Brevard County, Florida ping.Bill Posey, (R) FL-15, in the news.
Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
Posted on 03/23/2009 1:30:23 AM PDT by Red Steel
WASHINGTON — It is safe to say that until last week, Bill Posey was one of Florida's least-known members of Congress, a freshman Republican who bears a passing resemblance to the mild-mannered Mister Rogers.
During 16 years representing the Melbourne area in the state Legislature, Posey was best known for being reasonable and low key, a staunch conservative who had a reputation for working with Democrats on tough issues.
That changed last week, after Posey quietly introduced a bill in the House that would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates to prove they are really U.S. citizens.
Now he's the butt of jokes on late-night TV and the target of considerable venom on liberal-leaning Web sites like Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo.
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's liberal commentator, deemed him the "World's Worst Person of the Day" on Tuesday.
Posey has been portrayed as something of a nut for what is widely seen as an attempt to legitimize the fringe belief that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen.
"So, Congressman, what you should do is stop embarrassing yourself and take the Reynolds Wrap off your head," Olbermann scolded.
A day later, Posey leaned back in his chair in his spacious Capitol Hill office, pressed his fingertips together and turned his eyes toward the ceiling, a man trying to center himself in an unexpected storm. The classical music was turned up loud.
"You don't know me," he said slowly, leveling his gaze. "So let me give you a little background."
In the Florida Legislature, Posey was known for pushing government accountability. In 2001, following the troubled 2000 presidential election, he was tapped to lead the Senate committee responsible for overhauling state election laws. That yielded a bipartisan package that banned punch-card ballots, introduced early voting and created provisional ballots, so people whose names aren't on the rolls could cast a vote and have the dispute resolved later.
Since being sworn into Congress in early January, two weeks before Obama's historic inauguration, Posey said he has gotten calls and e-mails from folks back home questioning whether the president is really a citizen, or has a valid Hawaiian birth certificate.
"We routinely get calls from constituents, and every constituent who calls or writes about it has just discovered it," Posey said. "They just now heard about the issue, and they have no idea it's settled. They think it's new."
The Constitution requires the president to be a "natural born citizen." Rumors that Obama was born in his father's homeland of Kenya, rather than Hawaii, simmered throughout the campaign, fed largely by anonymous e-mails and conservative commentators on TV and talk radio.
Obama eventually posted his birth certificate on his campaign Web site. The Hawaiian health secretary vouched for it. Still unconvinced, critics called it a forgery.
Posey insists his goal was simply to put the rumors to rest, and ensure no future candidate faces the questions over a birth certificate that have dogged Obama.
"If he had filed that the very first day he filed for office, we wouldn't be having any problems right now," Posey said.
The birth certificate requirement would take effect in 2012, when Obama would be up for re-election.
• • •
Posey, 61, insists he's no partisan bomb thrower, and he names several prominent Democrats in Tallahassee who will vouch for him, including Sen. Al Lawson, the Senate minority leader, and Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres.
And they do, describing him as a friend and worthy lawmaker. But on this bill, they can't imagine what he was thinking.
"People are going to look at you peculiar if you're going to have a bill that kind of, somewhat, challenges the president of the United States on his citizenship," Lawson said. "I think that's inappropriate. I would think that he should withdraw that bill and maybe apologize to the public."
Posey seems genuinely baffled by the negative reaction. It could be a bit naive, given how widespread and divisive the controversy was during the campaign.
If a Republican had won the White House, he still would have filed the bill, Posey said. "I'm going to say let's do this, and there's nothing left to b---- about. … I assumed the other side would like that."
The other side is Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, a tweedy, energetic liberal who often greets people with "Aloha." Right now he is wearing a scowl.
"Why the hell would anybody do this?" he says of Posey's bill, adding angry comments about "black-helicopter people" and "the kind of sick politics that permeates a certain portion of the electorate."
Abercrombie was friends with Obama's parents when they were college students in Honolulu, back in the early 1960s, when Ann Dunham Obama was pregnant with the future president. He first met Barack Jr. as an infant.
"It's one thing to try to be responsive to your constituents, no matter how marginal," Abercrombie said. "I understand that. But to take it to the point of putting it into a bill — you open yourself up, then, to having your judgment questioned."
But if citizenship is required, why not require a birth certificate?
"What you do, generally, with legislation is you … address common issues or concerns," Abercrombie said. "The citizenship of someone who has reached the point of running for president of the United States is not really an issue."
Despite the heat, Posey said reaction from his constituents has been positive. Most tell him they figured you would need to file a birth certificate to run for president anyhow. So do the House colleagues he has discussed the bill with, he said.
Even so, it still has no co-sponsors.
Oh, OlberFuehrermann put him on his idiotic list. He must be doing it right.
Even so, it still has no co-sponsors.
Give it time it will.
Obama eventually posted his birth certificate on his campaign Web site. The Hawaiian health secretary vouched for it.
An outright lie the media insists on perpetuating. The state of Hawaii has never vouched for it.
Joe Biden:
“You know, I never realized just how much power Dick Cheney had until my first day on the job. I walked into my office, and you know how the outgoing president always leaves the incoming president a note in his desk? I opened my drawer and Dick Cheney had left me Barack Obama’s birth certificate.”
What do you expect from the Leningrad Times?
Lots of “Those Who Protest Too Loudly.”
Who could oppose a requirement for a candidate for president to document eligibility.
Colbert was making fun of the Florida Congressman on his show, I think it was Thursday-not good for the GOP in general.
Why would the President of the United States REFUSE to produce a Birth Certificate if he had one which would remove doubt of his eligibility and avoid a Constitutional crises?
Two possible explanations:
1. He doesn't have one.
2. The one he has would reveal something he doesn't wish revealed.
The Dalai Bama is a fraud and poseur on so many levels - it's frightening.
Ping!
LOL! Olberbuttmunch *knows* Obama is illegitimate!
No reason to fear this bill or make fun of it unless they are all afraid of it. Very odd. They are making it worse by opposing the bill because they will leave the impression that there is a ‘there’ there.
Brevard County, Florida ping.Bill Posey, (R) FL-15, in the news.
Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
“you open yourself up, then, to having your judgment questioned”
You’re speaking about yourself here, congressman.
As Obama continues to do stupid things one after another, his ability to retain his current status will decrease while the number of people interested his birth certificate will increase.
“...they have no idea it’s settled.”
Excuse me Congrssman Posey, I respect what you are doing here but... I’m not new to this issue and I don’t recall it being “settled”. Are you refering to Mr. Soetoro’s posting of his COLB on Factcheck.org? I hardly think that “settled” anything.
Ping to remember the following names:
Posey, Republican, was best known for being reasonable and low key, a staunch conservative who had a reputation for working with Democrats on tough issues.
That changed last week, after Posey quietly introduced a bill in the House that would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates to prove they are really U.S. citizens.
Now he's the butt of jokes on late-night TV and the target of considerable venom on liberal-leaning Web sites like Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo.
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's liberal commentator, deemed him the "World's Worst Person of the Day" on Tuesday.
Posey has been portrayed as something of a nut for what is widely seen as an attempt to legitimize the fringe belief that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen.
[snip]
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, Democrat-Hawaii...said, "The citizenship of someone who has reached the point of running for president of the United States is not really an issue."
[snip]
People are going to look at you peculiar if you're going to have a bill that kind of, somewhat, challenges the president of the United States on his citizenship," Lawson Democrat, said. "I think that's inappropriate. I would think that he should withdraw that bill and maybe apologize to the public."
"What you do, generally, with legislation is you … address common issues or concerns," Abercrombie said. "The citizenship of someone who has reached the point of running for president of the United States is not really an issue."
That has to the most moronic sentence to come out of any politician's mouth in a while.
Obama eventually posted his birth certificate on his campaign Web site. The Hawaiian health secretary vouched for it
I don't recall that. Didn't they simply say they had one on file or did I miss something?
I've noticed that too, and I get the feeling that all the dim congresscritter know the truth, and that truth is he isn't a NBC. They have circled the wagons, doing and saying all the expected things they do when they are playing cover-up.
I received an e-mail letter from my Rep. about the birth certificate issue and I hadn't written him. So I've been crafting a letter to him about it and asking him to join Rep. Posey. I think what really ticked me off about his letter to me was "The Halls of Congress are surely not the appropriate venue to settle delicate questions of constitution process."
I realize that at this point the court is the appropriate venue, but there was a point that Congress was and no one objected. But this is not the point, the future elections are the point now, starting with 2012 (if we still have a free country for an election).
The comment from Mel Martinez that “the constitution doesn’t matter once the people have voted” is certainly in the running.
That’s basically suggesting that Hugo Chavez could win a write in vote and he would be our president because the people voted for him.
You’re correct. All they said is they have one on file.
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