George Stephanopoulos And Michele Bachmann 'Settle' The Obama Birth Certificate Issue

Hey everybody, did you hear the news?

The whole Obama Birther conspiracy has been resolved!

Actually, it was put to rest many, many years ago, to the satisfaction of rational humans.

But the issue reached a new level of resolution on Good Morning America Wednesday, when George Stephanopoulos brandished Obama's Certificate Of Live Birth (which, it should be noted, isn't enough to satisfy crazy people) at Michele Bachmann, to which the congresswoman replied, "Well, then that should settle it."

The whole interview sounds just like Frost/Nixon -- if the only thing at stake were getting a politician to barely demonstrate the minimum amount of rational thought possible.

TRANSCRIPT, via ABC News:

Stephanopoulos: Last night you were on Fox News suggesting the president should come forward with his birth certificate as well --

Bachmann: Well, what I have said about that is, I was asked a question about that and Republicans are constantly asked to vouch for the authenticity of the birth certificate. The only one who can is the clerk of court in the county where someone is born and that's where people should go. Don't ask Republicans, go ask the clerk of court.

Stephanopoulos: Well, actually one of your supporters in the state of Iowa has put forth a bill that would require presidential candidates to file their birth certificate with their candidacy, do you support that?

Bachmann: Well, Governor Jan Brewer just vetoed that bill in Arizona because she felt that that was a bridge too far, that it wouldn't be up to the authenticators in each state to do that, that that would be a federal issue. There is a federal piece of legislation that hasn't gone anywhere that would also require that candidates put forward their birth certificate. I have no problem giving my birth certificate, it wouldn't bother me at all. I've got one, its authenticated, take it.

[Bachmann was referring to H.R. 1503 which would have required presidential campaign committees to file "a copy of the candidate's birth certificate." Iowa Senate bill 368, which was introduced by Bachmann supporter Kent Sorenson, contained similar language, saying a candidate should file "a copy of the candidate's birth certificate certified by the appropriate official in the candidate's state of birth."]

Stephanopoulos: Well, but so does the president. According to the bill 'a candidate for president or vice president shall attach to and file with the affidavit a copy of the candidate's birth certificate certified by the appropriate official in the candidate's state of birth.'

Bachmann: That's right.

Stephanopoulos: Well I have the president's certificate right here. It's certified, it's got a certification number. It's got the registrar of the state signed. It's got a seal on it. And it says 'this copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.'

Bachmann: Well, then that should settle it.

Stephanopoulos: So it's over?

Bachmann: That's what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think- again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn't either. Introduce that, we're done. Move on.

Stephanopoulos: Well this has been introduced. So this story is over?

Bachmann: Well as long as someone introduces it I guess it's over.

Stephanopoulos: It's right there.

Bachmann: Yeah, there you go. Because that is not the main issue facing the United States right now.

The end result of this exchange will be the restoration of a level of reason to the political discourse that birthers will probably become angry at Michele Bachmann now. Of course, just a few days ago Donald Trump, confronted by Stephanopoulos on the same subject, told the ABC host that he had been "co-opted" by the Obama White House's "minions." So by the transitive theory of minion-based co-opting, Michele Bachmann has now been co-opted by the White House through Stephanopoulos.

Naturally, those who insist the "certificate of live birth" is not sufficient evidence of the simple fact that Obama was born in Hawaii will besiege everyone involved in today's interview with emails.

Last week we learned that similar restrictions in place prevent third parties from obtaining Mitt Romney's certificate of live birth, and the former governor's campaign team won't accommodate requests for its release, either. The key difference, of course? Nobody wants to make a disingenuous claim against Romney's citizenship status.

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Comments

[thejazz]

09:34 AM on 04/26/2011

The only way birthers would believe that Obama was born in the United States is if his birth certificate was discovered burned into a piece of toast.

[collettethehedgehog]

04:23 AM on 04/26/2011

Cost of getting hard copy of Presidents BC - pennies. Deer in headlights look from uneducated hypocrite, priceless.

[Wade Norris]

01:25 PM on 04/26/2011

Awesome !!!!

[badman400]

10:51 PM on 04/25/2011

George held up a copy of the same old worthless "live birth" document, which means nothing. It has been proven a fake many times over the past 3 years. Michelle had enough smarts and grace to not allow GS to drag her into it and make herself look bad, which was exactly GS's aim. George is still smarting after getting OWNED by Trump. Be a good sport GS. You got creamed. Admit it and move on. Any person who would follow an obvious fraud just because the fraud happens to be in his own party is pathetic anyway.

[edgermanJ]

12:46 AM on 04/26/2011

when was it proven a fake? exactly when, and by whom?

[collettethehedgehog]

04:15 AM on 04/26/2011

When the aliens came down and revealed to the chosen that they had faked them. Cheezits, you are out of the loop.

[bethie1941]

02:35 PM on 04/26/2011

Still drinking that kool-aid, I see

[Howard Sternner]

09:43 PM on 04/25/2011

Michelle Battman is a Joke

[Wood]

02:22 AM on 04/24/2011

She's so full of crap. Her elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, I suspect..

[theocrat]

10:12 PM on 04/23/2011

Wow. Maybe Michelle Bachman isn't insane enough for Republican voters now.

[DomainDiva]

09:26 AM on 04/23/2011

I wonder what John McCains Panama Canal Zone live certificate of birth looks like....maybe the Michelle Bachmanns' and her ilk should decide that JMcC is not a citizen after his service in VietNam.

These people are a distraction and a menace.

[DomainDiva]

05:54 PM on 04/23/2011

How do you know I was raising his being born in the Cananl Zone as an issue ????? I was not raising the issue .... it was a COMMENT. GET IT????

I also commented at the end of my comment that 'these people' ie: BIRTHERS are a distraction and a menace.

[StillIRise]

11:53 AM on 04/22/2011

In a conversation with Boots in Their Snoots, s/he suggested that President Obama, or in his/her words, "Barry,"  is not black, at which I referenced the one-drop rule, a concept white America established in the early 19th century in response to miscengenation (the mixing of races).   I made this reference to support my premise that in America, Barack Obama as well as every other person of color or of mixed race background, is black.  I explained that his parents and grandparents therefore raised him as a black man in America, that he identifies himsel as a black man in America, and that America itself recognizes him as a black man.  This is his/her response to me: 
____________________________________________________________________________
Boots in Their Snoots It is easy to see where you are coming from. While painting "white people" with your wide bigot's brush, you have inconveniently forgotten the legions of Civil War soldiers that died in order to free all Americans. You have forgotten the "white people" who passed the 1964 Equal Rights law and many other laws as well. You prefer to remember the losers of those battles, as the makers of modern "white" peoples opinion and mores. Unfortunate and petty as well as disingenuous. For after all, the ' black" candidate won the last presidential election, with many "white" votes
____________________________________________________________________________
Whenever tro//s cannot respond to or defend their ignorance, especially in response to race, they change the subject.  Hence, a simple reference I made to a historically known 19th century "rule" which has carried forward to this day, suddenly becomes not only a broad brush to paint all white people as racist, but a disclaimer of the legions of civil war soldiers who fought to end slavery, of civil rights activists who found for the rights of black Americans and of the "many" white votes that elected Barack Obama!  Yet, I would challenge him/her to point to one word in my post in which I explicitly or implicitly made these claims and/or disclaimers.
 
Tro// logic never ceases to amaze me ... I guess that's why they're called tro//s!!!!

[TYRANNASAURUS]

11:43 AM on 04/22/2011

So you're a mid-western bible back?

[StillIRise]

12:08 PM on 04/22/2011

It was settled by one person.  It was settled over three years ago when Barack Obama made his birth certificate available for public scrutiny, the same birth certificate that George Stephanopoulous presented to Ms. Bachmann, to which she said, "That settles it ..." (although I still don't understand why, after all the hoopla that's been made about it, she didn't even ask to read it or even to hold it to look at it more closely, which leads me to wonder if it was ever really about a birth certificate at all). 
 
So you see, the one person who could settle it, already did!!!   But when people have made up their mind that they're not going to accept anything except what they want to believe, then there's really nothing to settle after all.  Why?  Because lunacy does not respond to logic!!!

[jokamachi]

07:52 AM on 04/22/2011

A boring, vapid woman.... as empty as her talking points

[Genita Love]

05:22 PM on 04/22/2011

I agree....

[DomainDiva]

09:27 AM on 04/23/2011

Great description. F&F.

[Counter Sniper]

07:23 AM on 04/22/2011

She didnt settle anything....All she did was deflect & spin....

[smoovejef]

07:15 AM on 04/22/2011

He could have had a million copies; had them pressed into a 2 x 4, and beat her over the head with them; she would still come half-a$$ed and try to slip in some rhetoric. Got to give her props on her attempts at verbal gymnastics, though. She's learning.

The real fun will be when the birthers confront her; how will she make amends?

[Counter Sniper]

07:22 AM on 04/22/2011

Its been settled long ago....

The only ones who think different are drooling half wits or outright racists.....

Which are you?

[callmemara]

08:11 AM on 04/22/2011

I think I love you!

[jokamachi]

07:53 AM on 04/22/2011

A vapid talking point wielded by closet racists.

[mowprincess]

06:32 AM on 04/22/2011

Does anyone believe anything that comes out of her mouth? She is the consumate liar...

[Dabo415]

04:07 PM on 04/22/2011

Why would we want to read anything from a crazy conservative conspiracy blog?