Sheriff Joe on Birth Certificate Probe: ‘Media has suddenly gone missing ...’

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is angry that no one is paying attention to his investigation into the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate.

“[W]hy has the media has decided to black out all news of our Obama investigation? That’s what I don’t understand. ... I’m a controversial guy and usually the media is all over me, but when I decided to investigate Obama, the media has suddenly gone missing in action,” Arpaio told WorldNetDaily, the right-wing conspiracy website that has led the charge to question the legitimacy of Obama’s citizenship.

Arpaio’s lust for publicity is all very odd, given that his office initially minimized the probe as nothing special. In September, Arpaio spokesman Sgt. Jesse Spurgin told Hatewatch that the department asked the sheriff’s all-volunteer “Cold Case Posse” to review claims Obama’s certificate was a fake, but only after a local Tea Party group requested. He went to great pains to characterize the review as nothing more than an “inquiry.”

Now, WND is touting thousands of pages of documents the investigation has allegedly uncovered, and a looming “Obama surprise.” WND has also reported that Arpaio is investigating whether Obama “is using a fraudulent Social Security number ... as well as whether the birth certificate issued by the White House on April 27 is a forgery.”

Obama released his long-form birth certificate in April, but WND publisher Joseph Farah – who sponsored billboards with the text “Where’s the birth certificate?” – continued to indulge his obsession. To justify it, he claimed to be following the prompting of a “skeptical public” eager for someone to press Obama on his birthplace.

But as often happens with WND, it’s hard to gauge what is true and what is fantasy. Arpaio was in New Hampshire with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign staff on Tuesday and unavailable for comment. Spurgin, the department’s spokesman, also claimed to know nothing of the developments.

At least for now, the answer to Arpaio’s questions is relatively easy. Why isn’t the media paying attention to your investigation, Sheriff Joe? It might just be because the question you’re investigating has already been answered.