thoroughly debunked, Republican lawmakers have continued to let conservative sites like Alex Jones' Infowars, Glenn Beck's The Blaze and The Drudge Report drive their agenda.

“To the extent that we’re responding to conspiracy theories or whatever, I think we’re really wasting everybody’s time on that,” Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) said during a House hearing last week. “It might have been predictable that Sarah Palin would have taken opportunity to feed these conspiracy theories with statements that the government was preparing for civil unrest, but it was a little more disturbing that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) would seize the opportunity to accuse the government cornering the market on ammunition to drive up prices.”

“Unsubstantiated false conspiracy theories have no place in this committee room — hopefully,” he continued. “Federal ammunition purchases are a fraction of the total ammunition market and they’ve been decreasing in recent years. Even the National Rifle Association distances itself from these conspiracy theories.”

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)