I’m not saying you are a moron, Farah; you just never proved you weren’t

Joseph Farah, Crank-in-Chief at the WorldNutDaily, is an amusing specimen of an engorged ego trying desperately to shield from view his utter failure as a journalist. As a result, it’s always good entertainment to watch him squawk in protest and run around trying to tell others how the fact that he’s been a “journalist” (and I use the term here so loosely I fear it may flutter away in the breeze) for 30 years somehow makes him a heavyweight – or even marginally credible or reputable. Unfortunately for Farah, it doesn’t. A journalist’s merits are derived by the quality of their work, not quantity. (Any real journalist would know that.)

Here’s the latest case of the loon trying to silence criticism and soothe his butthurt ego. Last Friday, Newsweek ran this piece by an intern on some of the craziest conspiracy theories of late, including (of course) the Birther lunacy:

Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
It's not clear where he must have been born instead: some say Indonesia; some say Kenya (initial suggestions that Hawaiian natives weren't citizens when he was born in Honolulu in 1961 were quickly dismissed). The point, so-called birthers say, is that he wasn't born in the good old US of A, hence isn't a natural-born citizen and therefore cannot legally be president.
Proponents: Chief birther and Beverly Hills dentist and attorney Orly Taitz, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), former presidential and Senate candidate Alan Keyes, assorted tea partiers.
Kernel of Truth? It's fully debunked. Forged Kenyan birth certificates have been exposed, and – despite protestations to the contrary – Obama's birth certificate has been certified by the state of Hawaii, and images have been shown on national television. And that's leaving aside plenty of circumstantial proof, like birth announcements in both major Hawaiian papers from August 1961.

Granted, the inner pedant in me would like to point out how, whatever these Birther nuts may say or believe, none of them have actually outright claimed that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.; rather, they stick to their claims that he simply hasn’t shown his birth certificate (as opposed to a certificate of live birth) and therefore, hasn’t actually proven he really is from the U.S.. Of course, this is a very small and quasi insignificant distinction to make; anyone stupid enough to actually believe the President even may have been born in Kenya or something, especially after all the various and thorough debunking this stupid conspiracy theory has suffered, deserves all the ridicule they get.

Which brings us to Farah, who now threatens Newsweek with legal action unless their make a retraction. This’ll give you a larf:

That statement is categorically untrue.

While I have written tens of thousands of words about the subject of Barack Obama's eligibility and talked for dozens of hours on the public airwaves and given hundreds of interviews on this subject, never have I stated that Obama was not born in the United States.

Therefore, I demand an immediate apology and retraction.

The public record is clear on what I have said and written on this matter.

I have been outspoken in calling for Obama to release his original birth certificate. Without that document, Americans can never be sure about his constitutional eligibility. Public opinion surveys show close to 50 percent of Americans either have deep suspicions about his ineligibility or, like me, want to see him release documents that can put those concerns to rest.

[…]

I note that this article has been widely disseminated on the Internet. While the damage to my reputation can scarcely be mitigated by an apology and a retraction, I recognize that demanding that action is a requirement of most jurisdictions that might adjudicate a case of this kind.

However, I reserve all legal rights to pursue adjudication of this matter should you fail to comply with this demand.

The whole case for his whining is basically: “I never said he wasn’t born in America. I just said he never proved he was”. Which really isn’t any better at all, is it? Either case shows how he’s either a gullible fool (with, sadly, enough influence and reach to spread his gullible foolishness around), or a diehard crank who’s completely impervious to reality. His argument is the exact same as saying, “We never said that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990 – we just said he never disproved the claim”.

The thing is, the latter nonsense is satire. Whereas, Farah’s lunacy is not.

(via Dispatches From the Culture Wars)