Larry Darby and Holocaust denial

The mainstream media has finally picked up the story. I had several posts on Darby last month...here, here, and here. He finally caught the MSM's attention following a May 3 interview with Alabama Public Television, which can be viewed in its entirety here.

Here are a few lowlights from that interview:

Darby suggested that the recent string of church fires in Alabama was a Jewish conspiracy:

"One thing that concerns me has been the 'hush-hush' nature of the defendants in this case. Ordinarily, in a case like that, we would know everything about those defendants - their family, their lifestyles - and we haven't heard that at all about them, and there's some speculation on the internet that the reason is that they're Jewish, and they were acting on Anti-Defamation League and Abraham Foxman released back in last October or November, where he was really chastising the Baptist churches. There's a lot of speculation like that, and you have to wonder why - if there's anything to it - because there's been such a secretive air about this case."

Darby referred to illegal immigration as a "Mexican invasion," and proposed a three-part plan to deal with it. Before anyone else says it...I know full well that a few of Mr. Darby's proposals on immigration are similar to those advocated by some conservatives. Let's use this as a lesson in differentiating between "conservatism" and "extremism," shall we?

Part one of Darby's plan includes bringing home the Alabama National Guard from Iraq, asking the Governor to declare martial law, and stationing the Guard at all entry points to the country, with orders to "shoot to kill." Darby said, "We are at war. we are being invaded by a foreign country."

Darby said that part two of his plan is to "get out the infection that's here," by treating illegal aliens as "prisoners of war." He stated that county sheriffs should be the first line of defense in curbing the invasion [Me: what was that about the National Guard?], and that the system of constables should be rebuilt in order to assist the sheriffs. He advocates creating a compact with Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to cooperate in transporting all illegals back to Mexico.

Part three is to take "preventive medicine" to ensure that the flow of aliens doesn't happen again. He would do this by outlawing organizations that advocate open borders. He took specific aim at the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to Darby:

"These people who promote open borders have actually led to this [invasion by Mexicans]...That's treason. Alabama has laws against treason on the books. I would investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center for treason against the state, and try to shut them down."

I don't care much for the SPLC myself, but treason? Come on!

At one point in the interview, Darby claimed that his own ancestors were not immigrants at all:

Darby: "My ancestors, who came to Alabama in 1817, by the way, were not immigrants. They were pioneers. They were settlers."

Lennox: "Where'd they come from?"

Darby: "England."

Lennox: "Why were they not immigrants?"

Darby: "They were...they...uhh...were..."

Lennox: "They immigrated from England, didn't they?"

Darby: "No, they didn't come to another country, OK? They came to a wilderness and forged and built the country."

Finally, on his favorite subject, Darby said: "I'm a well-known, so-called Holocaust Denier - that sort of thing."

Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham says that he had been unaware of Darby's views about Jews and the Holocaust until he heard about the APT interview. I'll take him at his word, but it's not like Mr. Darby has kept any of this a secret. Heck, if Mr. Turnham had been reading a blog whose name rhymes with "Hey, ma'am, a frog!", he'd have known about this last month. Oh, well.

This is a minor embarrassment for the Democrats, but to his credit, Joe Turnham was quick to publicly repudiate Darby's views. I wouldn't be surprised if the party goes even further and tries to kick Darby out, assuming that's even possible. Tough situation, though. Republicans should just be glad that this nutcase didn't try to run in their primary.