Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewaliferis/3917097075/">Andrew Aliferis</a> (<a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a>).
If a politician says something, and no one challenges it, does that mean it’s true? Conservative website WorldNetDaily is suggesting as much: in a breathless article published Sunday, WND reports that a Kenyan lawmaker, James Orengo, “told the nation’s parliament last month that Barack Obama was born in Africa and is therefore ‘not even a native American.’ The fact that no other members of parliament “mention[ed] or attempt[ed] to correct Orengo’s comments about Obama,” according to WND, and “several other sources—including National Public Radio—have claimed Obama’s birthplace as Kenya prior to his election as president,” you have to think that this raises serious questions about Obama’s eligibility to serve.
Or, you know, not.
I’m sure other folks have pointed this out, but reading a WND article on Obama’s birth country is like reading a primer on logic errors. If you only pay attention to the times that people and news outlets have referred to Obama as being born in Kenya, the evidence might seem overwhelming. But you’re ignoring the countless times that news outlets and politicians didn’t refer to Obama as being Kenyan-born. The bottom line is that just because some guy says something—even on NPR’s website or in Kenya’s parliament—doesn’t mean it’s true.
