Rep. Pat Fallon claimed SPLC listed 2 veterans' orgs as 'hate groups.' His source? A satirical news

[douglas9]

As the House Armed Services Committee met on Wednesday to consider extremism in the U.S. military, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.) tried to push back on the credibility of the hate-group researcher testifying before the lawmakers.

“Has your organization named the American Legion as a hate group?” Fallon asked a puzzled Lecia Brooks, chief of staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Were you aware that the organization named the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as a hate group?” he continued. “You had in the past.”

A spokesperson for the SPLC confirmed to The Washington Post that it has never listed either veterans organization on its “hate map,” a much-cited, sometimes challenged list of extremist groups. But as Brooks pointed out later in the hearing, Fallon’s claim wasn’t just false — it had been fabricated by a satirical news site, Duffel Blog, that lampoons the U.S. military.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/25/pat-fallon-vfw-splc-satire/

[hlthe2b]

1. His comments should be taken down from the Congressional record.

Only when these A'holes start being publicly called out and having their lies taken down, will they start thinking twice about citing any and all ridiculous sources without checking at all.

[MiHale]

2. Very small disagreement...

Leave the remarks in the record with a disclaimer describing the lie and correcting it with truth.

The lie then is on record, there to be presented when necessary.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. he's a real pip, ain't he?

In 2015 Fallon was named one of "The 3 Worst North Texas Legislators" by D Magazine. It stated that "Fallon has a lawyerlike relationship with the truth" and was "vindictive, and he’ll say anything to get what he wants ".

This is in contrast to Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party and a Fallon supporter,[23] which rated Fallon 95 percent. The Young Conservatives of Texas scored him 92 percent. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 25 percent; Environment Texas, 28 percent. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rated Fallon 98 percent; the Texas Association of Business, 80 percent. The National Rifle Association rated him 92 percent.[20]