MSNBC president calls birtherism "racist"
July 24, 2009 7:05 pm ET by Media Matters staff
From a July 24 post on The New York Times' Media Decoder blog:
The conspiracy theorists who have claimed for more than a year that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen have found receptive ears among some mainstream media figures in recent weeks.
Despite ample evidence to the contrary, the country's most popular talk radio host, Rush Limbaugh, told his listeners Tuesday that Mr. Obama "has yet to have to prove that he's a citizen." Lou Dobbs of CNN said that Mr. Obama should do more to dispel the claims. Larry King, also of CNN, asked guests about it, and other media types, including the MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow, merrily mocked the controversy. NBC News even did a segment on the subject.
[...]
"This smear was thoroughly debunked during the election," said Eric Burns, the president of Media Matters for America, a liberal media monitoring organization.
Remarkably, there is even a reference to Mr. Obama's birth in the "Births, Marriages, Deaths" column of the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper on Aug. 13, 1961. Still, the claims about Mr. Obama's citizenship persist among a small but vocal group, essentially portraying Mr. Obama as a foreigner who has managed to conceal his origins for nearly five decades.
"It's racist," said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. "It's racist. Just call it for what it is."
argument about Pat Buchanan. No response, even when Pat made similar remarks on Mr. Griffin's own network.
Racism is a big part of this certainly, there is more to it than that though. Political power is another big part.
Interesting to see if the SPLC does take Lou to court.
The more that it's reported about, the more energy we give this nonsense.
Maybe because he doesn't have it, the State of Hawaii does, and its legitimacy has been attested by that state's republican governor.
He only lends credence to the conspiracy theories by refusing to comply....
Wrong. He would lend credency by complying, or rather, by complying more than he actually has. And please face facts--the birthers won't be satisfied with anything that's given to them.
You wouldn't want your long form certificate published . . . it has so much information on it that you would risk identity theft. Most states warn people against obtaining a copy of the long form.
It's racism. These people REFUSE to accept the fact that a man with dark skin and a funny name could actually be their president. It's racism. Nobody's throwing the "race card" except the racists who continue to follow this ridiculous birther nonsense.
For them, and those like them, it is merely a pay-day and therefore, important for them to keep driving the insanity truck all the way to the bank.
It speaks volumes about the mindset of the "birthers" followers, who seem both ill and uninformed about the truth. Even moreso, it further shows how there are still divided and fragmented pockets in America, the lengths they will go to to hold on to the ways and thinkiing of the past, and resist changing their deep-rooted hatreds and fears.
The rhetorical trap has been set. Open your mouth in protest and you're a racist too.
I'm amazed at how many people employ this rhetorical trick, apparently believing earnestly that they've won the exchange.