Pulitzer Prize winner Leonard Pitts at the Miami Herald tells it like it is. In a recent column about "birthers," Pitts calls them "morons,'' ''jackasses," "imbeciles," "idiots,'' "doofuses" and "pinheads."
After admitting that name calling "lowers the level of discourse... forestalls thoughtful response and...does not suggest an excess of class," Pitts says:
Where the birthers are concerned, however, the level of discourse is already lower than Neptune's basement, a thoughtful response is about as likely as Miami snow on the Fourth of July, and I will just have to chance the loss of class.
Later on, Pitts calls the birther nonsense "not just claptrap, but profoundly racist claptrap." While I agree with Pitts on the claptrap, I would not call the birthers morons, imbeciles, idiots, etc. I believe that these people, especially the founders and leaders of this "movement," are extremely intelligent, capable and resourceful.
How else would a movement that started in mid-2008, following Obama's win in the Democratic primaries be able to convince, a mere two years later, 20 percent of all Americans and 30 percent of Tea Partiers into believing that the president was not born in the United States?
How else would people such as Andy Martin (known as "King of the Birthers"), Jerome Corsi (of John Kerry swift-boating fame), Alan Keyes, Orly Taitz, etc., be able to convince a majority (51 percent) of likely Republican presidential primary voters that the president was born in another country? (2011 survey from Public Policy Polling)
According to the same poll, "Another 21 percent say they are 'not sure' if the president was born in the United States." This means that "72 percent of the people who will be choosing the next Republican presidential nominee are either birthers or birther-curious."
How else could this movement attract reputable and intelligent Republican Party leaders, notables and pundits such as Senator Richard Shelby, Tracey Mann, Liz Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Camille Paglia and others to grant the movement legitimacy, to defend the birthers or at a minimum to humor these conspiracy-minded people?
Even House Speaker John Boehner, when asked recently about his responsibility to repudiate "birtherism" avoided the issue by replying, "it's not my job to tell the American people what to think. Our job in Washington is to listen to the American people."
How else would some Republican elected officials, both in the U.S. Congress and at state assemblies propose and vote for legislation that would require presidential candidates to provide documentation that proves they are natural-born Americans?
How else would potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates such as Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and -- more recently -- Donald Trump "wink" at the birthers, play coy, demur or dodge the issue; allude to the President's "Kenyan roots and connections," but never categorically discredit the birther movement?
How could they create such an extensive and devoted movement and following, even though, according to Pitts,
... Obama provided his birth certificate and its authenticity has repeatedly been vouched for by Hawaiian officials.
... if there were the slightest chance he was ineligible for the presidency, opposition researchers working for his opponents would have shredded him like an old bank statement.... his Aug. 4, 1961 birth was noted by contemporaneous (memo to the morons: that means it happened at the time) birth announcements in not one, but two Hawaii newspapers. What'd he do? Jump in a time machine, zip back to the '60s and plant the notices?
No, in my opinion, these birthers are not ''jackasses," "doofuses" or "pinheads."
They are very astute people who know exactly what they are doing, and why.
Again, according to Pitts:
Criticize him to your heart's content. Give him hell over Libya. Blast him about Guantánamo. Knock him silly on healthcare reform. He is the president; taking abuse is part of his job description.But this ongoing birther garbage, like the ongoing controversy about his supposed secret Muslim identity -- is not about criticism. It is not about what he has done but, rather, what he is.
Like "state's rights," these controversies are a code, a dog whistle for those with ears to hear. They provide euphemistic cover for those who want to express alarm over the raw newness of him, the sweeping demographic changes he represents (''He's black! Oh, my God, they've got the presidency now!'') without appearing uncouth enough to do so.
Memo to the morons: It doesn't work, folks. Nobody is fooled. You are about as subtle as Lady Gaga.
Pitts concludes:
Frankly, I wish Trump and his fellow birthers would just go ahead and call Obama an N-word. Yes, it would be reprehensible and offensive. But it would be a damn sight more honest, too.
As I said, Pitts doesn't mince words.
Start with the one that swore President Obama in.
Either you can't read or you don't want to read.
"These sources all confirm that the phrase "natural born" includes both birth abroad to parents who were citizens, and birth within a nation's territory and allegiance. Thus, regardless of the sovereign status of the Panama Canal Zone at the time of Senator McCains birth, he is still "natural born" citizen because he was born to parents who were citizens."
"There is a second and independent basis for concluding that senator McCain is a "natural born" citizen within the meaning of the constitution. If the Panama Canal Zone was sovereign territory at the time of Senator McCains birth, than that fact ALONE would make him a "natural born" citizen under the well-established principle that "natural born" citizenship includes birth within the territory and allegiance of the United States. The Fourteenth amendment expressly enshrines this connection between birthplace and citizenship in the text of the Constitution."
You really should read what you post border.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25457698/The-Tribe-Olson-Natural-Born-Citizen-Memo
What does it tell US about those that do not REJECT this maddness?
Do they share in the belief these code-words ... dog whistles?
This IS 21st Century America ... NOT the 1950's!
Where are the "sane" Republicans who actually care about American citizens ????
Fanned -261-
TBGOPers love or hate them, when they see in their eyes, wrong doing, evil or simply critical analysis cast on them that they object, they not only speak out, but they go over drive to get an apology and if possible and when they think fit, personally destroy that threat.
Dems on the other hand, a few of their base will join the opposition to bring their own down. They will be be the 1st to shy away from controversy. They will bend over backward to accommodate any issue, point or argument. They will argue the opponents side better for them. Then they will eat their own.
The birtherism meme would have been dealt with, not be providing birth certificate as then sen Obama did, but by having those who knew his family speak up, speak out and then turn the issue against those who had raised them. That was the same with Rev Wright issue. It lingered until labelling president Obama a Muslim became more of a galvanizing consensus amongst the TBGOPers.
Isn't always interesting how the right wing and teabaggers who believe that president Obama was not a US citizen, some how, conveniently cast aside the fact that no matter whatever they may fantasize about the birth right of pres Obama, his mother Stanley Ann D was a USA citizen, born in Kansas, case closed.
When did Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr, naturalize to become a US Citizen?
Unless both parents were US Citizens (naturalized, US dual-citizen, or natural born citizens) then Obama is a US dual citizen.
a. Using the formula: (SOIL)+(MOM)+(DAD) = BABY CITIZENSHIP
Thus:
i. (USA)+(USA)+(USA) = US NATURAL BORN CITIZEN
Ignorance is curable. Willful ignorance is terminal.
Cheney, Limbaugh, Dobbs and Hannity have in common a decidedly disreputable trait, which is the ability and desire demonize politic opponents who have philosophical disagreements with them. It is a disreputable tactic that Lee Atwater perfected in 1988 and disclaimed on his death-bed.
Cheney, Limbaugh, Dobbs and Hannity have not had to anticipate passing through the Lych-gate as yet but, as it approaches, perhaps they will feel regret too and wish they had chosen a different tact to champion their cause. Regardless, I doubt that history will treat these folks kindly or consider them reputable when, in fact, they appeal only to the right fringe.
http://www.newshounds.us/birther_bullst/
The requirement for natural born is either bring born on US soil or being born of two US citizens. Either condition is sufficient for natural born status according to Former Solicitor General Ted Olson and Harvard Law Professor Laurence H. Tribe.
You cherry-picked a sentence in the Tribe/Olson 'Natural Born Citizen' Memo
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/25457698/The-Tribe-Olson-Natural-Born-Citizen-Memo)
... "These sources all confirm that the phrase "natural born" includes both birth abroad to parents who were citizens[1], and birth within a nation's territory and allegiance[2]. Thus, regardless of the sovereign status of the Panama Canal Zone at the time of Senator McCain's birth, he is a "natural born" citizen because he was born to parents who were U.S. citizens." ...
Using the formula: (SOIL)+(MOM)+(DAD) = BABY CITIZENSHIP
Thus:
[1] (FOREIGN)+(USA)+(USA) = US NATURAL BORN CITIZEN
His father, former presidential candidate *George* Romney, was born in Mexico, a fact that would surely have been given more play by the Nixon campaign if Romney hadn't already torpedoed his own chances in other ways.
Had Obama been born in another country he would not be eligible to be President. Had McCains parents both not been US citizens he would not have been eligible to be President.
The more likely reason that would be proffered if it ever did come to a test is that he was born on a US military base, which is thus considered US soil.
(The controversy, if any, is whether he was actually born on the base, or in a hospital off base. He has shown his BC to precisely one reporter, who states that it does say he was born on base.)
A real LOL moment, thank you!
F&F!
Fanned -2- and Faved -5-
They fell for the election propaganda and the online posting of the Certificate of Live Birth.
They fell for the sensationalism of a colored man running for president in their lifetime.
They very much wanted to see dramatic change in the US political spectrum.
They had selfish reasons to have a person of color in the Oval Office.
They voted for Barack Obama, in good faith, thinking they were doing so within the US Constitution.
But, now, when faced with evidence that counters what their minds had locked into, they exhibit denial that they are in error, and anger towards anybody who challenges Obama, or attempts to destroy their firm beliefs that he should be a US president, above the requirements of the US Constitution.
What these dedicated "Obots" fail to see is that the US is riding on train heading down the tracks, and We the People are the engineer. If we all fail to drive the train safely, then we all crash together.
The Republican governor of Hawaii stands behind the Obama Certificate of Live Birth. Are you saying the Governor of Hawaii is a dupe or a collaborator? Or a robot?
I am a US citizen, son of a legal immigrant, and I will vote for Obama again. I left the Republican party when the Goldwater campaign started kissing up to the **** Dixiecrats who are now rock-solid Republicans..
Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhowers BC's were also only issued many years after their births.
Eisenhower's 'witness' was his brother, who was only a toddler when Ike was born.
Tell me a few things if you will, and I'll make a determination of your citizenship. Interested?
When and where were you born?
Where was your father born?
When did your father naturalize?
Where was your mother born?
When did they marry?
I may not need it, but when did your mother naturalize?
They are puppets that are being played for fools as they contribute their hard earned money to the defeat of Obama in 2012 while the GOP leaders touting the lies plot to make the rich richer and the rest of us poorer both socially and financially, including them.
Thank you.