During the last presidential campaign, I noticed a disturbing trend.  We ALL expect any political contest to be loaded with statements and accusations that have been “spun” to one side’s benefit…and to the other side’s detriment.  We expect THAT.  What I didn’t expect, was the high volume of purely false statements and conspiracy theories that were rampaging through the internet and the email inboxes of the American people….including my inbox.  So I took it upon myself: when I was sent an email that made claims about Obama, Biden, McCain or Palin, I would research the claim and then send out a response to ALL the senders and recipients of the original email.  My response would contain the facts of the matter, as well as links to the resources that provided me those facts.

Soon…I had LOTS of people I hadn’t even met, forwarding emails to me and asking: “How about this?  Is THIS true?“  I set up my blog so that I could type up a response for all to see, and then I would send people on my mailing list links to my posts.  In this way, I was able to tell myself that at least I was doing my small part to fight misinformation and disinformation.

One rumor that I was sent, and that I responded to, involved Barack Obama’s citizenship.

It was an easy myth to debunk.  I mean, most conspiracy theories survive because they can’t be adequately disproven…this is not the case when it comes to the “birther” theory.  He has a birth certificate.  We had seen the short form…and when demand to see the long form wouldn’t go away, they brought it out of the vault.  It was authenticated by the REPUBLICAN governor of Hawaii.  It was authenticated by Hawaii’s Department of Health.  Letters and documentation from the doctor(s) who had participated in the birth were certified.  The local paper had even run a birth announcement.  Both liberal and conservative blogs were invited to verify the birth certificate’s authenticity in person…and did so (WorldNetDaily, the conservative blog, would later falsely claim that they had never done this).

So WHY…I mean really, WHY, is this inane theory still gaining so much traction among conservatives?  Examples:

• Back in February, Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) said of Obama’s citizenship: “Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate.  You have to be born in America to be president.“  His spokesman would later say this was just a “throwaway line” on the senator’s part.  Since then, several Republicans have made similar “I-think-he’s-a-citizen-but-haven’t-seen-proof” statements as a means to perpetuate the conspiracy theory.
• In March, Representative Bill Posey (R-Florida) introduced a bill to force all candidates for presidential office to provide proof of citizenship before starting their campaign.  He claims this has absolutely nothing to do with the “Obama-birth-certificate-conspiracy” but all Americans over the age of five realize that his bill is a direct response to these ridiculous allegations.  Now…despite lawsuit after lawsuit being thrown out of court for being frivolous, more legislators have signed on to the bill.  Nine of them.
• Of course, Rush Limbaugh is never a man who concerned himself overly with the facts, and he was quick to quip that one thing Obama and God have in common…”God does not have a birth certificate, either.“  Since then, Limbaugh has spoken extensively, and erroneously, on the topic.
• Then there is the story of Maj. Stefan F. Cook.  Short version: Cook volunteers to go to Afghanistan…then says he refuses to go because he doesn’t think Obama is a citizen of the U.S….the Army says, “you’re the one who volunteered -- you don’t want to go, DON’T GO“…Cook’s job fires him because of the world of “crazy” he brought down upon them…he sues to get his job back…the court says, “NO.”
• Dave Evans, a Republican congressional candidate in Tennessee’s 6th District (WHY do the politicians of my state INSIST on repeatedly embarrassing the rest of us who live here?), has his concerns about Obama’s citizenship: “Certainly I, as an American, would not hesitate to show a document proving that I am American-born.  That leaves a lot of people wondering, why is he not showing a legitimate document? Now that it’s an issue, I don’t see why it should be a secret. If you’re legitimate, let the judicial system handle it and show the world that you are, and let’s move on. Let’s get this resolved once and for all, whether he is or he isn’t.“  He did present a “legitimate document,” so it is IRRESPONSIBLE to say he did not, Mr. Evans.
• Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of former VP Dick Cheney, showed that she has her father’s love for the distortion (or outright ignoring) of the truth.  While on Larry King Live, Cheney refused to denounce the “birther” conspiracy as false and even went on to say that people have reason to doubt Obama’s loyalty to the nation: “I think the Democrats have got more crazies than the Republicans do, but setting that aside, one of the reasons you see people so concerned about this, I think this issue is, people are uncomfortable with having for the first time ever, I think, a president who seems so reluctant to defend the nation overseas…people are fundamentally uncomfortable and fundamentally I think increasingly uncomfortable with an American president who seems to be afraid to defend America, stand up for what we believe in.“   Democratic strategist James Carville would respond, “These poor pathetic people are believing stuff just like Ms. Cheney tonight.  She refuses to say this is ludicrous because she wants these people to believe this.“
• CNN host Lou Dobbs, know for his extremely prejudicial stances against immigrants, had this nonsense to add to the discussion: “I’m starting to think we have a document issue. You suppose he’s un… no, I won’t even use the word undocumented, it wouldn’t be right.“
• And then…this clip came out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1nmn2zRMc

So is it any surprise, given the statements of certain irresponsible elected officials, talking heads, and bloggers…that a number of America’s less informed…less reasonable…more extremist…more racist…and often more mentally unstable citizens, STILL believe that this ridiculous accusation is true?  Especially when this is exactly the sort of thing that a lot of them WANT TO BELIEVE?

The good news: as the right-wing media has continued to peddle this foolishness, the rest of the media has taken up the call to properly educate people on the subject…

• Slate did an EXCELLENT job debunking this myth here.
• CNN’s Rick Sanchez WENT TO TOWN on the topic:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIjnF8ZR4aw

• Rachel Maddow did her usual, excellent job:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YtinnFJOvw

• Chris Matthews also weighed in on Hardball…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIlohGsRTiw

• NBC Nightly News even did a segment on it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CitAmHAbYXU

• MediaMatters.org did a nice overview:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnvrBtK5zE

• And last, but never least…here’s Jon Stewart:

We might as well accept it: the myth will most likely never die.  Those people who have an interest (political or otherwise) in perpetuating this nonsense…will keep doing so.  People who believe this conspiracy theory, regardless of how much evidence they are provided…for whatever reason…they’ll keep believing it.  And all of them, the “birthers“…the people who spread the story and those who believe it…will likely never know what their behavior makes them look like to the rest of us.