen, unless you count 14-year-old Buckley clones or "urban/suburban hip hop dance mixes" as bold, new, or innovative. But whatever, I'll help the GOP out with a bold, new idea: how about y'all stop repeating talking points once they've been debunked, or, better yet, preemptively KNOWING WHAT THE FRACK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, and not opening your cakehole to emit stuff that gets debunked, ten minutes later. Seriously, GOP, you guys can take the lead on this initiative, if you want.

A fitting example of what I am talking about came up in the submission of Peggy Santoro, who sends in this video from Monday, March 2, of Fox's Megyn Kelly and U.S. Representative Trent Franks, from Arizona's 2nd District. In it, they discuss an earmark for a special train that connects Disneyland to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada. Franks paints this as an earmark served up by Harry Reid. Naturally, none of this is true.

Back when the fight was over the stimulus package, we were told that Harry Reid wanted to build a railroad from L.A. to Vegas. In truth, no such funds were allocated by the stimpack for that purpose, an easily researchable fact. Now that the battle is over the budget, we have this L.A.-to-a-brothel myth. The truth is, the earmark is to "rebuild the historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad between Gold Hill and Carson City." Now, I have no idea if this is worthwhile spending on the merits. It may not be the best use of taxpayer dollars. But one thing I'm sure of is that a railroad that connects Gold Hill and Carson City falls short of the Sunset Strip to Sin City Express that Franks attempts to sell, here.

Anyway; DEBUNKED, DEBUNKED, DEBUNKED, la tee dah.

"No wonder people have lost trust in the U.S. Government," Franks says. And he's right! But if people like Franks simply stopped doing this sort of thing, the trust would return, maybe!

[WATCH.]

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[sloreader]

09:09 PM on 03/13/2009

Ever see the original movie "Alien"? There may be more to it than we thought back then.

[hopefulinpa]

12:52 PM on 03/12/2009

The Republican party has been so dishonest these last 8 years.. and probably longer than that (but I wasn't paying attention then ) I will never believe anything they say. There is not one of them that I have any confidence in and can even remotely believe. I would never vote them into office. Not now, not in the future. A leapord does not change it's spots.

[lagumbo]

04:15 PM on 03/11/2009

That's what the TALIBAN PARTY [GOP], does. They have no solutions for anything , but they lie to stop someone else from doing anything constructed. The TALIBAN PARTY= OBSTRUCTIONIST.

[Venicedread]

04:11 PM on 03/11/2009

I can't believe Fox is still pushing this story.
Well I guess it doesn't surprise me that much.
They should be fined for flat out lying about this.
This is an intentional boogie man story.
Disney = Kids / Brothel = Sexual Acts.
Oh my God , they're building a train that could facilitate Kids with Sexual Acts!
It's a sick manipulation that is an embarrassment to television "news".

[takeyourballandgohome]

02:49 PM on 03/11/2009

Historically, there used to be a train from LA to Vegas. I live in the East. However, I have driven from LA to Vegas....if anyone spouting off at the mouth against this, had better take that drive. I am tired of it used as an example of waste. I have absolutely no interests in the project. It would really be a great thing, jobs to build it, jobs to build the cars, jobs to staff it, jobs to sell the tix, jobs to clean it, jobs to stock it, jobs for taxis at both ends, more folks going to financially stressed Vegas, jobs for hotels, jobs for restaurants, jobs for those who print the brochures...get the point? Some of these gaggles of criticism are not looking at the benefit...and btw, you might have a little fun while you are at it! Oh, can't do that.

[jcwtts1]

04:33 PM on 03/11/2009

This is the absurd. You are completely right. Someone was complaining about the planetarium projector that McCain started whining about during the campaign. It costs millions and is size of a bedroom. But if you ask the GOP it is an overhead projector like from middle school.

J

[jcwtts1]

04:33 PM on 03/11/2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/081008-adler-projector-photogallery,0,5199614.photogallery

[Winthorpe]

02:41 PM on 03/11/2009

The video is no longer available. Another Fox News information society tactic?

[knowwhatimsayin]

02:37 PM on 03/11/2009

I'm very embarrassed to say that he is my congressman. Around here we call him the "lipless wonder." Kind of reminds us of Frank Burns from MASH. He has one issue and one issue only--being against any form of abortion under any circumstances.

[myJAgal]

02:09 PM on 03/11/2009

I thought this was an SNL skit.

[sarabono]

12:45 PM on 03/11/2009

Ah Damn? Ya mean I still have to fly to Vegas? I thought that Mr. Reid's ides was good. A low carbon way to get to the tables.

[larmarch5]

12:35 PM on 03/11/2009

Repugs keep the DizCasino train going because it was their own Orange County boondoggle, started back in the 80's. Former Mayor and OC Super Don Roth spent years and got lots of trips to advance the connection. Like true repugs, they bend their own failures into loops to try to make it look like the other guy did it.

[Phxflyer]

12:24 PM on 03/11/2009

As a resident of his district, I can say without doubt that Franks is not the sharpest knife in the kitchen.

[Rope-A-Dope]

12:18 PM on 03/11/2009

Megyn gets her information along with the rest of her medication.

UPDATE: Megyn Kely worked at the Bunny Ranch with her mother to pay for her college education. Now, if we all repeat this update hundreds of times it becomes true.

[surfcitysteven]

01:03 PM on 03/11/2009

I'll post it on Right Angle today. Let's get it on!

[jazzycafe]

11:53 AM on 03/11/2009

Hey Fox, how many times can you put together a sentence that includes Harry Reid, Bunny Ranch, and Sin City? My guess is a lot of times. Leave it Fox to take a lie and run with it. Isn't it curious how the people on Fox love to put up pictures of sinful things up on the screen and talk about brothels.

[mgray34]

11:01 AM on 03/11/2009

Okay lets think logically about this...a few "democratic" congressmen would actually publically campaign for a high speed rail project from Los Angeles to a wh*re house? Really? Where's the CSPAN video on this? Where are the witnesses? Anybody who knows anything about the west coast knows that if a high speed rail is going from L.A. to anywhere it's LAS VEGAS, not a wh*re house. Don't you notice when you watch fox news that actual documents and data are rarely used in these types of stories? It's always what some guest on their program says is happening. At least on Keith Olberman's show and Rachal's show, they provide documentation or video when they make a claim like this. It's sad that people are so gullible.

[duchessofbs]

10:25 AM on 03/11/2009

This is exactly why Obama's attention to education is so important. If Americans had not been so dumbed down the last eight years they may not have been so gullible as to be take the GOP propaganda as the Gospel Truth.

[DoTheMath]

11:02 AM on 03/11/2009

Bingo!