THE BIRTHER MOVEMENT GAINS STEAM.
It's hard to believe, but more conservative luminaries seem to be latching onto the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is not a United States citizen. Despite the fact that his certificate of live birth has been released, and there was an ad in the newspaper announcing his birth several days after he was born, both Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh have now come out of the closet as full blown birthers. Dave Weigel reported earlier this week that moderate Republican Congressman Mike Castle was booed by birthers at a town hall meeting earlier this month.
I think the fundamental racism of this conspiracy theory is obvious--only prejudice can be so immune to facts. Still, I once believed that the insanity of these claims would discredit its proponents and the movement would die off after Obama actually took office. Instead, it's gained more prominent mainstream supporters, from the leader of the Republican Party to representatives in Congress to a CNN anchor. I'm not sure what the ultimate consequences of the birther movement will be, either for the Republican Party or the country as a whole. But I'm willing to be that as long as this insanity continues snowballing, it won't be good for either.
-- A. Serwer
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COMMENTS (24)
It's great for Obama. It distracts the far right, and it shows them as the freak show that they are to voters.
Their base can only shrink because of this.
Posted by: David Mercanus | July 21, 2009 5:12 PM
I don't know, how much did the list of people the Clinton's had murdered drag down the Republican's numbers?
Posted by: Col Bat Guano | July 21, 2009 5:21 PM
Different time, different story. I don't think Foster, et.al. did anything to Clinton's numbers. Nobody who believed that would ever be in Bill Clinton's lean space. It just focused existing inchoate rage.
To a ideological fence sitting independent, do you think the birthers look like a club you want to join?
And
Posted by: David Mercanus | July 21, 2009 5:44 PM
If only Obama would release the standard (long form), as well as the other records he's refused to provide (Health, School, etc), this issue would go away.
Surprisingly (snark), repeatedly accusing the inquisitive of being wacked-out conspiracy theorists doesn't seem to be working.
Doesn't he still have a copy? Most citizens who work do.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 9:29 AM
Pointing out facts that are subsequently ignored is "repeatedly accusing the inquisitive of being (sic) wacked-out conspiracy theorists"? What possible motive is there for this investigation when there is no comparable national-level complaint about, for example, McCain having been born in the Panama Canal Zone? Or California's governor hailing from Austria? Why the passion over an issue that, between the document from Hawaii's government and the listings in contemporary newspapers, is completely moot?
Posted by: LibraryGuy | July 22, 2009 10:25 AM
Does CA Law prohibit non-US-borns from being governor?
Also, McCain isn't president, and there was attention paid to his birth as well.
Why does Obama not have a birth certificate when most US citizens require one in order to be eligibible to work in the US?
Moot is in the eye of the beholder I suppose, until Obama provides his records, that is.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 10:53 AM
Not surprisingly, Anonymous is an idiot. Please explain what Obama has to gain from producing a certificate? When your opponents are digging themselves into holes, hand them a shovel.
Besides, no matter how much evidence the birfers demand, it will never change the fact that Obama is black.
Posted by: Seitz | July 22, 2009 11:17 AM
Now Seitz = moot!
Can you explain how Obama's skin tone affects his ability to produce a document?
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 11:30 AM
Can you explain how Obama's skin tone affects his ability to produce a document?
Are you honestly this dumb?
Posted by: Seitz | July 22, 2009 1:27 PM
your argument, not mine; You're abdicating already I guess.
How about coming back when you've something substantial to add?
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 2:26 PM
Obama doesn't have to prove anything to these wackjobs. Why should he? It wouldn't make the tiniest bit of difference, because these idiot birthers have their small minds made up already. No amount of hard facts will change their emotionally comforting fantasies.
They are just upset at losing the election to a black man. No other reason.
Posted by: 10000 Days | July 22, 2009 5:18 PM
DEMOC-rat -
BARACK BARRY BARAK HUSSEIN MOHAMED ABDULLAH SOETORO ONYANGO UBAMA -
ILLEGAL ALIEN , kenya
_
Public E-Petition:
-
www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81550
-
WWW.HOUSE.GOV
WWW.SENATE.GOV
Posted by: spqr | July 22, 2009 6:44 PM
His not releasing the actual document shows his arrogance yet again. What, pray tell, is the logic for not doing it? I see nothing other than "I am The One, so I don't have to."
I am stocking up on popcorn. Watching you lemmings try to defend obama as he self-destructs is going to be more and more fun.
Posted by: Rick H | July 22, 2009 7:59 PM
Obama has spent $1 million not to show his birth certificate. If he could just show it, he would.
One theory is that it does indeed show he was born in Hawaii, but it also has other information that he would not like to have known.
Posted by: JT | July 22, 2009 8:10 PM
Besides, no matter how much evidence the birfers demand, it will never change the fact that Obama is black.
He's half black and was raised by typical white people. You can look it up. It was in all the papers.
Since the mother was white, I'll bet the full birth certificate list's O as white too. Kinda' damages the ol' street cred.
Posted by: Locomotive Breath | July 22, 2009 8:16 PM
It's gratifying to see the concern of the Obama voters over the future strength and voter appeal of the Republican Party. In this instance it comes from Adam Serwer. And all along I thought they wanted to bury us.
Posted by: SammHill | July 22, 2009 8:30 PM
Blah blah blah blah...blather all you want, try to brand us as loonies and racists (!?) all you want, but this is NOT going away.
Just show a valid birth certificate and this issue goes away in a second, and your side is vindicated.
This has absolutely nothing to do with race, or with partisan politics. It has only to do with Constitutional Law. I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party, liberal, conservative, libertarian, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, green, purple, whatever. It is absolutely immaterial to this issue. Bottom line is if you want to be President, you had better be able to prove that you are a natural-born citizen.
Producing that proof, for any ordinary U.S. citizen, is a simple task. Takes about 5 minutes and maybe $20 over the Internet to order a copy of one's birth certificate. Instead, Obama has spent over a million dollars on lawyers to prevent having to produce that proof. A million bucks. Who exactly is the loony, again?
This, from the alleged "most transparent administration ever." Right.
Posted by: Greg J. | July 22, 2009 8:49 PM
"NATURAL BORN CITIZEN" = BORN IN USA + TWO (2) US CITIZEN PARENTS.
OBAMA MAY (?) BE A CITIZEN, BUT HE IS NOT A "NATURAL BORN CITIZEN" AS THE CONSTITUTION REQUIRES.
HIS SISTER, I BELIEVE HER NAME IS MAYA, WAS BORN IN INDONESIA. SHE IS A US CITIZEN. SHE HAS A "CERTIFICATION OF LIVE BIRTH" FROM THE STATE OF HAWAII. BUT ON HER LONG FORM "CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH" IT SAYS SHE WAS BORN IN INDONESIA. HAWAII ALLOWS FOREING BORN CHILDREN OF HAWAIIAN RESIDENTS TO BE REGISTERED WITHIN 1 YEAR OF THEIR BIRTH, AND ARE CONSIDERED US CITIZENS. (BUT NOT "NATURAL BORN CITIZENS")
WHEN YOU REGISTER A BIRTH IN HAWAII. THE STATE DEPARTMENT SENDS A NOTIFICATION OF THE BIRTH TO THE NEWSPAPERS. THE NOTIFICATION ON THE NEWSPAPER SAYS, A CHILD WAS BORN, NOT WHERE IT WAS BORN.
THE LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE (OBAMA'S) WILL PROVE WHERE HE WAS BORN, AND IF HIS FATHER WAS OBAMA SENIOR. IF HE WAS NOT BORN IN HAWAII OR IF HIS FATHER WAS OBAMA SENIOR, HE IS NOT A "NATURAL BORN CITIZEN", AND THEREFORE, NOT ELIGIBLE.
Posted by: Armando | July 22, 2009 9:05 PM
As a Jewess in the US, I have observed that there are some people who say Hussein Obama won't release his Birth Certificate because his mother listed his race as WHITE. Others say no, it is because his REAL father is Malcomb X, who his mother Stanley knew so well. And then there is the chance that it will show he was born where the Ambassador to the US from Kenya said he was - in Mombassa, KENYA! Who knows???
Posted by: Wendy Weinbaum | July 22, 2009 9:37 PM
1. Barack Barry Barak Hussein Mohamed Abdullah Soetoro Onyango 0bama
2. Zeituni 0bama Onyango
(2) Illegal Aliens, k e n y a
Posted by: spqr | July 23, 2009 1:26 PM
Right on, Jt, Armando and the rest!
What we need to do is get this illegal president out of office, post haste.
We should send him not back to Kenya, but instead send him to Gitmo with the other libruls, and help keep America strong and free. That'll teach 'em a lesson real good.
Then, we should have a new election, but only allow Republicans who have been registered as such for 10 years or more to be candidates. That way, we'll be assured of getting a better President who will help keep us strong and free and show strong leadership, like Blessed President Bush did!
Or do you guys have better ideas?
God Bless Republicans!
Posted by: God Bless Republicans | July 23, 2009 3:59 PM
We should send him not back to Kenya, but instead send him to Gitmo with the other libruls, and help keep America strong and free. That'll teach 'em a lesson real good.
This seems a bit extreme.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 23, 2009 4:06 PM
That million dollar sum the birthers keep throwing about as the amount President Obama has spent "preventing his birth certificate from being revealed" is as fictional as the rest of their claims.
There has been nothing for the Obama team to defend against, since every single court case brought over the issue has been dismissed on procedural grounds (for lack of legal standing) without any need for the President's attorneys to get involved.
If millions of dollars is being wasted, then the only people to blame are the birthers themselves as their loony lawyers (Berg, Taitz, and the rest) continue to file nuisance lawsuits in their quixotic quest for personal fame and glory.
This is rapidly becoming *the* standard for conspiracy theories, as anyone with two brain cells to rub together can plainly see.
Posted by: tacitus | July 23, 2009 11:08 PM
There has been nothing for the Obama team to defend against
Then why waste the million? Even worse.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 24, 2009 9:09 AM