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Playing Dobbs clip, MSNBC's Geist says birthers are flogging "imaginary controversy"

July 24, 2009 8:04 am ET

From the July 24 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

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    • Author by manofmystique (July 24, 2009 8:06 am ET)
      6  
      The media help drive this foolishness by entertaining these idiots; and they do so believing it will have a negative impact on the President.
      Anybody with common sense knows that when something has been proven, there is no need to revisit it, yet the media does just that. These kinds of pachydermatous people should be ignored.
      What the media needs to do is expose these people for what they really are, RACIST, because this is the reality of the situation. These people who do not accept the truth are guided by hate and ignorance. That is what should be reported. Anything else is an insult to humanity.
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      • Author by joehorn123 (July 24, 2009 8:32 am ET)
          6
        I don't know but you guys sound nervous. You should be the case in Camden has a chance of getting to discovry.
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        • Author by worrierking (July 24, 2009 10:10 am ET)
             
          Camden case?

          Enlighten us.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by rkallen09 (July 24, 2009 10:50 am ET)
            2  
            I will take the simplest of stabs at this question as I only read a small bit of this.

            The Camden case asserts that a stricter interpretation of 'natural born citizen' must be taken into acount when it concerns the eligability of Obama as President. The case does not suggest that Obama is not a citizen. It suggests that he is not a 'natural born citizen' by their defenition.

            Problem is, the defenition they are attempting to use, 'two natural born parents makes you a natural born citizen,' is doomed to failure, because there is precedent examples of Presidents who have served their full terms who had one or more parents who were not natural born.

            This case loses to a simple history lesson.
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        • Author by harley (July 24, 2009 11:04 am ET)
          2  
          I don't know but you guys sound nervous.
          Exactly, ....you...don't....know. Thanks for admitting that.

          Report Abuse
        • Author by snoopy (July 24, 2009 11:51 am ET)
          1  
          Nervous of a bunch of racists with guns who keep talking about assassinating the president to "take the country back"? Sure I am, that's why I've stocked up my firearm cabinet. I intend on fighting back..
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      • Author by tman418 (July 24, 2009 9:05 am ET)
        2  
        The media? Irresponsibly promoting the conservatives' alternative universe?

        Shocking.
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    • Author by ShrinkGov (July 24, 2009 8:28 am ET)
        13
      Release the long form birth certificate.

      Until that's done it ain't going away! You can call these people all the names you want. They aren't going to shut up until they see that document.

      I can't believe that any good journalist isn't curious and wouldn't want to see the long form certificate that Hawaii is holding.

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      • Author by jbraskin4786 (July 24, 2009 9:42 am ET)
        5  
        Because they know you guys are going to call it a forgery and keep on flogging a long-dead horse.
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      • Author by jbraskin4786 (July 24, 2009 9:44 am ET)
        4  
        By the way, Elvis really is dead, and there really were astronauts on the Moon.
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      • Author by wookie (July 24, 2009 9:49 am ET)
        1  
        State law prevents them from releasing that to any old yahoo like yourself. Incidentally, when is the military going to turn over all of their secrets to convince us that there are no aliens in Area 51?
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      • Author by The_Cat (July 24, 2009 9:50 am ET)
        4  
        President Obama was born in Hawaii. The Republican governor of Hawaii has confirmed his birth there and the state records that document it, independent newspaper microfilm shows his birth anouncement, and his birth certificate has been shown on TV.

        Remember the lady in the crowd? "I want to go back to January 20th! I want to know why you people are ignoring his birth certificate!" That lady? As it turns out, it's the birthers who are ignoring the birth certificate. Since nothing will satisfy this foolishness, it is pointless to discuss.
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        • Author by grantlove (July 24, 2009 10:46 am ET)
          1  
          And her comment of " I want my Country Back.." is foolish. Where did it go? Oh that's right, a Black man is President, so obviously the Country ran away.

          That lady in the crowd is only one of thousands who are misinformed by the Right, and are too ignorant, arrogant, or just plain racist to see the truth.

          Nuff Said!
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      • Author by worrierking (July 24, 2009 10:09 am ET)
        1  
        Drag this out until there's no one left in the Republican Party except Liz Cheney, Rush, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Ziplock Lady and Dead Baby Juice Guy.

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      • Author by political_left-religious_right (July 24, 2009 10:19 am ET)
        2  
        ShrinkCred, why can't you even get up to the level of Michelle Malkin, for goodness sakes? Even she has enough sense to acknowledge (a) Obama is a U.S. citizen and his presidency is legitimate, and (b) that the birthers are a drain on the entire conservative movement. When Dobbs, Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Liddy, et. al., keep this idiocy alive all the way to another series of losses in 2010, just remember which side you were on.
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      • Author by grantlove (July 24, 2009 10:38 am ET)
        1  
        I'm wondering if previous Presidents had to show their long form Birth Certificate to prove that they were truly citizens of the US. There are hundreds of thousands of Americans who don't have their "original" birth certificate, so they go to the vital statistics dept in their State to get a certified copy of Birth.
        Why this is such a big deal is because the cons want Obama out of office, and they'll do just about anything to do it.

        Strictly Nonsense!!

        Birthers are nothing more than bigots looking to discredit this man and stir up others with their own BS propaganda. Especially you Lou Dobbs.
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      • Author by harley (July 24, 2009 10:52 am ET)
        1  
        There is no such thing as a "long form".
        Report Abuse
      • Author by snoopy (July 24, 2009 11:53 am ET)
        1  
        You've already seen what you need. Let's just move on to the part where you admit you are a racist and won't stop until you call Obama the n-word over and over again to make you feel better.
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      • Author by nerzog (July 24, 2009 1:27 pm ET)
        1  
        It ain't going away, no matter what, because the Republicans are using it to appeal to the Racist core of their constituency. It's all they have left.
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    • Author by nerzog (July 24, 2009 9:33 am ET)
      3  
      Well, now they have a new imaginary controversy to flog... Gates-Gate.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by overmars jr. (July 24, 2009 9:54 am ET)
      4  
      GOP nutball opposition to Obama has been one never-ending string of imaginary controversies.

      Mustard.
      Bowling.
      Teleprompters.

      And on and on and on...

      That's not to say he isn't worthy of criticism. He is. I have many criticisms of the job he's doing. But, sheesh, I don't dare air those because it would actually give these dimwits a point.

      Or rather, their first point.
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      • Author by Conchobhar (July 24, 2009 10:52 am ET)
        5  
        Most of my problems with Obama are over things that these dimwits would actually like, including his hobbling of the DoJ over Bush Administration criminality.
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        • Author by overmars jr. (July 24, 2009 1:07 pm ET)
          2  
          Yes, and even when they he does something they should like, they howl about it because he did it.
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          • Author by robyn20094113 (July 24, 2009 10:37 pm ET)
               
            yep, one would think Dick and Liz Cheney would be kissing the ground he walks on, instead of criticizing everything he does or says.
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    • Author by dmhack (July 24, 2009 10:50 am ET)
      5  
      Here's the problem with this fake controversy--there is absolutely nothing sane and rational people can do to put an end to it. Long form, short form... it doesn't matter, the birthers will still be babbling about this years from now. They don't want evidence, evidence has already been supplied and they either reject it, ignore it or or prattle on about needing to see the long form. What they really want is for Obama not to be president. Like Zip-Lok lady said, she wants to go back to January 20. I suspect she'd like to go back to the Jim Crow era while we're at it.

      This all started (this time around) with that cowardly reservist backing out of his commitment to serve and was fueled by that drooling moron we lovingly call Zip-Lok lady. Loony Lou got on the crazy wagon for purely practical reasons---ratings. No one listens to his radio show or watches him on CNN. He's a desperate man willing to do anything to save his pathetic career.
      Then the MSM got into the act think that the birthers could be easily refuted. That's where it went all wrong. Racists are racists and there's nothing you can say or do that will change their minds. Logic and reason mean nothing to these people.
      What the birthers did get was attention--far more than they deserve. It's exactly what they wanted. They don't care what sane people think of them, they see the uptick in MSM attention as validation. It's weird, I know, but it's true.

      The only way we can send these birthers back to bizarro world is to stop paying attention to them. I know it's summer and that's a slow time for news, but the MSM really needs to move on to things that are actually real like the crumbling health care system, the economy, the men and women fighting for our country.



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      • Author by The_Cat (July 24, 2009 10:59 am ET)
        1  
        Very well put, dmhack. All excellent points, all clearly stated. I look forward to the day the health care reform bill is signed, and the fringe on the right find something else to quack about.
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      • Author by historygeek001 (July 24, 2009 12:08 pm ET)
        1  
        dmhack:

        Well said! You're absolutely right; the wingnut birthers will never be satisfied because they aren't interested in facts. Their claims have been disproved so often and so thoroughly that they long ago became a joke.
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      • Author by chrisixxiveritas2758 (July 24, 2009 1:43 pm ET)
        1  
        Can you imagine what a logistical feat it would be in getting a visa, passport and to fly to Kenya from Hawaii and back to Hawaii for your college classes, in the early 60's, without missing a beat??? For Pete sake, it would be virtually impossible now! That’s without taking into consideration, they got married after Barack Obama's mother was three+ months pregnant and that Barack’s father still had a wife waiting for him back in Kenya, not to mention these two didn't have "a pot to p*ss in and a window to throw it out"?
        Think about it, you're eight to nine months pregnant, you would need to have a salvo of inoculations (that are not given to pregnant mothers), and you would be traveling to "Equatorial Africa" during the "dog days of summer" to a country that virtually does not have air conditioning now!!! Not to mention in early 60's? Let's take baby Barack out of this equation, but she as a pregnant woman in her last trimester wouldn't she be putting her own life in danger, the last time I heard "Stanley Ann Duham" was a educated woman?
        Again back in the 60's there were no scheduled International flights to Kenya, and the few flights they did have were very expensive and infrequent, you practically had to charter a plane yourself, and if you tried to fly that route today, it would be very tough and besides, there would be traveling, visa and "missed school" documented records stacked very high for all to see.
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    • Author by blesscurse (July 24, 2009 12:48 pm ET)
      5  
      A large number of people in this country believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, and every word of the Bible is the literal truth that was written by God. A lot of people think that Darwin was wrong about evolution. The people who claim that this controversy will "end" when they "see" the "actual" birth certificate are underestimating their own moronic tenacity. The good news is that the more this tea-party-holding, ACORN-fearing, Limbaugh-loving nativist xenophobic rabble co-opts the Republican Party with their nonsense, the smaller the GOP will become.
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