Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Glenn Beck, somehow finding a tiny morsel of near-sanity floating around in his largely aqueous cranium, has now managed to piss off one wing of the wingnut brigade -- the birthers.
"There's always games being played behind the scenes at a talk radio show," Beck said. "Rush has always called them seminar callers. But instead of being coy with the seminar callers or with you, I'm just going to expose the game that is going on. Today there is a concerted effort on all radio stations to get birthers on the air.""I have to tell you, are you working for the Barack Obama administration?" Beck scoffed. "I mean, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
This is being reported by the Worldnutdaily, of course, which is ground zero for birther bullshit. And they are none too pleased that the grand poobah of weird conspiracy theories is rejecting their favorite one.
The ongoing dialogue then spun off into ridicule as Beck caricatured those who question the sitting president's eligibility with straw-man arguments reminiscent of jibes made by Obama's apologists in other news outlets.Beck defined birthers as people who believe Obama was born in Kenya or other foreign country, was raised as a Manchurian candidate and somehow brainwashed Hillary Clinton into not exposing his fraud. According to Beck's running joke, birthers believe someone - maybe Obama's KGB "control" - preemptively placed Obama's birth
announcement in 1961 Hawaiian newspapers with a "roadmap" of getting an African man into office.As for Obama producing a long-form birth certificate to actually prove his place of birth, Beck questioned, "Why do that when these people ['birthers'] are so discrediting themselves?"
The radio host further argued that by distracting the public from actionable issues, "birthers" have become "a dream come true" for Obama, an ideal situation akin to the fantasies of adolescent boys after Hollywood bombshells.
"Barack Obama looks at the birthers as Megan Fox," Beck said, referring to the star and sex symbol of the popular "Transformers" films.
See, there's two potential takes on this. From the standpoint of actual journalism, the headline is this:
Holy shit! Glenn Beck said something that was true!
From the standpoint of the Worldnutdaily, the headline is:
Glenn Beck is picking on us!
Exactly how far out on the lunatic fringe must you be when Glenn Beck is the voice of reason?
Politics
Comments
Heh.
The birthers were planning to swamp Beck's show that day with calls demanding he address the issue. I guess he did :)
Posted by: mad the swine | January 5, 2010 9:44 AM
If ever the comparison to a broken clock was correct.......
Posted by: JohnV | January 5, 2010 9:45 AM
I listened to his radio show over a year ago before Obama was elected and a few birthers called in. After the second or third one called he stopped the calls for a minute. Then he went into this bit where he was talking about Obama being an Alien!—as in a space alien. Totally making fun of the birthers. He was screaming and going nuts that aliens were taking over the world. It was pretty damn funny. Then he said they were all nuts and begged them not to call anymore.
Posted by: mattb | January 5, 2010 9:47 AM
I'm pretty sure I remember WND going through a brief phase of sanity on the birther issue in the middle of last year, before reverting to type. I wonder if Beck will do the same after the backlash takes hold.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | January 5, 2010 10:00 AM
Well, all he's managed to do is identify the one remaining constituency of the far right that is loonier than he is.
As if to confirm that, Orly Taitz's blog has a new post containing speculation over whether Rush Limbaugh may have been targeted by a secret government energy weapon when he suffered his chest pains last week.
Posted by: tacitus | January 5, 2010 10:10 AM
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | January 5, 2010 10:19 AM
OMG. You mean Sarah Palin is a KGB plant?! Of course, it all makes sense now.
Posted by: NoAstronomer | January 5, 2010 10:37 AM
@6 and @7... if I were prone to believe in conspiracy theories, I think you would have just made me wet my pants. Indeed, it is almost more palatable for me to believe that the modern GOP is a sinister Afro-communist plot than to believe they are just a bunch of pandering incompetent greed-stricken buffoons.
Posted by: James Sweet | January 5, 2010 11:21 AM
More evidence of the sinister plot within the GOP: County GOP leaders vote to censure Sen. Graham
Censure! And for what? Cheating on his taxes? Cheating on his spouse? NO. For "working with Democrats on immigration and climate change." GASP! How terrible. A legislator attempting to work with other legislators on legislation. How dare he.
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | January 5, 2010 11:26 AM
This is the sort of evidence that makes me think that Glenn Beck isn't just a crazy fellow or a con-man saying what he thinks people want to hear. He's sincere. If he were not sincere it would be easy for him to either downplay this or to support it, either which would work better for his base.
Posted by: Joshua Zelinsky | January 5, 2010 11:34 AM
OT, but since Ed likes school censorship stories...here's one from today.
Posted by: eric | January 5, 2010 11:41 AM
I dunno, Joshua. The Birther nonsense seems like it might trip a "Okay, I'm a dishonest conman, but even I have standards"
Then again, some have asked whether GLENN BECK RAPED AND MURDERED A GIRL IN 1995 or not, and do those kind of rumors circulate around people with standards?
Posted by: Rutee | January 5, 2010 11:58 AM
Birthers are a bait and switch for the real issue at hand.
When Barack Obama was born (obstensibly) in Hawaii, he was born as a subject of three different countries (United States, maternally and by location, Kenya by paternity and UK by law with Kenya) That he has become a subject solely of the United States does not mean that he could not, at this point, become a citizen of those other places by virtue of the conditions of his birth.
The spirit of the requirement that a President be chosen only from the pool of American citizens is that they don't have any claim on them by any other countries. This situation doesn't hold true for Obama.
Is this a technicality? Of course it is. Is it true? Yes. Could Obama be ousted from office based on this technicality? It IS within the realm of possibility to remove a president based on Quo Warranto and this technicality, but will we see it happen? Frosty the Snowman has a better chance of surviving a swim in liquid hot "MAGMA" than that.
All that Manchurian candidate / born abroad stuff is ridiculous, anyway.
Posted by: Buffoon | January 5, 2010 12:08 PM
How can we be sure Beck didn't lose one nut, instead of a wing?
Posted by: Amenhotepstein | January 5, 2010 12:13 PM
Thought experiment: During the next election, North Korea announces it has granted citizenship to all the presidential candidates. What then?
Posted by: DaveL | January 5, 2010 12:23 PM
@Buffoon:
So the grandchild of any US immigrant who was born in Ireland is ineligible for the US presidency? Who would have thought that a sovereign state like the USA was subject to the legislative whims of any state that decided to tinker with its own nationality laws!
Just imagine the fiendish possibilities! Iran doesn't like the 2012 Republican candidate for the US presidency. It therefore passes a law granting Iranian citizenship to, say, any female Alaskan whose IQ is less than twice her bra size. And BLAM, there goes the Palin/Beck ticket!
Seriously, read a few books, but slowly: you don't want to sprain a lip.
Posted by: Amadan | January 5, 2010 12:24 PM
Buffoon @ 13 - I think you appropriately named yourself; nice job on that part.
I'd slightly counter Amadan's advice to read a few books by adding that you read the Constitution first. It's crystal clear on this matter.
Posted by: Michael Heath | January 5, 2010 12:39 PM
At least Buffoon's buffoonery all parses and doesn't make any patently false statements. It's still kind of a stupid opinion, but -- scarily -- far more sane than your average birther.
Posted by: James Sweet | January 5, 2010 12:45 PM
Re Buffoon
I have a flash for Mr. Buffoon. If President Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, he is a natural born citizen, regardless of the citizenship of his parents. They could be illegal aliens and it would make no difference. There is a Supreme Court decision and two federal statutes on the books in this regard.
Furthermore, even if he were born in Kenya to two non-citizens, the Supreme Court has no authority to remove him from office. Article 2 of the Constitution specifically reserves that power to the Congress by a majority vote of the House and a 2/3 vote of the Senate. Of course, the Supreme Court could find in favor of a lawsuit preventing him from getting electors pledged to him on the ballot in 2012 on the basis of ineligibility.
Posted by: SLC | January 5, 2010 12:59 PM
BTW, I think the correct spelling is, "WhirledNutDaily". :)
Posted by: LightningRose | January 5, 2010 1:40 PM
Amadan@16:Just imagine the fiendish possibilities! Iran doesn't like the 2012 Republican candidate for the US presidency. It therefore passes a law granting Iranian citizenship to, say, any female Alaskan whose IQ is less than twice her bra size. And BLAM, there goes the Palin/Beck ticket
Well, Beck is not Alaskan, but otherwise your point is valid. [/snark]
Posted by: eric | January 5, 2010 1:42 PM
"I'm pretty sure I remember WND going through a brief phase of sanity on the birther issue in the middle of last year, before reverting to type."
You're right, except that it wasn't all that brief. If you take a look at WND's Eligibility Article Archive, you'll see that between June 2008 and the end of September 2008, WND published a grand total of FIVE articles about Obama and his birth certificate.
One of which was about the birth certificate being released (and thus not pro-Birther), one of which was about Phil Berg filing a lawsuit (and wherein WND wrote "A separate WND investigation into Obama's certification of live birth utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic."), and none of which were as accusatory as what came later.
Only in mid-October 2008, a couple of weeks before the election, did WorldNetDaily start to become Birther central.
More significantly than that, it wasn't until mid-NOVEMBER 2008 that Joseph wrote his first column about Obama's birth certificate. His three-times-a-week column had completely ignored the birth certificate for five months, and then after the election he suddenly became obsessed with it.
Posted by: Loren | January 5, 2010 2:03 PM
Beck is Obama's KGB control.
</snark>
Posted by: blf | January 5, 2010 2:30 PM
Holy shit. I just went orly's blog. She says that Obama didn't go to Columbia University, instead, he was in an Al Qaeda training camp from 1980 to 1983.
What. The. Fuck.
Posted by: steve s | January 5, 2010 2:43 PM
Speaking of technicalities: I read that Bill Clinton could technically be eligible for French citizenship, along with millions of other Americans: born in a place formerly a French colony, namely the Louisiana Purchase.
Have any of these people figured out that if they somehow won this one, what it would get them is President Biden? And that the three people in line after Biden are Nancy Pelosi, Senator Byrd (if he's still alive then), and Hilary Clinton?
Posted by: Vicki | January 5, 2010 2:51 PM
Don't declarations like this walk a fine line toward libel?
Posted by: Josh | January 5, 2010 2:59 PM
Re Vicki
Al Qaeda didn't even exist in 1982. It wasn't formed until after the end of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Nutcase Taitz should be reminded that Osama bin Laden was on our side until long after the end of that conflict.
Posted by: SLC | January 5, 2010 3:15 PM
It's worse than that, Josh. If true it means that Obama joined Al Qaeda almost a decade before it even existed.
Posted by: Modusoperandi | January 5, 2010 3:18 PM
It's worse than that, SLC. If true it means that you posted what I said three minutes before I even said it.
Posted by: Modusoperandi | January 5, 2010 3:20 PM
Vicki,
"Have any of these people figured out that if they somehow won this one, what it would get them is President Biden? And that the three people in line after Biden are Nancy Pelosi,"
Don't tell the Birthers, but under one of their major theories that Obama is ineligible (i.e., because his dad was Kenyan), Pelosi could potentially be ineligible too. Her mom was from Italy.
But naturally, no Birther has actually checked on or even considered that. Because, y'know, she's white.
Posted by: Loren | January 5, 2010 3:36 PM
Public figures don't get much protection from libel and Presidents are about as public as it gets; I doubt anyone could be successfully sued by a President for libel. The wingnuts claimed that Clinton was running a drug ring and murdering troublesome people in Arkansas and nothing was done about it.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | January 5, 2010 3:53 PM
When did little green footballs get bought by democrats?
It's weird. The site has the same basic look and layout, but the content is 180 degrees from what it was before.
Posted by: Juice | January 5, 2010 3:55 PM
Shit. I meant in general (everyday Joe on the street), not specifically with respect to POTUS*, but failed to qualify my comment.
*For the reasons you laid out.
Posted by: Josh | January 5, 2010 3:59 PM
Sounds like the only reason Beck is dismissing the birthers is *not* because they're batshit crazy, but because in his mind, they're *helping* Obama. Even when Beck makes sense, he still doesn't make sense.
Posted by: Will E. | January 5, 2010 4:01 PM
Modusoperandi - we already know Obama went back in time to plant birth notices in newspapers. Obviously time travel isn't an issue.
Posted by: Taz | January 5, 2010 4:20 PM
Re: Mr. Heath, at #17
Not to defend Mr. Buffoon, but if I understand correctly (IANAL), the Constitution only states that the President must be a "natural born citizen". Presumably, this is contrasted with a "naturalized" citizen. However, nowhere in the Constitution is the term "natural born" citizen defined. Even though one would think the definition were self evident, apparently nothing in law can be left as merely "self evident". So, technically, the Constitution by itself is not "crystal clear" on this matter.
Of course, subsequent court decisions, legislation, and policy are pretty clear on the matter, so there really should be no question. All that is left to the birthers is a conspiracy theory.
Cheers. :-)
Posted by: Scott | January 5, 2010 6:52 PM
#36
Off topic spam, but I'll bite...
That's argumentum ad populum.
Posted by: MartyM | January 5, 2010 6:54 PM
All the partisian spin still leaves me to wonder why more folks don't want to see the real birth certificate that has only been seen by our (State of Hawaii) health director?
Posted by: Honolulu Attorney | January 5, 2010 8:01 PM
Taz: Is that why he's always wearing the silver jumpsuit? His name does sound awfully futuristic.
Posted by: Modusoperandi | January 5, 2010 8:08 PM
Re Honolulu Attorney
The certificate of live birth is the official Hawaiian birth certificate. If one writes to the appropriate Hawaiian government office requesting a copy of his/her birth certificate, that is what they will receive. They will not receive a copy of the so-called long form birth certificate.
Posted by: SLC | January 5, 2010 8:10 PM
Maybe Glenn Beck has realized that while acting like a retard was a successful strategy for gaining an audience--and with it a lot of income--if he wants to keep his marginal tax rate down, then he requires a governing coalition that foaming idiots repel. Does this mean Glenn Beck won't be doing anymore art history lessons?
Posted by: m | January 5, 2010 8:26 PM
@43
Your god spam was actually useful, as I hadn't seen that PZ Myers clip before.
I guess miracles do happen, even if god is imaginary.
Posted by: Cafeeine | January 5, 2010 9:18 PM
#7 - Sarah Palin did say she could see Russia from her house. just sayin...
I also hate to add - Orly Taitz has a blog? She really said that about an energy weapon? I guess I gots to google me some insanity - that sounds too good to pass up. I wonder if it can get by filters, though - it might be off limits as dangerous to your health.
Posted by: Badger3k | January 5, 2010 9:34 PM
Juice (#32): Took me by surprise too. Back at the end of November LGF switched sides:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35243_Why_I_Parted_Ways_With_The_Right
Posted by: Old Meanie | January 5, 2010 10:10 PM
November 2009?! That's a bit like waiting until May of 1945 to abandon Mussolini, isn't it?
Posted by: Modusoperandi | January 6, 2010 12:15 AM
And, yes, I just accidentally compared the nutty Right to Italian fascists.
Bullying, ignorance, malevolence, scapegoating, reality denial, incompetence. The comparison, sadly, seems apt. Apt!
Posted by: Modusoperandi | January 6, 2010 12:19 AM
Under the Buffoon theory of citizenship, no Jew would be eligible for the presidency. (We're all potentially Israelis.)
Posted by: Jeffrey Kramer | January 6, 2010 5:39 AM
Posted by: Kel | January 6, 2010 6:12 AM
To be perhaps more fair to Charles Johnson than he deserves, his own posts were almost always considerably less nuts than the comments. I wasn't particularly surprised by his conversion/disillusionment, although I didn't expect the scope of it to be so wide.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | January 6, 2010 7:41 AM
Beck claims even right wing radio is in conspiracy with obama, and wingnutdaily claim beck is in conspiracy.
Life is a conspiracy! waaaaaaaaaaaaahaaahah!
Posted by: eddie | January 6, 2010 8:29 AM
Birthers lose Beck, but gain a Deal more!
http://washingtonindependent.com/73350/rep-nathan-deal-r-ga-joins-the-birthers
Posted by: Chilidog | January 6, 2010 4:11 PM