Although Glenn Beck is no stranger to floating conspiracy theories, he has stayed away from the very-discredited theory that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States, and is therefore not eligible to serve as President. However, the right-wing “news” site WorldNetDaily consistently pushes Birther conspiracy theories, launching a billboard campaign and producing a documentary raising doubts on Obama’s eligibility.
But when Glenn Beck said that he didn’t believe in the conspiracy theory, he faced a torrent of comments from Birthers on his new website, The Blaze. WorldNetDaily, in turn, wrote a damning article that trumpeted as reputable experts the 200-plus anonymous online comment-posters like “TR68GT” and “Dgroundhog” who didn’t believe in Obama’s eligibility.
After propagating the erroneous claims of the online commentators as facts, WorldNetDaily switched gears and moved into more traditional rightwing territory in denouncing and distorting the 14th Amendment. Even though the 14th Amendment clearly states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” WorldNetDaily pushed the commentators concerns as to “whether any child of a non-citizen parent could possibly satisfy the constitutional requirement that a president be a ‘natural born citizen.’” Since Obama’s father was not a US citizen, they suggest that he couldn’t be a citizen even if he was born in Hawaii after all!
When a conservative website can’t even get Glenn Beck on board with its conspiracy theories and instead pushes the anonymous comments on Beck’s website as facts, the frivolousness of Birtherism speaks for itself.
