Fox Business, the conspiracy theory channel, hosts the Godfather of the Birthers

It's becoming clear that News Corp. has a strict policy on conspiracy theorists: The more the better, and the crazier the better.

Fox Business Network host Andrew Napolitano recently revealed himself to be a 9-11 Truther. Lou Dobbs, who left CNN after repeatedly dabbling in birtherism, has been hired to host his own show on Fox Business. (“Birther queen” Orly Taitz praised Fox's hiring of Dobbs as a “great move.”) In fact, the broader Fox empire has a history of promoting birthers and Truthers.

But Napolitano helped Fox Business achieve a new level of crazy on his show last night when he hosted Jerome Corsi, who has actually accused President Obama of being an identity thief.

No, really. In September, Corsi said that President Obama “has stolen the identity of a natural-born citizen” and is “using someone else's Social Security number.”

Corsi could fairly be described as the Godfather of the Birthers, having promoted the conspiracy theory in the national media at least as far back as August 2008, when he appeared on Fox & Friends to declare that Obama's presidential campaign had offered up a “false, fake birth certificate.”

Corsi's obsession with Obama conspiracy theories has carried him around the globe. He was chased out of Kenya in 2008 after authorities there accused him of entering the country on a tourist visa when he was there instead to do business -- “researching” Obama's connections. Corsi also announced that he was traveling to Hawaii to “do what digging I can on the birth certificate.”

On Napolitano's show last night, Corsi spouted exactly the sort of nonsense you would expect. While discussing the full-body scanners being used at airports, Corsi stated that “some pretty powerful financial interests” had a stake in the company that produces the scanners, including perpetual right-wing bogeyman George Soros. Corsi said that Soros was “one of the top shareholders” in the company and that “I think he sold a hundred thousand shares”:

That isn't true. As we've documented, Soros reportedly held 11,300 shares in the parent company of the scanner-maker -- or 0.06 percent of its outstanding shares -- before reportedly selling them sometime this summer.

Later in the segment, Corsi made a disgusting accusation about TSA agents and their agency's hiring practices. Corsi said that “these employees at TSA are getting paid an average of about $25,000. TSA -- 100,000 employees -- has had a turnover in the last six years of 67,000 employees.” Napolitano said to him, “You're telling me that two-thirds of the TSA's employees have been there for less than a year?”

Corsi responded, “That's -- most likely, yes. They've been turning over 67,000 in six years. And, Judge, all the employment psychology I've been reading and writing about in WorldNetDaily -- you're going to be putting out a notice, which is, 'Sexual perverts, people who want to grope, apply here.' And it's going to be the job description that's coming forward.”

These smears are typical of Corsi's record. No legitimate news organization should pay any attention to him, let alone present him as an expert during a guest appearance. As we wrote previously:

Jerome Corsi is the guy who co-wrote Unfit for Command, a book so infamously inaccurate that it helped spawn the term "swiftboating" as a description of a political smear campaign.

That alone should tell you everything you need to know about Corsi, but there are so many other reasons he's not a credible figure. There's the birtherism. The appearance on a “pro-White” radio show. The bigoted comments on Free Republic. The promotion of laughable conspiracy theories about global government and the "North American Union." The failed Obama smear book.

If you're sane, this resume says, “Do not touch.”

If you're Fox, it says, “Prime guest material.”