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Even WND disputes Corsi's phony Obama birth certificate claim

August 26, 2008 3:47 pm ET

SUMMARY: WorldNetDaily.com, for which Jerome Corsi, author of the debunked and discredited book The Obama Nation, works as a staff reporter, has now taken on the claim that its own writer has been promoting, and determined for itself to be false -- that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama "has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website." WorldNetDaily reported that a "WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts ... found the document to be authentic."

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WorldNetDaily.com, the right-wing website for which Jerome Corsi works as a staff reporter, decided to look into a claim made by Corsi and made repeatedly in right-wing blogs and on talk radio -- that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama "has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website" -- and reported that it was false. In an August 23 article, WND reported that "FactChecker.org [sic] says it obtained Obama's actual birth certificate and that the document was indeed real," and added, "A separate WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic." Corsi is the author of the debunked and discredited book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (Threshold Editions, August 2008).

WND stated that the August 21 Factcheck.org report "discredited some of the claims of Internet bloggers, such as that the certificate as viewed in a scanned copy released by Obama's campaign lacked a raised seal," and that the WND investigation "revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren't originally there." But WND did not mention that Corsi repeated the charge that Obama's birth certificate was fake on the August 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends. Factcheck.org, however, did note in its report that the "charge leaped from the blogosphere to the mainstream media earlier this week when Jerome Corsi ... repeated the claim in an Aug. 15 interview with Steve Doocy on Fox News."

WND's August 23 article also did not note that the website previously reported allegations that the birth certificate posted to Obama's campaign site was a "fake document." In an August 8 article, WorldNetDaily reported, "Israel Insider is reporting that analysts working separately have determined the birth certificate posted on the Daily Kos website and later on Sen. Barack Obama's 'Fight the Smears' campaign website is fraudulent, and now two different actions have been launched to try and obtain the truth about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's birth."

From the August 23 WorldNetDaily.com article:

However, FactChecker.org [sic] says it obtained Obama's actual birth certificate and that the document was indeed real. The site discredited some of the claims of Internet bloggers, such as that the certificate as viewed in a scanned copy released by Obama's campaign lacked a raised seal. FactChecker.org also established that many of the alleged flaws in the document noted by bloggers were caused by the scanning of the document.

A separate WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic. The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren't originally there.

— J.H.
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    • Author by nerzog (August 26, 2008 3:55 pm ET)
         
      See? These Cretins are so desperate that they're making sh*t up left and right. If the Democrats can't win this time, against such a lame Republican candidate.... we're FUBAR. McGrampy makes Bob Dole look exciting.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (August 26, 2008 3:57 pm ET)
           
        Dammit. Now I don't believe that Obama's birth certificate is authentic.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by NiceguyEddie (August 27, 2008 9:14 am ET)
             

          Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

           (Unless it's digital, that is...)

          Report Abuse
      • Author by friedbergboy1422 (August 26, 2008 4:09 pm ET)
           
        Speaking of polls, does anyone know if the polls call folks that only have cell phones?  I would assume that most younger folks don't have a land line.  What are the demographics/methodology used?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Conchobhar (August 26, 2008 4:23 pm ET)
             
          According to an article I read about a month ago, online I think, there is no polling done on cell phones, because they reject automatically dialed calls, and would have be direct dialed by the pollster.  This would be inefficient and uneconomical.  Given that, as you observed, cell phones are the only phones used by a large proportion of the young, who also seem to lean disproportionately in Obama's direction, his actual support is probably being undercounted by three or four percentage points.  That was the jist of the article.  I don't stand by their conclusions, but I do hope they're right.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by friedbergboy1422 (August 26, 2008 4:31 pm ET)
               
            Thanks, Conch.  I hope that a pundit, any pundit, will actually bring this up at some point soon!  I appreciate the information.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by magnolialover (August 26, 2008 5:19 pm ET)
                 
              Not just the younger crowd on the cell phones. My wife and I just bought a new house (American dream, ah yeah), and we decided to just use our cell phones as our home phone as well. I see more and more people doing that these days, and not getting a traditional land line.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by Conchobhar (August 27, 2008 9:59 am ET)
                   

                Good point.  My wife and I decided to drop the landline at our place in the Berkshires.  The only reason we keep LL in NY is that we have a "triple play," with phone, cable and internet bundled.

                The next question might be, do techno-savvy older voters lean toward Obama?

                Report Abuse
    • Author by IRONY 101 (August 26, 2008 4:03 pm ET)
         
      So, is Corsi going to go on Hannity's show and admit he was wrong? Ha...! Yea, right...that'll happen.  ;>)
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mari2jj2970 (August 27, 2008 1:00 am ET)
           
        If one tries to hold their breath until Corsi repents of his lies in his book about Obama - say during a visit on a national TV program, Hannity, etc, - they will be blue from hppoxia and in cardiac arrest due to no oxygen for a long protracted time.  The statement in question is a lie right out of hell.  I have a friend, very old now, in Hawaii who worked in the Labor and Delivery unit when Obama was born in, YOU KNOW, in Hawaii!!!!! 
        Report Abuse
    • Author by RABBITLUVR (August 26, 2008 4:09 pm ET)
         

      So is Lard-faced Corsi off the payroll at WND now? :)

      Report Abuse
    • Author by wzwriter (August 26, 2008 4:29 pm ET)
         
      This will probably be the only nugget of truth that you will ever see on World Nut Daily.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by RABBITLUVR (August 26, 2008 4:35 pm ET)
           
        And the wingnuts will come out of the woodwork to proclaim that WND is now an honest source for political and social commentary... along the lines of Sean Hannity actually telling one truth which makes him a saint now. Disgusting.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by vysotsky (August 26, 2008 5:09 pm ET)
         
      I love how WND reports this little tidbit:

      WND: "The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren't originally there."

      That's a fabulous way to say that these bloggers falsified evidence to support the claims that they made up. This is the first time I've ever heard 'lying' described as a "method...used to determine" anything.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MidnightWriter (August 26, 2008 5:15 pm ET)
           
        Well, once "Fair and Balanced" became code for "We make stuff up," you had to figure other euphemisms were going to follow.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by eb (August 26, 2008 9:14 pm ET)
             

          I hope Obama's supporters will make a BIG DEAL about this.  Look how low the wingnuts will stoop to smear him.  This should be embarassing to them.  They should be called on it.  Smearing should be shamefull. 

          Mccain should make a public statement distancing him from these attacks!

          A real media should focus on what kind of country we are going to create to tackle the challenges of our future.  Instead we get this vapid circus!

          Report Abuse
    • Author by archae (August 27, 2008 1:13 am ET)
         

      Jerome Corsi has always been a liar, and always will be.

      This way he panders to his fan club, you know, the ones who just figured out they have opposable thumbs.

      Report Abuse
    • Author by donaldmaddog5642 (August 27, 2008 3:22 pm ET)
         
      The phoniness that runs through Corsi's book also ran through the "Unfit to Command" tome. Unfortunately, the damage was not repaired until it was too late. This piece of trash may also have the same result. Corsi is a troll, only instead of one post at a time he places them between the hard covers of a book. The morons who will read this tripe will believe it no matter how often it is discredited. "Unfit to Command" played a large part in the defeat of John Kerry. "Obama Nation" may have the same "success". That 45-49% who STILL favor McSame are more than happy to believe a lie than the truth. Their entire "philosophy" depends on that. "Winning is everything, it's the ONLY thing."
      Report Abuse

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