Joe Wilson: Obama's Birthplace Should Have Been Brought Up In Primary

With President Barack Obama set to deliver his first formal State of the Union address tonight, the political world turns its gaze to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-.S.C.), who unceremoniously shouted down Obama the last time he addressed a bicameral gathering of Congress.

The South Carolina Republican has pledged to act dignified during tonight's address, telling the Associated Press that his "natural inclination is to be on my best behavior... I have the highest respect for the president, and I certainly look forward to the speech."

Alas, Wilson may have already tossed presidential deference overboard. A Democratic source forwards over a radio interview Wilson did in late December in which he appears to fan the flames of birtherism, telling a caller that the issue of Obama's country of origin should have been litigated during the Democratic primary process.

"I was an election commissioner and so I always take seriously that when people file, that's where that should have been brought up," Wilson told the Kevin Cohen Show on December 21. "And it should have been brought up when he filed for president in the first state wherever it was and whichever had a primary where he should file. So that is a legal issue that should have been brought up at that time."

The congressman, whose political antics have landed him a Democratic challenger for his seat -- former Marine Rob Miller -- also insisted that the Republican Party would be better served by focusing on attacking Obama's domestic agenda.

But this doesn't really give him a pass. By stating that the issue of Obama's birthplace should have been raised, Wilson is implicitly acknowledging that there is uncertainty as to whether the president is constitutionally allowed to hold office. Saying that he now wants to focus on policy issues allows him some distance from the birther movement, but it also means he is not disputing the movement's fundamental claim.

Comments

[lazercat2008]

10:50 AM on 02/24/2010

Please American voters wake up and vote this waste of skin out.

[Marnie1]

09:41 AM on 01/28/2010

OK, assuming it should have been, why did the RepoTaliban not bring it up.
1) they knew there was no substance to the issue as they had already researched it.
2) they know it was true and they are just waiting to use it to impeach Obama

Either way it the accusers responsibility to prove the absence of a document that was necessary for Obama to travel, as a private citizen, to Africa and Indonexia.
You can't get a passport without one Joe. Its time to grow up.

[jjgg5]

09:35 AM on 01/28/2010

The McCain Campaign investigated this assertion and decided it was a non issue. Joe, I think that you are none-too-bright.

[Bpeirce]

09:08 AM on 01/28/2010

The South Carolina Bigot once again rears his ugly head!

[2bad]

08:39 AM on 01/28/2010

He just doesn't look right without the banjo.

[Crazyquilt]

10:39 AM on 01/28/2010

The dueling banjo.

[LucieLee]

08:36 AM on 01/28/2010

This guy is so insane, as the rest of these wackos are. They just can't stand the fact that a black man is the POTUS....it is really killing them

[rgilley]

08:31 AM on 01/28/2010

I knew this guy was a right wing wako. Are they ALL in South Carolina??
Here is the rest of the story Joe:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp

Maybe you can have one of your staffers read it to you.

[AbeMartin]

08:16 AM on 01/28/2010

This from a Carolinian whose family back in the hills probably was used as background in "Deliverance." Ned Beatty still has nightmares!

[Teresa201]

08:15 AM on 01/28/2010

Looks like it's time to send more cash to Rob Miller.

I will donate to all states to unseat thugs.......
Keep talking outside the House and saying No inside the House.

Thanks for nothing GOP.

[1differentdrummer]

06:45 AM on 01/28/2010

This from a man who was hatched.

[msgirlintn]

04:59 AM on 01/28/2010

I am not the least surprised at this. Remember when somebody took a video camera to Capitol Hill and most of the GOP House members that he got on camera were birthers.

It's sad when they had rather believe a lie than accept a black man as President.

[rgilley]

08:45 AM on 01/28/2010

Perhaps the people of the United States will finally put the grand ole party of the south out of business, before they take what's left of our freedom.

[msgirlintn]

04:33 PM on 01/28/2010

Gilley,

Not all of us in the South are Repubs and we're certainly not all like him.

You would never know it from national elections, but TN has a Dem Governor (for now) and Nashville has a Dem mayor.

[ncmom54]

04:57 AM on 01/28/2010

no wonder Congress' ratings are in the toilet
crap like this keeps the work of the people from proceeding
is one dime of taxpayer funds being spent on this witch hunt diversion?

My God! people are loosing their homes, jobs, it's winter & too many folks are using space heaters because they can't afford heating oil, families are a catastrophic illness away from finiancial ruin... and you have the gall to harp on a birth certificate? Is it because your party will go to any extent to discredit the president? Is that more important than jobs? Shame on you!

[UsofA]

04:13 AM on 01/28/2010

It's better to keep your mouth shut and have people suspect you're an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Haven't you embarrassed yourself and your family enough, Mr. Wilson?

[rugby john]

03:57 AM on 01/28/2010

How did this guy ever get elected to congress?

[Osusuki]

04:19 AM on 01/28/2010

How did this guy ever graduate from high school? (Oh yeah, South Carolina. I forgot.)

[msgirlintn]

05:01 AM on 01/28/2010

By the same voters that elected Mark (hiking on the Appalachian Trail) Sanford and his lt governor who compares poor people to stray animals.

They have got real problems with some politicians in South Carolina.

[janha]

03:32 AM on 01/28/2010

Did Joe Wilson, or any other Republican, check George Bush's birth records when he ran. Of course not.

[billw8017]

04:04 AM on 01/28/2010

John McCain was born in Panama, not that anybody cares. He gets his citizenship from his parents.

[callmemara]

07:38 AM on 01/28/2010

exactly.

[ex republican]

09:59 AM on 01/28/2010

Exactly. It does not matter WHERE Obama was born, only that he was a citizen at birth. By having a mother who was an american citizen, so is Obama.