Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've documented WorldNetDaily's love of former Republican Texas Rep. Steve Stockman -- to the point where it was effectively serving as Stockman's PR shop during Stockman's single term in Congress from 2012 to 2014 and his ill-fated primary run for a Senate seat against incumbent Republican John Cornyn. Stockman had responded in kind, giving away copies of a WND-published anti-Obama book written by then-WND reporter Aaron Klein to his fellow members of Congress.
But even Stockman's recent conviction on numerous fraud charges isn't shaking WND's faith in him.
An anonymously written April 12 WND article offered up a mostly straight, if vaguely written, account of Stockman's conviction on 23 charges "related to financial crimes," with the details of the offenses limited to claiming that "Essentially, he was charged with using charitable donations for projects and activities unrelated to the charities to which they were donated." WND spent more space recounting Stockman's right-wing-friendly record -- i.e., noting that "he called for a congressional investigation into Alfred Kinsey’s 1948 writings about men and sex after learning that Kinsey included in his study the data from the diary of a pedophile" -- then on the details of the charges for which Stockman is currently in the news.
The truth is that Stockman used that money from donors for a wide variety of strange and eclectic purposes, including to "spy on political rivals with Inspector Gadget-style tools, to pay off his credit card debt, to go on dolphin boat rides, and to buy up copies of pop-up Advent books published by his brother." Stockman pledged to use the money to establish a center for conservative interns in Washington, which never happened.
But the truth doesn't matter to WND editor Joseph Farah, who used his April 15 column to proclaim Stockman innocent, despite the overwhelming evidence against him:
I’ve known Steve for many years. There’s not a corrupt bone in his body. Don’t believe anything else you read about this case anywhere – including Fox News, which hung him out to dry.
Steve went to Washington to do one thing – defeat the Deep State.
There’s an old saying about the feds: If they want to get you, they have an unlimited budget and unlimited power to do so. Knowing what we now know in more graphic detail than ever before, are you surprised?
Farah then quoted Stockman's wife supporting her husband:
I haven’t talked to Steve, who is in lockup awaiting sentencing. But, according to his lovely and loyal wife, Patti, he’s doing fine under the circumstances, which I am gratified to hear.[...]
It seems Steve has already made lots of friends – guards, warden, doctors, nurses, staff. He’s one of the friendliest, most down-to-earth guys I ever met. Everybody’s laughing because Steve is as funny as any stand-up comic you ever heard.
Patti was just happy to see him laughing.
“After a moment of pain, we had a wonderful visit,” she related. “Steve had a rough start at that facility health-wise, but things seem to be under control now. He’s been furiously writing things he’s been wanting to write for several years now and is excited about how easily it is just pouring out of him.”
Someday, we’ll get the whole story, it seems. But not today or tomorrow, for sure.
Fartah concluded his column by publishing Stockman's address in prison and a request from Stockman's wife for prayers, adding "In closing, let me say I hope President Trump pardons Steve Stockman like he pardoned Scooter Libby. I can’t say any more. I’m too choked up."
So a criminal friend getting busted chokes Farah up, but not publishing fake news and pretending that the actual truth is fake does not. Got it.
