Drudge Report gives platform to moronic ‘layering’ birther conspiracy theory
Wow, didn’t see that one coming! Birthers are claiming the long form birth certificate Obama posted a couple of days ago is a fake, using that debunked “layering” claim.
That didn’t stop Nimrod Matt Drudge from giving these deeply stupid people a platform to advance this.
Releasing the birth certificate was a waste of time because it woudn’t satisfy anyone, and will only propel the GOP deeper into their fever swamp.
In a predictable turn, conspiracy theorists are now rallying behind a bogus claim that President Obama’s long form birth certificate is a Photoshopped forgery — with a huge helping hand from one of conservative media’s biggest names.
The fringe theory’s rapid spread within hours of the certificate’s release presents almost a perfect example of one of the White House’s justifications for taking on the birther issue — namely, that thanks to the internet, conspiracy theories can migrate quickly from the fringe and into the mainstream if left unchecked.
In this case, it took only hours. The forgery claim appeared to have first started as an offbeat blog post from an Atlanta-based art director at an ad firm, Bryan Michael Nixon, less than two hours after Obama’s statement. By the end of the day it had become a headline on Drudge Report, one of the single most trafficked news sites on the internet. The debunked forgery revelation drew thousands of comments on messageboards, migrated to birther and truther conspiracy guru Alex Jones’ site, while a video explanation was viewed over 160,000 times on YouTube.