Trade in dishonesty

Birtherism is Alive and Well on World Net Daily

By Hrafnkell Haraldsson, June 16, 2011

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Birtherism, by any normal standard dead since the release of President Obama’s birth certificate on April 27 and the mercy suicide of Donald Trump’s presidential aspirations, is alive and well on World Net Daily. In discussing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible To Be President” World Net Daily makes this interesting claim with reference to the release of Obama’s birth certificate:

Yet a stunning Gallup Poll taken more than a week later (May 5-8) shows more than half of all Americans remain unconvinced Obama was born in the U.S.

That’s not exactly true. Okay, it’s not even remotely true. It’s a complete fabrication. Which leads to this question: Is it illegal in conservative land to actually tell the truth? It must be. Because I looked at the referenced Gallup Poll and this is what it actually said:

47% say they believe the president was “definitely” born in the United States;

18% say he “probably” was born here;

8% say he probably was born elsewhere;

5% say he definitely was; and,

20% say they don’t know enough to say.

So in order to be truthful, what World Net Daily ought to have reported is this:

“Yet a stunning Gallup Poll taken more than a week later (May 5-8) shows only 13% of all Americans believe Obama was not born in the United States.”

Thirteen percent is less than 1/6^th of the population. Pretty far from WND’s “more than half.”

In truth, what the poll does say is that almost two-thirds of Americans are pretty confident was born in the United States. This despite two years of lies, dishonesty and propaganda, a powerful conservative network and a media that seems to cater to Republican fantasies. That’s pretty remarkable, really.

Moreover, according to the poll, an abysmally low ten percent of Republicans still say Obama was definitely born elsewhere. The number for independents is 5 percent and for Democrats, 2 percent. It hardly sounds to me as if GOP lies are even selling very well to their own party. This poll is nothing for WND to celebrate, so they don’t celebrate it. Instead, they “re-interpret” it to make it say something it does not really say.

WND come to this conclusion:

Prior to the release of “Where’s the Birth Certificate,” conscientious Americans have had basically two choices:

1. Believe that their president, Barack Obama – after years of ignoring the millions of citizens who, according to repeated polls, doubt his official nativity story and just want the truth regarding his birth, his past and his loyalties – has simply been playing games with the public and hiring lawyers to block release of his birth certificate, only to do it now, after years of needless stonewalling.
2. Believe there may have been a real reason Obama adamantly refused to release his birth certificate all these years – meaning he had something real to hide and still does. And that perhaps the latest birth certificate, a copy of a copy of a document, posted on the Internet like the last one, is fraudulent.

Since neither choice is very palatable to most Americans, the release of Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the Birth Certificate” will present a third choice: the sure understanding that, based on the U.S. Constitution and the framers’ original intent, Barack Obama is not qualified to be president of the United States.

Since President Obama was elected per the Constitution, it’s difficult to see any problems constitutionally speaking. Pissed-off racist whack-jobs aren’t covered in that document so I guess WND is SOL.

Actually, conscientious Americans have had no reason to make either choice offered above. There is a third: that Barack Obama is exactly who and what he says he is. The simple fact is that despite all the efforts and all the millions of dollars put into trying to prove Obama is not an American citizen, to prove he is not a Christian, to prove he is an Islamist or an anti-colonialist Kenyan (I still don’t get that one) nobody has succeeded in proving any such thing.

The most telling fact to come out of the Gallup Poll is this: WND wants us to believe that nobody “bought” Obama’s birth certificate but the poll numbers show just the opposite. The before/after numbers show +9 percent in Obama’s favor and the before/after of nonbelievers has dropped from 24 percent to 13 percent. of those who disapprove of Obama’s performance, only 11 percent say he was definitely born abroad.

Yet WND is determined to sell the paranoia. Check out what they’re writing about. In truth, WND looks like a supermarket tabloid. Here is their selection of “hot” Obama stories (it’s no surprise this stuff is “exclusive” to WND):
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You’d think there were no real problems facing America today, things like unemployment, an economy murdered by the economic policies of the Republican Party, a huge deficit and two wars not paid for, a crumbling infrastructure, a healthcare crisis. Instead they have to manufacture conspiracy theories about our constitutionally elected black president.

Of course, it would be a little too much to ask for WND to cater to honesty. It’s ironic that an Internet media outlet like WND would claim to be “A free press for a free people” and care so little about freedom. Two important component of freedom are facts and truth – they should certainly be the sequelae of freedom but WND clearly does not agree. They’d rather continue – despite the freedom to be honest with the facts – continue to trade in dishonesty.

http://www.politicususa.com/en/birtherism-is-alive-and-well-on-world-net-daily or http://bit.ly/jkrLWL or http://tinyurl.com/3jzezca