Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've documented WorldNetDaily's close relationship with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- WND publishes fawning articles about Arpaio and raises money for the "cold case posse" that's investigating President Obama's "eligibility," a investigation prompted by a presentation from WND's Jerome Corsi.
WND's birther bribery has paid off -- it got the results it wanted from the posse.
Arpaio and his posse announced the investigation's results at a press conference today, and darn it if doesn't sound like they've read nothing but WND articles in doing their research.
The posse also apparently worked so close with WND that not only did Corsi speak during the press conference, WND published an article in the investigation's results at the same time the press conference started -- proving it got special access to the investigation. Here's a snippet:
An investigative “Cold Case Posse” launched six months ago by “America’s toughest sheriff” – Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County – has concluded there is probable cause that the document released by the White House last year as President Obama’s birth certificate is a computer-generated forgery.
Arpaio, at a news conference in Phoenix live-streamed by WND TV that began at 3 p.m. Eastern time, has elevated the investigation to a criminal probe that will make the resources of his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office available to his volunteer posse.
The posse says it has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery of Obama’s birth certificate.
During the press conference, Corsi admitted he worked closely with the posse, so much so that, according to a posse representative, he looked through microfilm of immigration records for proof that Obama's mother traveled to Africa around the time of his birth. Corsi then laughably contended that he was able to do so and maintain his journalistic integrity. This from a guy whose idea of "jornalistic integrity" is to bring back forged documents from Kenya as supposed "evidence" of Obama's purported cooperation with Kenyan politician Raila Odinga.
The posse's close relationship with WND -- which has promoted conspiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate as a major part of its falsehood-laden anti-Obama agenda -- should raise red flags about the posse's credibility. No evidence was provided during the press conference that the posse had any dealings with people who were not rabid birthers like Corsi (who spent 18 hours testifying before the posse). WND is clearly interested in having the posse return results favorable to its agenda, and it was willing to do whatever it could to have its conspiracies endorsed by putting a patina of official credibility on them through the posse.
Similarly, WND has not provided details to its readers about its relationship with the posse, or if the fawning articles it publishes about Arpaio are part of the deal in which it is granted special access to Arpaio and the posse, or how much money it has raised and donated to the posse.
Despite repeated assertions by Arpaio and a posse representative, there is no evidence that the posse acted in an independent manner, as demonstrated by its closeness to Corsi and WND. Given that, there is no reason to treat the posse's results any more seriously that one would your average WND article.
In short: WND's birther bribery worked.
