Geraldo Rivera brought two Truthers onto his show Saturday to discuss the controlled implosion of 7 World Trade Center. It was a turnaround for the mustachioed personality, who once said 9/11 Truthers were “into restroom gay sex” and told them “get a life.”
Instead, they found their way onto Geraldo’s set and got a mic.
Geraldo’s change of heart came on the heels of comments actor Ed Asner made on Adam Carolla’s Nov. 9 podcast in which Mary Tyler Moore’s boss said the World Trade Center towers had been loaded with explosives.
“I think there’s a certain area of government that participated in [the 9/11 attacks],” said Asner. Asner has been a vocal Truther for some time now, “wondering” about the government’s involvement as early as 2004.
So why the sudden high-profile attention given to Truthers? Did Oliver Stone get stiffed by a New York City taxi driver the week before and suggest Hugo Chavez broadcast revealing new facts about the terrorist attacks?
The short answer is “no,” if only because the most recent theses on the terrorist attacks are the same ones the country as heard before. The theories have prominent supporters, too. They include porn enthusiasts, drug addicts, Minnesota politicians, fans of Harriet the Spy or — in an odd but somehow understandable way — a combination of all four.
In case one had successfully forgotten for even a small chunk of time, here’s a quick recap of some other famous Truthers.
Rosie O’Donnell
Who knew “The View” referred to the veranda overlooking an insane asylum? More surprisingly, who knew Elisabeth Hasselbeck was a pint-size Bob Woodward with pouty lips? While O’Donnell said she didn’t think the government had any direct part in the attacks on 9/11, she did wonder aloud about some basic principles of metallurgy, physics, demolitions, architecture and generally every other area in which she has limited expertise.
O’Donnell’s most insightful comment came after a moment in Hasselbeck’s no spin-class zone: “I have no idea.”
Charlie Sheen
Even before he was the “half” in the sit-com, “Two and a Half Men,” Sheen had some “questions” about the terrorist attacks. After doing his “own research,” Sheen laid out his thesis on the Alex Jones radio show. The biggest flaw in his theory? Sheen recalled getting up “early” on 9/11 to do actual work.
Sheen made the slightest suggestion that government agents were responsible for the attack. The entertainment news star, however, still hasn’t “wondered” if these were the same agents that planted half of Colombia’s export business in his left nostril.
Willie Nelson
Forget the copious amounts of weed he smoked, it was more likely the duet he had to perform with Toby Keith that drove ole Willie to suspect that evil does in fact conspire. Although Willie’s seen plenty of buildings with smoke billowing from them, he told Larry King that he knew a controlled demolition when he saw one. The king of hippie country said he wished there would be more investigations into the attacks. Perhaps it was just that he wished there were fewer investigations less on personal tax receipts.
Jesse Ventura
Look up Jesse Ventura in the dictionary on Google and you may be surprised (or not) to discover that he and his team have looked into everything from Area 51 to the JFK assassination. The former Minnesota governor also thinks the attacks on 9/11 were a controlled demolition. Conspiracy theorists should note in their little black journals that both The Body and Sheen laid out their ideas on Alex Jones’s radio program. One anagram of “Alex Jones” (ignore the others) is “Jean Loxes.” Jean is the first name of the X-Men character “Jean Grey,” who later became Phoenix. A “phoenix” is a well-cooked bird, flying around on fire and destroying anything it touches. Do you need this spelled out any further?