The nutty right-wing fringe and David Hall connection

TV Station Known for Conspiracy Videos managed by David Hall

by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered ties between some controversial, anti-government videos and a candidate for Congress.

David Hall, the Republican nominee to face Congressman Jim Cooper, insists he had nothing to do with videos that suggest some federal agents may be responsible for the deaths of innocent Americans, but he won't repudiate them either.(link)

Commentary

We did not need this. About the time I was beginning to think the bad news about the Hall campaign was over and we could rally behind David Hall and put our energies into defeating Jim Cooper, something else is revealed. None of these stories by themselves would disqualify David Hall. All of them however are disturbing. The phony Marsha Blackburn endorsement, the phony polling firm and incorrect FEC fillings, the Do the Hard Thing youth camp, and now this: they add up.

Some will criticize me for rehashing the list of negatives. They are out there, however. We can be assured that if David Hall does get within sticking distance of Jim Cooper, that the Cooper campaign will bring them up so there is no point in ignoring them.

I have warmed to David Hall. Having heard him speak several time, he seems to be a solid common sense mainstream conservative, a man who cares deeply about his country, and a smart, hardworking strategist. He and his family are likable people. I would be comfortable having David Hall represent me in Congress.

I am really surprised by this latest revelation. The other revelation could be excused as minor flaws of a person who so wanted to win that he bent the rules a little and used poor judgment or someone who just made some mistakes. This revelation paints Hall as an extremists.

Having heard David speak now on several occasions, I have never heard him say anything nutty or extreme. The Phil Williams piece does not say how long, but it says that "for years," Hall managed the TV station owned by his father. The Station produced videos that were popular among the "patriot movement". One of the videos is about the Weaver family and Ruby Ridge, the other is about the Branch Dividians and Waco and a third, which cannot be located, apparently alleges the government was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.

These terrible incidents became rallying cries among a tiny extreme fringe element on the right. Those sympathetic to what was sometimes called the "patriot movement" or the militia movement saw the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents as an out of control government at war with its citizen and willing to commit murder when citizens dared stand up to the Federal government. While I also think that the government was over zealous and the tragedies of Ruby Ridge and Waco could have been avoided, many in the patriot movement have a conspiratorial view of these incidents and viewed Ruby Ridge and Waco as the start of a campaign against gun owners and dissidents. They saw black helicopters and concentration camps.

In the Williams piece, David Hall says he had absolutely nothing to do with the production of the videos and that he has not even watched them and that he does not have enough information to have an opinion on Ruby Ridge or Waco. This is plausible, but just barely. I do not expect for a TV station manager, or a radio station manger or magazine editor to endorse and defend and agree with ever product or ever point of view presented by the media outlet they manage. On the other hand, this was a small family-owned station and the video producer was David Hall's father.

This report does not present information that makes David Hall unworthy of serving as a US Congressman but it is one more unfortunate piece of bad news that will add up to making it more difficult for David Hall to win an uphill battle. I hope this is the last of it.

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