Conspiracy Theorists

Give it up, guys, it's a non-starter.

  Fact and reality never interfere with the convictions of True Believers, and cable TV news shows are becoming like supermarket tabloid gossip sheets.
  When confronted with detailed information that contradicts their views and theories, the True Believers dismiss these facts as lies, invented and spread by nefarious others, and sown only as character assassination.
   When challenged by neutral journalists, they insist that the questioner is part of a conspiracy against them and their True Beliefs, brought by political opponents in league with the bigoted, biased, unfair and incompetent news media.
   It's time for responsible journalists to stop letting themselves be manipulated by the True Believers and conspiracy kooks who use, misuse and abuse media platforms to spout their nonsense.
   Granted, such colorful diatribes make "good copy," but they contribute little to rational discussion of important issues.
   The odd thing is, participants in these journalistic charades believe they are indeed "rational" discussions.
   They're not.

   There's no rational basis for the birtherism campaign, and there never was. The punditocracy, however, continues to refer to the idea that a presidential candidate must be born in the U.S., thus endorsing the birtherism allegation that this is a Constitutional requirement.
   It's not.

   The Constitution stipulates that a candidate must be a "natural born" citizen. This includes children born elsewhere to American citizens. By this standard, Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada, is a "natural born" citizen through his American mother.
   Gov. George Romney, father of Mitt Romney and also a Presidential candidate, was born in Mexico to American Mormon missionaries.
   And Sen. John McCain was born in Panama to military parents stationed in the Canal Zone.
   All three qualify as "natural born" citizens. Coincidentally, all three are Republicans, yet the birtherism issue was never brought against them.
   
   But despite documented proof that Barack Obama, a Democrat, was born in Hawaii to an American mother, and therefore is not only a natural born citizen but primarily a native born citizen, the conspiracy theorists continue to spread the notion that he was not a citizen at all, and so not qualified to be President.
   The reaction by the conspiracy kooks is that the birth certificate is a forgery, the newspaper birth announcements were planted, and that "something's going on."
  
   Memo to talk show hosts: Give it up, guys. It may be juicy, but it's a non-story. Unless you call out the kooks on the air as liars and fools, don't give them air time. Your job in the news business is to investigate for truth and expose nonsensical lies.
   Do your job.