Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah's June 14 WorldNetDaily column claims to offer "38 reasons why Obama should not be re-elected," which he claims is "a work of collaboration by me and some friends of mine – some of whom feared retribution for speaking so plainly." But as could be expected from the editor of a website so willing and eager to peddle falsehoods about President Obama, Farah's column is filled with lies and misleading claims. Let's go through some of them.
WHEN he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, while the Federal Election Commission found that the 2008 Obama campaign failed to disclose a small fraction of its contributions, Farah offers no evidence the Obama "refused to disclose" contributions in a manner that violated federal law.
WHEN he said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, Obama said he favors age-appropriate sex education, which for kindergarteners means teaching them about "inappropriate touching." Farah's reference to "homosexual indoctrination" presumably means teaching something other than that gays are evil and deserve eternal damnation -- in other words, that they're human.
WHEN his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn’t matter.
Farah offers no evidence to back up this claim, which is contradicted by the fact that his own reporter, Jerome Corsi, wrote a factually challenged book on Obama's personal background during the 2008 campaign.
WHEN the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, Obama has produced a birth certificate. Two, in fact.
WHEN he appointed a science czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, Holdren doesn't support "forced abortions" and doesn't support "mass sterilizations." The part about "seizing babies from teen mothers" is taken from an alarmist WND article; the section in question discusses possible ways to encourate "responsible parenting" and discourage "illegitimate childbearing" -- which is something we thought WND wants to encourage as well. Regardless, there's no evidence Holdren "believes" in that either beyond throwing it out as a suggestion.
WHEN he appointed Cass Sunstein as regulatory czar, who believes in “explicit consent,” harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn’t matter.
The claim about "harvesting human organs without family consent" refers to Sunstein's idea that one should opt out, rather than opt in, of organ donation, which he argues would "save many lives while also preserving freedom." And far from "banning all hunting," Sunstein has said that "I strongly believe that the Second Amendment creates an individual right to possess and use guns for purposes of both hunting and self-defense."
WHEN Anita Dunn, White House communications director, said Mao Zedong was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn’t matter.
Farah is deliberately taking Dunn out of context, Dunn actually said that Mao, along with Mother Teresa, were "two of my favorite political philosophers ... that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you're going to make choices."
WHEN he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, Obama has never gone on an apology tour. Further, Farah's claim that Obama "never once talk[ed] of [America's] greatness" is destroyed by what Obama said in one of his supposed "apology" speeches, in Cairo: "The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words -- within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum -- 'Out of many, one.'"
WHEN he took away student loans from the banks and required they go through the government, people said it didn’t matter.
In fact, banks can still make private student loans. Obama's policy -- which was approved by Congress and not mandated by fiat, as Farah suggests -- removes banks from the federal student loan program, from which banks made significant profits.
That's the level of factual accuracy we've come to expect from Farah and WND. Anyone surprised?
