Newt Gingrich Dismisses Birther Question From Orly Taitz
Orly Taitz took her anti-Obama birther crusade to GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday, only to come up empty-handed. Again.
At a campaign event in Pasadena, Calif., Gingrich took questions after delivering a stump speech blasting, among other things, "President Obama's war on the Catholic Church" and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently overturned California's same-sex marriage ban.
After answering concerns about the state of his campaign following a slide in recent polls and primary contests, Taitz came forward, suggesting that the birther issue could provide a "boost" to his candidacy if he made it a hallmark issue.
"Somebody who wouldn't be good enough, who wouldn't be certified to pick tomatoes or clean bathrooms is sitting in the White House," Taitz told Gingrich, reportedly to a mixed reception from the largely Tea Party audience.
"That's a project you should pursue," Gingrich responded. He went on to say that with ongoing economic issues and other mismanagement he saw in the president's agenda, he had "enough issues to debate Obama about."
Taitz, a California attorney and dentist, is one of the most outspoken members of the birther movement, whose adherents claim that Obama is ineligible to serve as president because he isn't actually a U.S. citizen. (In fact, the White House has released the president's long-form birth certificate, in hopes of quelling the conspiracy theories.) Taitz, who specifically believes that the president has forged his official documents, made something of a stir in Georgia last month when a judge subpoenaed Obama in a case her clients had filed attempting to bar Obama from the state's primary ballot. Obama's legal team ignored the judge's order, however, and the case proceeded without him. It was eventually dismissed by the judge, who determined that Obama was eligible to be on Georgia's primary ballot in March.
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First Posted: 02/14/2012 11:50 am Updated: 02/14/2012 1:21 pm