Eric Cantor Addresses Birther Issue

WASHINGTON — The new Republican House majority leader says he doesn't think questions about President Barack Obama's citizenship should play a role in the discussion of policy matters.

Two years into the Obama administration, so-called birthers continue to argue that Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and that he hasn't proved he's constitutionally qualified to be president. Birth records in Hawaii haven't dissuaded them.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he believes Obama is a citizen and that most Americans are beyond that question.

"I don't think it's an issue that we need to address at all. . It is not an issue that even needs to be on the policy-making table right now whatsoever," he said.

Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Cantor refused to call people who question Obama's citizenship "crazy."

"I don't think it's nice to call anyone crazy," Cantor said

Cantor says he believes that Obama wants what's best for the country and that there are honest disagreements over how to achieve that.

Birthers say there's no proof he was born in the United States; many of these skeptics question whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father's home country.

Hawaii's health director said in 2008 and 2009 that she had seen and verified Obama's original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were published within days of Obama's birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo again confirmed on Friday that Obama's name is found in its alphabetical list of names of people born in Hawaii, maintained in bound copies available for public view.

Hawaii's Democratic governor, Neil Abercrombie, who was a friend of Obama's parents and knew him as a child, began an effort last month to find a way to dispel conspiracy theories that the president was born elsewhere. The governor said he was bothered by people who questioned Obama's birthplace for political reasons.

But Abercrombie's office said Friday that he was ending his quest because it's against state law to release private documents. The state's attorney general told the governor he can't disclose an individual's birth documentation without a person's consent.

The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's birth date, city and name, along with his parents' names and races.

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Online:

Background on Hawaiian records: http://tinyurl.com/ybcsovm

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Online:

http://tinyurl.com/ybcsovm

Comments

[tuffcityt]

12:17 AM on 03/05/2011

Nobody really knows where they were born. We all rely on heresay on that point.

[FlangeSqueal]

08:45 PM on 01/27/2011

No = let's not call 'birthers' crazy - they may have some little bit of money we can talk them into sendnig us !

[GustavoRejivik]

08:24 PM on 01/27/2011

Now 5 Democrat Lawmakers in Hawaii are trying to get this document released !! Just fess up Barak.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110127/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_birth_certificate_1

10 States developing Presidential Eligibility demands ... aka the "Barak Rule"

[TwinX]

04:13 AM on 01/31/2011

Have you actually bothered to read any of the proposed legislation?

[TwinX]

08:26 PM on 01/26/2011

Chris and KnifeedgePass, below are very excited about a claim by someone called Mike Evans, that Governor Abercrombie told him there is no Hawaiian Birth Certificate for President Obama.

Mike Evans has since retracted his claim, and stated that he's going to apologize for misrepresenting what Gov. Abercrombe never told him in the first place.

This is how birthers work. Get the lie out there and, sow the seeds of doubt.

That's their aim. That's their goal. Most of them know full well that President Obama is the legitimate, elligible, duly elected President of the United States.

It's beyond disgraceful.

Listen to Mike Evans being grilled by birther Peter Bowles as to what *actually* happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBb7loS_3r4

If Governor Abercrombie is still 'friends' with Evans after this, he's a better person than me, because I would not forgive someone for not only lying about what I said, but basing it on a WND article that in turn, completely misrepresented what Abercrombie said in the first place.

[KnifeEdgePass]

10:15 AM on 01/27/2011

Wow. You're certainly dancing as fast as you can, arent' you? No need to editorialize, Twin, let's just deal in facts. The Gov. of Hawaii wanted to find Obama's BC - he apparently can't find it. Mike Evans spoke to the Gov's office, who told Evans the Gov. can't find it. If anyone would know if the Gov had found it, it would be his own office.
I'm also impressed that you picked an article off of Fox News, and chose to believe it and make it the foundation of your rebutta, when FNN is so disparaged on HP. It's also mystifying why you chose that youtube clip (Mike Evans & Peter Boyles)- have you even listened to it? It puches a few dozen holes in your argument. Howl and spin all you want... this story gets worse and worse, and no amount of bailing on your part can keep your ship from sinking.

[Chris1962]

11:23 AM on 01/26/2011

Wow, a reporter, who's personal friends with the Hawaii governor, dropped a bombshell in a radio show report the other day, saying that the governor personally admitted to him that the original birth certificate is not on record. It starts at the 1:26 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvrb7YqdvxE I think Obama has some serious explaining to do.

[KnifeEdgePass]

03:51 PM on 01/26/2011

Yes he does, as do those who vetted him in the first place! As a taxpayer, I think Hawaii's law that won't release the BC without good cause is reasonable, EXCEPT when it NEEDS to be released, to ANY US Citizen, if necessary to establish credentials & eligibility for POTUS. That makes its release legitimate business.
BHO has stayed strangely quiet on this new development.

[Mark In DC]

06:47 PM on 01/26/2011

WRONG!!!
Read the thread you listed. "Fox News is now claiming that Mike Evans fabricated this whole story". Also, this reporter HAS NOT SPOKEN to the Hawaiian Governor since the Governor took office.
Once again, one of these stupid birther claims.

Obama has NOTHING TO EXPLAIN.

[KnifeEdgePass]

09:53 AM on 01/27/2011

I thought Fox News was a bunch of liars. Now we're going to believe one of their stories? You guys on HP sure like to cherry-pick your news.
BHO may have nothing to explain to you, probably because you're one of his devout, unquestioning followers. But to many, this is a pretty serious issue. If his friend the Gov of Hawaii can't find this BC, or some other vital record, then the issue won't go away no matter how hard you hyperventilate.

[GustavoRejivik]

02:31 AM on 01/26/2011

Why is Cantor asking these questions and not Obama himself? Obama's mother is a US citizen, so I don't see how Obama isn't. But these Birthers have a point, even if I don't agree with their conclusion. No birth Certificate has been revealed!! There are 'birth documents' and newspaper clippings, but nothing signed by a doctor, no real Hawaii Birth Certificate.

Even the Hawaii Governor can't find it !!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348916/Hawaii-governor-says-Obamas-birth-record-exists-produce-it.html#ixzz1BakJm5SA

[escapepa]

08:38 AM on 01/26/2011

He's either a citizen or the birthers have a point. Make up your mind there sparky.

[TwinX]

08:39 AM on 01/26/2011

The COLB, which you refer to as a 'birth document' is a certified abstract of the data held by Hawaii regarding birth. To suggest it somehow isn't good enough is simply the birther's way of trying to discredit Obama.

Oh, and The Daily Mail lifted that piece almost entirely from a World Net Daily one which completely mis-stated what Abercrombie said in the first place.

[Chris1962]

03:11 PM on 01/26/2011

How about Abercrombie's friend/reporter Mike Evans? Did he misstate what Abercrombie told him??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYTTkQObTc

[KnifeEdgePass]

03:58 PM on 01/26/2011

Twin, I second the suggestion that you see that Youtube clip...

[RicoShay]

12:32 AM on 01/26/2011

While birthers are on the hunt
and putting on quite the front
their fake patriot drama
over the birthplace of Obama
is just a racially motivated stunt!

[Chris1962]

03:31 PM on 01/26/2011

Tell it to Abercrombie's buddy, the reporter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYTTkQObTc

[KnifeEdgePass]

04:00 PM on 01/26/2011

Well, you have talents after all! The problem is the BHO-loving Gov of Hawaii can't find a Birth Cert. Not much racially motivated about that. He reportedly used all his powers as Gov. to pursue it.

[TwinX]

07:03 PM on 01/26/2011

I think you need to watch this one.

Evan has completely and vehemently retracted his claim that he spoke to Abercrombie, and says he's going to apologise.

It was absolutely clear from the outset that Abercrombie never said what Evans claimed. Why are people so gullible?

[baileywick]

07:20 PM on 01/25/2011

Yes, Mr. Cantor, most Americans are beyond that question. But most Republicans are simply "beyond."

[cupcake77]

06:34 PM on 01/25/2011

I am a b!rther. I have proof that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was dropped on his head at b!rth.

As a life long resident of Hawaii...yes we are a state in America....I think I can speak for most people, we are very proud of our president. By the way, Kapiolani where the president was born is fabulous hospital.

[KnifeEdgePass]

04:01 PM on 01/26/2011

That's great news, Cupcake! Now, see if the Gov has found that Birth Cert. yet... then get back to us.

[cupcake77]

04:23 PM on 01/26/2011

The birth certificate is a moot point. Everybody in Hawaii, including me has what the president has.

[getsit]

05:35 PM on 01/25/2011

WHAT BIRTHER ISSUE!!!! THERE IS NO ISSUE!!!! JEEZ!!!!! Some people might not believe it but Hawaii is an American state.

Just a question. I was born in Europe. My dad was in the US military and my mom is European but a naturalized American citizen. Can I be president? I'm a US citizen? My birth certificate is European. OH NO! Please birthers, don't come after me.

We didn't make an issue of McCain being born in central America.

[TwinX]

08:08 PM on 01/25/2011

In fact, some did. They were wrong, too.

[TwinX]

08:08 PM on 01/25/2011

P.S, nothing like this lot though!

[Yorksgal]

03:40 PM on 01/25/2011

Sad thing is, if even God came down with Obama's birth-certificate they would find ways to "refudiate" it.

[KnifeEdgePass]

04:03 PM on 01/26/2011

Not if God delivered it. I'd be standing at attention, and SALUTING! LOL

[mataylor16]

09:07 AM on 01/25/2011

What exactly is the end game here? Lets pretend the 'birther' claim could be verified, is it really worth destabilizing the country and voiding an election? You're gonna have a shot at it in two years, beat him the old fashioned way and stop with this looney toons crap.

[Joel Mendez]

02:47 PM on 01/25/2011

the thing of it is, it's not really about republican v. democratic politics. it's about ginning up a certain segment of the right's base by stoking racial hatred and fear. this is why it's so easy for progressives to vilify conservatives--it's just not enough to say "i don't think it's nice to call people crazy" as cantor did.--there have to be enough republican leaders to actually say these people are nuts, or mistaken, or bigoted, or whatever adj. you want to use, outright. I know there are actually intelligent people on the right, but they just keep getting drowned out by the crazies. seems to me that if it were true that Obama wasn't qualified by birth to be president, he'da been perpwalked right out of the oval office. No conspiracy is that big.

[GustavoRejivik]

02:35 AM on 01/26/2011

Sorry, its called projection. You are projecting your own tainted view of other people, particularly Conservatives.

Nobody has produced an Obama birth Certificate!! Even the Governor of Hawaii can't find it ...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348916/Hawaii-governor-says-Obamas-birth-record-exists-produce-it.html#ixzz1BakJm5SA

Obama's mom was a citizen, so that makes Barak an American, that's the end game.

[DavidFarrar]

07:32 AM on 01/25/2011

"The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008"...Damn, I thought everyone knew by now the Obama campaign did no such thing. They posted a jpg (Internet picture) of a document they purported to be Obama's "Certification of Live Birth", not his "Certificate of Live Birth". In terms of how each document is created, there is a world of difference between the two.
A "Certificate of Live Birth" is the predicating document from which a "Certification of Live Birth" is later created.

While Hawaiian Health Department Officials can tell us the information on a "Certification of Live Birth" is constant with Obama's vital records, a "Certification of Live Birth" cannot tell us who, when or where his vital records were created, only Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" can do that, which thus far for some inexplicable reason Obama has refused to publish.

ex animo
davidfarrar

[Big Jake]

12:08 PM on 01/25/2011

Give it up you're going nowhere with this except tagging the Republican Party as extremists. He's a US citizen... get over it!

[TwinX]

01:44 PM on 01/25/2011

The COLB was available for inspection at Obama's Chicago HQ. *That's* where the photos came from. People independant of the campaign went there, inspected it, and took photos which were then posted on the internet.

Various Hawwain officials have since attested that the data on the image of the COLB we can all see accurately reflects that held on the original underlying data held by the State, but birthers prefer to suggest that those officials are liars, that the President and his entire extended family are liars, and that a Cabal involving not only the senior echelons of the Republican and Democratc party's, the DoS. AND civil servants in Kenya, UK, and Indonesia are all colluding to 'cover up'.

It's beyond ridiculous.

[Joel Mendez]

02:49 PM on 01/25/2011

it's a huge conspiracy.

[Jamesb333]

05:33 AM on 01/25/2011

After several weeks, Giffords can stand up and recognizes several words and gestures. After several years Cantor understands that Obama is a U.S. citizen. A contrast in congressional rehab.

[Joel Mendez]

07:44 PM on 01/25/2011

perhaps a commentary on the limits of evolution?

[Chris1962]

02:58 AM on 01/25/2011

I don't blame these birthers one bit. The new Hawaiian governor made the big declaration a month ago that he was going to put an end to birthers questions and produce the actual birth certificate. Update:

Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii governor drops mission to dispel birthers, prove Obama was born in state
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/01/22/2011-01-22_neil_abercrombie_hawaii_governor_drops_mission_to_dispel_birthers_prove_obama_wa.html

Anybody who wishes to hold suspicions as to why Obama doesn't simply give his okay to release the original and put this matter to rest is perfectly entitled, as far as I'm concerned.

[TwinX]

01:46 PM on 01/25/2011

No, Neal Abercrombie never mentioned the term 'birth certificate'.

World Net Daily said he did, and various other outlets have since been lazily copying the WND interpretation of what Abercrombie said.

[Joel Mendez]

02:50 PM on 01/25/2011

why let a little thing like the law stop you?