Posted on 03/31/2011 4:51:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Back in the days before the Internet, senior political reporters at the "serious" media outlets wouldn't write about personal scandals directly. They would "analyze" the "impact" of scandals on "perceptions."
That way, everybody could pretend that they weren't discussing Gary Hart's "liaison" with Donna Rice, they were just discussing its impact on Gary Hart's political future.
The challenge for journalists today is to somehow get the "birther" issue into their copy (because it generates a ton of hits) without alienating the good opinion of their colleagues, all of whom in New York-Washington media circles are resolute in their belief that "birthers" are insane.
Back to the old dodge! Don't talk about the issue. Talk about the politics of the issue.
So it is that David Weigel of Slate today publishes a longish piece about the "birther" issue going "mainstream." He credits Donald Trump for pushing the issue out of the chat rooms and into whatever passes for the "mainstream" today. He even identifies "two schools" of birther thought:
One reason Trump has been able to do this is that two schools of birtherism have developed since 2008, and one of them has become a surprisingly comfortable place for conservatives to lounge. There have always been Orthodox Birthers. They start with the belief that Obama cannot be eligible for the presidency. They trust evidence they find online—an erroneous report about "Obama's grandmother" saying he was born in Kenya, for example—which stays online forever, just like amateur diagnostic reports of how crashing planes couldn't possibly have brought down the Twin Towers. If that evidence is challenged, they look to theories about what the founders thought "natural born citizenship" meant.....
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Ummmm, Mr. Obama's supposed father was never a US citizen, while Mr. Trump's mother was naturalized about four years before he was born. Big difference. Oh, and nice attempt be Mr. Weigel (journ-o-list member) to equate the "birthers" with the 9/11 "truthers" in that one paragraph! E for effort, Dave!
Doesn’t fit the meme/storyline, don’t you know?
Finally, the truth will be exposed. Daryl Issa and the House will be very busy this year.
It’s a stinking, rotten shame that this has dragged on this long. And the conservative media’s silence on this issue is disgusting: neither Rush, Hannity, Mark Levin, O’Reilly, or any of the “conservative” media have done a stinking thing on this for over 3 years that it’s been an issue. Incredible.
This goofball who’s living in our White House is an illegal alien with phony social security numbers, phony selective service numbers, and what-not. He’s a traitor and a muslim who honestly HATES this country and everything it stands for and they’ve been SILENT!
The media does their best to confuse and lie about the issue. The devil is a master of confusion and noise. The mere fact that Obama's father was a British subject disqualifies Obama from being eligible...that is the argument...very simple.
I am a birther.
What’s so crazy about doubting the Kenyan Impostor’s birth place? We have really touched a nerve.
I predict the Kenyan will be asked to produce his birth certificate by the MSM. When he refuses, the price of his treason goes up.
As Billy "Stainmaker" Clinton taught us all, it's not the act that gets you in trouble, it's the cover-up.
neither Rush, Hannity, Mark Levin, O’Reilly, or any of the “conservative” media have done a stinking thing on this for over 3 yearsNot quite. World Net Daily has been the major source on this and both Michael Savage and Bill Cunningham have kept the issue on at least "simmer" all this time.
Another theory says Obama can't be president because his father was Kenyan and that made his son a British citizen by default. (This theory would disqualify Trump, whose mother was Scottish.)I wonder if Ellis is being deliberately obtuse here. The inquiry is citizenship of the parents at the time the child is born. If the parents are naturalized citizens (which means they have sworn off allegiance to any other country), then the child satisfies THAT hurdle for being a natural born citizen.
But nobody's talking about this issue. Trump sure isn't. His own children wouldn't meet the Vattel definition on NBC.
Instead, the issue of Obama's eligibility has been co-opted in the public eye by the birth certificate and the absurd (in my opinion) conspiracy that 50 years ago a teenage American girl jetted off halfway around the world to give birth to the future President in a mud hut in Kenya.
And when Obama finally gets around to showing his long form BC, and there's a good chance it will be perfectly valid, the issue of his eligibility will evaporate and the people who challenged it will be made to look like fools.
Meanwhile, the very valid Constitutional questions of what defines a Natural Born Citizen will remain unanswered and those continuing to press the issue will look like cranks.
Another way to phrase that, is that because Obama's father was a Brit at the time Obama was born, Obama was himself part Brit - the Brits had a legally enforceable claim for Obama's services to Great Britain.
BHO Sr was a Kenyan national studying in the US on a student visa. He impregnated a young white female, a US citizen, a child was born ... where this child was born is of no consequence ... the father was a foreign national ... his offspring cannot qualify to become POTUS. What is it about this concept the liberals in the MSM can't grasp?
Meanwhile, the very valid Constitutional questions of what defines a Natural Born Citizen will remain unanswered and those continuing to press the issue will look like cranks.
That's a position I'm perfectly willing to take ... I'm entirely confident with continued pressure this clown will be outed for the phony he is ... he's a pretender, no question.
“What is it about this concept the liberals in the MSM can’t grasp?”
_______________________________________
You fail to understand that the Marxist, including the blacks and red diaper doper babies of the USSA, do not care if he was born on Pluto, Havana, or Peking.
One World Socialism is the objective, the laws be damn.
Fixed.
Frank Davis is Obamas daddy.
Nah Obie is a CIA petri dish experiment gone bad...
Very well, could be ... in which case BHO is a U.S. citizen. Except he's telling everyone that his daddy is BHO Sr. ... in which case he's lying. If he were Frank Davis Jr. (and without question a US citizen) you can rest assured he would have never come within sniffing distance of the presidency. The name Barak Hussein Obama in this politically correct climate is so much more appealing to the liberal MSM.
“Michael Savage and Bill Cunningham have kept the issue on at least “simmer” all this time”
That might be, but none of the big ones as I’ve listed them have said ONE WORD AT ALL for well over THREE YEARS about any of this. Can you imagine if they had poked Obambi in the eye over this continually how much it would have meant to this country. I’m so disappointed in these guys, including Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin for completely ignoring this fundamental Constitutional issue . . . W H Y ? THREE YEARS LATER someone like Trump brings it up and it gets a little life.
This skinny, illegal alien should never have reached the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to have been sworn in . . . He hates this country and everything it stands for, and yet we let this empty suit move into our White House.
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