Fake Viral Obama Video: Truth Does Matter, But Not to "Birthers"

A friend sent me this today with the following comment:

“Got this today from overzealous redneck buddy. Thought you’d find it frustrating and annoying.  If you read the commentary after the clip, the guy who created it admits that it’s a fake, but ya think that stops anyone?  Nah.”

The truth won’t matter to serious TeaBaggers. They prefer to take comfort in their delusions. Unfortunately, it’s viral, and as my friend says, the disclaimer is probably not going to make a difference. What occurs to me, with Tucson in the back of my mind, doesn’t it seem kinda irresponsible to put this sort of thing out there, knowing full well that those short on brains will take it all in - hook, line and sinker?

Here are some rightwing sites that are promoting this video as actual fact, not as a humorous prank - and if you glance through the ‘comments’ on each you’ll notice that the owners of the websites eventually admit the video is fake - and then say they don’t care, preferring to believe the error:

BarackObamaVideos

SodaHead

PatriotsSpencerTeaParty

LoveForLife

The bright spot - if there is one - in most of the ‘Birther’ websites I visited is that they seemed to be shoddy one trick ponies, that went up quickly and went dormant for lack of interest in the lunacy they were selling.

But this all comes down to the question: Why do people believe in dippy, improbable conspiracy theories anyway? Especially after so many people have publicly looked at something as high profile as Obama’s election?

Convicted Watergate conspirator, G. Gordon Liddy - who should know a thing or two about consipiracy - made the point that the more complex the conspiracy, the more likely somebody will spill the beans in order to get their fifteen minutes in the media spotlight. The more elaborate the conspiracy - such as faking a sitting president’s birth certficate - would necessarily involve many dozens of people, through numerous public agencies. Any one of them could become a weak link in the chain of silence - especially if money problems ( due to the collapse of the housing bubble for example ) became a factor.

Yet, it persists.

This is from a site that factchecked the video, noting several things that should send up red flags of doubt for those who have the mental faculties to question:

Forget a birth certificate from Hawaii. Forget the fact that two Hawaiian newspapers published notices of his birth from 1961. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Aug. 4, on Obama’s 49th birthday, found that 27 percent of Americans still think Barack Obama was probably or definitely not born in the United States.

So what should we make of an e-mail that sends readers to a YouTube video in which Obama blandly states that he was born in Kenya?

“Obama admits he is not a citizen — read before this is pulled,” the e-mail says. “Unbelievable!!!!!” “Why has he not been impeached?” “The amazing part of this travesty is Americans continue allowing themselves to be ruled by an illegal alien.”

The 11-minute video, which has been online since May 2, is titled “Not Natural Born — TRUTH MATTERS.” It starts with a 30-second clip of Obama speaking before a group of adults. It begins in mid-sentence: ” … that maybe I’m not an American citizen. Some people said he has a forged birth certificate. Well, first of all, it’s true I’m not an American. I was not born in Hawaii. I wasn’t born in the United States of America. I come from Kenya.”

If you listen closely, you can hear bad editing. The volume and sound quality of his voice change at key points, such as between “it’s true I’m not” and “an American.” The video never shows his lips where he makes his key admissions, so you can’t see if his lips are in sync with what he’s saying. And his audience offers no reaction to what should be a stunning admission.

So where did that portion of the video come from? The logo at the bottom of the video reads obamasnippets.com, which takes you to a YouTube humor channel that features seven videos in which Obama’s words have been edited for laughs.

One example is the “Obama DRUNK!” video, where his comments have been slowed to make it sound as if he’s intoxicated and hitting on an audience member.

The YouTube channel makes the intent clear: “This is not ‘political.’ This is just for fun. This is not an ‘Anti-Obama’ site. This is not a ‘Pro-Obama’ site. This is an ‘Obama Humor’ site… . All Snippets made with 100% Obama’s voice. No imitations! (That would be too easy.)”

The video in which Obama is heard saying “I’m not an American,” called “Birthers’ Delight - Part 1,” includes a disclaimer indicating that it’s a spoof.

The “Truth Matters” video has stripped away the disclaimer and added background music, perhaps in an attempt to disguise the telltale signs of editing.

There’s one other indication that the Obama “confession” is a hoax. Some anti-Obama sites that have posted the video have included a description beginning, “This video starts out with some content from obamasnippets.com, which, of course is contrived.” But on the YouTube page, the word “contrived” is not visible, unless a viewer opens the full description box.

However, nothing in the video itself warns viewers that the Obama clip is fabricated and the video includes a photo — proven fake more than a year ago by our friends at Snopes.com — of Obama holding a landline telephone receiver upside down.

By Aug. 4, 2010, the Truth Matters video had been viewed over a million times on YouTube, 176 times more often than the original ObamaSnippets.com video, where its humorous nature is clear.

Truth does matter, but not to the makers of the Truth Matters video or to the creators of the “Obama admits” e-mail. We rate them both as Pants on Fire.