The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge

Posted on | July 10, 2013 | 85 Comments

In 2007, fringe nutjob Adam Kokesh was arrested on Capitol Hill.

In reporting the news, the Washington Post has rather deliberately obscured the reality of what kind of kook Adam Kokesh is, but those of us who first became aware of Kokesh as the poster boy for “Iraq Veterans Against the War” are unlikely to forget him: A self-righteous half-educated egomaniac strutting for the cameras and insulting people with ridiculous “chickenhawk” and “neocon” slurs. The first time I ever saw Kokesh in person was when he showed up to heckle David Horowitz at an event at George Washington University, FWIW.

His narcissistic camera-hogging and anti-social personality made Kokesh an unwelcome crazy even within the far-left millieu of Bush-era antiwar protests, where mental health was by no means a prerequisite for membership. (Hint: “Sociopath” is not a political philosophy.) Like a few other antiwar oddballs — including the dangerous kook Alex Jones — Kokesh drifted into the Ron Paul orbit, speaking at a Paulista rally during the 2008 GOP convention and then getting himself arrested for heckling John McCain during his acceptance speech.

Now, however, Kokesh might finally go to prison where he belongs:

Police searched the Northern Virginia home of activist Adam Kokesh Tuesday evening and took him into custody on for allegedly being in possession of hallucinogenic mushroom while also having a gun, authorities said.
Kokesh, a former Marine, was held overnight at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, charged with possession of schedule I or II drugs while in possession of a firearm, said Lt. Steve Elbert, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office. . . .
U.S. Park Police Lt. Pamela Smith said her agency executed a search warrant at Kokesh’s home in Herndon about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, looking for a weapon. The park police are the federal agency responsible for policing Freedom Plaza, the concrete park a few blocks from the White House where — in a video posted to YouTube on July 4 — Kokesh appears to load a shotgun in violation of D.C. gun laws. . . .
Herndon police assisted in the search, a communications technician from the department said. But she declined to provide details.
Charging documents filed in court Wednesday morning said Kokesh was charged with possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a Schedule I narcotic, while possessing a firearm. Possession of Schedule I or II drugs is a felony in Virginia, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $2,500 fine. If convicted of possession of the drugs while also in possession of a firearm, Kokesh would face an additional minimum of two years in prison. . . .

You can read the whole thing. What the Washington Post will not tell you, of course, is that Adam Kokesh is the living symbol of how unscrupulously the Left provoked and exploited antiwar sentiments during the Bush era. It was the same basic tactic they used with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and much of the gay-rights movement: Portray Republicans as evil, gin up protest mobs composed of whatever professional ax-grinders, clueless “student activists” and volunteer nutjobs you can collect, and then rely on the biases of liberal media to portray the orchestrated result as a spontaneous expression of Wholesome Main Street Middle America.

How many times during the Bush years did I go to one of these “mainstream” rallies in D.C. and see the swarms of Marxist organization — the  Workers World Party, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Communist Party USA, etc. — and their affiliated front groups in broad daylight with banners flying, handing out their newspapers, pamphlets, fliers, bumper stickers and so forth? You quite literally could not walk into the Ellipse or LaFayette Park or wherever else these protests assembled without being approached by people trying to hand you the WWP newspaper Workers World, which was not a coincidence since the WWP’s front group International ANSWER was usually the chief organizer of the protests.

Somehow, the liberal media never found time to report any of that, but would invariably search through the crowds of Commie kooks until they found someone who could be plausibly presented as “mainstream” — the housewife, the retiree, the wholesome-looking college coed — and who might in the course of a three- or four-minute interview say a couple of non-crazy sentences worth quoting.

There was a template to these kinds of antiwar protest stories, you see — a narrative, a meme — and this required ignoring the Marxists and other deranged rabble who formed the actual core of the movement that the media wanted to promote as mainstream.

It was all a Big Lie, and there were many Little Lies that were part of that dishonest liberal propaganda campaign. One of those Little Lies required that reporters not report about the sociopathic personalities of antiwar activists like Adam Kokesh. Yet even with the Bush administration a fading memory and the Iraq War receding in the rearview mirror, these lying bastards still won’t tell the truth.

Adam Kokesh might finally go to prison now, but never mind the genuinely mainstream Americans who always knew he was a kook.

 

 

UPDATE: Readers will excuse my vehemence in denouncing Kokesh, who nowadays postures as a “libertarian.” Maybe you consider gobbling psilocybin mushrooms and brandishing loaded shotguns in public to be “libertarian” and if so, please provide your home address so I can call the cops, OK? Hunter S. Thompson is a personal hero of mine, but you amateur crazies simply aren’t qualified.

You’ll notice I’ve appended Amazon ads for three books that may help you understand why the Politics of Protest invariably attracts dangerous nutjobs, and what evils typically result:

  • The True Believer by Eric Hoffer — An insight into the personalities and motives of those attracted to “mass movements.” If you’ve never read it, you simply must.
  • Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe — What happens when well-meaning liberals encounter cynical opportunists demanding “social justice” on behalf of trendy radicalism? It’s hilarious, if only it weren’t so sad. A classic.
  • Destructive Generation by Peter Collier and David Horowitz — One thing that the liberal media never mention, and which too many conservatives don’t realize, is that younger protesters today are encouraged in their misguided activism by idealized portrayals of 1960s-era movements. Adam Kokesh wasn’t even born until 1982, but believes that expressing “dissent” against the “status quo” is heroic because he has been indoctrinated to believe that this is what Real Heroes do. The true history of the 196os, however, teaches rather different lessons. Collier and Horowitz learned those lessons the hard way as members of the ‘6os New Left. Their account of that era (and its consequences) should be required reading for high school and college students today.

Young idiots trying re-enact a mythical past of which they have no direct knowledge ought not be praised or encouraged, but told to wise up before they get themselves imprisoned or worse.

UPDATE II: Linked by Donald Douglas at American Power — thanks!

 

Category: Books, Crime, History, Media Bias

Comments

85 Responses to “Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge”

  1. M. Thompson
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:27 pm

    The template:

    All right wing opinions are either crazy, or unacceptable for polite society.

    All left wing opinions are some how acceptable for mass consumption.

  2. jwbrown1969
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge: In 2007, fringe nutjob Adam Kokesh wa… http://t.co/zUqX2yw7nQ

  3. Citzcom
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge: In 2007, fringe nutjob Adam Kokesh wa… http://t.co/QTVrfIckkr

  4. redostoneage
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/6sYFWRPTCc #p2 #hardball #nyc #ocra #ucot #rs

  5. redostoneage
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/6sYFWRPTCc #p2 #uniteblue #nyc #tcot #sgp #twisters #cnn

  6. ConserveTruth13
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  7. preciseBlogs
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:29 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/pbX6BTBlIL #news #conservative #mediabias #crime

  8. survivecollapse
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:29 pm

    RT @rsmccain: KOOK > @adamkokesh < Hint: “Sociopath” is not a political philosophy. http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  9. DaleyGator
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:29 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  10. rsmccain
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:30 pm

    KOOK > @adamkokesh < “A self-righteous half-educated egomaniac strutting for the cameras and insulting people” http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  11. CHideout
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:31 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge: In 2007, fringe nutjob Adam Kokesh wa… http://t.co/SZhed65dHE

  12. karensturgis62
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:32 pm

    RT @rsmccain: KOOK > @adamkokesh < “A self-righteous half-educated egomaniac strutting for the cameras and insulting people” http://t.co/Sk…

  13. Ltfngr
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:33 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  14. rsmccain
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:39 pm

    BTW, hat-tip to @BadgerPundit for alerting me to the Kokesh story. http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX

  15. matthewhurtt
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:41 pm

    Last tweet was a line from an @rsmccain piece about Adam Kokesh: http://t.co/UNfGjzW254

  16. rsmccain
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:43 pm

    RT @matthewhurtt: Last tweet was a line from an @rsmccain piece about Adam Kokesh: http://t.co/UNfGjzW254

  17. Badger Pundit
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:49 pm

    Great, and incredibly quick, coverage of this breaking news, as usual.

    But Kokesh, it turns out, DOES have his defenders. A couple of hours ago someone friendly to Kokesh did a MASSIVE DELETE of information on his Wikipedia page, information that made him look bad. See 16:39 edits here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adam_Kokesh&action=history

    E.g., deleted was how Russia Today hired Kokesh to do a talk show, and how he admitted in 2011 that ultimately he got fired from all his TV and radio gigs (reducing him to doing YouTube videos to satisfy his ever-dwindling audience).

    Never fear, I’ve gone line by line through Kokesh’s Wikipedia page and have restored all the important background information — plus I’ve added references to him admitting that he’s an anarchist, and to his calls for the overthrow of the existing U.S. government. And of course, at the end, the mushrooms thing.

    Bottom line: Kokesh is really a super guy. Here’s his Wikipedia page:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Kokesh

  18. Klejdys
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:51 pm

    Who wrote this piece, McCain or Smitty? Funny how it’s unsigned.

    1.) Kokesh was correct on the Iraq War. It was a folly. A neo-con folly. It irrepairably has harmed the party that supported it. He was also a veteran of military service.

    2.) He’s a libertarian, not a leftie. Nice try though. He believes in limited gov’t, a lot like we do. His crime this time? Loading a shotgun, ON VIDEO, in Freedom Plaza, DC, to protest ridiculous gun laws in our nation’s capital.

    3.) “Like a few other antiwar oddballs” – Paul supported the (limited scope of the original) Afghan War strikes in 2002. Hard for you to admit, but Paul, Jones, Kokesh and Code PInk were correct in their opposition to the War in Iraq. I wish I was that prescient.
    4.) “Heckling John McCain” – he should be lauded for this. Conservatives rightly detest McCain.
    5.) Listen, I get it that the groups that aligned with Kokesh were mostly evil. But on the Iraq War, they were right. And it’s incredibly difficult for partisans to admit they were wrong, lest more grist for the mill for those we hate, Team Blue. Get past that. Look beyond. The war was a waste or resources, life and effort. The cost was in the trillions. Liberal media, blah, blah, blah. Same sh*t. Got it, got it, got it. How about getting the policy right and stop twisting a guy’s act to fit your pre-designed natrrative, _____*?
    * = still no idea who wrote the post

  19. Klejdys
    July 10th, 2013 @ 2:54 pm

    I don’t listen to Kokesh, but this piece by McCain is not up to his usual standards. This is twisting facts to represent his narrative.
    Further, what Kokesh in Freedom Plaza should be looked at in support of 2nd Amendment rights, something obstensibly readers of this blog would support.
    But that’s not what McCain chooses to focus on, which is amusing to me.
    Gun rights supporting conservatives will have to look deep, past Stacy’s musings on the Iraq War coverage, to discover what, exactly, Kokesh was arrested for.

  20. Scribe of Slog (McGehee)
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:02 pm

    In reporting the news, the Washington Post has rather deliberately obscured the reality of what kind of kook Adam Kokesh is

    My whole concept of the WaPo‘s integrity has been shaken. I need to go lie down.

  21. darthodius
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:02 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  22. Scribe of Slog (McGehee)
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:04 pm

    This is Stacy’s site. Anything not written by him will be signed by its author — anything not signed is therefore WRITTEN BY ROBERT STACY McCAIN. Funny how you didn’t know that.

  23. Badger Pundit
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:06 pm

    He does not seem to be a responsible supporter of gun rights. Responsible supporters of gun rights work together to rationally explain, to the public, to legislators, and to the courts why particular gun restrictions are unjustified and why they violate the 2nd Amendment. Watch for example this video, which has more than 26,000 views, of how Minnesota citizens worked together to defeat a gun-control proposal:

    Responsible gun-rights advocates don’t video themselves violating a gun law and then call on all Americans to march to overthrow the government. What, exactly, can thereby be achieved, other than to tend to discredit the gun-rights movement generally?

    Can you identify a single respected gun-rights advocate who backs anything Kokesh has done on gun rights? If not, isn’t it pretty clear that he detracts from the cause and should be ridiculed as completely ineffectual (indeed, perhaps counterproductive) in terms of achieving his stated goals?

  24. dwduck
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:12 pm

    I can’t tell if you’re a decade-old, single-issue broken record, or just a typical far-left water carrier. (NOH8 and all that, right?)

  25. DonaldDouglas
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:13 pm

    More: Adam Kokesh Arrested: So-Called Gun Rights Activist is Actually Anarcho-Communist Dirtbag:

    http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/adam-kokesh-arrested-so-called-gun.html

  26. Badger Pundit
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:14 pm

    For an article on Kokesh that rivals McCain’s in its level of ridicule, see this one from Wonkette in May:

    “Adam Kokesh Cancels Big March, Continues Call For Revolution Maybe Next Year, Depending On How Things Go.”

    http://wonkette.com/518063/adam-kokesh-cancels-big-march-continues-call-for-revolution-maybe-next-year-depending-on-how-things-go

  27. robertstacymccain
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:17 pm

    Notice how trying to classify kooks like Adam Kokesh and Alex Jones as “libertarians” has become part of the Left’s ongoing smear campaign against the Right? Liberals always think we’re too stupid to figure out what they’re doing, but if some people are so easily deceived, I certainly am not one of them.

  28. Badger Pundit
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:21 pm

    Thanks for the very helpful links. It seems various media outlets have used the fact that Kokesh is a vet, and that he purports to care about gun rights, to suggest he’s somehow a right-winger, when in fact he’s admitted he’s an anarchist. Here’s the video in which he talks about his anarchist views (which I linked to at the start of his Wikipedia page):

    I can’t claim credit for finding that video — it was found by some who included it in an edit on the Wikipedia page today, an edit which was deleted by someone friendly to Kokesh (I later restored it).

  29. Thomas L. Knapp
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:23 pm

    Klejdys FTW.

    This post is a stain on your honor, Stacy.

  30. Jacqueline O. Mixson
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:23 pm

    I read about this in the paper. They used a SWAT team? Bit of an over kill isn’t it?

  31. cgpb
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:24 pm

    The other McCain: “Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge.” http://t.co/awpIRsKAfA #tcot #tlot #ccot

  32. rsmccain
    July 10th, 2013 @ 3:24 pm

    “Maybe you consider gobbling psilocybin mushrooms and brandishing loaded shotguns in public to be libertarian …” http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX

  33. TaosGOP
    July 10th, 2013 @ 4:45 pm

    RT @rsmccain: KOOK > @adamkokesh < Hint: “Sociopath” is not a political philosophy. http://t.co/SkjrWQJIyX #tcot

  34. Finrod Felagund
    July 10th, 2013 @ 5:59 pm

    I think the Second Amendment is just fine without his help.

  35. Finrod Felagund
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:05 pm

    1) He was not correct on the Iraq War. To argue that case you need to make a convincing argument that things would be better in the Middle East if Saddam Hussein (or one of his sons) was still in power, and neither you nor anyone else have even started to make that case.

    2) He’s not a libertarian, he’s a lunatic. Leftists are trying to pawn off their lunatics by calling them libertarian, and as a conservative-libertarian I highly resent that.

    3) See point 1.

    4) John McCain at that point was the Republican nominee. Heckling him is giving aid and comfort to the Democratic Party.

    5) See point 1.

  36. ajpwriter
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:22 pm

    While Kokesh is undoubtedly a nincompoop, and a perfect specimen of the type who equates libertarianism with tripping balls on mescaline, I can’t see celebrating his arrest here.

    DC’s gun laws deserve public disobedience. We have the Supremes writ to encourage such.

    As to the ‘shrooms, meh. The Drug War is stupid even if nails WWP goons and their associated flak-catchers.

  37. Wombat_socho
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:22 pm

    Some people just can’t read.

  38. thatMrGguy
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:22 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/tkgoB2ZCKo

  39. Wombat_socho
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:23 pm

    Klejdys is a flaming moron (and not in the AOSHQ sense) and you do yourself no credit associating yourself with his drivel.

  40. Flap
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:42 pm

    Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge http://t.co/Wjlhnx9KBg #tcot

  41. Thomas L. Knapp
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:51 pm

    At least he’s not actively evil and anti-American, as Stacy was with the post.

  42. RMHBiscuit
    July 10th, 2013 @ 6:53 pm

    Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge : The Other McCain http://t.co/XmAO0Fkf93

  43. Finrod Felagund
    July 10th, 2013 @ 7:07 pm

    Evil? Anti-American? I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

  44. dawadu
    July 10th, 2013 @ 7:39 pm

    To me it appears that his apartment was raided because of a youtube video showing him “loading a shotgun in violation of DC laws” –how is that different than what a Mr. David Gregory did?
    I

  45. Richard McEnroe
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:02 pm

    Or, like the incontinent panda, he just shows up to eat, shoot and leave.

  46. Richard McEnroe
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:04 pm

    David Kokesh’s bosses don’t have family in the White House. That said, it was a stupid, alenating ploy and if I must have stupid, alienating people, I prefer they not claim to be my allies.

  47. dawadu
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:09 pm

    I agree with your statement of stupid, alienating people who claim to be allies of mine and having my “friends” trying to get me to defend them.

  48. Klejdys
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:32 pm

    Funny, DC residents only rec’d the ability to own handguns in 2008 as a result of Heller v. DC. Short memory you have there. Further, as a DC resident who went through the process of legally acquiring permission to own (one of 1100) I support Kokesh’s attempts to bring DC’s draconian gun laws into the spotlight. For a guy named Finrod, I thought you’d be more worldly. Sad to be wrong.

  49. Klejdys
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:34 pm

    Thanks goodness we have the judiciousness of Badger Pundit to inform us what “responsible” gun advocacy looks like. The Founders were pretty clear, IMHO. DC’s laws are clearly not what the Founders had in mind and Kokesh deserves credit and courage for pointing that out. Of course, Stacy would rather talk about the liberal media, Code Pink and the Iraq War; you know, the stuff that really rallies the base and gets conservatives elected.

  50. Klejdys
    July 10th, 2013 @ 8:36 pm

    Good job, good effort