I was trying to convince a 48 year-old mother of a 16 year old boy how important it was to register and vote this year, at least for her son and the possibility that he might be drafted over the next few years, thinking that maybe that would finally motivate her to actually become a responsible citizen for the first time in her life.

I doubt even that worked on her, but in her unfailing ignorance of all things newsworthy, she asked about Therasa Heinz-Kerry, saying that she had seen something or other about her being a communist or that the Heinz fortune has a connection to terrorists.  I was seriously flabbergasted and have absolutly no idea what the hell she was talking about, and understand how often confused this woman is that it borderlines on the insane -- but I do have a question?

Where would someone get the idea that the Heinz money is "dirty," like in the sense that there is a link between the Bush money and the Nazis?  Is there some strange conspiracy theory out there about Mrs. Kerry? 

Or did this autistic ShirleyLocks get the idea from a bottle of "W" Ketchup?
  
Did this misguided mother come across this FReeper spoof?

Just a skimming of the web gives me every reason to believe that Therasa would be genetically programed to hate all things associated with communism, and should be well to the right of her current husband.  In Mozambique her parents had also "lost everything to the Communists."

What is so disturbing that that there really are people out there who buy this drivel as truth.  It's a shame and actually it's best that they don't vote, even for our guy.  She probably was a victim of this Internet Whispering Campaign.  Some people will believe anything.  If it weren't for fear and ignorance, there would be no GOP.

UPDATE: It seems Faux News has been a "Fellow Traveler" in spreading the FReeper "Commies for Kerry" smear too. Here's Atrios' exposé:

Fox News - Snookered Again
Is anyone ever going to hold this network to any standard?

* * *

"We're trying to get Comrade Kerry elected and get that capitalist enabler George Bush out of office," said 17-year-old Komoselutes Rob of Communists for Kerry.

"Even though he, too, is a capitalist, he supports my socialist values more than President Bush," Rob said, before assuring FOXNews.com that his organization was not a parody group. When asked his thoughts on Washington's policy toward Communist holdout North Korea, Rob said: "The North Koreans are my comrades to a point, and I'm sure they support Comrade Kerry, too."

It is unclear whether the Kerry campaign has welcomed the Communists' endorsement.

All Fox had to do was click on the "About" link:

"Communists for Kerry" is a campaign of the Hellgate Republican Club, a tax exempt non-partisan public advocacy "527" organization * * *

* * * Communists For Kerry is separate and distinct from the Communist party of America and any of its organization. None of it's members are members of any communist organizations.

(thanks to reader g) [Eschaton]