During the Michigan gubernatorial debate on Oct. 25, GOP candidate Tudor Dixon related a story about a father coming up to her and telling her what he found in his son’s school library.
“I had a gentleman come up to me just a few nights ago and he said, ‘I found content in my school library describing how to have sex to my son,’” Dixon said in the clip of the debate.
“He said ‘just a few weeks ago, not only was I a Democrat, but I was running for office as a Democrat.’ He said because Democrats won’t stand up for our children and go back to the basics, ‘I’m leaving the Democratic Party,’” Dixon added.
Too good to check? Late-night host Stephen Colbert thought that Tudor had made the whole thing up. In his monologue the day after the debate, the comedian joked about the voter’s concerns about sexually explicit material in a school library.
“Dixon’s not the only one worried about this issue. So is this guy she totally made up,” Colbert said. “OK, fine, that happened,” he said sarcastically, using air quotes to drive home his skepticism.
But the concerned parent actually exists. And Colbert has egg all over his face. Khalil Othman, 41, a former Dearborn City Council candidate, came forward as the man Dixon had referred to at the debate against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“To claim that I’m not here, I don’t exist, I’m not human, that’s absolute ignorance,” Othman, 41, a father of five and former Dearborn city council candidate, told the Free Press. “If this person did his due diligence and start researching or has his team do a little bit of research of who’s this person who attended Dixon’s rally, they will be able to find my name right away easy on social media. Just Google it.”
Dixon also criticized Colbert for doubting Othman’s existence during a campaign stop Sunday in Dearborn that Othman attended.
“I told his story (during the debate),” Dixon said Sunday of Othman to hundreds in Dearborn. “And Stephen Colbert picks it up. … And they make this whole skit about how this has never happened. That’s what he said, this story never happened. That’s where the Democrats are right now. You don’t exist, your stories are not important.”
Actually, it’s apparent that Colbert’s crack writing staff never heard of Google or Facebook. If they had, they would have easily found Mr. Othman’s statement declaring allegiance to the GOP and the reasons for it.
On Oct. 21, Othman attended a rally for Dixon in Flat Rock in which he declared to the crowd he’s now a Republican, posting a video on Facebook of his remarks later that night.
“My name is Khalil Othman. I came all the way from Dearborn, Michigan,” he said to loud applause. “I’m here along with two parents, concerned parents … against these sexually explicit books.”
“I am a proud Muslim American who expresses my values and concerns all the time,” Othman said in Flat Rock. “Dearborn has been voting Democrat blue for the last decade or two decades. But not anymore. On behalf of myself and my family, I guarantee you for sure that my family and my friends will vote for Republicans.”
The banality of Colbert’s humor is matched by the vapidity of his intellect. But the point is that he doesn’t care what the facts are. He doesn’t care if he smeared the Republican candidate for governor by calling her a liar. The truth is irrelevant to the political attack.
Colbert isn’t worried because only a few irrelevant, right-wing news sites like Fox and the New York Post covered Colbert’s lazy smear. It’s almost like it never happened.
Almost.
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