I don’t normally waste time with WorldNetDaily as debunking their nonsense is just too easy, and doing so does nothing to keep right wing blogs from continuing to quote their falsehoods. As conservative sites are quoting this falsehood via Memeorandum today I thought I’d take a quick moment to show how dishonest the publication is, and how little fact checking is done by those who quote its headlines. Seeing the degree to which a conservative “news”site distorts an account of an interview with the governor of Hawaii, and how this is quoted by other conservative blogs, helps show how the right wing has become so out of touch with reality.
Today’s headline at WorldNetDaily: “Hawaii governor can’t find Obama birth certificate.”
The actual article on an interview with the governor states: “Abercrombie said there is a recording of the birth in the State Archives and he wants to use that.”
WorldNetDaily’s subheadline says “Suggests controversy could hurt president’s re-election chances”
The actual statement in the interview: “It has a political implication for 2012 that we simply cannot have.” The governor also stated:
What I can do, and all I have ever said, is that I am going to see to it as governor that I can verify to anyone who is honest about it that this is the case.
If there is a political agenda then there is nothing I can do about that, nor can the president.
While I sympathize with Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie for wanting to put an end to this nonsense, I think two things are clear: 1) The right wing will continue to make their bogus claims and no amount of evidence will change this, and 2) It has zero implications for the 2012 election. Those who believe the Birthers did not vote for Obama in 2008 and will not vote for him in 2012 even if taken back in time to witness his birth in Hawaii.
