The New Birchers: Sharron Angle Fears Fluoridated Water

12:03 pm EST June 9th, 2010 | Conservative | 50 Comments

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in April 1999 that the state assembly, of which Angle was a member, voted 26-16 for a bill that required fluoridation in two counties including the cities of Reno and Las Vegas. Angle was a strong opponent of the measure

Topic: Harry Reid, Sharron Angle, Tea Party

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50 Responses to “The New Birchers: Sharron Angle Fears Fluoridated Water”

Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 12:20 pm

Now hold on just a second.

Where’s the part where Angle claims flouride is a commie plot? She’s quoted saying she “just doesn’t like” flouride and she’s quoted fretting over other substances that she says come along with flouride.

Where’s the commie part?
SaveFarris says:

June 9, 2010 at 12:35 pm

Per the article, putting flouride in water requires trace amounts of arsenic. And we know just how much Democratics LOVE increased arsenic in their drinking water.
jr says:

June 9, 2010 at 12:49 pm

“Dentists are field agents of the Bilderberg Group”-Sharron Angle
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:06 pm

Per the article, putting flouride in water requires trace amounts of arsenic.

Are we reading the same article? The one OW linked says something very different.
mambochicken23 says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:10 pm

I think I’ve seen this movie before.
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:25 pm

Now this puts me in a tough spot. To me, Angle looks like a nut. She has cozied up with the Oath Keepers and I’m willing to bet she’s on the record saying all sorts of odd things.

But TPM is playing its readers. Let’s look at what they’re written closely:

Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle earlier in her career spoke out strongly against fluoride,

Did Angle “speak out against fluoride”? After we get past the lead, the best we get is a paraphrase in which Angle supposedly says she “just doesn’t like” fluoride. The article also cites Angle’s voting record: She opposed a bill that would require fluoridation of water in Nevada counties.

Did Angle oppose the bill because she’s “against fluoride”? Or did she have different objections to the bill? TPM doesn’t say.

the substance known alternately for improving dental health and as a Communist plot to undermine Western democracy.

Did Angle say fluoride is “a Communist plot to undermine Western democracy”? Not according to anything written in this article, but that’s not stopping TPM from hoping you’ll think so. TPM’s writer says fluoride “is sometimes known” as a Communist plot. Does Sharron Angle think this? TPM slickly suggests she does without providing any evidence.

We like to laugh at Fox News viewers who get played for suckers with baldly misleading stories. We’re far too willing to get played ourselves when TPM tells us what we want to hear.
AwkwardSilence says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:35 pm

Pointless

In a recent letter (July 7, 2000) to Congress, NSF International (National Sanitation Foundation) submitted the results of tests it has conducted on hydrofluosilicic acid over the past few years……[snip]
…The maximum levels of arsenic found by the NSF would result in arsenic levels in water of 1.66 parts per billion.

And per the link from the article you posted:
The 10 parts per billion standard approved by the Clinton administration is identical to the one adopted several years ago by the European Union and the World Health Organization.

The amount of arsenic from fluoridation is statistically insignificant relative to the previous standards, and to contamination by the mining, chemical, and wood products industries.

Also, fluoridation process doesn’t “require” arsenic, professor- again, from the top link:
90% of the fluoride used to fluoridate US water systems comes from the pollution scrubbing devices of the phosphate fertilizer industry. It is industrial grade, not pharmaceutical grade
The most common contaminant found with the captured fluoride acid (hydrofluosilicic acid) is arsenic.

Swing and a miss.
Indeed says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:49 pm

Yeah, I prefer allowing Angle use any available rope to hang herself on her own, you know, as one might with a blog Troll. Nine times out of ten (way above the Mendoza Line!), they’ll do themselves in, delivering hilarious unintentional comedy in the process.
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 1:58 pm

Sometimes TPM just pisses me off. At one point last week, I counted 8 separate stories on their front page about various sex scandals.

We used to be against that sort of thing.
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 2:25 pm

In regard to TPM’s (and others’) coverage of the South Carolina GOP primary and the sexy-time accusations against Nikki Haley: Will Folks has made a public confession to a violation of Title 16 of the South Carolina Code of Laws that carries a minimum sentence of 6 months in jail.

Shouldn’t he be in jail by now?
william says:

June 9, 2010 at 2:40 pm

That’s some fine reporting over at TPM… No link to the assembly vote and no link to the original article.
Sean D. Martin says:

June 9, 2010 at 3:10 pm

Save Farris: we know just how much Democratics LOVE increased arsenic in their drinking water

Actual text of the link:

the Bush administration’s just-announced decision to scrap Clinton administration rules limiting the permissible amount of arsenic in drinking water.

Yes, Farris is still batting 1000 on linking to things that actually say exactly the opposite of what he claims.

Personally I find it reassuring to have one constant in this world. Thanks, Farris!
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 3:38 pm

That’s because it’s hard to link to things that aren’t on the Internet.
william says:

June 9, 2010 at 4:04 pm

It actually is on the internet:

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/70th/Reports/BillVote.cfm?VoteID=418&fldBillname=AB284

I think it’s lazy reporting not to incluse the link.

And from Nevada Assembly Meeting minutes (which also speaks to your point about TPM journo skills), Angle actually wanted the citizens of the counties affected by flouridation to be able to vote on it:

“Assemblywoman Angle stated she wanted the people to vote on the question of fluoride in their water. She was in favor of the presidential election of 2000 for the fluoride ballot question.”

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/70th/Minutes/AM-JUD-990526-Wednesday.html

I still can’t find the original Las Vegas Review-Journal article.
william says:

June 9, 2010 at 4:11 pm

TPM must be the new “Birchers” hang-out…comments are running about 50/50 against flouridated water. As a popular blogger might say, “heh”.
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 4:13 pm

It actually is on the internet:

Hey, good for you. I dug around on the Nevada Assembly site for a while and couldn’t find it. On the plus side for TPM, looks like they got this little fact right. She did vote against the bill–but that tells us exactly nothing.

(which also speaks to your point about TPM journo skills)

There are some talented and energetic people working there, but sometimes it seems like Josh Marshall can’t quite make up his mind if he wants the site to be a lefty version of The Politico or a wonkier version of Daily Kos.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal keeps its deep archives behind a paywall.
Quaker in a Basement says:

June 9, 2010 at 4:14 pm

Meh. There are certain topics that bring the nuts out of the woodwork regardless of the site’s primary orientation.
MrBenchley says:

June 9, 2010 at 5:29 pm

Meanwhile Angle also claims to be a member of the Oath Keepers militia, opposes sales of alcohol, thinks off-shore oil drilling needs to be deregulated, wants to abolish Social Security and Medicare, and withdraw from the UN. She’s not just a bigot opposed to gay marriage; she also announced not so long ago that it’s “wrong” for both straight parents to work.

The tea baggers have hitched their wagon to a turd!
william says:

June 9, 2010 at 7:55 pm

Quotes and links?
The Dark Avenger says:

June 9, 2010 at 8:55 pm

You wanna link, you gotta link.

On the issues, it would be hard for Angle to run farther from the right. In Washington today, she spoke often of the Smith & Wesson she carries when she’s not in D.C. and told one tea partier that she agreed this year’s Census form is “too intrusive.”

She promised to get rid of the “unconstitutional czars” in the executive branch.

“Our president can have friends,” she said, to laughter from the crowd, “but I don’t have to pay for them.”

Angle is a member of the “Oath Keepers,” the conservative group that advocates law enforcement and military types disobey orders they feel are unconstitutional. She touted her “Ronald Reagan Freedom Medallion” from the conservative Claremont Institute, and other right wing bona fides in conversations with reporters today.

When it comes to governing, Angle has no doubts about her priorities. She told the audience at the Tea Party Express press conference that her first legislative act as a Senator would be to call for the repeal of the health care reform bill, which she called “Obamacare.”

After the press conference, I asked her how far that opposition to the reform bill goes. Angle made no bones about it: she doesn’t support a single shred of the health care bill, including the banning of preexisting condition discrimination. Angle told me that the “free market” would eliminate the need for preexisting condition screening, as long as the government stopped mandating what kind of care insurance companies have to provide.

“Whenever the government makes a law [about health care] it just gums up the works and makes things worse,” she told me. “I don’t think the law is solution.”

That mantra is central to the way Angle views politics.

“I’m a free market person,” she told me. “The law doesn’t solve problems. Law is the problem.”

We also have her husband on the record about her:

Back in April, Angle told TPMDC she was a member of the Oath Keepers at a press gaggle in Washington. On Monday, we decided to call Angle’s campaign to confirm her relationship to the group. Angle’s husband, Ted, picked up the phone.

“We support what the organization stands for,” he told us. “Sharron does.”

Members of Oath Keepers — whose motto is “Not on our watch!” — subscribe to a 10-item declaration affirming that they will not, for example, force citizens into detention camps or invade a state “that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union.”
Burn says:

June 9, 2010 at 10:57 pm

She’ll make it easy for Reid to hold onto his seat. Thanks, teabaggers!
MrBenchley says:

June 10, 2010 at 6:13 am

Right wing loonies and tea baggers? Love and marriage? Unrelated words and phrases?
MrBenchley says:

June 10, 2010 at 6:14 am

I boldly predict that william will run away, pretending he never ever asked for quotes and links…..
william says:

June 10, 2010 at 11:02 am

Still no quotes regarding “opposes sales of alcohol”, “thinks off-shore oil drilling needs to be deregulated”, “wants to abolish Social Security and Medicare”, and “withdraw from the UN”.

A person is certainly not a bigot for not supporting gay marriage and it’s completely main stream to believe that it is best for children to have a stay home mom or dad.

So again, direct quotes please otherwise I’ll assume your just making shit up again.
william says:

June 10, 2010 at 11:26 am

I went to the Oath Keepers.org website and found nothing deserving of scare quotes. These folks have every right to refuse unconstitutional orders given by their superiors. They may suffer the consequences of insubordination, but they have that right.

The fact that you think that those who desire to defend and protect the constitution are somehow scary says more about you than it does the Oath Keepers.
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 11:27 am

Gee, william, you should get together with Frank DiSalle, Googler extraordinaire, and learn how to verify facts for your own self:

In 1999, the Nevada state assembly passed a bill requiring the fluoridation of water into Nevada counties. Then-Assemblywoman Sharron Angle tried to block fluoridation in one of those counties. According to an account in the “Las Vegas Review-Journal,” quote, “Angle said she simply does not like fluoride.”

You know what else she doesn‘t like? Alcohol. In a 2006 interview, Sharron Angle said she was against booze being legal. Quote, “I would tell you that I have the same feelings about legalizing marijuana, not medical marijuana, but just legalizing marijuana. I feel the same about legalizing alcohol. The effect on society is so great that I‘m just not a real proponent of legalizing any drug or encouraging any drug abuse.”
Sharron Angle was forced to clarify her position last month. She now says she no longer wants to outlaw alcohol. Not like when she was all crazy about that stuff back in her youth, four years ago.
But it‘s not just making beer illegal and stopping the evil plot to put fluoride in the drinking water.

Here‘s Sharron Angle‘s take on the United States‘ role in the United Nations, quote, “The U.N. continually threatens U.S. sovereignty with endless rhetoric and treaties and it has become the umpire on fraudulent science such as global warming. The United States needs to withdraw from the United Nations and work solely with America‘s willing allies.”

Her foreign policy position here is that we should ditch the U.N. and their crazy ideas about global warming and treaties.

As for energy policy, check out Sharron Angle‘s response to the BP oil disaster:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARRON ANGLE ®, NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: We have oil reserves and petroleum reserves we should tap into and that‘s a policy that we really need to look at as a nation, how do we deregulate enough to invite our industries to come back into the United States and quit outsourcing their business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

As for the Social Security part, look it up yourself, who do you think you are, Dennis?

A person is certainly not a bigot for not supporting gay marriage and it’s completely main stream to believe that it is best for children to have a stay home mom or dad.

Mainstream? On what planet, buddy?

Anyhoo, her beliefs about domestic life are sure going to get here a lot of votes in that hotbed of traditional values, Clark County, NV.
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 11:34 am

You might try research other than the website they run, william:

According to the SPLC, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a former staffer for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) warns his followers against “a coming dictatorship” that will happen if “our brothers in arms go along and comply with unconstitutional, unlawful orders.” An extensive report on the group by Mother Jones in March suggests supporters of the movement believe they’re living through the first steps of the shift away from constitutional freedom. Members of the group — many of them in the armed forces — share the “belief that the government is already turning on its citizens, they are recruiting military buddies, stashing weapons, running drills, and outlining a plan of action [to stop it],” the magazine reported.

As a commentator noted:

I’m not sure it’s even legal to take that oath if you are in the military. While you don’t have to follow an unlawful order, you can’t make a lawful order unlawful by just declaring it to be so in advance.

What if the oath was not to obey an unlawful order to invade countries without provocation and where the tenets of the Just War theory had not been met?

Yep, just a bunch of plain folks, ready to save us from the concentration camps and dictatorship of the proletariat that Obama is planning to implement after he ‘wins’ the 2012 Presidential election…………….
Indeed says:

June 10, 2010 at 12:09 pm

I went to the Oath Keepers.org website and found nothing deserving of scare quotes.

I know, what’s wrong with these Liberal Scaremongers, anyway? I went to the Family Research Council and they seem really wholesome people, despite what the Hater Evolutionist Fags would tell ya. And at the Rush Limbaugh website, there’s no mention of any racism (apart from B. Hussein Obama and his Supreme Court nominees); He doesn’t care what race you are! I also read on brawndo.com that Brawndo, The Thirst Mutilator, has got what plants crave!
william says:

June 10, 2010 at 1:08 pm

SPLC…Mother Jones…are you serious?

“An extensive report on the group by Mother Jones in March suggests…” Yeah, what was that…a few clicks of the mouse to see what the rest of the “progressives” had to say about them? Too funny.

“I’m not sure it’s even legal…” Why doesn’t the commenter find out and then let us know.

Military Oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

Seems like pretty good motivation to obey any order you’re given, right? Nope. These articles require the obedience of LAWFUL orders. An order which is unlawful not only does not need to be obeyed, but obeying such an order can result in criminal prosecution of the one who obeys it. Military courts have long held that military members are accountable for their actions even while following orders — if the order was illegal.
Frank DiSalle says:

June 10, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Leave me out of this, D A , before I whip your ass at Internet research again…
william says:

June 10, 2010 at 1:19 pm

Thanks D.A.

“Angle tried to block fluoridation in one of those counties.” False. She wanted the citizens to be able to vote on the issue.

“She now says she no longer wants to outlaw alcohol.” False. If you read the Yet read the Liberty Watch interview, it is clear that Angle was not calling for outlawing alcohol, she simply was stating her personal beliefs on the encouragement of the use of any type of drug.

As for the UN quote…here, here! The den of thieves, tyrants, and beggars can go to hell.

BP clip…play the whole thing: “We have oil reserves and petroleum reserves that we should tap into. And that’s a policy that we really need to look at as a nation. How do we deregulate enough to invite our industries to come back into the United States and quit outsourcing their business? We need it here. And especially in this climate, and we also need to talk about taxation as well, you know, the corporate tax rate. Why is Ireland at 12.5%, here we’re at 25-35%. We need to be competitive, and competitive in all markets.”

“Mainstream? On what planet, buddy?” I guess not yours.
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 1:21 pm

Funny how they’re the masters at playing the bait game and then feign indignation later after being humiliated that we’re posting too much, isn’t it, Frank?
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 1:47 pm

Angle jumps to 11-point lead in Nevada
–Rasmussen

Regarding Rasmussen on the off-chance there is anyone here who might question his polls, Gallup has Obama Job Approval at 44% today.
Marco says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:00 pm

Question a Rasmussen poll? But that’d give conservative hacks the vapors.

Boring. Like the rest of America, the more they get to know a tea bagger, the less inclined they’ll vote for one.
Marco says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:01 pm

oops, i should have written the less inclined they’ll be to vote for one.

Stupid long night of Blackhawks victory!!!!
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:28 pm

Boring, Marco? Like the rest of America, the more they get to know a tea partier, they’ll be to vote for one?

Might be a good exercise for you to to up to Oliver’s search box and put in the name ‘Rick Santelli’ and then read some of the posts here by the faithful. Paraphrasing, but ‘The tea party movement was going to be over and done with in no time’…., ‘it was all astroturf’ed and funded by large corporations’…. ‘Robert Gibbs put Santelli in his place and said he didn’t know what he was talking about’….’barely anyone was showing up at the rallies, haha.’

Remember all that? Compare liberal expectations then for the shelf life of the tea party movement to what is reality now, not even a full year and a half later. Like me, I think you’ll be amazed at the stark contrast.

For a more in depth analysis of this truly remarkable phenomenon in American politics, you can read this excellent piece by Jim Barone today.
Marco says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Your astroturf bunch of rabid monkeys isn’t as popular as your ego thinks.

Sorry Den Den. Look it up.

And yes, you’re boring.
Repack Rider says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:54 pm

Like the rest of America, the more they get to know a tea partier, they’ll be to vote for one?

“Teabasggers,” according to them. I’m still laughing at their choice for eponymism.

Pretty funny. You ever think about writing for Stephen Colbert? He uses exactly that sort of (funny only because someone actually believes it) material.
Repack Rider says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:56 pm

Saw it just as I hit “submit.” “Teabaggers.”
The Crapture says:

June 10, 2010 at 2:56 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgDqCaZoEiw

I guess angle has been following the Dan Halen play-book… “Barack Hussein Obama is sneaking fluoride into your drinking water…TO STERILIZE YOUR TESTICLES”
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 3:01 pm

I know I’m boring to you, Marco. I’m not 13.
Marco says:

June 10, 2010 at 4:26 pm

Really? “The I know you are but what am I?” tactic says otherwise.

Pathetic.
Prodigal says:

June 10, 2010 at 4:26 pm

The only reason why Dennis didn’t cite Rasmussen today was because they reported a better approval rate than Gallup. As usual where his ilk are concerned, he went for the lowest result he could cite.

The average rating that Real Clear Politics compiled from the latest polls is 47.5%
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:29 pm

I‘m just not a real proponent of legalizing any drug

If you read the Yet read the Liberty Watch interview, it is clear that Angle was not calling for outlawing alcohol, she simply was stating her personal beliefs on the encouragement of the use of any type of drug.

She said what she said, and did you know, that in fact, alcohol is a drug?

Leave me out of this, D A , before I whip your ass at Internet research again…

Why don’t you share your wisdom with someone like william who is on your side and could presumably use your help, instead of venting your spleen over the fact that you’re a poor loser?

Tell you what, the next time, you can answer the questions william asks here, Frank , although I relly don’t give a big rat’s ass about whether or not you have any talent at Internet searches compared to the likes of moi.

Why is Ireland at 12.5%, here we’re at 25-35%.

Funny, that didn’t seem to help things out in Ireland, seeing how things are there today:

This goes to the core of the Celtic Tiger lie. The rising tide may well have lifted many of the boats (although you’ll always meet plenty of people who it completely passed by.) But it didn’t improve Irish society or make our lives more fulfilling and happier.

Instead it made us work harder to live in worse conditions (boxy apartments in dormitory estates miles from anywhere) in order to support the ostentatious consumption that was thrust forth as the be all and end all of our human existence.

Now that the Irish people are finally waking up from the nightmare, we can come to acknowledge that the squandering of the wealth we created wasn’t just the fault of bankers, politicians and a golden circle, culpable though they all are.

We’re all collectively responsible, and that can be seen in the fruits of our labour. The Celtic Tiger disease is best expressed by what we wasted our money on.

The rise of vacuous celebrity magazines, trumpeting the values of vapidity like the Beckhams or Jade Goody is possibly the most defining symptom of our collective disease.

So was the proliferation of bling, the pointless plumage of the self-obsessed. As were the overt penis-extensions like the big cars, the McMansions and the endless foreign holidays where people went to ever more exotic locales with the sole intent of boasting of it afterwards.

There is a cure for both this emptiness and for the deep social inequality that caused it. But that cure is currently a dirty word. Don’t believe me? Listen to the shills scaremongering.

OTOH, the Irish seem to have some familiar problems:

Although the Irish premier wasted no time in claiming the findings vindicated the approach taken by the government to deal with the crisis, questions still need to be asked about its failure to prevent it or even soften its devastating impact.

The reports reaffirm what even the dogs on the street knew — politicians, bankers and developers turned the boom to bust.

They didn’t see the warning signs, or rather blinded by greed, they didn’t want to see them.

Both reports — one by Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan and the other by international banking experts Klaus Regling and Max Watson — find fault with government economic policy, the financial regulation system and the lending policies of Irish banks.

The frank findings pull no punches describing the approach taken by the Central Bank and the regulator to the banks as “timid”, “excessively deferential” and “accommodating” and referring to the crisis as “home-made”.

They basically accuse the main guardians of the financial system, the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator, of failing in their roles.

In effect economic havoc was bestowed on the Republic following a combination of factors that included a poorly applied regulatory regime, a government tax framework which inflated the property bubble (between 1985 and 2006, Irish house prices rose by almost 250%, far higher than in Great Britain) and a self-indulgent banking leadership.
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Funny how your response to being bitch-slapped hasn’t changed yet, Denise the Menace.
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:33 pm

If that’s already in law, why are they so concerned about being given unconstitutional orders, when they are already protected from having to obey unlawful orders in the first place?
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:35 pm

What the heck are you talking about, DA? You’ve never bitch-slapped me.

You’ve whined a lot and tried to moralize and played the role of sanctimonious liberal, but you’ve never so much as laid a finger on me.
Dennis says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:39 pm

I posted Gallup’s because Gallup’s poll is news. Rasmussen’s polling on Obama approval has been the leader, at least toward the downside, so maybe Gallup goes back a little in the next few days. But this was a low for Gallup for The One’s approval rating.

The trend is not Obama’s friend, Prodigal. That’s the bottom line.

Blame it on racism.

Or Bush.
The Dark Avenger says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:55 pm

You’ve never bitch-slapped me.

5

You’ve whined a lot and tried to moralize and played the role of sanctimonious liberal, but you’ve never so much as laid a finger on me.

Dennis, I think your comment is Photoshopped.

You still haven’t caught on, have you?
mambochicken23 says:

June 10, 2010 at 5:57 pm

“Barack Hussein Obama is sneaking fluoride into your drinking water…TO STERILIZE YOUR TESTICLES”

If only this could be done for a number of idiotic commenters on these boards.