Obama Birth Certificate: Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler Expresses Doubt

GOP Lawmaker Expresses Obama Birth Certificate Doubts

A congresswoman from Missouri expressed doubt over Obama's birth certificate, becoming the second Republican elected official this week to make comments sympathetic to the birther movement.

U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler answered a question about Obama's birth certificate from a man who identified himself as a veteran during a town hall meeting Thursday. Hartzler -- who was filmed by the group Show Me Progress -- said she had doubts and asked why Obama did not release his birth certificate sooner.

"You know, I have a lot of doubts about all that. But I don't know, I haven't seen it," Hartzler said. "I'm just at the same place you are on that. You read this, you read that. But I don't understand why he didn't show that right away. I mean, if someone asked for my birth certificate, I'd get my baby book and hand it out and say 'Here it is,' so I don't know."

The audience member pressed Hartzler on the issue, bringing up Joe Arpaio and his "posse." Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has researched Obama's birth certificate and his Selective Service records and claimed they could be forgeries.

Hartzler suggested the issue could be settled in the courts, but noted the quickest way to resolve the issue of Obama's citizenship is through the November election, with doubters voting Obama out at that time.

In an interview with the Sedalia Democrat following the town hall, Hartzler continued express doubt over the birth certificate released by the White House last year:

When asked to clarify her doubts during press availability after the event, Hartzler said: "I have doubts that it is really his real birth certificate, and I think a lot of Americans do, but they claim it is, so we are just going to go with that."

Hartzler declined to say whether she believes Obama is a U.S. citizen, calling the issue "irrelevant" and said people should "focus attention on his specific policies and not his birth certificate."

"I have plenty of disagreements with his policies," she said.

Hartzler's comment came the same day New Jersey Assemblyman Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) told The Huffington Post he had doubts over Obama's birth certificate and citizenship.

Bucco had attended a speech organized by the tea party and the Morris County Republican Party featuring author Jerome Corsi, who discussed his new book and said that Obama was not born in the U.S. Bucco said Corsi's speech raised questions that would have to be settled by a "higher authority."

Last week, the Republican-controlled Missouri House of Representatives, where Hartzler served in the 1990s, passed a bill requiring presidential candidates to present a birth certificate to the Missouri secretary of state to qualify for the ballot. Republican sponsors of the bill denied they were racist during debate on the House floor.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the name of Show Me Progress and to clarify that Hartzler served in the Missouri House of Representatives in the 1990s.

Watch the video of Hartzler above.

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