McConnell’s office duped by The Onion-style piece on Gitmo

[Xipe Totec]

Source: Yahoo News

Is the Obama Administration preparing to give prisoners at Guantanamo Bay GI Bill benefits as part of a plan to “completely crush their souls with bureaucracy?” Wired Magazine reports that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office asked the Pentagon that very question after a constituent sounded the alarm.

The problem? That far-fetched notion came from a story on the satirical site “The Duffel Blog,” a military-focused answer to The Onion. (Wired posted the constituent’s letter and the query from McConnell’s office on its top-notch “Danger Room” blog on national security).

“I am writing on behalf of a constituent who has contacted me regarding Guantanamo Bay prisoners receiving Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits,” McConnell wrote. “I would appreciate your review and response to my constituent’s concerns.”

What triggered the unnamed Kentuckian’s worries? This post.

“By allowing the detainees to use the Department of Veterans Affairs, we hope to completely crush their souls with bureaucracy,” a (fake) Pentagon spokesman says in the piece.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mcconnell-office-duped-onion-style-piece-gitmo-140113809--politics.html

[Botany]

1. Karma

[wordpix]

29. bwaahahaha, that is just a great Pshop! Thanks

[Enrique]

2. lol

[Blue Owl]

3. Congratulations Mitch, you've been McConned

n/t

[Kalidurga]

4. BWhahahah

We will crush their souls with bureaucracy. And Mitch charges to the rescue to show us what that looks like.

[L0oniX]

5. What is his yearly salary? n/t

[Bluzmann57]

11. Entirely too much

[Sekhmets Daughter]

26. $193,400 plus

a huge assortment of allowances....

[Berlum]

6. Draft-dodging chickenhawk Republicans like McConnell are CLUELESS about US Veterans

...as this letter amply demonstrates.

[Voice for Peace]

17. and don't read too carefully, apparently

[DhhD]

7. Both McConnell and McCain are slipping and sliding in the atmosphere/toilet that they have created

with their constituents.

[Voice for Peace]

18. they need to be flushed, or resign,

before they are devoured by the bloodthirsty pack.

[louis-t]

8. I sent this to Stephanie Miller this morning.

They were talking about some other GOP dunce that got conned by a satire piece.

[struggle4progress]

9. I guess it's time to write some letters

Dear Senator Mitch:

Obama is luring extraterrestrials from the Jovian moon, Callisto, to my hometown here in Kentucky, by promising them unions and free health care! We are increasingly overrun by these bizarre lizard-like creatures, while jackbooted UN troops march through the streets, threatening to arrest us if we resist. The situation is desperate: many people have now become too terrified to talk to me! Please help!

Sincerely, &c&c

[Jackpine Radical]

20. No amnety for Callistans!

I mean Amensty…

[struggle4progress]

25. Not that I'm prejudiced against lizardly extraterrestrials, but they only come here

to hang out at the library: they drive up and down the street in their hovercraft, gunning their engines, and would you want one to marry your daughter?

[wordpix]

30. don't forget this part

Obama is forcing every woman of childbearing age to get abortions and every man to give up his guns, or they will be sent to live on Saturn's biggest moon Titan under a socialist dictatorship set up by Obama. If you don't do something NOW, these lizards will be rounding us all up to send us there.

HELP, Senator!!!!

I think only The Turtle can save us!

[struggle4progress]

31. It's even worse than the Trilateral Commission water fluoridation conspiracy!

[marble falls]

10. I think McCain and 'lil' Linsay Graham need to call for an investigation.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. So, do we blame Nancy McKinstry, Phillips Exeter Academy and Duke University

for being unable to spot an obvious piece of satire? The letter asks for the reply to be sent to her. Her LinkedIn profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-mckinstry/13/954/321

http://baldwinscholars.duke.edu/scholars/96

Top notch education she got there ...

[EC]

13. As has been said

republicans have no sense of humor, nor understand parody or sarcasm.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. All Republican "humor" is based on cruelty of one sort or another.

Think of all the supposedly "funny" things Rush says, for example.

[Javaman]

14. Don't worry, rather than admit a mistake, the repukes will embrace it and run with it

and eventually call it their own, much like the "self deportation" satire.

there is no curing stupid, but willfully stupid in the face of overwhelming facts is down right brain dead.

[procon]

15. The Stupid Party...

needs 24-hour attendants just to keep them from hurting themselves.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Which leads to the obvious question--

Why should we be spending good money to keep them from hurting themselves?

[jpak]

16. Ashley Judd done it!

[DeSwiss]

19. K&R

- Politics has devolved in such a way that parody is now the norm. Poe's Law strikes again....

[Moral Compass]

23. Member of The Stupid Party

Just because Bobby Jindal pleaded with his party to stop being the Stupid Party doesn't mean that they've taken the advice.

Turtle Man wouldn't recommend satire if it came with a warning label.

[iandhr]

24. Wow

Kind of like when a congressman fell for this Onion article about Planned Parenthood.

Here is the article

http://www.theonion.com/articles/planned-parenthood-opens-8-billion-abortionplex,20476/

Here is the congressman falling for it.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/02/congressman-falls-months-old-onion-story-about-planned-parenthood-abortionplex/48344/

[Turbineguy]

27. Somebody who voted for him

would be by definition a moron. But then again, he wouldn't know that.

[rurallib]

28. you watch enough FUX and you're so out of touch with reality

that you are ripe to believe any lie about Obama.