Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah begins his Aug. 22 WorldNetDaily column by whining, as he's wont to do:
Compare the media scrutiny Sen. Ted Cruz has received as a possible presidential candidate in 2016 to what happened in 2008 with Barack Obama.
It’s a day and night contrast.Simply asking questions about Obama was labeled “racist.” It only got worse after he was elected. You might remember seeing me on TV news shows frequently in the years leading up to that election. Did you ever wonder why you don’t see me anymore? It’s because I raised this issue and became, as one wag characterized me, “the Birther King.”
Have you seen Jerome Corsi, a two-time New York Times No. 1 bestseller, on television much? Same thing. Corsi wrote “Where’s the Birth Certificate?,” which became the bestselling book in the nation before it ever was released. It’s what prompted Obama to release a badly manufactured simulation of an actual Hawaii birth certificate two years ago. He followed up with the e-book “Where’s the Real Birth Certificate?” But this brilliant Harvard Ph.D. and senior staff writer for WND has become TV’s new Invisible Man ever since.
It couldn't possibly be that Corsi is a documented liar as well as a crackpot, could it, Joe?
Farah then huffs:
Never mind that the only law enforcement investigation into Obama’s birth certificate found that it was a fraud and forgery. It didn’t matter. The media, besides WND, have steadfastly refused to report the facts for fear of being labeled part of the “birther” conspiracy.
In fact, that "law enforcement investigation" -- manipulated into existence by WND, with Corsi himself as a de facto member of the "posse" that's investigating -- is a sham. If anybody's refusing to report the facts, it's Farah and WND, who won't tell their readers what a sham it is.
It's not until the 10th paragraph of his column that Farah gets around to addressing the question he poses in his headline -- whether Ted Cruz is eligible to be president:
Now let me say this at the outset: I really like Ted Cruz. I think he would very likely make a fine president. But I think it’s important that we elect only those who are constitutionally eligible – those who fit the definition of “natural born citizens.”
Is he eligible?
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect not – at least not by my understanding of what the founders had in mind when they ratified the Constitution.
WND has been soft-pedaling eligibility issues about Cruz for a while now, and the fact that Farah can't muster a more definitive answer than "I don’t know for sure, but I suspect not" tells us that he really doesn't want to know the answer. If Cruz were a Democrat, we suspect Farah would not be as reticent.
Farah goes on to praise Cruz for having "quickly released his birth certificate," ignoring that Obama had released one quickly as well. Farah, however, did not announce any investigation to determine whether Cruz's birth certificate is genuine.
Farah then whines further about alleged lack of coverage about constitutional eligibility, "Maybe the media know how dishonest they’ve been all along and are afraid they will get called on it." Farah may very well be talking about himself.
