Campaign Conspiracy Theories Today

Don't expect any of the updated course materials here until the first days of classes, but if you want to keep up to the minute on conspiracy theory, check out what a group called Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain is saying about the Republican presidential candidate in South Carolina, which has a primary election coming up: yep, he's the real "Manchurian Candidate," brainwashed by his Vietnamese captors and set up as a war hero so he could become president . . . decades later, and do, well, something really evil. They're not sure. The plot details seem to be taken directly from the famous novel and Frank Sinatra film. (Via blogger Matt Yglesias.)

Another anti-McCain smear (pictured above) contains much of the same content, though apparently not the "brainwashing" charge, and amusingly comes from a different right-wing group pretending to be the group ("Swift Boat Veterans for Truth") that smeared John Kerry in the 2004 election. Here's the story.