Posted on 07/25/2009 9:57:30 AM PDT by Steelfish
Right Wing US conspiracists question Obama's birth certificate
On the fringes of the American right, a growing conspiracy claims that Barack Obama is hiding a Kenyan birth certifcate, making him ineligible to serve as president.
Leonard Doyle in Washington 25 Jul 2009
An undated photograph of US president Barack Obama who was born on the 4th of August 1961 [Pic in URL]
Congress is wrestling with historic health care reforms, soldiers are dying in far off lands and President Barack Obama is fighting to keep the economic recovery on track.
But on the wilder shores of the American Right, the question that refuses to die is whether Mr Obama was genuinely born on US soil. If not, he would be ineligible to be President.
Conspiracy theorists and far right wingers, who have begun to call themselves "birthers", maintain that Mr Obama is not entitled to be President of the US because he is "foreign born".
The White House has published copies of Mr Obama's official birth certificate - a printed summary of his birth details, including the name of the medical centre in Honululu, Hawaii, where he was born. But the conspiracists maintain there is something suspicious in the absence of a photocopy of his original birth record, known as the "long form".
This would have been prepared by doctors or hospital officials involved in his birth and would contain fuller details - including the address of his parents.
They dismiss as a distraction a birth announcement for Mr Obama that appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser on August 13, 1961 - nine days after he was born.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
George Gordon Liddy, the former Nixon supporter who served a four and a half year prison sentence for leading the Watergate burglary and who is now a conservative talk radio host, said: "This whole thing could be settled in a minute if the President would simply produce a valid birth certificate."
Mr Liddy maintains that Mr Obama was in fact born in Kenya, his father's home country, and claims to have seen a deposition by the President's Kenyan step-grandmother, 86-year-old Sarah Obama, stating that the city of his birth was Mombasa. The President is therefore "an illegal alien", Mr Liddy says.
The debate might have continued to bubble away beneath the radar of most Americans had the suspicions not been given a mainstream airing by Lou Dobbs, a popular CNN commentator and host who has his own popular radio show broadcast by the network.
Mr Obama should do more to dispel the claims, he said on his programme - a mixture of news and opinion - last week. "When this could be dispelled so quickly, and simply by producing it, why not do it?" he asked.
CNN has attempted to distance itself from the doubts of Mr Dobbs and the beliefs of the conspiracy theorists, displaying Mr Obama's "short" birth certificate on air. "To a large and vocal group of Americans, this paper (birth certificate) that I just showed you might as well be bathroom tissue," said Rick Sanchez, one of the station's news anchormen. But their claim, he added, was "a completely unfounded story".
The television company's president, Jon Klein told staffers of Lou Dobbs Tonight that the controversy regarding the legitimacy of Mr Obama's birth certificate now appeared to be a "dead" story.
In an email, he said that CNN researchers had determined that Hawaiian officials discarded paper documents in 2001. Because of that, Obama's long-form birth certificate no longer exists and the shorter certificate of live birth that has been made public is the sole official record. "It seems to definitively answer the question," he said.
Other investigators have meanwhile established that the supposed deposition from Mr Obama's Kenyan step-grandmother was in fact no more than a partial transcript of a telephone conversation with the woman, who does not speak English. According to the transcript, the caller suggested Mr Obama was born in Kenya but was told by the translater that he was mistaken.
The renewed controversy has outraged the American Left and horrified many conservatives too.
The liberal radio host, Steven Collins, said: "We have serious issues right now. We have a huge economy, millions of people out of work. "It's so ridiculous that we're sitting here tonight wasting time talking about, 'Is he an American?' Come on!"
The reason, he said, was that "many people in this nation cannot still accept the fact that a brilliant African-American is the commander-in-chief, and they're looking for ways to reduce the greatness of his purity as a person who is serving this nation."
Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman who hosts his own cable news show described the "birthers" as "cartoon characters". "Instead of trying to actually figure out what's happening to their country, the terrible things that are happening economically to their country," such people would rather "embrace conspiracy theories," he said.
He compared the conspiracy theorists to people who believe "the United States government blew up its own buildings and killed its own people on September 11", or that American astronauts "never landed on the moon."
Michael Medved, a conservative talk-show host, described the leadership of the so-called "birther" movement as "crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative impostors."
They caused terrible damage to the conservative movement, he added. "It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilised company."
This may be the most egregiously inaccurate “news” report I’ve seen.
Tho it does have plenty of competition.
Hmmm wouldn’t the people who are conspiring to hide the truth be the conspiracists?
Liberals fear exposure more than anything! Calling us names won’t stop the questions.
Not true at all. No such thing has been published or shown to the public.
“The renewed controversy has outraged the American Left and horrified many conservatives too. “
TOTAL BS!
Once again, I’m a disinterested observer of this debate. From that vantage point, I can see how the memo to diss the story has apparently got wide and cooperative circulation in the last 36 hours.
..this thing could be settled in seconds if Zer0 would produce the proper unambiguous document......
This is the first time I have heard of the claim that the “original” has been coveniently “lost”. Hmmm. Hawaii is full of communists I wonder what is really going on. Very suspicious.
It’s not a “conspiracy”
Obama has NEVER, EVER shown
A LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE with
DOCTOR(S), NURSE(S), and HOSPITAL OF RECORD
and FIGHTS AGAINST DOING SO
WHY???
Isn’t it true that the first guy to pursue this, Philip Berg, is a Democrat?
I know Democrats have not pushed it recently, but I think this birth cert. thing may have been among the secrets that the Clintons were holding over Obama. I think that Philip Berg guy was a Clinton supporter.
Anyway, the fact is, a lawsuit was filed by Philip Berg. Why would a good Democrat have been involved with this? Was he so blind in his loyalty to Hillary that he wanted to derail Obama by any means necessary?
And you wonder, if the Clintons had this, why didn’t they spring this during the primaries?
What birth certificate?
bttt
Is anyone alive who can corroborate anything? For example, can anyone say who the attending doctor was, any nurses present, any hospital records, any other personnel?
I’m just thinking, of people in our family, I know the names of the doctors who delivered many children of friends of the family, what hospital they were born at, etc.
And in 1961, this birth may have stuck in the memories of nurses and other hospital personnel because mixed race babies were rare at the time. It’s quite likely that someone knows something, and if they came forward, their statements would do a lot to clear the air on this story.
On the other hand, if Obama was really not born in Hawaii, then there’s nobody in America who can say anything for certain.
This is interesting and yet if the Clintons had this nailed down they most surely would have leaked it especially with scum like Carville on their side. So I don’t thing this was real.
His long form birth certificate was destroyed in 2001 according to CNN?
What do they have to say about this then?
November 1, 2008
Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawaii, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obamas original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures, Fukino said.
Another point:
Conservatives do not have to endorse or bless the actions or beliefs of every other conservative.
Conservatives do not have to scold those in our ranks that they might disagree with.
Did Obama ever scold or correct:
William Ayers?
Bernadine Dorn?
Rev. Jeremiah Wright?
Obama might have been born in Hawaii, and his father might be Communist Frank Marshal Davis. I do not know what Obama is hiding.
However, Obama is hiding something, and those who object to this story are either cowards or Obama tools.
Where's the conspiracy?
Fact: Obama has never released his long form birth certificate
Fact: Obama himself states that his father was a British subject.
Fact: Obama was adopted by an Indonesian.
Fact: He has never released his repatriation, selective service, college application, passport, or social security records.
Fact: The COLB posted on the Internet is a forgery.
Fact: COLBs were created for children born out of the country, and absolutely is not proof of natural born status.
Fact: The newspaper announcement of Obama’s birth could easily have been placed by the grandparents or simply be a result of requesting a COLB.
Fact: Obama has gone to considerable effort to keep this information from being released, and opposed it vigorously in every court.
So far the only person to come forward as having been a witness to the birth is Obama’s Grandmother in Kenya.
Congress thanks god it will not be part of our great new coverage
Soldiers are dying in far off lands.......I thought obama would stop that 7 months ago?
As for the recovery, obama believes printing money and squandering the treasury a trillion times as fast as those soldiers lives will make us better......
The whole thing is about control.
obama is the enemy within.
Again it begs the question - why has obama spent a millon dollars on lawyers defending the demands to produce the actual document?
Or for that matter his full college records, etc!
Just out of curiosity, what do you make of this reference in the article:
“They dismiss as a distraction a birth announcement for Mr Obama that appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser on August 13, 1961 - nine days after he was born.”
Show us your real, long-form birth certificate and this all goes away as fast at the news can spread through the internet. That is, if you are a natural born US citizen obama. If, as I strongly suspect, you are not in-fact a natural born US citizen and therefore an illegal President... Well, exposing this truth would be your first step towards a long prison term.
Go ahead obama. By your actions, we will know what the real story is, what the truth is about your occupation of the White House. Either keep spending and fighting, or show us some of that "transparency" you promised. We're waiting, and we are believing you and your minions less and less with every passing day. Just look at your polling numbers.
CodeMasterPhilzar - apparently a potential "right wing extremist" because I believe in upholding the US Constitution, enforcing the laws of the land, true freedom & liberty, and personal responsibility & accountability.
Avoid abstract ideas and appeal instead to the emotions
The American people voted for Obama lets just move on. The birthers are just a bunch of crazy people.
Constant repetition of just a few ideas, using stereotyped phrases and avoiding objectivity
He released his birth certificate. How many times are we going to go over this?
Put forth only one side of the argument
Note Gibbs never refers to the birth certificate that Barack refuses to release just the birth certificate that was released on the internet. How convenient, because it creates confusion to the uninformed.
Constantly criticize enemies of the state
The birthers are just sore losers, we won.
Identify one special enemy for special vilification
Birthers
The birth announcement does not state where Obama was born, only that he was born and his parents were residents of Honolulu.
Obama’s poll numbers have a direct relationship to what Obama can get through Congress.
This helps to dim the brightness of Obama’s “halo” a bit.
Therefore: GO FOR IT!
Michael Medved is the person damaging the conservative movement.
That birth announcement makes no claim as to where the child was born.
It is not evidence of much of anything.
How do you respond to Medved?
Michael Medved, a conservative talk-show host, described the leadership of the so-called “birther” movement as “crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative impostors.” They caused terrible damage to the conservative movement, he added. “It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilised company.”
PING!
Hey everyone;
E-Mail CNN and thank Lou Dobbs for covering the Obama non natural born citizen issue. Ask them to require that Obama presents his original long form birth certificate to prove whether he is eligible to serve as President since he may not be a natural born citizen:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html
I found these addresses too:
Lou Dobbs, loudobbs@cnn.com CNN, Lou Dobbs, lou.dobbs@turner.com CNN
_____________________
Anderson Cooper 360, 360@cnn.com CNN, Anderson Cooper comment, CNN, Andrea Koppel, andrea.koppel@turner.com CNN, Bill Hemmer comment, CNN, Bill Schneider, bill.schneider@turner.com CNN, Bruce Morton, bruce.morton@turner.com CNN, Candy Crowley, candy.crowley@turner.com CNN, Carlos Watson comment, CNN, Carol Costello comment, CNN, Carol Lin, carol.lin@turner.com CNN, Christiane Amanpour comment, CNN, Crossfire, crossfire@cnn.com CNN, Daryn Kagan comment, CNN, Daryn Kagan, daryn.kagan@turner.com CNN, David Ensor, david.ensor@turner.com CNN, Daybreak, daybreak@cnn.com CNN, Fredricka Whitfield comment, CNN, Heidi Collins comment, CNN, Howard Kurtz, kurtzh@washpost.com CNN, CNN, In The Money, inthemoney@cnn.com CNN, Inside Politics, insidepoliticts@cnn.com CNN, James Carville, crossfire@cnn.com CNN, Jeanne Meserve, jeanne.meserve@turner.com CNN, Jeff Greenfield comment, CNN, Jeff Greenfield, jeff.greenfield@cnn.com CNN, Jim Walton (President of CNN News Group), jim.walton@turner.com CNN, Judy Woodruff comment, CNN, Judy Woodruff, deirdre.walsh@turner.com CNN, Kelly Wallace, kelly.wallace@turner.com CNN, Kyra Phillips comment, CNN, Kyra Phillips, kyra.phillips@turner.com CNN, Larry King comment, CNN, Live At CNN, live@cnn.com CNN, Live From, livefrom@cnn.com CNN, Live Today, livetoday@cnn.com CNN, Miles OBrien comment, CNN, Miles OBrien, miles.obrien@turner.com CNN, Moneyline, moneyline@cnn.com CNN, news tips, CNN, Newsnight, newsnight@cnn.com CNN, other anchor/reporter comments, CNN, Paul Begala, crossfire@cnn.com CNN, Paula Zahn comment, CNN, Paula Zahn Now, paulazahnnow@cnn.com CNN, Paula Zahn, paula.zahn@turner.com CNN, Paula Zahn, paulazahn@cnn.com CNN, report errors, CNN, Rick Davis (Executive Vice President - CNN News Standards and Practices), rick.davis@turner.com CNN, Robert Novak, robert.novak@turner.com CNN, Soledad OBrien comment, CNN, Tom Hannon (Political Director), tom.hannon@cnn.com CNN, Tucker Carlson, crossfire@cnn.com CNN, War in Iraq comment, CNN, Weekend American Morning, wam@cnn.com CNN, Wolf Blitzer comment, CNN, Wolf Blitzer, wolf@cnn.com CNN, Wolf Blitzer, wolf@cnn.com
They dismiss as a distraction a birth announcement for Mr Obama that appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser on August 13, 1961 - nine days after he was born.
Would be generated from foreign birth registered in Hawaii as well. WND did a nice piece on this.
Judge Carter ( the Marine who served in Vietnam) has said that the facts of Orly Taitz case **will** be heard! There will be no delays or dismissals!
The Marxists know what's coming. I pray for Judge Carter's health and safety every day.
Grannies don’t lie but grandsons sure may.
The documents may be fake, but the story is true.
Oops.
There is also the case in N.J.which will be on Aug.3rd.
I thought it was a pretty fair article. The Telegraph is perhaps the best newspaper in the world. They've given the 'birthers' a much fairer shake than many believe they deserve. All the salient points got mentioned it seems to me.
What is truly amazing is that not one person has stepped forward to vouch for his U.S. birth. Did his mother have no friends who could give testimony? If not, it just adds to the intrigue.
Has anyone seen a genuine copy of that Honolulu Advertiser press announcement?
Medved believes in Big Foot. ‘nuff said.
I am sure that they had suspicions, but they did not have proof.
None of us have proof, except Obama.
Who is looking like the village idiot? Medved or those who calmly and rationally lay out the facts?
Again:
Fact: Obama has never released his long form birth certificate
Fact: Obama himself states that his father was a British subject.
Fact: Obama was adopted by an Indonesian.
Fact: He has never released his repatriation, selective service, college application, passport, or social security records.
Fact: The COLB posted on the Internet is a forgery.
Fact: COLBs were created for children born out of the country, and absolutely is not proof of natural born status.
Fact: The newspaper announcement of Obamas birth could easily have been placed by the proud grandparents or simply be a result of requesting a COLB.
Fact: Obama has gone to considerable effort to keep this information from being released, and opposed it vigorously in every court.
Fact: No court has ever given any of the above a hearing. All cases have been dismissed for lack of standing, or, in the case of Major Cook, declared moot.
You go on in your post to list several things. That is a conspiracy. You've named it yourself.
Keep in mind, conspiracy doesn't mean bad or good. It's just a word. It doesn't mean something is true of false. It is a situation where a person or people have conspired to lie about something, cover something up, do something wicked etc.
It is entirely proper to refer to the birthers as conspiracists because this is exactly what they are claiming happened- Obama et al are conspiring to cover up the details of his birth.
Why take offense at the proper word for it? And we're surely not in the left wing.
Perhaps a proud parent saved a copy of this newspaper section and it is safely tucked away in someone’s baby book.
These fakers also diminish Christian believers as “nutters” and claim the same thing. This is how they refer to Palin, “that nutter”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.