Thoughts in a Haystack

As Ed Brayton noted, the mere fact that, after a couple of years demanding that President Obama reveal his “long form birth certificate,” the mere fact that he did is not about to stop the stupid.

And among the stupidest, at least until Orly Taitz chimes in, is Joseph Farah, the founder and chief executive officer of Wing Nut Daily.

“I’m not apologizing for nothing,” a defiant Farah said in a telephone interview with NBC News, insisting there are still questions about Obama’s citizenship aside from where he was born.

The comments by Farah underscore Obama’s observation Wednesday that hard-core birthers are unlikely to be persuaded by any evidence, no matter how compelling. “I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest,” Obama said at a White House press event to release the birth certificate.

But when one comforting delusion is taken away, simply substitute another!:

In fact, Farah said, Obama’s citizenship, not his birth, is actually the principal theme of World Net Daily’s upcoming book by Jerome Corsi titled, “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President.” …

Farah said the real issue is that Obama is still not eligible to be president because his father was Kenyan and his adopted father was Indonesian, making him a potential “dual citizen” of two separate foreign countries. (Farah supplied no evidence to support his contention that Obama ever held “dual citizenship.” Nor did he explain why it would make any difference, given Obama’s birth to an American mother on U.S. soil, which would meet the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that he be a “natural-born citizen.”)

As Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe said:

[Farah's claim] a totally wacky argument, without any conceivable merit. ... The 14th amendment unambiguously and expressly confers U.S. citizenship on everyone ‘born . . . in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ This means that Barack Obama was a U.S. citizen at birth. independent of the citizenship or age of either or both of his biological or adoptive parents.

People have been wondering why the President “gave into” the birthers now. This may explain it:

Slated to be published May 17, Corsi ‘s book on Obama shot to the top of Amazon’s book rankings last week after being featured on the Drudge Report. Farah said there have already been 150,000 advance orders for the book and he ultimately expects to print between 500,000 and 1 million copies …

Farah said he and Corsi also have plotted a major publicity campaign for the book that will start on May 15, with exclusive interviews on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s radio and TV show. …

Even Farah can't shut out the reality “that the book’s title may be 'unfortunate.'” With people such as Ann Coulter already seeing this issue as a loser, the more that this “unfortunate” book is hyped by the rabid right, while also trying to backpedal furiously, the loonier they look. In turn, the the Republican establishment will be either forced to disown the the crazies or risk being tarred with the same brush.

It doesn't hurt that the President gets to stick a thumb in the eye of Corsi, who first garnered headlines in 2004 as one of the architects of the so-called “Swift Boat” attacks on John Kerry’s war record.
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