World Net Daily and Conservatism
There have been posts on this blog related to questions raised about Barack Obama’s citizenship. The reason they were published comes from the fact the question raised has implications larger than the focus on the individual. Yes, Barack Obama’s citizenship was questioned. The birth certificate was also questioned. The story grew legs. Left, right, MSM, blogosphere, etc.,etc., paid attention to the story but not the question. One article from VOA News was posted on the news site here, pointing more accurately to the real issue. The issue in posts on this blog were intentionally left vague expecting some reader to notice. It will remain that way to see if anyone picks up on it.
Does featuring blog posts about Barack Obama’s citizenship or birth certificate render this blog’s author a ‘birther’? If it does that would be disappointing.
Whether or not a person is ‘eligible’ to hold the office of President of the United States is not an insignificant question. That some posts here followed the attempt of Philip Berg and his pursuit of the answer in the case of Barack Obama raised a question beyond the specifics of the ‘birther’ thing. If memory serves, his ‘petition’ to the Supreme Court or perhaps a lower court was rejected as he was adjudged to have ‘no standing’ in the matter. How that opinion was arrived at posed a compelling concern about law and how it works in general. It still does. But it does not seem to draw noticeable attention.
There has been some talk these days of conservative rebirth after a GOP fall from grace. Not surprisingly focus has led to questions about ‘fringe’ right wing elements and their effect on the conservative base, movement, whatever. Birther concerns on the right have drawn as much focus as truther concerns from the left. That is what leads into what is presented here now.
By chance this blogger was browsing the site, Little Green Footballs, and was drawn to an item where someone challenged the value of content produced by World Net Daily. Concerns of ‘fringe’ right wing philosophy and covering stories like the ‘birther’ thing or more specifically a comparison between Nazi detention facilities and the Obama Administration were discussed. There is a link entitled ‘Organizing Against WorldNetDaily.’ that points to another interesting piece.
There is some background for why this story is of interest here. Some time back the question of World Net Daily and the site’s usefulness as a blog link came up. This blog’s author mentioned to another in an email they might want to rethink linking to World Net Daily. The concerns were expressed and after some time the other blogger concurred. The concern was one’s blog may get painted as ‘whacko’ by offering a link or promoting WND. This determination was not a casual dismissal. Considerable research went into arriving at the conclusion. So now, years later, an issue on the relevance of WND is raised.
But the way it is raised is nearly as troubling as the conclusion drawn in the explanation indicated above. If this blog posted a conspiracy theory each day with or without explanation no surprise would be expressed if everyone viewed it as ‘fringe’. But what is more troubling than all of this comes from those describing themselves as conservative having positions or reactions viewed as a result of this topic.
Here is a list of posts at Next Right on this topic:
Jon Henke: Fighting for the Right, the World Net Daily Story
Patrick Ruffini: Can We Have Buckley Back?
Jon Henke: The RNC Responds But Will Not Distance Themselves
Jon Henke: World Net Daily Responds
Jon Henke: Organizing Against World Net Daily
You get to the promised land by having a process that places everything on the table. After much analysis and debate items are chosen as worthy. Then the conclusions are tested in the real world. What works is successful and what does not is abandoned. Trying to define that which is conservative before the process is able to separate the wheat from the chaff is counterproductive. Granted, the reality of politics suggests some honest public debate on issues may put outcomes at risk. But if free and open debate is stifled no matter where it comes from or what is says, conservative principles are undermined.
Some choose to follow World Net Daily, some do not. To raise an issue on whether or not a group should denounce them, etc., is not good policy.
This has the added benefit of this blog not being referred to as a ‘birther’ simply for publishing posts about Obama’s citizenship credentials.
And WND is still not recommended here. But then they shouldn’t be banned either.
Stanford Matthews
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