A Free Press For A Free People
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Is billboard campaign working?
'Where's the birth certificate?' slogan bringing issue home, says organizer
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WASHINGTON – It all started only one year ago, recalls WND Editor and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah.
That's when he launched what became something of a national sensation and, he believes, rekindled the debate about Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility for office – billboard campaign that asks the question, "Where's the birth certificate?"
"It has certainly changed my life," explains Farah. "A year ago I was still getting regular invitations to be on cable TV shows and talk about the issues of the day. The minute I was labeled a 'birther,' I became radioactive – just like Lou Dobbs."
But, Farah says, even though "the establishment media" are in lockstep on this issue, the billboard campaign has fundamentally changed the public's mind to the point at which all the polls are shocking the elite and state legislatures are passing bills to ensure this never happens again in future presidential elections.
"There's no denying it," says Farah. "No matter how hard my colleagues try to make the public forget about this issue, no matter how hard they attempt to ridicule anyone who wants to see the proof, no matter how much they demean even decorated military officers who take their own oaths seriously, this issue will not go away. It's going to be around in 2012. It may even be the defining issue in 2012."
Just last month, Farah commissioned the latest new billboard in Atlanta. Just weeks later, Rep. Mark O. Hatfield of the Georgia legislature, introduced a bill that would require state officials to ensure only constitutionally eligible presidential candidates can get on ballots in the state beginning in 2012. A similar bill passed the Arizona legislature this month. Similar legislation is expected to be debated in statehouses around the country later this year.
"Can you imagine the impact of several states adopting this kind of legislation before the next presidential election?" Farah says. "It's almost an inevitability at this point. Obama is going to have to reveal the documents he has stubbornly refused to reveal to the American people, in spite of the polls. If he doesn't, he will be forfeiting electoral votes in those states. I wouldn't be surprised if Obama decided not to run for re-election. I honestly don't think he will ever produce a long-form birth certificate. I think he has something serious to hide."
Farah says he could not have pulled off the campaign without the support of WND's visitors. The cost of the billboards has been offset by donations – and Farah says he wants to step up the campaign because it's winning.
The latest CBS/New York Times poll showed only 58 percent of Americans even think Obama was born in the USA.
"I'm quite sure based on our own polls that if those people were asked whether they would like to see Obama release his birth certificate, more than half the country would say 'yes'– and all the other personal papers he has refused to disclose," Farah said.
Farah says the billboards have had a lot to do with changing popular opinion – even if the media don't get it.
"People simply shouldn't have to conjecture about where they think their president was born," he says. "It ought to be a matter of public record – and it clearly is not."
Aside from the billboard campaign, WND has devoted more investigative reporting to the issue of eligibility than "all other media outlets combined, says Farah.
In addition, the billboard campaign was rejected by three major billboard companies all owned by major media outlets – CBS, Clear Channel and Lamarr.
"What I need Americans to understand is that this billboard campaign is working," said Farah. "There is no shortage of billboards available to us. The only thing there's a shortage of is the money to erect them. We need to raise tens of thousands of dollars a month just to keep them in place."
The impact of the billboards is magnified by local television and talk radio shows in every market they enter, explains Farah. "It's not just the billboard," said Farah. "It's the earned media that comes along with it. It's astounding. We have turned millions of people around on this issue with the billboards. It's just that simple."
(You can force the issue by calling up the News
Media, Newspapers, TV, and Internet. The Democratic
party leaders have sworn to the legitimacy of his
eligibility, now LET THEM PROVE IT! Every president
up to this time has done it, WHY NOT MAKE HIM DO
AS EVERY OTHER PRESIDENT HAS DONE?)
