Return of the Truth Squad!

I know what you’ve been wondering for the last 10 years. What ever happened to Ed O’Callaghan?

On the off chance you haven’t been wondering this for the last 10 years, let me refresh your memory.

Set the Way Back Machine to 2008!

Way back in 2008, another very stable Republican with a new executive branch seat was under investigation for abuse of power. Yes, I speak of the once half-governor of Alaska who was then running to become the Vice President of the United States. At the time, we thought that would be the worst possible ever thing to happen – why, she’d be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and really being able to muck things up. We were adorably naïve back then, weren’t we?  #2008Problems

The investigation I’m referring to was known as “Troopergate” – Palin’s dismissal of her Commissioner of Public Safety, Walt Monegan, because he wouldn’t commit a revenge firing of her State Trooper brother-in-law. An investigation which asked whether Palin had abused her power as governor ensued.

Palin promised to cooperate with investigators. Then she reiterated that she would completely cooperate with them.

The McCain campaign freaked out. Who knew what she was going to say? Nobody wants a RogueMaverick™ just saying things when questioned! So, they assembled a team of suits and called them “The Truth Squad,” and you can take that in the most Orwellian sense of the title. Well, the Truth Squad galloped on up to Alaska to save Palin from herself, and save the rest of us from the truth. The Truth Squad even had its own spokesman of whom everyone in Alaska said, “Who the hell is this guy? We’ve never seen him before but there he is talking about Alaskan stuff.” (That’s a thing in Alaska. If we’ve never seen you before, and you’re saying something, our suspicions are raised.)

Truthy spokesman Ed O’Callaghan, and truthy spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

“A campaign spokesman says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won’t speak with an investigator hired by lawmakers to look into the firing of her public safety commissioner.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan (<— That’s the guy I’m talking about) told a news conference Monday that the governor, the Republican nominee for vice president, will not cooperate as long as the investigation ‘remains tainted.’ He said he doesn’t know whether Palin’s husband would challenge a subpoena issued to compel his cooperation.

The campaign insists the investigation has been hijacked by Democrats.”

Never mind that the Republican-dominated Alaska legislature voted unanimously to proceed with the investigation of Palin, tainting happened I tell you, and that tainting was done by those darned Democrats.

So that’s Ed O’Callaghan – Truth Squad spokesman.

The investigation concluded. Had Palin abused her power?

Yes. She did.

Fast forward to today.

As we know neither McCain nor Palin made it to the White House. But, guess who did? Kinda. That’s right, Ed O’Callaghan! There he was right there on the TV talking from the White House press room up on the podium.

                      Yep, that’s our boy under all that beard!

And in true Truth Squad fashion, he said a lot of stuff that didn’t have a whole lot to do with Truth. His purpose today was to cite a newly released report from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department about immigration. The report comes while we’re all in the middle of the latest immigration battle, and says… wait for it… three out of four individuals convicted of international terrorism or terrorism-related offenses were “immigrants.”

If that sounds weirdly inaccurate, and unlikely, and maybe a little like fear-mongering, that’s because it is. But in order to know that, you have to dig a little and figure out what statistics they’re actually talking about. Say the words “statistical analysis” and America’s collective eyes glaze over.

But I figure all of you are a little more thoughtful than average, so here’s a link that breaks it down. They call it a “report about nothing” – a Report to Nowhere, if you will.

The bottom line: the cherry-picked and incomplete statistics are manipulated and wordsmithed in a way to make it look like immigrants are terrorists and scary and bad, but the analysis of the data proves that wrong.

      Immigrant, shmimmigrant…

So, congratulations Ed O’Callaghan on a decade of standing proudly in front of the cameras and peddling truthiness to further a political agenda. It got you all the way to the White House, but we remember you way back when…

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