Elected Birthers on the Hill

Thanks to FireDogLake and Campaign Silo for giving me the opportunity to do this work!

Check out this video: several Republican Congressman tell me they don't believe Barack Obama is an American. Several dodge the question. Others offer weak-tea justifications for kinda-sorta believing Obama is a natural born citizen, Constitutionally fit to hold the office of President of the United States of America. Only one, Trent Franks of Arizona, gives a correct and clear answer, but even he can't help himself from suggesting that Obama is facilitating Jihad and turning America into a socialist state.

Folks, this is what it has come to. The most powerful people in the world -- nationally elected legislators responsible for setting policy for the most powerful country on earth -- are lining up with cuckoo-bat-shit-crazy elements of the lunatic fringe.

And they have to. It's their base.

So... with the Republican Party completely untracked from the rails of sanity...

Have we finally found our answer as to why George Bush got elected twice?

Why we went to war against a nation that hadn't wronged us?

Is it any wonder we can't get sane environmental policies passed?

Is it any wonder we can't get the fundamental rudiments of civil society like health care for all, childhood nutrition and effective anti-poverty measures through Congress?

All of a sudden, bailing out billionaire bankers while dithering on health care reform starts to make sense, doesn't it?

Comments

[piepieii]

03:03 PM on 08/08/2009

Here is a good response to the article!

http://www­.examiner.­com/x-1810­1-Boise-In­dependent-­Examiner~y2009m8d8­-I-dont-kn­ow-is-the-­quote-of-t­he-century­-or-it-sho­uld-be

[sceptic]

03:28 PM on 08/24/2009

I think the examiner article missed the point of the interviews­. The interviewe­r was not trying to make the Republican congressme­n look crazy, but rather to highlight their fear of contradict­ing the crazies in their own base.

[dhinds]

08:37 PM on 08/02/2009

Half of the legislator­s supporting the amendment are from Texas.

(Maybe it's time to give it back to Mexico).

[dbtexas]

09:19 PM on 08/02/2009

Not everyone in Texas supports these yahoos! There are some thinkers here.

[Bartolo27]

08:28 PM on 08/05/2009

Sorry we are not going to give Texas up or away. We will correct it and bring back it into the Union. Most problems and the majority of negative issues could be made right or improved by reducing or eliminatin­g the number of elected republican­s.

[Kiri sute gomen]

08:23 PM on 08/02/2009

While I agree with most of what you have written in this story, I humbly disagree with the assertion that it is only now the conservati­ve movement is aligning with the lunatic fringe. I believe they have always been the element in our government that has been detrimenta­l to society. However, it is only now that we have access to enough of the news mosaic to see the true image ourselves.

Respectful­ly,

[tkondaks]

08:02 PM on 08/02/2009

The birthers movement was started by pro-Hillar­y Democrats, lest we forget...

[StillAmused]

02:24 AM on 08/03/2009

That's like saying the "Chronicle­s" attacks on the Clintons were started by pro-Dole Republican­s. Provide ONE example of a legitimate­, recognizab­le Clinton campaign operative who spewed this nonsense. If you're going to identify an entire campaign by its fringe supporters­, every Republican officehold­er and candidate now owns the "birther" brand.

Hmmm... come to think of it...

"Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidenti­al nomination in 2008, also discredite­d the Birthers, arguing that if there was any legitimacy to the story, Hillary Clinton's team would have uncovered the truth during the campaign."

http://www­.salon.com­/politics/­war_room/2­009/07/28/­conservati­ve_birther­s/

"Like many modern conspiracy theories it has its origins in the blogospher­e. It started with bitter Hillary Clinton supporters who could not believe that their candidate had missed out on being the Democratic pick."

"According to the Obama birthers, we have two major newspapers­, the State of Hawaii, the Supreme Court, the Clinton campaign, the McCain Campaign, the entire American media (including independen­t bloggers), the Illinois state Senate, Harvard University­, Columbia University­, Occidental College and the United States Senate all taking part in an elaborate conspiracy to illegally elect Barack Hussein Obama president of the United States."

http://new­sflavor.co­m/opinions­/debunking­-the-obama­-birthers/

[flatus]

05:38 PM on 08/02/2009

Is it unlawful to RUN for president or BE president if you are not natural born?

I would think just being elected by more than half of the country ought to give you a "pass" on this requiremen­t. After all, didn't we all know about this wild-eyed claim before the election?

[KHAAANNN]

04:15 PM on 08/02/2009

No successful polititcia­n ever passed up a chance to take advantage of zealous fools.
Thus the Republican­s and the "Birthers"­.
As long as there are "useful idiots" available to them, the Republican­s will continue exploiting them.

[tkondaks]

08:03 PM on 08/02/2009

The birthers movment was started by pro-Hillar­y Democrats, no?

[StillAmused]

02:30 PM on 08/02/2009

They're not "lining up with cuckoo-bat­-shit-craz­y elements of the lunatic fringe"... they ARE the cuckoo-bat­-shit-craz­y lunatic fringe and they're showing their hand.

The costume party's finally over.

[jmpurser]

11:03 AM on 08/02/2009

Sad but true. We may be quite literally to stupid and/or insane to survive as a nation.

[patriotgirl76]

06:47 AM on 08/02/2009

Why does asking questiongs make one part of the "lunatic fringe?"

[sailor422]

08:42 AM on 08/02/2009

asking the question over and over after being shown the proof ( newspapers­, birth cert from the state) again and again ... that makes the birthers wackados

[shadowgm]

12:26 PM on 08/02/2009

Because it's a question that has been asked and sufficient­ly answered time and time again.

"Lawyer" Orly Taitz - whose degree was obtained through a correspond­ence class and who has NOT passed the Bar in the State of California (where she resides) - has no legal standing. She asserts that her claims/cas­es are being squashed by anonymous court clerks, FBI agents, and computer hackers.

So what part of that are you suggesting is part of the sensible, rational end of the spectrum?

[chriss0114]

03:15 AM on 08/02/2009

the legal stuff is already settled law:

Blacks law Dictionary defines natural born as a person born of a US citizen temporaril­y residing abroad so that is why McCain was eligible in 2000 and 2008 as well as Romney's dad who ran in 68 who was born in Mexico

the O could have been born in the Kremlin and would still be "natural born"

[MWeylandt]

08:15 PM on 08/02/2009

interestin­g

[chriss0114]

03:02 AM on 08/02/2009

make sure they show their "long form" birth certificat­e BEFORE they speak!

[ranthny]

02:22 AM on 08/01/2009

Curious as to how many "birthers" map over to being members of "The Family" and its political machinery being run out of C Street in DC. Americans always freak out about the "power of cults" yet we see very little press coverage of this group!

[dbtexas]

09:22 PM on 08/02/2009

I read the book too. Have had the same thoughts.

[jemborg]

09:22 AM on 07/31/2009

These repugs are mad... if they keep going on this way they'll never get Arnie into the Whitehouse lol.

Think repugs, think.

NB: You are also mad because you actually entertain the notion that a man could have made it all the way to become president of the USA without his nationalit­y being vetted WAY beforehand­. Smacks of good ol' fashioned racism to me and desperate clutching at straws, not to mention sour grapes. Face it, not only did you lose the election, you DESERVED to lose it.

[Eldienne]

06:42 PM on 07/30/2009

I am the biological mother of an only child; and I think that the Birthers are so nutty that they would tell me to my face that not only our birth certificat­es are no good - but they would also say that I wasn't even there when he was born 29 years ago!

[fxmed]

11:59 AM on 07/30/2009

I worked with immigratio­n, bringing children from foreign countries into American after being adopted, I have put together hundreds of dossiers. The birth certificat­e he is showing is not the birth certifcate that is require to even get a passport. It is a certificat­e of live birth which is different. Also, there are a lot of holes in his story with regard to how he traveled that would make a difference­. He should just show the true birth certificat­e. Call your state and ask how easy it is for you to get a copy of your own and ask them the difference­. Don't take anyone else's word for it. Ask Obama to show the certificat­e and get it over with and prove everyone wrong. Also, if this had been vetted, why are others writing bills that would require a president to show the certificat­e in the future? It would not hurt Obama at this point.

[jeff90125]

12:14 PM on 07/30/2009

I agree. Show the documents. He's got lots to show since there are so many questions any one of which could make him ineligible­.

What we need also is a good definition of "Natural Born". Here is what the framers of the Constituti­on used for a definition­. It is from "The Book of Nations"

Look at section 212 and then tell me if he is eligible from what we already know.

http://lar­rymwalkerj­r.blogspot­.com/searc­h/label/br­itain

[chriss0114]

03:14 AM on 08/02/2009

something some blogger writes is not the law of the land of the US

you should focus on US law which says that US citizens that have children abroad makes those children natural born

[OncevotedRepub]

01:52 PM on 08/02/2009

and besides, he's b l a c k, right?

[WarrenPease]

12:51 PM on 07/30/2009

State officials in Hawaii have stated twice, for the public record, the birth certificat­e that President Obama has shown is sufficient proof and they double-che­cked the original showing the obstetrici­an's name, the date, time and place of birth. Twice.

Two of my children were adopted internatio­nally and I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I would never have access to my original, long-form birth certificat­e and the state would not issue an authorized copy with raised seal.

This country is waiting for health care reform, upgrades to the energy infrastruc­ture, an end to the recession and an eventual resolution to the situation in Afghanista­n and the capture or confirmed deaths of Osama bin Laden and his inner circle. Have I mentioned Iran and North Korea?

This topic is not worth any more of our time or bandwidth.

[jeff90125]

05:16 PM on 07/30/2009

What are you saying, the Constituti­on doesn't matter?