Breitbart editor: We won't probe eligibility

A new editor for Breitbart.com, reorganized quickly after the sudden death March 1 of founder and conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, says the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility simply doesn't matter.

"To my knowledge, there's no evidence. I just don't believe it," Ben Shapiro, newly named editor-at-large for Breitbart.com, told Mark Gillar during an interview on his BlogTalkRadio program.

It was Breitbart who told the Conservative Political Action Conference shortly before his sudden death that he had obtained videos and other information about Obama's past. Breitbart said he intended to vet the incumbent president before the 2012 election, because the media didn't do it in 2008.

His organization, which had been on the Internet under the Big Government, Big Hollywood and other names, was in a reorganization at the time Breitbart died, and the new consolidated Breitbart.com site was released only days later.

Shapiro, author of the bestselling "Brainwashed" as well as "Primetime Propaganda," was named editor-at-large as responsibilities were reassigned. Breitbart.com also announced Stephen K. Bannon was named executive chairman and Laurence G. Solov president.

Solov confirmed he shared Breitbart's vision and promised the "company will pursue [it] relentlessly."

Joel B. Pollak was appointed editor-in-chief, and Alex Marlow was named managing editor.

"Our goal in 2012 is to continue Andrew's project, 'The Vetting,' which examines the president, his rivals and the mainstream media," Pollak said in the company's announcement. "In this crucial election year and beyond, we will continue to drive the national debate by promoting the 'citizen journalism' that was Andrew's unique vision and his enduring legacy to American media."

Gillar asked Shapiro about the vetting process, and Shapiro asked that people with tips contact his organization.

But when Gillar asked about evidence suggesting Obama is ineligible to even hold the office of president, Shapiro rejected the suggestions outright:

The interview:

"We need an army of citizen journalists," Shapiro explained. "The media is not going to do its jobs. The media is simply going to continue its pattern of protecting President Obama. If you have a tip send it to us."

On the eligibility issue, however, Shapiro said, "I'm one of the people who yawns at it."

"I know there are people who are very concerned with this," he said. "I think it's a waste of resources. No. 1, I don't think it's true. No. 2, even if it were true, it would have no impact on the political debate, because nobody can do anything about it."

"It's a waste of resources, and it's a waste of time," he said. "It makes people look like kooks even if they aren't."

He continued, "I would really recommend people drop this topic and focus on who this president is, as opposed to an issue that is not going to be an issue in this election."

He said other people were free to investigate and report, but that he wasn't going to do it: "All I'm recommending is if you're really concerned with Obama being ousted from the Oval Office, we should focus … on who he is and what he's done."

He said "as a journalist," he had looked at "the arguments on both sides."

"I keep saying this over and over, because I know Media Matters is going to listen to this. I don't think it's true," he said, referencing a far-left leaning website that ridicules those who report on the Obama eligibility issue.

Gillar volunteered to provide Shapiro with information concerning Obama, including some that doesn't even approach the volcanic dispute over whether Obama is a "natural-born citizen" as the Constitution requires of presidents.

He cited evidence that Obama's Selective Service registration was forged, a registration that is required for elected office in the U.S.

"I don't think it's an issue," Shapiro said. "We really want to focus on issues that are going to reveal who Barack Obama is."

However, in numerous polls, fully half of Americans have said they don't believe Obama's birth narrative and either don't believe or distrust the idea that he's eligible to be president.

A recent poll done for WND by Wenzel Strategies revealed that almost 40 percent of registered voters now think the nation is facing a constitutional crisis because of a lack of documentation regarding Obama's eligibility.

NOTE: In case you missed the news conference of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "Cold Case Posse," you can view it here.

The scientific telephone survey, conducted March 10-13, has a margin of error of 3.72 percentage points.

Nearly 26 percent of respondents say they strongly agree with the statement that the country now is facing a constitutional crisis on the issue of Obama's eligibility. Another 13.7 percent say they somewhat agree.

Critics long have asked about the impact on the nation should Obama be proven to be ineligible. Are the laws he's signed still laws? What about the money he's spent? And how about the commitments he's made to allies overseas? What about significant social changes he's brought about, such as opening the U.S. military to open homosexuality?

The preliminary findings of Arpaio's investigation by experienced law enforcement investigators and attorneys, released March 1, have served to wake people up on the issue, Wenzel said, despite mainstream media efforts to keep the information under wraps.

The poll showed 11 percent of voters are very familiar with the conclusions in Arpaio's report, and another 19 percent are somewhat familiar. Still, nearly 70 percent were not very or not at all familiar.

While Arpaio's investigation showed probable cause that there was forgery in the creation of Obama's certificate of live birth, released last year by the White House, and fraud in its presentation as a real document, WND previously reported that some of the silence from the media may be due to threats.

Lead Cold Case Posse investigator Mike Zullo told WND, "During our investigation, we actually were told [that media] had been threatened with FTC investigations. Commentators [had been] threatened with their jobs."

The threats were so intimidating that some individuals quit their positions over safety concerns for their families, he said.

Read the results of Sheriff Arpaio's Cold Case Posse investigation.

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