Chris Matthews: A Deeply Closeted Birther?

Everyday I drive home from work, walk in the door and ask my four kids under the age of 8 "guess what time it is?" to which they groan in near unison Hardball with Chris Matthews. It's always fun to watch a guy who enjoys his job and Matthews clearly loves every minute of hosting his show.

But for the last two days he's been behaving strangely in a sort of methinks thou doth protest too much kind of way about the issue of those who believe that President Obama wasn't born in this country in a way that makes me wonder if he himself isn't a deeply closeted birther.

I've heard for some time about a small but growing group of uber-conservatives who are convinced that Obama was born in Kenya and not in the USA, but apparently they now have a name, birthers.

Here, Matthews' browbeats a hapless GOP congressman and waives around what he terms to be Obama's birth certificate, and the next night giggles with some commentators about it here, but the net effect of these tirades is to pour gasoline on the nascent birther movement and give it more credibility.

Why? Because the birthers aren't after what Matthews held up for the camera, the certificate of live birth, they're after the real thing, the actual birth certificate which is issued at the time of a person's birth, which in Obama's case is supposed to exist in some vault in Hawaii under lock and key and which, according to Hawaiian law, can only be released if the President requests it. Matthews surely knows this, but constructs and destroys his straw man certificate argument anyway.

Matthews' insistence that the questions raised by the birthers are somehow out of the bounds of normal political discourse is strange because its a perfectly legitimate line of questioning that's been raised in a number of circumstances from Chester Arthur to Barry Goldwater and George Romney and most recently, with John McCain who was sued by a Democratic activist named Fred Hollander, a suit that ultimately caused McCain to release his own birth certificate, which a quick google search turned up here.

Matthews has some kind of agenda here, though what it is isn't clear, but the question for us non-birthers remains: what's the big deal? Why doesn't the President authorize the Governor of Hawaii to release the real birth certificate and strangle the birther movement once and or all, while it's still in its crib?

By working himself into a straw-man frenzy over a document that nobody contests and ignoring the one the conspiracy theorists are after, Matthews is giving their movement credibility and raising the suspicions of the rest of us who don't have a strong opinion one way or the other but are always up for a good conspiracy theory.

But maybe that's his goal.

Follow Mark Joseph on Twitter: www.twitter.com/markmjm

Comments

[PunKinPai]

"...the question for us non-birthers remains: what's the big deal? Why doesn't the President authorize the Governor of Hawaii to release the real birth certificate and strangle the birther movement once and or all, while it's still in its crib?"

WTH??? The Certificate of Live Birth IS the "real" birth certificate, as certified by the State of Hawaii and the Republican Governor. They NO LONGER HAVE "long form" birth certificates, nor did they retain any copies of previous ones when they went digital. While criticizing Mathews, you are doing the same thing.

[boosy]

This is a really, really stupid argument. Has anyone out there, including Chris Matthews and Congressman Campbell looked at their own "Birth Certificate" lately? OK everyone out there in goofy land. Go get your "Birth Certificate," or what you believe is a birth certificate, and read it. Mine from Michigan (c.1938) calls it a "Certificate of Live Birth." The signature by the Dr. needs a graphologist to be read. The "Birth Certificate" of my son, b. Colorado 1969, has my signature on it, but no Dr's. signature - just some asterisks where it should be. Somehow I suspect that the "birthers" would be surpirsed what they might find on their own "Certificate of Live Birth".
Oh, the reason my son has no Dr's. signature is because he was adopted. Even though the paper clearly says I was in attendance, I wasn't. Does this make it illegal or questionable? Apparently not to the State of Colorado who issued the document and assured me it was legal.
This whole argument is a stupid waste of time. Isn't it time to move on to something less trivial?

[PunKinPai]

Why, yes.=! Yes, it is time to move on. I just wish the haters and wingnuts and UFO crowd felt the same way =0)

[onthedot]

I'm a "birther", I guess, to the extent that the government should have a process for definitively checking candidate's credentials to be President, VP, Senator, etc., and they do not. I resent the comment that birther's are "uber conservatives". I am not. Most of those I know, who are interested in this topic, are not at all conservative. They do, however, believe in The Constitution.

[Archivist1000]

onthedot: the 'credentials' have been checked ... there is a 'process' .... to say there isn't points to your lack of education ... to say it wasn't done reveals a lack of awareness.

Nothing will satisfy people like you because you are not really thinking logically; the 'birthers' are suffocating their brains under those KKK hoods. And THAT is the bottom line here, the inability to accept that YES, IT'S TRUE, a BLACK MAN IS PRESIDENT.

[oli33]

Half black according to his family tree. Are you one of those who ignores his white half? Always find it funny when someone calls him black. Is the theory that if you have any black in your family tree you are black? Just curious what is the politcally correct opinion these days?

[BGM1906]

This is a ridiculous controvers­y...so let me understand the birthers' stance: 1.) The Obamas met in Hawaii. 2.) Got pregnant 3.) Married 4.) Secretly snuck off to Kenya (because they knew that Barack would one day run for president) and gave birth 5.) Snuck back into the US claiming Barack was a US born citizen 6.) Barack Sr. then attends Harvard leaving Barack and his mother in Hawaii. 40 some odd years later, Barack knowing full well his parents devious plan, fulfills their wish to be a Kenyan born President of the US...Yeah that makes a lot of sense!

[Lsharp03]

Nothing is going to appease (read: shut up) the birthers. My daughter was born in Lihue, Hawaii. Her Certification of Live Birth IS her birth certificate. IT is her document to obtain her passport, attend school, work, etc. Seriously, I want to know if hers is also suddenly suspect? Did I actually give birth in Kenya and not know it? Damn. I hate when that happens...

[LongIslandWins]

The fact that such ridiculous claims have risen to the top of the media pyramid speaks to how reporters all flock to the same stories, regardless of newsworthiness. In the midst of a few other important issues (two wars, terrible economy, healthcare, immigration), national media chooses to latch onto a story about some racist Internet loonies with an unhealthy obsession. See our post on the Birther Madness here http://u.mavrev.com/t2gj

[fairwitness]

Matthews is a sideshow barker--he will use any ploy for ratings.

It is fun, though, to see his occasional exposure of the stupidest among us who think ANY face-time on tv is better than none. Matthews revels in making cretins drop trou on camera, and that's fun to watch. If only he'd do it to those who are equally mendacious but more capable at fighting back, like Ann Coulter, William Bennett, Mary Matlin, Liz Cheney or ANY Republican Senator. They deserve it more than poor, hapless Campbell.

But for real eviscerating satire, Jon Stewart is the place to go--his commentary on House rep Campbell last night was devastating.

[areaman03]

No...I have a love/hate relationship with Matthews, but I don't doubt him for a minute when he calls birthers "crazy", "wingnuts", "nutjobs" etc. Matthews is a lump-in-the-throat kind of guy for all things classicly american, and I think he is genuinely very proud that Barack Obama is the POTUS and of all the symbolism that comes with it. He could have gone further to make that Rep. look even more foolish, but I think Matthews is on the level with this one.

To your point about why the Whitehouse won't just release the official cert. and move on...I think Obama likes the fact that the crazies are so stirred up and are getting ELECTED OFFICIALS involved..­.it only makes the right-wing look more and more ridiculous to moderates and independents, and it keeps the republicans fractured and scrambling to hold their "coalition" together. The people who believe this garbage aren't interested in the truth...th­ey've already made up their minds (like if they're so interested in PROOF, where is the PROOF he was born in Kenya?).

Even if the Whitehouse was to do something, the birthers would just say that it was a "fabrication" and keep expanding their conspiracy theories..­.

[JohnFromCensornati]

If that's his goal, it isn't working. I'm not suspicious. I don't even care.

[tpm44]

people like you are the ones who are putting this great country into the tailspin of destructionit is in. you blindly follow,never question, just the lambs to the slaughter, Chris Mathews on the other hand at least thinks and questions things that don't seem right and finds answers and does something about it, if it is wrong, they are called patriots andthey are what makes this country great, so come out of your comas and start thinking for a change!!! i believe he is correct on this one. this country really needs to wake up before we don not have a free country anymore, those of you who blindly follow (reminds me of hitler) rather than question will be the first to cry foul and wonder where your freedom went.

[Gogetter]

"Why doesn't the President authorize the Governor of Hawaii to release the real birth certificate and strangle the birther movement once and or all, while it's still in its crib...?"

Because it wouldn't "strangle the birther movement once and for all". These people aren't interested in proof. The woman in the video of Rep. Castle's town hall meeting; what proof do you think she has seen that Obama was born in Kenya? My guess is none. People like her have decide that they want to believe that Obama not a citizen, and Obama presenting his birth certificate won't convince them otherwise. They'll claim that it's a forgery; that anyone who says it's legit has been paid off or threatened; that it doesn't matter what the certificate says, his father wasn't a citizen, so he isn't. They're irrational. A rational act, like releasing Obama's original birth certificate, won't move them one bit.

[HeevenSteven]

It won't strangle the movement. People who believe this stuff don't care about facts. They'll just say he had time to get one forged and had some covert operatives plant it.

[nellpost]

It's all about race. If he were white, they'd not be saying/doing anything. Believe it!

[freder421]

Mr. Joesph, are you saying that John Roberts is dumb as hell? He did swear the president into office. The Supreme Court rejected and refused to hear the unfounded claims about whether Mr. Obama was a natural born citizen. It will be the year 2012 and these birther idiots, will stay be saying, he is not a citizen.

[ItsMickeyBricksBaby]

But this should be expected from Matthews. Media Matters mediamatters.orgg) has documented some of the sick, racially divisive, and racially irresponsible statements he's made, and, has allowed to be made on his show. So I'm not surprised at any unsavory thing Chris Matthews does.

[fpie]

Why should Obama produce the document when the wingnuttieest of the wingnuts are frantically showing what asses they are, wailing and moaning about a non-issue? It is classic Obama: Let his opponents beat themselves to a pulp while he is standing aside with a smile. Obama=smart nice guy. Wingnuts=silly fools.

[Emerald1943]

One simple word.....r­atings!

[LeftRight]

THANK YOU!!! That's exactly what I was thinking!