Fox Gives Platform To Serial Fearmonger And Conspiracy Theorist Joseph Farah
Sean Hannity hosted WorldNetDaily (WND) founder Joseph Farah on his Fox News show to discuss whether the allegations against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain are valid “from a journalistic perspective.” Yet Farah has a long history of outrageous statements, smears, and conspiracy theories.
“Nothing To Report”: Hannity Hosts Farah To Call Cain Allegations “Conjecture … Unsubstantiated”
Farah: “From A Journalistic Perspective, There’s Nothing To Report About The Charges Against Herman Cain.” On the November 14 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, host Sean Hannity discussed the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain with his panel of guests, which included Farah. Farah claimed that “[f]rom a journalistic perspective, there’s nothing to report about the charges about Herman Cain” and later said, “Why is it that we report this conjecture?” From the show:
FARAH: From a journalistic perspective, there’s nothing to report about the charges about Herman Cain. And that’s the thing I think that everybody’s missing.
HANNITY: I said that from day one. I agree with you.
FARAH: Look, there are people out there right now who make far more substantive charges, worse charges about Barack Obama, who claimed to have done all kinds of things with — you wouldn’t report that, Sean, I wouldn’t report that, nobody in the media would report it. Why is it that we report this conjecture, this — these unsubstantiated, uncorroborated charges? I think the real scandal here is a media scandal. [Fox News, Hannity, 11/14/11]
But Farah And WND Have A History Of Spreading Conspiracy Theories And Falsehoods …
Farah Spread Falsehoods About Supreme Court Nominee Kagan. In a June 21, 2010, WND article, headlined, “Anti-military zealot on Supreme Court?” Farah attacked then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a “radical anti-military and pro-abortion zealot.” WorldNetDaily’s “Superstore” in June 2010 also charged readers $24.95 to mail a “Stop Kagan” letter to “all 100 U.S. senators by Fed Ex.” [WND, 6/21/10, via Media Matters; Media Matters, 6/17/10]
For the truth about Kagan’s record, SEE HERE.
Farah And WND Funded “Where’s The Birth Certificate?” Billboards, Merchandise, Petition. In 2009, WorldNetDaily frequently posted articles and commentary about Obama’s birth certificate. The site also offered “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” merchandise and funded “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” billboards across the country. WorldNetDaily also collected money for “The Fund For Truth About Obama Birth,” which promises to offer a reward to anyone “who can provide persuasive evidence of involvement or presence at that birth — whether it took place in Hawaii or elsewhere.” [Media Matters, 7/23/09]
Farah: Unlike Jesus, Obama Has No Documentation Of Birth. During a February 5, 2010, speech at the National Tea Party Convention, Farah repeated a Rush Limbaugh joke, saying, “What do God and Barack Obama have in common? … Neither one of them has a birth certificate.” Farah then said that the birth of Jesus is “so well-documented, unlike Barack Obama’s.” [C-SPAN, 2/5/10, via Media Matters]
WND Falsely Claimed Fort Hood Shooter “Advised Obama Transition.” In a November 6, 2009, article, WorldNetDaily claimed that Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan “advised the Obama transition.” After Media Matters debunked the article, Farah again repeated the falsehood and further claimed that a government official had “confirm[ed]” the WND article. [Media Matters, 11/6/09, 11/6/09]
Farah: “Many Of Us Who Crossed The Clintons … Feared For Our Lives As A Result.” In a November 14, 2007, column discussing Kathleen Willey’s 2007 book about the Clintons, Farah wrote, “Many of us who crossed the Clintons — whether it was because of what we wrote or whether it was because we didn’t yield to unwanted sexual attacks — feared for our lives as a result of winding up on their ‘enemies list.’ ” He also claimed that “there were real-world consequences to being on the Clintons’ enemies list,” such as “losing jobs,” “threats and harassment,” “invasion of privacy,” “break-ins and dead pets and flat tires,” and “audits from the Internal Revenue Service.” [WND, 11/14/07, via Media Matters]
Farah Links Bush Guest-Worker Proposal To Plan By “One-Worlders” To Merge US, Mexico, Canada. On the April 4, 2006, edition of American Family Radio’s Today’s Issues, Farah claimed there were 20 million to 30 million “illegals” in the U.S. Farah then claimed that the “one-worlders” of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) have a plan to merge the United States, Mexico, and Canada by 2010 and suggested that the guest worker program President George W. Bush was proposing at the time was part of CFR’s alleged plan. [American Family Radio, Today’s Issues, 4/4/06, via Media Matters]
… And A History Of Smears And Outrageous Attacks
Farah Called Obama’s “Creator” Omission “An Attempt At Deicide.” In a September 22, 2010, column, Farah attacked Obama’s paraphrasing of the Declaration of Independence without stating that human rights are “endowed by their Creator.” Farah wrote:
This was not an accident.
It was not a slip of the tongue.
It was not an oversight.
It was not an innocent mistake.
This was an attempt at deicide by Obama.
This was an effort to strip from America’s national heritage a direct connection with God Almighty.
Even worse, this was Obama’s way of stripping from America’s consciousness the notion that liberty’s underpinnings require direct accountability and responsibility to the Creator, not man-made government.
Our rights do not descend from Obama, much as he might like.
Our rights do not descend from government, much as he might like.
Our rights are not endowed by evolution, much as he might like.
They are endowed by our Creator.
That’s a key word that the Obama mentality would like us all to forget. [WND, 9/22/10, via Media Matters]
WND’s Farah: Gays Are Worse Than The Ku Klux Klan. In a September 28, 2010, WorldNetDaily column, Farah attacked pundit Ann Coulter for appearing at the group GOProud’s Homocon event. He compared Coulter’s appearance to a celebrity “choos[ing] to speak to the Ku Klux Klan” and later concluded that “the ungodly, sin-glorifying homosexual agenda represents a far greater and far more imminent danger to the future of the United States than does the Klan’s racist, ungodly and sin-glorifying agenda.” From the column:
[T]he point I was making was driven home by all of the press coverage of the event - that “her presence marked the increasingly mainstream embrace of gay rights.”
That’s the trouble with allowing yourself to be exploited by a group with a dangerously extremist agenda that includes the promotion of same-sex marriage, open homosexual service in the U.S. military and a wink and a nod toward hate-crimes legislation.
If a celebrity chooses to speak to the Ku Klux Klan, there is no question the Klan benefits from such an appearance - no matter how much the speaker might attempt to explain the differences he or she might have with the group’s agenda. Justifying such an appearance by suggesting it’s just another paid speaking gig would hardly mollify the criticism or negate the benefit the Klan received from the event.
Of course, no one in respectable public life would consider speaking to the Klan for those reasons.
However, I would suggest the ungodly, sin-glorifying homosexual agenda represents a far greater and far more imminent danger to the future of the United States than does the Klan’s racist, ungodly and sin-glorifying agenda.
That’s not to say we should never speak to or evangelize sinners - be they Klan members or homosexual activists. In fact, that’s exactly what we should do. What we should never do is to embrace or celebrate or validate their activism in any way. [WND, 9/28/10, via Media Matters]
Farah Described Construction Of Park51 Cultural Center As An Act Of Terrorism. In an August 23, 2010, WorldNetDaily column, Farah wrote of the proposed Park51 Muslim cultural center: “[B]y mak[ing] way for a mosque constructed with foreign Islamic money and leadership linked to Islamic extremism, Americans would be consenting to the completion of the audacious and insidious attack of Sept. 11, 2001 … [Imam Feisal Abdul] Rauf calls it ‘iconic.’ I call it ‘completing the attack.’ “ [WND, 8/24/10, via Media Matters]
Farah: Obama “Publicly Supports Ethnic Cleansing In The Middle East Against Jews.” In his December 1, 2009, column, Farah claimed that Obama “doesn’t believe Jews in Israel have an inherent right to build and repair homes and offices.” He further wrote:
This is the president who publicly supports ethnic cleansing in the Middle East against Jews — not just in Gaza, not just in Judea and Samaria, not just in East Jerusalem, but in solidly Jewish neighborhoods of the capital of the Jewish state never before placed on the table for negotiations with the Jew-haters who demand a “Palestinian state” free of all Jews. [WND, 12/1/09, via Media Matters]
On Obama Adviser And Muslim Scholar Mogahed: “I Call Her Toga Head.” During the October 27, 2009, edition of WOR’s The Steve Malzberg Show, Farah said of Obama adviser and Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed, “I call her toga head.” [WOR, The Steve Malzberg Show, 10/27/09, via Media Matters]
In Anti-Gay Attack, Farah Claims Obama Appointees Found At “Perverts.gov,” Government Should Be “Fumigated” When “These Deviants And Degenerates” Are Gone. In his October 6, 2009, WorldNetDaily column, Farah attacked several Obama administration appointees, including Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Chai Feldblum. After attacking Feldblum, who is gay, Farah wrote:
I wonder what kind of database Obama uses to locate people like this? Is it Monster.com? That would be appropriate. Or is it FreaksUnlimited.com? Maybe Obamanations.com? No, it’s got to be Perverts.gov.
I’m telling you, the entire federal government is going to have to be fumigated some day when these deviants and degenerates are finally sent packing. [WND, 10/6/09, via Media Matters]
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