How Conspiracy Theories are Born

This is a fascinating diary from Daily Kos by CatM about the most recent developments in the ongoing Obama birth certificate drama.  For those who don't want to follow the link: today on Hardball G. Gordon Liddy claimed that Obama is an 'illegal alien' and dropped the bombshell on Chris Matthews that he, "ha[s] a deposition, sworn statement from the step-grandmother who says, 'I was present and saw him [Obama] born in Mumbasa, Kenya.'"

There are a number of things that I find fascinating about this declaration, the least of which being that it's completely false.  There is no deposition or 'sworn statement', Liddy simply has a partial transcript of a phone call that took place between a self proclaimed street minister, Bishop Ron McRae and a Swahili translator who happens to be Sarah Obama's step grandson that was recorded without their knowledge or consent.  More importantly, the transcript itself is not particularly revealing: 

MCRAE: Uh, could I ask her, uh, could I ask her about his, uh, his, his, his actual birthplace. I would like to see his birthplace when I, when I come to Kenya in December. Uh, was she, was she, was she present when he was--

VOICE (in background): It is here.*

MCRAE: Was she present when he was born in Kenya?

BROTHER TOM (in background): He is asking her that, uh, he wants to 
know something that uh, was uh you, was they, was she present when, ah, 
he was born. Were they they there then?

TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: Yes, they say that yes she was. She was 
present when Obama was born. 
(McRae catches breath)

There you have it, folks.  A 'sworn statement' from Sarah Obama that our president is an illegal alien.  Take a moment to parse the sentence, "Was she present when he was born in Kenya?" then, "Was she present, when he was born, in Kenya?"  Now translate it into Swahili, then Luo, the language that Mrs. Obama speaks according to Bill Kristol.  If you are McRae, you see definitive proof that Mrs. Obama was present when the President was born.  If you are less excitable, you wait for clarification.

Clarification that occurs literally moments later and was notably excised from the transcript as it was submitted in court as evidence during the a recent lawsuit challenging Obama's citizenship.  From the transcript:

TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (to McRae): No! Obama was not born in 
Mombasa! He was born in America!

MCRAE: Wh-whereabouts, whereabouts was he born? I, I thought he was born in Kenya.

TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: No he was born in America, not in Mombasa.

MCRAE: OK. Do you know whereabouts he was born?

TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: (Pause.) Huh? 

MCRAE: Do you know where he was born? I thought he was born in Kenya. I was gonna go by and see where he was born.

(two male voices in background in foreign language speaking at the same 
time. Mrs. Obama or another woman in background.)

VOICE (background): It was Hawaii.

As I see it, there are a few different interpretations of Liddy's actions: (1) he went on national television and advanced a conspiracy theory based on a partial transcript of this phone call and was too stupid to read the entire thing or check up on it before declaring his faith in it, or (2) Liddy knew that the transcript was bogus but believes he can do significant political damage to Obama's presidency by promoting this particular meme.  Neither interpretations are particularly flattering.

Either way, I think this is a wonderfully illustrative example of how conspiracy theories are born.  It literally starts with a game of telephone, moving through three languages and resulting in a confusing situation that requires further clarification.  The resultant transcripts (full and partial versions) demonstrate how easily confusion can spread when small bits of information are removed from their context.  General laziness and a national press platform now combine to create legitimacy for the theory - you can already hear the conservative pundits claiming that the controversy is spreading like wildfire now that it's been discussed on MSNBC.  And, once the theory has gone mainstream, it's impossible to ever completely discredit it as long as their are people that want to believe it enough that they are willing to harass 85 year old women from Kenya.