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Dobbs joins right-wing media promoting birth certificate conspiracy theories

July 22, 2009 1:12 pm ET

SUMMARY: Lou Dobbs has joined the ranks of right-wing media figures who have repeatedly advanced discredited conspiracy theories about President Obama's birth certificate.

50 Comments

UPDATE, July 22, 2009: In light of CNN host Lou Dobbs' recent promotion of conspiracy theories about President Obama's birth certificate, Media Matters for America is re-publishing the following item, which was originally posted June 18.

Throughout the past year, conservative media figures have advanced various versions of the discredited myth that Barack Obama has not produced a valid birth certificate, is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, and is not eligible to be president. For instance, as recently as June 10, Rush Limbaugh said, "Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. Do you know what it is? God does not have a birth certificate either. ... God does not have a birth certificate, and neither does Obama -- not that we've seen." And on the June 8 edition of his radio show, G. Gordon Liddy claimed Obama was "born" in Kenya.

Alleged Holocaust Memorial Museum shooter and white supremacist James W. von Brunn reportedly also was -- in the words of Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall -- "apparently a 'birther,' one of these folks who claims that Barack Obama is not the legitimate president of the United States because he is not a natural born US citizen." The New York Daily News also reported this claim.

Rush Limbaugh

Who announces days in advance they're rushing to the side of a loved one who is deathly ill, but keeps campaigning in a race that's said to be over, only to go to the loved one's side days later? See, I think this is about something else. You know what's really percolating out there? And I've been laying low on this because it just -- it hasn't met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program. But this birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Phillip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate, and he still hasn't replied, he hasn't done so.

[...]

And this birth certificate business -- I'm just wondering if something's up. ... Let's say, for example, that somebody does come up with proof that Obama -- something's screwy with his birth certificate, and something's screwy about the fact that he's allegedly a natural citizen, American citizen but may not be, dual citizenship, born in Kenya, who knows, there's all kinds of stuff out -- so what? What's gonna happen this late in the campaign? Do you think, if it's proven, that they're gonna dump him? That's not gonna happen. But there's still -- these are just questions that I have."

Fox Nation

A May 28, 2009, headline on The Fox Nation website asked: "Should Obama Release Birth Certificate? Or Is This Old News?" From The Fox Nation:

fnbirth

The Fox Nation's birth certificate headline linked to a video of WorldNetDaily correspondent Les Kinsolving asking White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to "releas[e] a certified copy of his long-form birth certificate." In the video, Gibbs notes that Obama's birth certificate is available for anyone to view and that "this question in many ways continues to astound me."

Michael Savage

He won't even produce a birth certificate. Don't you love that? Something as basic as Obama's birth certificate now is an issue. I mean, if he's got nothing to hide, show it to me. Doesn't exist. It does not exist, they can't find it in the Hawaii government. It's never been produced. The one that was produced is a forgery.

Obama is an unknown man, may not be a citizen, surrounded by radicals, surrounded by terrorists, that we have no choice. ... I will never work for a man who has a birth certificate nobody can find. ... How is that possible, when he has no known birth certificate?... Mr. [Jerome] Corsi went over to Kenya to investigate his relatives in Kenya, and he was arrested by the Muslim leader of Kenya because Mr. Corsi uncovered the true birthplace, I believe, of Hussein Obama and the connections that exist between Barack Hussein Obama and this Muslim leader, and what this Muslim leader said he would do after this election...There are websites out there that have been filed in federal courts in Philadelphia where a Democrat attorney had to file a federal lawsuit to obtain a simple copy of this alias, Barack Hussein Obama's birth certificate. ... Especially since this person is not only a federal employee working in a federal agency as a senator but he's preparing under our Constitution which requires birth on U.S. soil, and instead of complying with his request, Barack Hussein Obama, or Hussein, sent his SA to Philadelphia to fight a simple request to show a valid birth certificate... And so, ladies and gentlemen, we do not even know where Hussein Obama was born, we cannot find a legal birth certificate for him.

He could change the rules on that, since we don't know where he was born. His party won't produce his birth certificate. ... It doesn't matter that he doesn't have a birth certificate. It doesn't matter that he may not be an American citizen.

There's some other reason that he's leaving the mainland of the United States in the midst of this toe-to-toe struggle right now, and it's got to do with his birth certificate. ...1-800-449 -- but please go to MichaelSavage.com and look at the alleged birth certificate. Look at it very carefully ... It's the birth certificate issue, you fools, you.

And, oh yes, our condolences to his grandmother who raised him, who he so bravely visited last week -- shockingly, out of nowhere, in the, in the last days of a campaign -- while the rumors of his birth certificate not being valid were circulating throughout the Internet. Shockingly, Obama goes to Hawaii, and again, not one of the empty skirts in the media asks him about his birth -- his birth certificate, the Kenyan relatives.

The Washington Times

  • From a December 5, 2008, article on the Supreme Court's decision to hear a lawsuit challenging Barack Obama's "right to be President based on his citizenship at birth":

Mr. Obama tried to resolve questions over his citizenship during his campaign by circulating a copy of a "Certification of Live Birth" from the state of Hawaii showing he was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu.

"It's clearly been altered," said Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg in published ads that he sponsored nationwide, including in The Washington Times. He filed one of the lawsuits to block Mr. Obama's presidency.

Mr. Berg claims there is a tape recording from Mr. Obama's paternal grandmother in Kenya saying she attended the birth of her grandson in Mombasa.

Mr. Berg also says Mr. Obama later enrolled as a student at an Indonesian school at a time only Indonesians could attend it. Mr. Obama's stepfather was Indonesian.

In October, a federal judge dismissed Mr. Berg's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, saying Mr. Berg lacked standing.

Joseph Farah

  • From the May 29, 2009, WorldNetDaily article, "Born in the USA? Birth certificate issue No. 1 at Fox News":

Barack Obama's elusive long-form birth certificate that would establish his eligibility to serve as president as a "natural born citizen" is the hottest discussion topic at the Fox News Channel's website.

[...]

The visibility of the Obama birth certificate issue has also been raised by a new national billboard campaign initiated by Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND. Launched just over a week ago, the campaign has raised about $55,000 and begun erecting billboards that ask the question, "Where's the birth certificate?"

  • From a June 3, 2009, WorldNetDaily column:

It's pretty incredible that we have a president who gets away with talking about "transparency and openness" when he himself refuses to disclose the most basic personal data -- including the only documentation that would establish whether he is constitutionally eligible to serve in the highest office in the land.

We need to see his birth certificate.

[...]

We need to see his passport records during the time he was living in Indonesia and traveling to Pakistan as a youth. Did he give up his U.S. citizenship? If not, how did he retain it? Or did he not have U.S. citizenship to begin with because he was never actually born in Hawaii?

Jerome Corsi

Well, what would be really helpful is if Senator Obama would release primary documents like his birth certificate. The campaign has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website. How is anybody supposed to really piece together his life?...The original birth certificate of Obama has never been released, and the campaign refuses to release it. ... It's a fake document that's on the website right now, and the original birth certificate the campaign refuses to produce.

It's a registry of birth. It's -- you know, you come into the office afterwards, and you register the birth. The birth certificate is issued by the hospital. It's not something you go in and request. And the -- this lawsuit that [Philip] Berg has filed in, I believe, Pennsylvania is arguing that the original, the birth certificate, is in Kenya, and Obama -- Obama's father and mother went back to Kenya before Obama was born, and evidently the pregnancy was so advanced that Ann Dunham was not allowed to return to the United States, and Obama was born in Kenya. That's the argument. And it would seem to be -- to have some credibility to it, because the Obama campaign refuses to release the original birth certificate. And why would that -- a birth certificate, you know, Mr. Liddy, should be a mundane document.

Well, the main issue on the birth certificate: If there's nothing to hide, why won't the Obama campaign release it? ... There's something on that birth certificate. You know, maybe Obama was born in Kenya; I don't know what it shows. But why hide a document that should be as transparent as your birth certificate? ... My gut reaction is that Obama was either born in Kenya, 'cause his mother came over prior to his birth and couldn't get back home before he was born. Because what's filed on his website appears to be a registration of birth not the document generated by the hospital when you're born.

I'm headed out to Honolulu. ... And I'm going out to do what digging I can on the birth certificate. ... I think I'll accomplish something in Hawaii, too. Obama's headed out there, and I believe there's a court challenge that if Obama does not dodge, he's gonna be forced to produce a birth certificate, and there's gonna be something damaging on that birth certificate, because even at the eleventh hour, Obama refuses to show us the hospital-generated birth certificate when he was born.

G. Gordon Liddy

And the second thing is that it is not a birth certificate. ... So, we still don't have a birth certificate for Obama...There are claims that he was actually born in Kenya. I have no way of proving that or disproving that, but it would seem to me that it being so important -- I mean, because if he was born in Kenya and not in Hawaii, then he's not eligible to become president. If it's so important an issue that the campaign, if they had a real birth certificate from Hawaii, the campaign would put it out, not rely on a phony thing Photoshopped by Daily Kos, you know. Why?

I think there is a lawsuit that has been filed, but I don't know what -- you know, what progress it has or has not made, but the only thing that they've offered is -- and Obama hasn't offered it -- the Daily Kos, that left-wing blog, offered a Photoshopped -- a much-Photoshopped -- copy of a certificate of live birth, which is not something -- it's not a birth certificate. It simply states that so-and-so was born alive here in Hawaii. But the serial number on it is redacted, blanked out. And that's because some people have suggested that it was actually the Photoshopped version. ... And then there's others who say he was born, you know, in Kenya. And I don't have a birth certificate from Kenya to show that he was, but neither does he have a birth certificate to show that he was born in Hawaii, either.

I'd like to talk about the, you know, the business of his birth. Now, the Daily Kos, which is a blog, a leftist blog, published a certificate of live birth purportedly from Hawaii. Giving a date but having the serial number redacted, blocked out. And, from what we're told, heavily Photoshopped. Can you go into that? It's not a birth certificate. It's something that is issued after there has been a birth and supposedly attests to the fact that, well, yes, there was a birth in the past, and it was on such and such a day, but it's not a birth certificate such as you and I have.

  • From the June 8, 2009, edition of The G. Gordon Liddy Show: "Now, this is being done for a slum in Kenya, where of course our president was born."

Andrew Malcolm

  • From a May 5, 2009, entry on the Los Angeles Times' Top of the Ticket blog:

According to the N.Y. Post today, those photos [taken of Air Force One in New York] have been classified and will not be released by the transparent Obama White House. Not really classified as in 'top secret' classified. But classified as in those are going in the file cabinet. Maybe mis-filed with the Obama birth certificate.

Mike Pintek

I still keep wondering about his birthplace and his birth certificate. I'm still not convinced that he actually was born a natural-born citizen. ... But we may never be able to prove that either without a real, honest-to-God birth certificate. Maybe one does not exist. You know, the one that they post -- they posted doesn't -- that looks like a Photoshop deal. According to some people who know what they're talking about, who are experts on this, they say that the birth certificate that he's got on his website and has been posted to the Daily Kos and some other places, is -- it looks very much like a Photoshop deal and doesn't look legit. So what's he hiding?

Wesley Pruden

Far worse, a summerlong controversy continues about when and where the senator was actually born, and whether the circumstances of his birth could cloud his eligibility to serve. The Obama campaign has been reluctant to produce a birth certificate.

Frank Gaffney Jr.

Another question yet to be resolved is whether Mr. Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States, a prerequisite pursuant to the U.S. Constitution. There is evidence Mr. Obama was born in Kenya rather than, as he claims, Hawaii. There is also a registration document for a school in Indonesia where the would-be president studied for four years, on which he was identified not only as a Muslim but as an Indonesian. ... Curiously, Mr. Obama has, to date, failed to provide an authentic birth certificate which could clear up the matter.

Andy Martin

From a September 22, 2008, Contrarian Commentary column: "We have not seen a valid Obama birth certificate either."

Chris Baker

[W]hen you really start looking into this, there apparently has never been a real birth certificate presented. There's been a certificate, but it's not a birth certificate. And according to Philip Berg, Barack Obama was born in Kenya. ... Just get the damn birth certificate presented and let's move on with our lives.

Bob Newman

CALLER: I can't fathom this, how he hasn't had to produce a birth certificate.

NEWMAN: Well, you can see the fake one if you want; it's on my website -

CALLER: Right, yeah.

NEWMAN: -- you can also see the blank one. I have a blank one there. What you can do is, you can Photoshop it yourself; you just copy it, right-click on it, and then you copy it, and then you use your Photoshop, and you can doctor it up any way you want.

Rick Roberts

There is some question, some question as to whether he's even a U.S. citizen and, sorry, that's something you kinda have to have to run for president. ... We'd get a week away from the presidency and all of a sudden we find out he's actually born in Kenya and then taken to Hawaii where a duplicate birth certificate was produced.

First of all, the birth certificate issue. The birth certificate issue. You know the story goes his father moved to Kenya, his mother followed, she was pregnant with him, she didn't like the way Muslim men treated the women, she wanted to go back to Hawaii, she was too far along in her pregnancy, they said, "No, you can't fly." She had the baby in Kenya, then got on a plane with the child back to Hawaii and got a registry of birth. ... Show them the birth certificate and say, "OK, here's my birth certificate, get out of my face." Why hasn't it been produced? Why?

Jim Quinn

  • From the June 15 edition of The War Room With Quinn & Rose:

Well, where's his birth certificate? We could have two illegitimate leaders.

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 it looks like he may not be an American citizen, and it looks like nobody cares -- which is even more exciting.

Rose 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. ...So, seriously, you have concerns about there being inconsistent reports of where he was born. ...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?

Brian Sussman

Yeah, like if someone involved with the Electoral College says, "There's just one little issue. We're looking at the Constitution of the United States of America and the requirement is 35 years of age residing in the United States so many years, and, oh yeah, citizen." Can we prove the citizenship thing right now please, once and for all? ... Show us the birth certificate, man. Show us the money. It's sealed up in Hawaii? Show it to us. ... Show us the birth certificate.

Mark Hyman

Obama's lawyers are attempting to financially ruin individuals party to the most absurd soap opera involving the 44th president. There is unabated controversy regarding his birth, citizenship and foreign travel. Obama could immediately silence his critics by authorizing the release of his original birth certificate and passport. One has to wonder what could possibly be in either document that has caused Obama to wage a fierce and expensive legal battle to keep the files secreted. Aside from Joan Rivers, nearly every American would willingly make their birth certificate available and Obama's stubborn refusal to do so only adds to the controversy.

Barry Farber

  • From an April 6, 2009, Newsmax.com column:

We've not been allowed to see the president's birth certificate. Instead we've been offered something nobody ever heard of called a "certificate of live birth" from the state of Hawaii. If all this culminates in the revelation that Barack Obama is not, in fact, eligible to serve as president of the USA, this will go down as his team's biggest mistake. The American people may not be all we used to be, but we're not yet ready to roll over and smile at the sight of a confection designed to masquerade as a birth certificate while we're being angrily denied a look at the real thing.

Molotov Mitchell

  • From a June 17 WorldNetDaily video:

We cannot survive four years of this. But there is a solution. We have something that man has sought throughout the ages -- we have a time machine. Yes, a time machine. And with it, we can undo most of Obama's damage. All we have to do is demand Obama's proof of citizenship. These are the facts: Obama's grandmother says that he was born in Kenya. His elementary school records say that he was an Indonesian citizen. He traveled in and out of Pakistan when American passports were prohibited. And by the way, where are the records that show his name change from Barry Soetoro to Barack Obama? And why has he sealed all records that could indicate his national origin?

Republicans, you're looking for leadership? Well, here it is: Publicly demand the answers to these questions. Obama will resign. If he doesn't, we know that we are in a dictatorship. Walk out of Congress, and don't look back.

— A.J.W.
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    • Author by pags2 (July 22, 2009 1:33 pm ET)
         
      Before anyone comes unhinged here are the theories of citizenship. The US follows, jus soli and lex soli. This means anyone born on US territory is a citizen. The lex soli is the 14th Amendment. The US also follows jus sanguinis which confers citizenship on anyone born to a US citizen.

      This means Obama is a citizen by right of jus sanguinis and jus soli.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli (Abridged)

      Jus soli (Latin for "right of the soil" or, somewhat figuratively, "right of the territory"), or birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born in the territory of the related state. At the turn of the nineteenth century, nation-states commonly divided themselves between those granting nationality on the grounds of jus soli (France, for example) and those granting it on the grounds of jus sanguinis (right of blood) (Germany, for example, before 2000).

      Usually a practical regulation of the acquisition of nationality or citizenship of a state by birth on the territory of the state is provided by a derivative law called lex soli. Most states provide a specific lex soli, in application of the respective jus soli, and it is the most common means of acquiring nationality. A frequent exception to lex soli is imposed when a child was born to a parent in the diplomatic or consular service of another state, on a mission to the state in question.

      The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, in pertinent part, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This makes citizens of all persons born in the United States, provided they are subject to U.S. jurisdiction at the time of their birth - that is, they are not the children of foreign diplomats and like persons who, having diplomatic immunity, are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction while they are in the country for diplomatic purposes.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mari2jj (July 23, 2009 1:04 am ET)
           
        My dear, you are entirely too, too rational for the Birth Certificate is no good crowd. They, in fact, just end up looking terribly dull witted. In fact, the Republican Governor of Hawaii announced that indeed Obama was born in Hawaii exactly like his birth certificate says and therefore he is a U S citizen and eligible for the presidency. . The interesting thing now though is that Republicans are loosing support in Hawaii after their disgustingly disparaging remarks about Obama. But leave it to my party to get so silly so many of us just had to leave. Poor things ought to feel very pure after chasing so many of us who reject their no birth certificate claim. Hope they enjoy minority status for a long long time.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by pags2 (July 23, 2009 8:07 am ET)
             
          The effect of the law is that even if Obama's mother was not a US citizen, he would still be a US citizen by being born in the US. Obama may be a citizen of Kenya because of his father's Kenyan citizenship which would make him a dual citizen. The US does not prohibit dual citizenship nor do most countries. Many European countries allow dual citizenship but the person needs to prove certain familial requirements. Theoretically, I could have triple citizenship in the US, Italy and France.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by southerngal (July 22, 2009 1:38 pm ET)
         
      This is such an idiotic piece of nothing. What is wrong with Lou Dobbs? I can see these rightwing radioheads running with this, they fill their airtime with stuff like this. But I would expect Dobbs, on CNN, to spend his time on issues, not wacked out nonsense like this.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by pags2 (July 22, 2009 1:48 pm ET)
           
        It is all about show ratings.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by wmhogg (July 22, 2009 3:37 pm ET)
           
        He doesn't even listen to his own show. Kitty Pilgrim thoroughly debunked this while she was filling in for Lou.

        Unless it's all about the ratings...
        Report Abuse
        • Author by jcalton (July 23, 2009 1:28 pm ET)
             
          She didn't debunk it, thoroughly or otherwise.
          She just said "there is a mountain of evidence that he was born here" [or something to that effect, see MMFA article for transcript] then let other people do the talking.

          I wish she had thoroughly debunked it.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by IowaProg (July 22, 2009 1:40 pm ET)
         
      "something nobody ever heard of called a "certificate of live birth" from the state of Hawaii"

      Funny, but I looked at my own "certificate of live birth" (also known as a birth certificate) the other day, issued in Iowa, and immediately began to doubt my own citizenship. Where, oh where was I really born? I mean, my dad's family came from Scotland, my mother's from the Netherlands and England. I feel a stranger in a strange land. What to do..what to do.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by manofmystique (July 22, 2009 3:02 pm ET)
        1
      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.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by BillJ-MN (July 22, 2009 3:46 pm ET)
          1
        The media help drive this foolishness by entertaining these idiots; and they do so believing it will have a negative impact on the President. - manofmystique

        What's happening is that the birthers are creating a problem for the republican party. They're not a huge slice of the republican party pie, but they're too big a slice to throw away in light of the last couple elections. If they treat the birthers with the contempt they deserve they could lose a chunk of their support. If they try to humor them they risk painting the whole party with the crazy brush.

        The republican party is walking a thin tightrope and I'm loving every minute of it.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 4:07 pm ET)
            3
          Reply,

          I see the birthers as similar to the "Texas National Guard" conspiracy theorists of a bygone era. The difference being that the left created false documents regarding the TNG, those on the right are accusing the Prez of doing the same.

          The birthers are a very, very small, but somewhat vocal group that exists outside of the mainstream. They will be featured by the media and ignored by everyone who matters. I disagree with you in that the birthers will not leave the GOP. They have nowhere else to go.

          This issue is dredged up because the birthers provide a spectacle for lazy leftist media types. After all, it sure beats reading the Cap and Trade Bill or calculating the costs of healthcare.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by BillJ-MN (July 22, 2009 4:54 pm ET)
            1  
            This issue is dredged up because the birthers provide a spectacle for lazy leftist media types. - anotheramerican

            That's kind of a funny perspective. The birthers accuse the media of burying the story and downplaying it. They'd love the publicity if they were actually being made a spectacle of.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by pags2 (July 22, 2009 4:10 pm ET)
          1  
          I have to agree. The Republicans are squirming about this issue. They can't distance themselves from the groups and they can't embrace them.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 3:53 pm ET)
          2
        manof,

        You are exhibiting a typical leftist thought process which consists of demonizing those with whom you happen to disagree.

        Using words and phrases such as:
        "foolishness"
        "idiots"
        "pachydermatous" (hahaha good one)
        "RACIST"
        "guided by hate and ignorance"

        only show you to be stereotyping and inserting your own bias. I find it laughable that those on the left such as yourself, and who profess to be the most tolerant, are filled with so much vitriol.

        Hey, it was a nice rant, but you might consider looking in the mirror.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Creepybobo (July 22, 2009 3:44 pm ET)
        1
      I'm upset that Barack won't simply pay the hospital where he claims to have been born (Queens? Kapi'olani?) for a copy of the original 1961 birth certificate.

      Instead, the State Dept., the Dept. of Defense and the Whitehouse are spending a fortune in tax dollars fighting scores of lawsuits and FOIA requests.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by pearlene_scott1602 (July 22, 2009 4:09 pm ET)
        1  
        I'm upset that Barack won't simply pay the hospital where he claims to have been born (Queens? Kapi'olani?) for a copy of the original 1961 birth certificate.


        I'm upset that you crazy a** folks can't seem to see your own racism staring you in the face!

        Name ONE freaking President who has been asked to prove he's a citizen of this country!! ONE!!

        When has we EVER has ANY person in Congress draft bill demanding that Presidents show there birth certificate BEFORE they can run! NEVER!!

        All of you racist loonies came out, like cockroaches when the lights turned on, when Obama was elected. You didn't give a rats a** when he was a senator, but president? That boy doesn't know his place

        Waiting on a real birth certificate my a**!
        Report Abuse
        • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 4:34 pm ET)
            3
          pearlene,

          Nice toss with the racism card.. but it's another misdeal.

          Race has nothing to do with it. It is simply pure politics. No other Presidential candidate has doctored his birth certificate to make it look like he was born in Hawaii. (heheheheh) I like that note from pags2 above. His mother was a U.S. Citizen so that is good enough.

          Hey, I could care less whether Barry was born in Nigeria or Hawaii or on top of Mt. Rushmore. He's my President. :-)
          Report Abuse
          • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 4:36 pm ET)
               
            ps. Cute pic.
            Report Abuse
          • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 5:32 pm ET)
            1  
            Race has nothing to do with it
            It has every thing to do with it.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by southerngal (July 22, 2009 5:42 pm ET)
                1
              Baiter, you have no evidence to back that up, and you know it.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 6:31 pm ET)
                  1
                Baiter, you have no evidence to back that up, and you know it
                Motivation is hard to prove as it exists largely in the human mind. However, ask yourself how many former Presidents were asked for their long-form birth certificates.

                By the way, my opinion that racism is the motivator and AA's opinion that it isn't are equally provable. Yet, you chose not respond to his assertion. So much for your independence, Tommy.
                Report Abuse
                • Author by southerngal (July 22, 2009 6:37 pm ET)
                  1  
                  You charged racism, so you prove it. You can't so you say it exists in the human mind or some such nonsense. In other words, you got nothing. That, my friend, is race baiting, look it up.
                  Report Abuse
                  • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 6:59 pm ET)
                       
                    You charged racism, so you prove it
                    AA claimed it was not about racism, he should prove it.

                    It's my opinion and the opinion of a lot of people including your fellow conservative, Jeter2. A viewing of that town hall the other day brings any reasonable person to the conclusion that it's about race.
                    Report Abuse
                    • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 10:45 pm ET)
                        3
                      Scott,

                      Gotta love your leftist mindset.

                      You and Pearlene make an unfounded charge of racism, with no evidence to back you up and you think you deflected by trying to put the onus on my statement.

                      However my explanation can easily be proven. Birthers are trying to invalidate a political election of a Democratic Party President on Constitutional grounds. That is pure politics no matter what their motivation.

                      Gotta love your leftist mindset when you make unfounded charges of racism. Nice try on your part but it only shows us that you have nothing.
                      Report Abuse
                      • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 10:59 pm ET)
                        2  
                        Gotta love your leftist mindset.
                        I do. It's good to be in the majority.
                        You and Pearlene make an unfounded charge of racism
                        It's not unfounded. All you have to do is watch that town hall meeting. But, nice try.
                        Gotta love your leftist mindset when you make unfounded charges of racism
                        Now you are just repeating yourself. Lazy.
                        Report Abuse
                      • Author by rsinebada7366 (July 23, 2009 11:55 am ET)
                        1  
                        So, when the crazy woman started yelling "I want my country back" to what was she referring? When she waved her tiny little flag and demanded that everyone in the room stand and pledge allegiance to the flag, why did she do that? Who has been taking her country away from her?
                        Report Abuse
                        • Author by foghornleghorn (July 23, 2009 1:18 pm ET)
                          1  
                          The black man. But AA and Tommy are incapable of seeing racism even in its most simple form.
                          Report Abuse
                • Author by southerngal (July 22, 2009 6:44 pm ET)
                  1 4
                  Also, if you have to guess at someone's motivation, then you shouldn't be so cavalier with your unfounded accusations.
                  Report Abuse
                  • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 7:00 pm ET)
                    2  
                    Also, if you have to guess at someone's motivation, then you shouldn't be so cavalier with your unfounded accusations.
                    What a peculiar standard to selectively enforce. So you never attempt to determine somebody else's motivation? Really?
                    Report Abuse
          • Author by pearlene_scott1602 (July 22, 2009 10:47 pm ET)
            1  
            Let's take a quiz.

            How many American Presidents have been African Americans?

            Answer: 1

            And how many US Presidents, that YOU can remember, were asked to show a copy of their birth certificate in order to prove that they are an American citizen AFTER they were sworn into office?

            Answer: 1

            AA, you might find it politics as usual because you only see racism when it involves a liberal.

            Just consider this.

            No other president has had his citizenship questioned BEFORE Obama. Congress had NEVER felt the need to introduce a bill demanding a copy of a birth certificate BEFORE running for president UNTIL Obama.

            What is the biggest difference between Obama and the other 43 presidents?

            Those folks foaming at the mouth about this fake birth certificate bull, are just like the crazy folks calling Obama a Muslim and a terrorist during the campaign.

            Who can forget bad hair Sally (not really her name) telling McCain that Obama was a Muslim? And who can forget that rabid women at that town meeting, waving her birth certificate, demanding the pledge of allegiance, while calling her country's president non-American.


            Off topic            : That little darling is my 1st and only great granddaughter.
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            • Author by anotheramerican (July 23, 2009 2:29 pm ET)
                1
              Pearlene,

              None of your examples prove any racism.

              As for Obama and his birth certificate, No other President that I know of spent so much of his early childhood outside of the United States. Nor has another President been the son of a man from another country.

              If I recall, the birthers got started well before the election. Correct me if I am wrong. I do seem to recall hearing about it about the same time Rev. Wright was being thrown under the bus.

              As for bad hair Sally, whom I do not remember, calling Obama a Muslim, I think you'll agree that is a religious reference, not a racial one.

              I've seen many people here call President Bush un-American. That is not racism.

              I don't know you, except I have seen you toss out the race card in many discussions. You have called me racist more than once and your examples here only again prove your charge is baseless.

              Report Abuse
              • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 23, 2009 3:27 pm ET)
                1  
                None of your examples prove any racism.
                This isn't a court of law.
                Nor has another President been the son of a man from another country.
                Wrong. There have been many.

                You need to go back to copy and pasting from Heritage. At least you don't embarrass yourself as much that way.
                Report Abuse
              • Author by pearlene_scott1602 (July 24, 2009 3:23 am ET)
                   
                None of your examples prove any racism.


                AA, I couldn't create ANY example of racism that you'd believe. As I've said before, you only see racism in liberals.

                As for Obama and his birth certificate, No other President that I know of spent so much of his early childhood outside of the United States.


                WHAT? Are you serious?

                What does that have to do with anything?

                Do you seriously think that Obama formed some negative opinion of America from age 6 till 10? Do you discount the other 43 years?


                If I recall, the birthers got started well before the election. Correct me if I am wrong. I do seem to recall hearing about it about the same time Rev. Wright was being thrown under the bus.


                Actually, you a little off. The birthers started BEFORE Obama announced he was running for president.

                Obama decided that Rev. Wright crossed the line with him around March 2008.

                I've seen many people here call President Bush un-American. That is not racism.


                Calling Bush UN-American is in NO way the same as demanding Obama PROVE he's an American citizen. Only loony birthers would consider them the same.

                I don't know you, except I have seen you toss out the race card in many discussions. You have called me racist more than once and your examples here only again prove your charge is baseless.


                You don't know me AA, but I've known folks like you before.

                You wouldn't recognize subtle racism if it bit you in the butt. You only see racism if the "N" word is used and I'm sure there are circumstances where you wouldn't see it even then.

                You seem to forget I've lived long enough to experience Jim Crow. Those folks didn't just one day decide that they could accept Black folks, so subtle racism is not hard to recognize..... at least for me.
                Report Abuse
      • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 4:15 pm ET)
          2
        Creep,

        While we're at it, wasn't Kerry going to release his military records?

        Sen. Clinton refused to make her earmark information public.

        More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose.

        I'm detecting a pattern
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 22, 2009 5:37 pm ET)
          3  
          While we're at it, wasn't Kerry going to release his military records?
          He did.
          Sen. Clinton refused to make her earmark information public.
          Earmarks are public information.
          More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose.
          I was one of them. They don't have to disclose the names of small donors by statue.
          I'm detecting a pattern
          I'm detecting a pattern of cons demanding unimportant information in order to cast doubt on a legitimate President. You people are pathetic.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by anotheramerican (July 22, 2009 11:02 pm ET)
              3
            Scott,
            You are only showing your ignorance.

            If I remember correctly, Kerry released his military records to only three hand picked reporters and only allowed them to view those records once. He has not released those records to the media in general or to the public. Maybe you can answer why a decorated war hero would keep his records so closely guarded?

            Congressional earmarks are often defined loosely as anonymously authored guarantees of federal funds to particular recipients in appropriations-related documents. - Wikopedia. So you are mistaken.

            Glad you contributed to the political process and the candidate of your choice. However you did not counter my assertion that Mr. "open administration" Obama is hiding his contributor list.

            Nice try but it looks to me like you ought to save your condescension and check your facts.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 23, 2009 1:22 am ET)
              1  
              If I remember correctly
              You don't remember correctly. Kerry released all of his records.
              However you did not counter my assertion that Mr. "open administration" Obama is hiding his contributor list.
              You'd only have a point if there was a compelling reason to release the list. There isn't. It was just another red herring pursued by those that wanted to sidetrack and distract a very popular and ultimately successful candidate. The campaign followed all applicable laws. Meanwhile, you don't need to demand a list of con campaign contributors. All you have to do is consult the Fortune 500 list.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by anotheramerican (July 23, 2009 3:32 pm ET)
                  1
                Scott,
                You should have no problem linking for us those military and medical records, since you say uneqivically that he released them. As we all know, he has not. He has selectively released some of those records, but the public has not seen them.

                Here are a two sources that you can look up.

                From Ronald Winters Brooks July 29,2009.

                And to this day, Kerry, who is alleged to have gone to Paris to meet with communist leaders while he was in the Naval Reserves, still refuses to release his military records to the public, to put to rest the claims that he received a dishonorable discharge for his acts of treachery. Oh, and the communists' war museum in Vietnam lists Kerry as one of their heroes.

                And this from Bruce Kesler, at the Democracy Project, February, 2007 in his interview with investigative reporter Thomas Lipscomb.

                Lipscomb, who was also the founder of Times Books, which published the hardcover edition of the Pentagon Papers, brings an important perspective to this media malfeasance. In an interview with me, Lipscomb says:

                "The strange case of the John Kerry military records, which he had promised to release publicly, is that three great news organizations conspired to withhold them from the public. Not only did Kerry not make his military records public as promised, but three of the largest news organizations in the world gave him protective coloration by withholding them. All the public received were summaries in the opinions of the three news organizations, which had already shown an appalling inability to analyze the Kerry military records."

                ...The public still doesn't know whether John Kerry released his complete military records. John Kerry has refused to release his Vietnam diary....

                ...As Instapundits law professor Glenn Reynolds recently wrote: Swiftboating seems to mean the disclosure of truths that are, er, inconvenient for Democrats.

                http://democracy-project.com/?p=2483

                ps. You are shifting the debate regarding Obama's contributors. I only said he refuses to release their names. You are not disputing that. But as for compelling reasons here ya go..

                On Oct. 4 and Oct. 7, 2008, Newsweek published articles linking Obama to federal election violations, raising concerns about Obama relationship to foreign money and donations made under fake names. According to Joe Murray, writing in The Bulletin on Oct. 6, there is a problem because campaigns receiving under $200 from donors do not have to provide an itemized account of the donor, i.e. address, occupation and employer. Such donors are deemed "unitmeized." Traditionally, the FEC conducts a manatory audit after the election to ensure the campaign did not play fast and loose with donors who contribute $200 or less. Because Obama opted out of the public finance system, he is not required to submit the audit.

                According to the news reports, Obama has 11,500 donors which has triggered one of the foreign flags but nothing has been done to correct the problem but implemented "quality control" measures after the press began to investigate where the contributions were coming from.

                http://us-elections.suite101.com/article.cfm/obama_investigated_for_taking_foreign_donations
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                • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 23, 2009 7:05 pm ET)
                     
                  You should have no problem linking for us those military and medical records, since you say uneqivically that he released them.
                  You are the one making the allegation, you prove it without linking to right-wing wacko sites.

                  I'm not a foreigner. My family came here in the 1700's. I gave Obama money. I know a lot of other Americans who did the same. How dare you try and belittle the awesome grass roots movement that Obama engineered by unfounded allegations that foreign money fueled his campaign. You sir, are a d!ck.
                  Report Abuse
        • Author by rsinebada7366 (July 23, 2009 11:59 am ET)
             
          The only small donors to Obama who are not listed are those, like me, who gave less than, I believe, $500. Now I can't imagine any candidate, president, congressperson being bought off on policies or votes for $500.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Scotty Johnson (July 23, 2009 3:29 pm ET)
               
            Now I can't imagine any candidate, president, congressperson being bought off on policies or votes for $500.
            I gave him $70. For this, I got a T-Shirt and car magnet as a reward. I tried demanding single payer but the campaign said the shirt and magnet was all they could do.
            Report Abuse
      • Author by bintx (July 22, 2009 4:19 pm ET)
        2  
        No offense, but hospitals don't have the original birth certificates. Hospitals aren't the ones responsible for preparing them . . . the state is and the State of Hawaii has already produced and VERIFIED a copy of Mr. Obama's 1961 birth certificate showing that he was born in the state of Hawaii.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by BillJ-MN (July 22, 2009 4:57 pm ET)
        1  
        I've never bought into the idea that he's spending millions fighting these cases. Reads more like talking point than fact.

        I've never seen any suggestion that any US government agencies are conducting the fight on his behalf.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Eric_Arthur_Blair (July 23, 2009 2:40 am ET)
      1  
      On another site, some ditzy know-nothing posted in comments on this topic that she wasn't sure whether Obama was a citizen because Hawaii "wasn't a state". This airhead didn't even know the date of Hawaii's admission to the union (1959) predated Obama's birth by close to two years, or the fact that citizenship also applies to people born in fully incorporated territories of the US as well (meaning that Barry Goldwater, though born in Arizona Territory, had no barriers to becoming president, and that anyone born in Hawaii after 7 June 1898 would also be eligible to become president). It's interesting to note that little was said about John McCain being born in the Canal Zone, which was an unincorporated territory, meaning that only the fact that he was born on a military base made him naturally born.
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    • Author by SMTDL (July 23, 2009 11:23 am ET)
      1  
      The problem is not that the media is covering it but the fact that prominent/credible Conservatives/Republicans don't even bother to debunk this as nonsense.As long as eleceted officials either question it ,feed the lunatics or say "as far as I know" it leaves it in a position of uncertainty for some who arren't sure enough when they hear so called informed people treat it this way.It also reinforces the belief of that Lunatic fringe that already espouse it!!We continue to be in denial about racial attitudes so they don't get better when such hypocrisy is visible..Great concern for reverse racism while acting like racial discrimination of minorities is a thing of the past.This irreverence and racist treatment of the POTUS for politcal purposes is so disgusting its beyond "dirty" politics!!!!When actual calls for violence against Candidate Obama took place at Palin rallies why didn't she renounce that?Even John McCain only had the one fair moment where he tried to correct the woman about the Arab comment and many of the good Americans present booed him!!!!Its the very same thing going on and on while Republicans lie and deny the racial component.Its not about "playing with fire" its about starting one deliberately and feeding it continually!!!!
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    • Author by jcalton (July 23, 2009 1:30 pm ET)
         
      For the record, we are talking about Dobbs' radio show, not his CNN show, right? Unless something has changed.

      There's a big difference, media wise. He's still an idiot or spoon-fed conservative, but I just want to point out that if he's smart enough not to say this stuff on TV, then he's smarter than other conservatives.
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