Well, the first oppo dump of the N. C. GOP primary for Senate showed up on Buzzfeed this weekend. Andrew Kaczynski, aka @buzzfeedandrew, posted information from a now-defunct web site run by Dr. Greg Brannon, the Tea Party activist and Rand Paul endorsee. It paints a picture of an extremist with paranoid notions.

The old site, Founders’ Truth, focuses on conspiracy theories and uses the language of the lunatic fringe. There’s a lot about “Agenda 21,” the right-wing conspiracy theory that some sinister group of liberals wants to put the U.S. under control of an international body. Another article says the Aurora, CO, theater massacre was really a government operation designed to take away your guns. Another talks about a sinister plot to establish a single world currency.

Whoever gave Kaczynski the research is obviously trying to hurt Brannon. While it may alienate him from more mainstream voters, the same research probably makes him a hero to a substantial subgroup of Republican primary voters. These are the people who still think Obama was born in Kenya, that he’s a secret Muslim and that he’s going to establish a dictatorship.

Brannon has failed to gain much traction after getting the high profile endorsement of Rand Paul. (I wonder how Paul feels about that endorsement now? And who did his research?) Instead of turning it into money, he’s focused on a grassroots campaign in a primary where at least two of his opponents will spend millions on TV. Maybe this latest news will actually revive his candidacy by firing up the lunatic fringe.

I’m officially switching my support from Rev. Mark Harris to Greg Brannon. Sorry, Rev, but you’ve been out done. Your homophobia and extremist pro-life views may fire up the self-righteous and alienate the middle, but Brannon is tapping into a pathology that used to only show up in superhero comic books. So, from now on, I’m a Greg Brannon man.

Thomas Mills

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >