HuffPost's Alex Wagner Discusses The Birther Movement On MSNBC's 'Hardball With Chris Matthews' (VIDEO)

HuffPost's Alex Wagner appeared Monday night alongside The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC's 'Hardball' to discuss the birther movement.

Wagner explained, "the non-birther movement could also be known as the people that are speaking the truth."

In terms of Republicans who have distanced themselves from birther-ism such as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Wagner said that disavowing this movement, "is not just about being on the right side of history, it's about being on the right side of demographics and the polls."

The birther card, Wagner stated, is "an easy card and it plays on fear. And so far, playing on fear has worked for that party [the Republican party]."

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Comments

[Scott Fraley]

09:56 AM on 04/19/2011

Why on Earth is this still an issue!? How does THIS get so much airtime on the news networks, yet liberal causes get derision if nothing at all?

[gilbskg]

12:07 PM on 04/19/2011

Agreed.

[mcnary]

12:13 AM on 04/19/2011

Isn't he still a registered Democrat...... Trump ?

[PTAOfficerforObama]

12:11 AM on 04/19/2011

The birther movement is just wagging the dog so that the Teapubs can distract the masses from noticing that they have not created any jobs....

[Simplecomplexity]

11:49 PM on 04/18/2011

Am so bored by this...BUT, if Lee Harvey Oswald made that shot from the book depository window, which hasn't been able to be recreated by FBI marksmen, and the "magic" bullet just miraculously appeared, intact, without a mark, well then...I think we need to call Oliver Stone to quell the Birthers.... lol

[SparkleTown]

10:47 PM on 04/18/2011

Cass Sunstein's "Conspiracy Theories" paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585

Fascinating paper on the psychology of conspiracy theories and the difficulty it raises for government. If the government is silent then the conspiracy theorists see it as them covering it up and it thus "legitimizes" their claims. If the government tries to disprove it, it adds legitimacy to the conspiracy theory and the government's act of disproving is seen as "more evidence."

Additionally, if Obama released his "long form" certificate or whatever, they would just be like "the seal is raised in the wrong direction" or "OMG it's obviously forged. Look at the corner!!" Nothing the government does can really stop the conspiracy theory.

That said, while I am liberal on most things, I think it's dumb that the kneejerk reaction of most liberals is to cry racism. What does race have to do with a birth certificate? I have seen zero evidence that race has anything to do with the issue. This is one area where I believe liberals can be as irrational as neo-cons. I know a few hardcore birthers and a few hardcore tea partiers and none of them are racist. As a political strategy maybe it is helpful to label them racist but really, the majority of tea partiers are not racist, as far as I've seen.

[beaverupnorth]

10:55 PM on 04/18/2011

with all the other candidates for the presidency, there has never been such an uproar. John McCain was not asked to provide his birth certificate when his citizenship was doubted. Also, everhthing alluding the President Obama's birth certificate is tinged with racial undertones. It isn't that liberals are only just crying racism, it is really rather clear that this is what's happening here.

[SparkleTown]

11:14 PM on 04/18/2011

Umm. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3460276.ece

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415028/ns/nightly_news/

And from "The Daily Kos"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/06/12/534894/-The-Bombshell-on-McCains-Birth-Certificate

"Even if McCain believes he can put together a legal case that he is eligible (based on the Constitutional ambiguity in "natural born citizen"), you can be sure he does not want Americans discussing the fact that he was proud to be born in another country. So don't expect to see his birth certificate in circulation anytime soon."

[ReasonOverRant]

11:36 PM on 04/18/2011

Maybe your analysis would hold water if these same Tea Party Republicans were not also 98% white, holding signs at rallies with the "N" word and drawings of Obama as a monkey. Maybe if the Republican mayor of Los Alamitos, CA didn't send out cartoons of the White House surrounded by watermelons. Maybe if Tea Party activist Marilyn Davenport didn't just last week send out an email showing Obama as part of a chimpanzee family. Shall I continue?

[marco01]

12:22 AM on 04/19/2011

Fanned.

But all instances are ignored by these types. They seem to be waiting for lynchings, etc before they'll believe it.

[SparkleTown]

02:12 AM on 04/19/2011

Umm last time I checked, there is not a very large African American constituency for Republicans in the first place.

Even if 98% of Tea Party Republicans were white, that doesn't prove that it is racist.

I would say that the Tea Party definitely has a higher percentage of racists than the general population. There are a few examples of racism as you mentioned. I especially thought Glenn Beck's stuff about Obama having a hatred for white people was pretty offensive.

But race is not the main impetus behind the tea party and calling all Tea Partiers/Republicans racist is intellectually dishonest and wrong. I know plenty of supply-side Reagonites and libertarians that are tea-partiers. My parents sympathize with the Tea Party and they are not racist.

Their arguments are ill-informed and I think they're silly to cry about taxes when we have the lowest taxes in 50 years, but that does not make them racist. Being a Fox News sheep does not make you a racist.

Just because they don't realize that we pay double what the next country does for health care and yet get worse health outcomes doesn't make them racist. Just because they want Obama to release a long-form birth certificate doesn't make them racist: it makes them paranoid. It is an absolute non-sequitur to connect the two.

[RationalDubSteppa]

10:19 PM on 04/18/2011

Anytime Alex Wagner is on television, my heard flutters... :)

[moslef]

10:48 PM on 04/18/2011

I agree, she is the most beautiful pundit I have ever seen!

[RationalDubSteppa]

11:10 PM on 04/18/2011

Seriously I mean she is just gorgeous! That and her incredibly sharp intellect (which spans politics, art & music) makes her one of the sexiest women alive!

[rel77]

12:19 AM on 04/19/2011

I stopped watching Hardball today when I saw Chris starting yet another birther segment (enough Chris). But now that I know Alex is on it, I'm going to watch. I have a major crush on her. Epic.

[Herewego2011]

10:19 PM on 04/18/2011

Ummm... so why is all this crap coming up now? I guess it didn't matter when Barack Obama was just a senator?! I take it he was considered a US citizen then?!

[LegendOfTheBrave]

10:39 PM on 04/18/2011

Go read the Constitution.

[beaverupnorth]

11:03 PM on 04/18/2011

Quite strange that the greatest, most powerful country on earth with the ability to spy on other countries through outer space, that sent a man to the moon, that has the FBI, CIA, etc etc etc., that unearths terrorists within its midts, is unable to find let alone verify a birth certificate, especially one that was clearly displayed on websites, and confirmed by Hawaiian officials? Furthermore, what could be on the Hawaiian BC that would prove that the President is not a natural born citizen UNDER THE CONSTITUTION?

[jasondeluxe]

12:01 AM on 04/19/2011

Legend of The St.up.id would do well to abuse himself of that document as well.

[haljil]

09:40 PM on 04/18/2011

I had a conversation in Afghanistan today with three Military Officers - British, Canadian and German! Across the board I was asked how I felt representing a country that has so many elected and popular political figures who are "fascist!" Apart from the increasing religious extreme views and nationalistic jingoism, they pointed to the "birther" issue as pandering to obvious racist sentiment. All of them talked about a time when they had looked to America for Leadership in social, political and religious independence. It was perplexing and baffling to them that this was the same country they had once so looked up to for inspiration across the board.

It's tragic when our closest friends and allies feel we've lost the ability to inspire and lead and are increasingly beginning to look like intolerant, insular bigots...........

[PTAOfficerforObama]

12:07 AM on 04/19/2011

I agree. I have friends in France, Canada, and Germany. They are amazed that the "birthers" and tea parties are given any attention.

[UTHeretic]

09:04 PM on 04/18/2011

The Birthers are as Charlie Sheen would say...winning.

[sixletters]

08:53 PM on 04/18/2011

Short term wins for long term destruction. Sometimes a thing can be rotted to the point that it can't be saved and I think it started with George Bush. When I first saw Bush in 2000 I laughed, eight years later when I first listened to the Palin interview with Katie Couric I was simply incredulous. Today Palin, Bachman, Trump, Glenn Beck etc.are in positions of power, leadership and influence within the Republican Party.

[LMKay66]

09:28 PM on 04/18/2011

The GOP has sunk to an all time low indeed.

[cvbnm67]

08:44 PM on 04/18/2011

What an ugly side of our beautiful country.

[DragonFly]

08:06 PM on 04/18/2011

Crippling the GOP would be the greatest redemption to rise from these Palin years.

[Morpheus Flux]

08:18 PM on 04/18/2011

100% agreement, as a matter of fract, fanned and faved.

[LMKay66]

08:34 PM on 04/18/2011

She has caused so much division in this country.

[LMKay66]

08:05 PM on 04/18/2011

Just think if he had a different middle name.  Just think if his skin were lighter.  Would this have ever started?  What a shame.

[TexasTreader]

09:16 PM on 04/18/2011

If Tom Sawyer were a socialist, we'd be going after him too.

[Poyda]

10:54 PM on 04/18/2011

Since you know your way around a keyboard, I assume you know that the President is as much a socialist as every President since WWII. So, the questions originally asked, remain. Why didn't birthers go after all of the Presidents who imposed higher tax rates, and who gave out more corporate welfare than the current President?

[FogBelter]

08:04 PM on 04/18/2011

The thought bubble over every Birther is exactly the same:

"I don't like an African American as President of the United States."

That's the long and the short of it.

[November2008]

08:38 PM on 04/18/2011

And the thought bubble continues... "...and I don't like it that an African Americans has caused other African Americans to think that this means that they have a chance in rising above my boot." "I didn't want African Americans to ever believe this was possible." We must do whatever, so this is never repeated, we must make sure they never forget their place." (& on and on and on)

[RunOverDog]

08:41 PM on 04/18/2011

He is 50% White, Does that help?

[Fattonecat]

08:59 PM on 04/18/2011

Birthers don't care about that part. So no, that doesn't help.

[TexasTreader]

09:17 PM on 04/18/2011

Glass half full?

[Gabe Brummett]

07:56 PM on 04/18/2011

why is the media wasting our time discussing this moronic issue? Even IF Obama was not born in the U.S. the fact that no one seems to be talking about is that his mother was an american citizen. which gives him citizenship anywhere he was born. end of story.

[LMKay66]

08:02 PM on 04/18/2011

Thank you.  Fanned.

[tonebender]

12:32 AM on 04/19/2011

partypuper!