It's not news that conspiracy theories about the Clinton administration are getting a friendly hearing in certain precincts of the Right these days. What's interesting, though, is that the devotion to political conspiracies has started to create new ideological alliances. Don't be shocked if Oliver Stone's The Murder of Vince Foster shows up in your neighborhood multiplex in a few years.
Christopher Ruddy, the reporter who doggedly sought to spin a conspiracy out of the Foster suicide, has now moved on to bigger game: the murder of commerce secretary Ron Brown. What murder, you ask? Perhaps you thought it was a tragic plane crash over Croatia that killed Brown and every member of his entourage and the Air Force flight crew a year and a half ago? That just shows how gullible you are. Ruddy, you see, has found retired Army officers who saw the body and attest to a mysterious "circular" hole in Brown's head. The conclusion is obvious: Maybe he was shot! THE SCRAPBOOK, alas, is not kidding.
Aside from raising questions about just who the Army promotes to lieutenant colonel these days, the Ruddy stories are pretty good science fiction. Though, for that matter, why not argue that space aliens beamed aboard the Brown plane and sucked the life out of all the passengers before sending them to a fiery crash that would cover up the evidence of the foul deed?
In any event, besides the usual cheerleading from his soulmate Reed Irvine of "Accuracy in Media" and assorted right-wing radio jocks, Ruddy has now managed with the Ron Brown story to enchant the conspiracy-theory Left as well as influential black leaders. Rep. Maxine Waters from South-Central L.A. has called for a Justice Department investigation of Brown's death. Former GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes has called for a congressional investigation. Louis Farrakhan's Final Call and the Harlembased Amsterdam News have trumpeted the story. And even the venerable NAACP has fired off a letter to attorney general Janet Reno asking that the allegations be explored. Conspiracy theorists, it turns out, are united by the content of their character.
A postscript: The last time this magazine was critical of Reed Irvine, he ginned up a mass mailing to the offices of THE WEEKLY STANDARD. There's nothing like receiving 900 identical postcards to convince us that sweet reason does not always avail. As far as THE SCRAPBOOK is concerned, the sooner the Millennium is here and gone, the better.