WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah has a weird habit of making grandiose and dubious (and evidence-free) claims about his past — for instance, that he marched with Martin Luther King and he was “literally working shoulder to shoulder” with Bill Ayers and Tom Hayden in his left-winger days.
In his July 26 WND column eulogizing right-wing author and activist Tim LaHaye, Farah writes this:
Here’s one of my favorite personal recollections.
In a former life, I made a living collaborating on books with others – including people like Rush Limbaugh, Hal Lindsey, Greg Laurie and many others.
Tim and I had discussed doing book projects together, but we never did.
One day in 1994, I believe, I called Tim with an idea for a project that had been in the back of my mind of more than 15 years. I had discussed it with other partners over the years, but it just kept getting put off in favor of other book projects.
The idea was a book called “Left Behind.”
As I was explaining it to him on the phone, he interjected, “Joseph, you’re not going to believe this, but I just signed a collaboration agreement and a publishing contract for that very title.”
The rest is history, as they say.
The book and its many sequels went on to sell tens of millions of copies and remain on the New York Times bestsellers list for over 300 weeks.
I had waited too long to make the call.
That’s a weird little attempt to steal a little glory from LaHaye upon his death. Note that Farah is somewhat vague about what exactly he’s stealing credit for — he’s definitely claiming having come up with the title “Left Behind,” and he’s sort of suggesting he may have thought of a similar plot.
Then again, Farah’s fighting against the imminent failure of the business model behind WND, so someone else’s financial success probably looks quite appealing.