Posted on 03/28/2011 3:58:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Donald Trump is on an extensive media tour telling anyone who will listen (including, in the last week alone, Fox & Friends, Geraldo Rivera, and the ladies of The View) about his concerns regarding President Obama’s birth certificate.
Many are wondering whether Trump truly believes Obama might have been born in another country or whether he is simply using this as an opportunity for self-promotion and media attention (which, if true, seems to be working, the ratings for Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice just hit a season high). However, I propose that neither theory is true. Instead, Trump has merely made a dispassionate and calculated business decision that exploiting a weakness in a competitor is the best strategy for victory. In other words, if Trump is really serious about running for President, he could care less where Obama was actually born, but is very excited to have found an attention-grabbing vulnerability in the President.
Trump’s response to why he didn’t ask for the birth certificate of any past President is simply that his potential opponent is Obama and not any past President. More significantly, if you take his candidacy even somewhat seriously, Trump is using a classic campaign strategy, focus on any chink in the Obama re-election armor. If Trump runs, he wants to win, and part of being successful is making it as difficult as possible for your opponent to triumph, even if that means playing dirty.
Yet many question why bringing up the birth certificate could even be perceived as a winning strategy. Even Karl Rove recently suggested that it’s such a bad strategy for Republicans, and he suspected Obama himself was fueling the controversy in order to make Republicans who focused on it look crazy. However, for those paying close attention, the thrust of Trump’s complaint is not that Obama was born in Kenya and he should be impeached. Instead, it seems Trump’s argument has been why is the most powerful man in the country hiding anything from the people who elected him? Especially given that Obama promised the most transparent White House in history, could Trump’s unanswered plea for Obama to share a document become transformed into an issue of transparency rather than country of origin? Oh boy, now I’m not sure if that makes me a birther too!
A recent statistic suggesting a majority of Republican primary voters don’t believe Obama was born in America has been ridiculed by some as being all about race, yet I wonder whether such results and Trump’s behavior can both be explained by the same rationale. Trump and most Republican “birthers” may feel so strongly that another term of Obama’s policies will be so detrimental to the future of the country that they are willing to employ any tactic that could help defeat Obama. That may make them ruthless, and maybe even at times inappropriate, but as Trump knows first-hand from his business success, a willingness to be a fierce, no-holds-barred competitor can often lead to the greatest achievement even if, for now, it means being seen as a fringe political character in the national discussion.
The Obammunists can never focus on the facts. They have to avoid facts at all costs.
Was it ruthless to look into John McCain’s birth situation, as the congress did in 2008?
I don’t think Senator McCain or Governor Jindal are NBC either.
I have a hunch that Trump is questioning the BC at Hilljezeera’s behest, to clear her pathway. In truth, anyone who does not have doubts about the Punk’s citizenship at this point is brain dead.
Yeah, wasn’t that rich - McCain comes from a long line of U. S. Navy admirals, not a shadowy father from a dusty village in Africa.
I don’t think Trump is serious about the Presidency and he’s just using the birther issue to get free airtime. He didn’t get rich spending his own money in pursuit of goals he really doesn’t care about.
If Trump is brining it up, you can also be sure that there is a good chance he’s spent some good coin finding out if there was something to it, even if he doesn’t have any real intention of running.
I think Trump knows this will be his only run for political office, even if he runs at all, and he can soften up Obama in ways no career politician can. He knows he can get away with saying things that no politician can say and he understands that most Republicans are afraid to attack Obama personally so Trump can exploit the weakness to his own advantage.
If anyone wants to call Trump a racist or a hater, he can just laugh it off and make another million.
I don’t like McCain, but I thought he was born on an Army post or in the Canal Zone.
If a soldier is deployed overseas, and his wife is with him and gives birth overseas, IMO, he is still a NBC.
What would make McCain a non-NBC?
As I said on an earlier post, I don’t really care if he is doing it because he wants to run for the Presidency (unlikely, IMHO) or if he is a cat’s-paw for Hillary (more likely), or if he’s just having fun doing it — and frankly, right now, I don’t care. If there was ever a time when “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, it’s when the mutual enemy is Obama.
And he’s perfect for this role. He’s too rich to scare, doesn’t really give a rat’s a$$ what anyone else thinks about him, loves to compete, and enjoys notoriety. Calling him “stupid” and impinging his motives is not going to have much of an affect. He does not live in a universe that requires anyone’s approval.
Plus he’s damn smart. Say what you want about Trump, you do not get to be as rich as he is by being an idiot. (Unless you’re born to wealth or marry into it, obviously.)
All in all, it’s probably scaring the pee out of the dems because THEY don’t know if Obama is lying or telling the truth, either — but they do know that Obama has paid an genuine fortune in legal fees to keep the birth certificate hidden.
People in an innocent state of mind would NOT spend that much money to keep something hidden unless the consequences of its exposure would be devastating.
Money like Trump has can buy you some really good legal people and some really good investigators.
I definitely agree with you on that issue!
The problem they had with McCain was the fact that he was born in a Hospital in Panama that was considered off base. But, I do believe at the time the hospital that was on base did not have a maternity ward or possibly it was not complete. So, they were running on the fact the he was born outside of American territory!
I think it should not matter for military families since they are and should be treated with the utmost respect and given certain rights to their offspring! Especially Natural born status!
You asked: “What would make McCain a non-NBC?”
Google: “Obama Knew He Wasn’t Eligible For POTUS.” - from Zapem’s Blog.
There’s a part of that article which cites a professor from the University of Arizona, Dr. Chin, I believe, who reseached and found that McCain was actually born in a hospital in Colon, Panama, OFF-BASE and OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of the US Territory.
Now, before anyone “blows me out of the water,” just read the article for yourself.... “I report, you decide.”
of course not, he is a rhino, republican, but still a republican
“McCain was actually born in a hospital in Colon, Panama, OFF-BASE and OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of the US Territory.”
That would disqualify him since at birth he would not have undivided allegiance to the U.S. Like others born abroad to U.S. parents, McCain likely would have had the choice to become either a Panamanian citizen or U.S. citizen once he attained the age of majority. Presumably, this choice would not have been available to babies born within the Canal Zone since it was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. etc. In that case, the issue of divided loyalties would not arise.
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