Quinn and Tennent repeated discredited claims that Obama has not released valid birth certificate

On the October 3 broadcast of The War Room, Jim Quinn and Rose Tennent hosted Philip J. Berg to discuss his lawsuit, which baselessly alleges that Sen. Barack Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. During the interview, Quinn, Tennent, and Berg each repeated the discredited charge that Obama has not released an authentic birth certificate establishing that he was born in the United States, and therefore could be ineligible to run for president.

Quinn introduced the segment by asserting that Berg "wants a copy of Obama's citizenship papers and also his birth certificate -- which is a question that's been floating out there." Later, after Berg claimed that Obama has "not produced that birth certificate," Tennent asked Berg: "[C]an't we, as citizens of this country -- people who are voting for the next president of the United States of America -- can we not expect to have an original or a copy of the original birth certificate of someone who is running for that position?" After the interview ended, Quinn stated, "It looks like [Obama] may not be an American citizen, and it looks like nobody cares."

In fact, in addition to posting a copy of Obama's birth certificate on the campaign website, the Obama campaign reportedly provided the original document to FactCheck.org, whose staff reported in an August 21 article that they "have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate" and wrote that it "meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship." Even the right-wing website WorldNetDaily reported in an August 23 article that a "WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic," as Media Matters for America has documented.

During the interview, Berg also asserted that "evidence" indicates that "Barack Obama, even though he states he was born in Hawaii ... was born in Kenya," and added: "It appears right now he might be an illegal alien, not only not be qualified to be president, but not even qualified to be a United States senator from Illinois." Tennent responded: "Now you said there was also -- I think once you had talked about inconsistencies in terms of the accounts of his birth. There were reports that he was born at two separate hospitals -- one in Honolulu, one in Kenya. I actually did not know that this was a serious accusation, quite frankly. Not on your behalf -- but when I heard this, I would read something on the Internet, or on blogs, and I wasn't really sure that this was serious. So, seriously, you have concerns about there being inconsistent reports of where he was born."

Talkers Magazine lists Quinn & Rose on its "Heavy Hundred" list, which it describes as a list of the "100 most important radio talk show hosts in America." According to the show's website, it airs on 18 radio stations and XM Satellite Radio. Sen. John McCain was a guest on the August 28 edition of the program.

From the October 3 edition of Clear Channel's The War Room with Quinn & Rose:

QUINN: All right, yesterday, with no lack of enthusiasm, I managed to present to you what appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a judgment from the court of the Honorable R. Barclay Surrick on a lawsuit that we told you about a long time ago. Haven't really -- and I said yesterday, I don't put a lot of confidence in this stuff, because this is the kind stuff that we hope would turn out but generally doesn't. But any -- it would appear from this judgment by the -- from this court that the DNC and Barack Hussein Obama had lost -- not an appeal but a motion -- to dismiss the complaint from a Philip J. Berg, Esq., who wants a copy of Obama's citizenship papers and also his birth certificate -- which is a question that's been floating out there. And this was posted along with the actual lawsuit, all 34 pages of it, on a Web page -- I believe it was Juris.org or something. Anyway, it turns out now that this may not, as a matter of fact, I don't think it is true. Phillip Berg is on the phone with us this morning, and let's go to the phone and welcome him to the show. Phillip, good morning.

BERG: Good morning.

QUINN: Welcome to the show.

BERG: Thank you very much. The lawsuit is pending. The order that was circulating yesterday was wrong. We have not received an order yet. We're waiting patiently. There's presently an order to a motion to dismiss, which was followed by a joint motion -- which is interesting -- by Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee, to dismiss the case. You normally get 14 days to respond. We were advised by the judge's chambers that they wanted a response in five days. We complied and filed this past Monday, so we're waiting for a response on the motion.

To back up for your listeners, I sued Barack Obama because he does not meet the qualifications to be president under our U.S. Constitution, and there's nothing more important than enforcing our Constitution, and the people watching the debate last night, they were talking all the time about the Constitution. Well, the Constitution says you must be a natural-born citizen. And it's our evidence that Barack Obama, even though he states he was born in Hawaii, is that he was born in Kenya. But even if he was born in Hawaii, he lost his citizenship thereafter when his mother divorced then remarried a Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia. Indonesia at that time was at war. In his book, Barack Obama says, "My stepfather went back to Indonesia before I did, and when I went there, I immediately went to school."

To be in school in Indonesia, you had to have been either adopted by his stepfather, or he had to be acknowledged by his stepfather. And if he was, he became a citizen of Indonesia, and then after that he would have had to go through immigration to come back into our country, which it appears he did not. It appears right now he might be an illegal alien, not only not be qualified to be president, but not even qualified to be a United States senator from Illinois.

TENNENT: Now you said there was also -- I think once you had talked about inconsistencies in terms of the accounts of his birth. There were reports that he was born at two separate hospitals -- one in Honolulu, one in Kenya. I actually did not know that this was a serious accusation, quite frankly. Not on your behalf -- but when I heard this, I would read something on the Internet, or on blogs, and I wasn't really sure that this was serious. So, seriously, you have concerns about there being inconsistent reports of where he was born.

BERG: Absolutely. Actually, there's three different hospitals. His paternal grandmother -- his father's mother -- who's still living in Kenya, is going around telling everyone, "I can't wait to have my son -- I mean my grandson -- who I witnessed being born here in a hospital in Kenya, become president of the United States." In an interview two years ago, Barack Obama's half-sister, Maya, M-A-Y-A, stated he was born at one hospital in Honolulu, and at the same time Barack Obama said, "No, I was born at another hospital in Honolulu." The problem is, when you lie, you have stories all over the place. When you tell the truth, you're very consistent. And this has been on the Internet for a good year.

And what's very important to know is June of 2008 -- several months ago - the Barack Obama campaign put up on their campaign website a certification of live birth -- not a birth certificate - a certification of live birth indicating that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. Our experts have determined that that document has been altered -- it's a forgery. And recently, I think, they even took it off of their website, since my lawsuit's pending. The thing is, if I was Barack Obama, and this was false, about five weeks ago, when I filed the suit on August 21, Barack Obama or a spokesperson should of came out and said -- they didn't have to acknowledge me -- should have said, "Some lawyer filed a lawsuit -- he's got 24 hours to take down this lawsuit, or we're gonna sue him for millions of dollars for defamation. And, by the way, here's our birth - here's Barack Obama's birth certificate. They have not produced that birth certificate, and I believe they cannot produce it. So, we're waiting patiently now --

ROSE: And they haven't sued you, either.

[...]

QUINN: Now, you're a Hillary supporter, and you're a Democrat. So that just so everybody knows, this is not some right-wing wacko like me.

BERG: Yeah, just for everyone, I was a committee person 31 years, chairman of the Democratic Party of Montgomery County, member Democratic state committee for eight years, and I ran on the Democratic ticket for governor and U.S. Senate. And, you know, I just - and also, some people come back and say I'm a racist. I happen to be Jewish, but I happen to also be a paid-up life member of the NAACP.

TENNENT: Well, they always do that.

QUINN: Yeah, well, don't even listen to that stuff.

TENNENT: Mr. Berg, though, can you really expect - I mean, can't we, as citizens of this country -- people who are voting for the next president of the United States of America -- can we not expect to have an original or a copy of the original birth certificate of someone who is running for that position?

BERG: Absolutely. And I think that should be -- the law should be amended to make sure. Well, first off, the candidate says he duly qualified. Therefore, you know, I think Barack Obama is in danger here of -- on many, many criminal charges. But I think it's mandatory that we find this out before the election on all candidates in the future. But, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to run for president but he says --

TENNENT: He can't.

BERG: -- but he says, "Amend the Constitution." Barack Obama says, "Well, I'm running anyhow, I don't care about the law." Well if you don't care about our Constitution, I'm concerned what you would be cared about. Our website, if I can mention it, is Obamacrimes.com. And believe it or not, now, in five -- less than, well, today would be five weeks -- we have 19 -- over 19 million hits on our website.

[...]

TENNENT: But what can we expect? What do you expect from the courts right now? What are you - what, realistically, are you expecting?

BERG: Well, realistically, I'm hoping that the court says, "Phil Berg has standing, and therefore Barack Obama must produce these documents." Because, if not, we're heading towards a constitutional crisis. Let's say he gets elected, then we find out - the case moves along - then we find out, and he takes office, and he'll say, "Too bad, I'm not getting out." You'd have to impeach him. Well, you'd never impeach him with a Democratic Congress, and this country would be in turmoil. I mean, I think it's incumbent upon the national media - any of your callers who knows anyone; the national media's probably listening to your show right now -- to ask him the question, "Produce your birth certificate."

TENNENT: They won't do it. It's not gonna happen

QUINN: Phillip, hold on. I've got more questions about this. We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back, OK?

BERG: Sure.

QUINN: All right, Phillip Berg. We'll be right back. Quinn and Rose - America's morning show.

[...]

QUINN: I know I sound like one of these people that call the Bush presidency the "Bush regime," but I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, "This is the Students for a Democratic Society, this is the Weathermen. They've been here all along. And they finally found their conveyor belt, and they brought him to the fore." And it looks like he may not be an American citizen, and it looks like nobody cares -- which is even more exciting.

TENNENT: More amazing. You know -- and that really just goes to the mainstream media. I mean, talking to Phillip Berg even off the air, he is just so furious with media right now - completely furious -- and he has every right to be, and so do we as citizens.

QUINN: They've done nothing.

TENNENT: They have done nothing. And even if Sarah Palin were suspect -- if this was a possibility in her background, they would have been all over it.