We know that overzealous partisan hacks on both sides of the aisle will buy into any crazy accusation tossed at their political opponents, but this is the first time we've ever heard of a group getting so desperate that they were taken in by a so called
419 scam (like those Nigerian princes that keep e-mailing you about their inaccessible fortune).
In the last, floundering days of the presidential campaign
McCain supporters, smelling the encroaching ass-whomping, latched on to rumors of the existence of a tape that contained
Michelle Obama admitting that
Barack was not a U.S. citizen. What makes this unique is that instead of being the unfounded mumblings of "strategists," the tale of the tape originated from a freely hosted Wordpress blog under the name
African Press International (API). Despite
glaring evidence of the falsehood of the claim (such as the fact that API was based in Norway and not registered as an NGO as they asserted), it began to ricochet around the right-wing blogosphere.
As defeat at the polls became more likely McCain supporters and conspiracy theorists began to hound API to release the tape. Of course, API hemmed and hawed, claiming to have handed it over to FOX, then demanding money, then implying a
vast left-wing conspiracy was preventing the release of the tape.
Somewhere along the line, the tale morphed. Suddenly, the tape in question was of Obama Jew-bashing at a party with William Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi (whom by the way John McCain funneled $500,000 in grants to as chairman of the International Republican Institute). And now it was in the hands of the L.A. Times. Right-wing bloggers started
collecting donations to buy the tape (from the L.A. Times and the API). When the bid finally hit $150,000 suddenly API demanded $2 million for the release of the tape.
Though it's not known if any money was ever actually paid to the scammers, the evolution of the scam could easily fill an entire chapter in a sociology or psychology text book. When truly desperate, people will believe almost anything you tell them as long as it agrees with their world view, even when confronted with irrefutable evidence of its falseness. [From:
Hard News, Via:
Boing Boing]
