President Barack Obama added fuel to conspiracy theorists’ fires when pundits, after reviewing the video of his Sunday announcement of the killing of Osama bin Laden, noticed that his speech was riddled with air quotes.
Initially undetected by the viewing public — partly because of the enormity of the announcement, but also because of “the sheer credulity of a duped American public,” according to Obama-themed conspiracy theorists — a more detailed look revealed he used air quotes, or Ersatz quotes as they are also called, 182 times during his revelation that Osama bin Laden had been located and killed.
The virtual quotation marks were found to be peppered throughout the speech, surrounding key words and phrases, leaving many to wonder if Obama was purposely trying to hedge or qualify his statements when he reported that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted “terrorist,” was “killed” in “Pakistan” as the result of a “U.S. military” operation.
Right-wing blogger Pamela Geller and Fox Business News’ Eric Bolling, were quick to join the chorus of detractors who doubted the validity of the announcement. Demands soon erupted for Obama to add Bin Laden’s medical certificate of death, along with any grisly undoctored photographs taken of the supposed death of the terrorist mastermind, to the growing list of documentation they claim the President owes the American people.
“I’m amazed at how how the media protects [Obama],” Geller told Follow the Money host Bolling Wednesday night. “Am I the only one who saw his cigarette-stained fingers twitch constantly throughout his speech? His whole announcement was filled with non-verbal caveats and raised-finger qualifiers.”
The Chicago Dope did an in-depth review of the announcement and was able to confirm Geller’s claims. Below is a transcript of Obama’s speech:
The speech continued,
The speech left some wondering what aspect of our nation’s decade-long war on terror has been true and what has been a carefully orchestrated fabrication.
9/11 Truthers have resurfaced, demanding an inquiry into Obama’s use of Ersatz quotes around “attack” and “hijacked” when referring to the events on September 11th. Obama also incensed his conservative detractors by using extensive finger quotes throughout his closing statement, saying:
“His finger quoting “God” and the “USA” just reveals what we all suspected; that he really hates America,” conservative radio host Michael Savage said on his show Wednesday night. “Oh, and it also proves he’s an income re-distributor when he said ‘wealth’ in a condescending way.”
Many have speculated that the President intentionally baited reality-impaired right-wing ideologues, hoping that they would add another unsubstantiated charge to their long list of bigoted or politically-driven conspiracy theories. Past attempts to paint Obama as a Muslim, a Fascist/Marxist, a Kenyan citizen, a closet homosexual and crackhead, a British citizen, and the anti-Christ have been met with laughter and derision from thinking Americans.
Additionally, charges have also been made that he is an unrepentant atheist, bringer of the New World Order, advancing mass immigration of Middle Eastern Muslims, an agent for Radical Islam, a member of the Illuminati, constructing FEMA camps, the son of Malcolm X, a Reptilian, coming to take your guns and has set out on a continuous worldwide apology tour.
None of these charges have, of course, resonated outside of conservative talk radio and extremist message boards like Foxnation.com and FreeRepublic.com.
Given that the most recent conspiracy theory — that he isn’t an American citizen — was dismantled by the release of his birth certificate, Obama now seems content on giving them something else to mindlessly gnaw on until the end of the year.
JB Goodbody frequently has thoughts in his head that makes him smile. Were they made public at the moment they poofed into existence, without some form of structured outlet such as satire, these thoughts would cause significant distress among his friends, family and coworkers. This is why he is here. 
