Political Mudslingers Populate Far-Right Miami Conference
MIAMI, Fla. — Self-described “birther king” and World Net Daily (WND) founder Joseph Farah said today that he thinks one or two states will pass legislation in the next year requiring presidential candidates to provide irrefutable proof that they are U.S. citizens in order to have their names placed on those states’ ballots. If that happens, Farah predicted, Obama won’t seek reelection in 2012. That’s because there is something “hideously embarrassing” in Obama’s background.
Farah’s soothsaying came during a question-and-answer session during the first day of a three-day conference he put together in Miami called “Taking America Back 2010” (the day after the conference ends, Farah and other far-right stalwarts will be hosting a similar event, this one on board a Caribbean cruise). A prayer that kicked off the conference today thanked God for Farah’s right-wing, conspiracy-minded WND. Later, one of the speakers thanked God for Farah. Farah, however, was far less interested in thanks than in the kind of political mudslinging for which he and several other conference attendees are well known.
Farah’s online publication — one of the “news” pillars of the contemporary American far right — has repeatedly questioned whether Obama was born in the United States (if he wasn’t, he could not legally serve as president). Of course, Obama has produced documents showing he was born in Hawaii, and that state’s Republican governor, along with a slew of news organizations, have vouched for his citizenship. But none of that has convinced Farah and his fellow travelers.