Conservative Commentators At A Loss To Blame Balloon Hoax On Obama, Liberals

Reacting to the news that a Colorado family had apparently cooked up a hoax regarding their 5-year-old son and a runaway helium balloon, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck today at first said it was a sign of decreasing family values. Then he ranted about the current health care debate and the fear and paranoia it was causing for vulnerable families. After dabbling in a theory about children being exposed to harmful TV influences, Beck suddenly clammed up for almost 90-seconds and eventually said “I got nothing here.”

At the same time, Rush Limbaugh launched into a diatribe in his radio show about how the Obama administration was not spending enough to detect and deter balloon hoaxes. He then tried to link the child’s father, Richard Heene to the Democrats and 60s weatherman William Ayers. “It was a weather balloon, wasn’t it,” said Limbaugh, before suddenly changing the subject in mid-sentence to discuss the Middle East.

Members of Congress also got into the act, with Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, minority leader of the Senate, drafting a resolution calling for president Barack Obama to take action against the Heenes for violating the federal No Child Left Behind act.