November 20, 2015 12:01 PM UTC

Six Degrees of Benghazi, with Rep. Ken Buck

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• by: Colorado Pols

Via Talking Points Memo, here’s Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley) trying to connect the wrong dots:

Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Buck on Thursday blamed the President’s handling of the 2011 terrorist attack in Benghazi for Americans’ distrust of Syrian refugees today.

In a back-and-forth with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez, Buck argued that no one should be surprised Americans are deeply concerned about refugees considering the way Obama handled the aftermath of the Benghazi attacks.

“One of the reasons Americans are distrustful at this point. We have a president who after the murder of an ambassador in Benghazi and the murder of three heroes in Benghazi…told the American people that the attack was the result of a video,” Buck said. “You have a secretary of state that immediately identified that it was not the result of a video — that it was that it was a result of a well-planned attack.”

We suppose it’s unavoidable that some Republican politicians will reflexively scream “Benghazi!” whenever they are discussing any foreign policy matter, but come on, Ken! This is silly even for you.

Steve Benen of MSNBC tries to figure out what Buck is trying to say here. It’s complicated:

Initially, I took this to mean that Buck was conflating terrorists in Libya and refugees from Syria, but that’s not it.

Rather, the Colorado Republican was endorsing far-right Benghazi conspiracy theories, which leads him to believe the White House covered up some imaginary scandal, which then leads him to believe Americans don’t trust the administration, which then leads Buck to believe Benghazi is indirectly responsible for creating public hostility towards refugees from an entirely different country.

Could you connect the Paris terrorist attacks to Benghazi in six steps or less? Probably. Could you connect the Paris attacks to actor Kevin Bacon in six steps or less? Probably.

Maybe it’s Kevin Bacon’s fault!

(h/t to DawnPatrol)