Posted on 07/01/2009 6:08:43 PM PDT by Red Steel
A group of House Republican lawmakers want all future aspirants for the White House to produce a U.S. birth certificate to prove they meet constitutional requirements to be president.
The legislators this week waded into a controversy that has roiled the conservative talk-show and blogging fringe since the hottest days of the presidential election campaign -- when the validity of the citizenship of both Barack Obama and John McCain were questioned.
McCain was born to U.S. citizens on a military installation in the Panama Canal Zone. Obama was born in Hawaii, the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father.
Court cases challenging both candidates' citizenship sputtered. So have the accusations about McCain.
But, on the political right, suspicions that President Obama was actually born in Africa -- fueled by the absence of Obama's certified "long-form" birth certificate -- rage on. One of the most vocal advocates of that point of view is aging singer Pat Boone.
The GOP House members sponsoring the birth-certificate resolution -- which has gained the nickname of the "birther bill" -- are Reps. Bill Posey of Florida; John Campbell of California; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Bob Goodlatte of Virginia; and Randy Neugebauer, John Culberson, and John Carter, all of Texas.
"Most Americans are probably surprised that they don't" have to document meeting the requirement, said Blackburn spokesman Claude Chafin. "A lot of people expressed surprise to her since (last year's presidential campaign) that people don't have to actually document anything."
Neugebauer's support for the bill and comments about Obama's status as a natural born citizen drew fire from MSNBC "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann, a liberal pundit, who pronounced the congressman's constituents "idiots" for electing him.
Does Neugebauer in fact doubt Obama's citizenship? "I don't have the documentation one way or the other," Neugebauer said this week. "And so my assumption is that he is a natural born citizen, that hopefully the appropriate people checked that."
Neugebauer and the bill's author, Rep. Bill Posey of Florida, contend there's nothing partisan or politically motivated about House Resolution 1503.
"It's not about President Obama," Posey said. "It's not about me. It's not retroactive."
A Texas government professor isn't buying it.
"I think some of them are milking the situation for the upcoming election," said Laurence "Casey" Jones of Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.
He said it was frightening that the lawmakers are trying to legitimizing assertions of rightwing "birthers" who question Obama's citizenship, said Jones, who teachers classes on the Constitution.
He sees no legitimate need for the bill.
"Anyone in Washington knows what's already required to be president," Jones said. Intelligence officials conduct extensive background checks before presidents take office, he added.
Posey said he's building on his history of election reform begun as a Florida state senator after the rancorous 2000 presidential election.
Posey thought legislation requiring presidential candidates to produce a birth certificate would be a simple solution to citizenship issues.
"Most of the public thinks it's the law now," Posey said.
He said he, too, has taken heat, but from the liberal end of the blogosphere. "Tin hat" and a "wing nut" are some of the names he's been called by liberal bloggers.
"Some people have just taken it as an opportunity to create this warfare that I guess makes them look like a reporter or something, that they have created an issue," Posey said. "But none of the articles that you read were objective."
On Wednesday, pundit Olbermann awarded Neugebauer a bronze "Worst Person in the World" award Wednesday.
"The people that elected you are obviously idiots," Olbermann said on his show. "That does not mean everybody else is."
Olbermann's dander was up following Neugebauer's answer to Lubbock radio host Chad Hasty's query: Did the congressman believe Obama is a U.S. citizen? "You know, I don't know," Neugebauer told Hasty last week. "I've never seen him produce documents that would say one way or the other."
"Congressman Neugebauer has full confidence in the intelligence of the residents of the 19th Congressional District," Neugebauer spokeswoman Michelle Ozanus said. "He knows they can make up their own minds regarding this legislation.
Purely as a Constitutional question:
Who would review the birth certificate?
And what if that judge said “no” to the candidate? Any appeal?
It will never pass, why would the illegal alien sign something like this? Maybe if it exempts himself, we could stop this from happening again.
Obama would simply hand over a fake copy of his birth cetificate to Nancy who would say... looks good to me!
"It is now a near certainty that Obama was born in Kenya and that Obama lied on his bar application by leaving out alias and traffic violations."
DUmocrats would like to ignore THE EVIDENCE but do so at their own peril. It took a national election for him to pay 20-year old traffic violations...anyone else would have arrest warrants and multiple fines. Those who stand with the criminal usurper should share in his fate as conspirators when the truth finally catches up to him.
Why dont they include sitting presidents in the bill?
Yes. That would be true. He would be a naturalized American citizen.
What I am saying is that even if we accept he was bon in Hawaii, not having both parents be American citizens, Obama is not a natural-born citizen. If he was born in Hawaii, he is an American citizen, he is a natural citizen, but not a ‘natural-born’ citizen. Which he must be to be president.
Either way, he is not a natural-born citizen.
Soo, America, Now What?
>Is this true, or did he make it up?
This is a conversation between the Special Agent-in-Charge: C. Frank Figliuzzi of the Cleveland FBI and Mike Trivisonno on the Mike Trivisonno Show, WTAM 1100, 7/02/08, Hr. 2.
Caller - Do they perform background checks on candidates and fellows who are in Congress and the Senate and perhaps potential presidential candidates?.
FBI - The short answer is no, no we don’t, but they’re given top secret clearances because they’re members of Congress, or Senators, or even higher ranking officials.
Host - Time out. There are no background checks from the FBI on the people that lead the country, the United States of America?.
FBI - Let me emphasize, elected officials. This is a democracy, the people have elected an official to represent them in Washington, and we do not routinely run background checks on those people.
Host - Even people running for president of the United States of America?.
FBI - That’s correct.
Host - That’s a little weird
FBI - Well, its part of democracy, its part of what the American people want, they want to be able to vote for somebody to represent them in Washington and they don’t want us to get in the way of that and we have no predilection to get in the way of that.
Host - Yeah, but what if they’re voting for a bad person and they don’t know that person is bad, do you follow me?. I’m saying, if the guy’s got a background and maybe he’s involved with some people that he shouldn’t be involved with, shouldn’t we know that as voters?.
FBI - Well, I think you’d agree that the American political process is about as rigorous as you’ll ever see and if there’s dirt back there, probably the opponent is gonna get it out probably before anyone else will.
Host - Now I know why you’re the head of the FBI, they’re good, aren’t they?.
Me - Let’s just hope that somebody is up to the job!.
obumpa
You said — Whether or not you dismiss “birthers” as kooks, the Constitutional Qualification question is a loophole that must be closed for future elections.
—
It’s *right at this point* — that many of them take up residence in “Kookville” — because they don’t recognize that precise loophole that you just mentioned...
AND..., one other place where many of them “take up residence in Kookville” — is — by saying “Obama is not really the President”... LOL... [ya coulda fooled me... :-) ....]
You said — FUTURE PRESIDENTS? LETS START WITH THE FRAUD WE HAVE IN OFFICE TODAY ARE YOU KIDDING, THEY’RE GONNA LET THIS ONE SLIDE?
—
Ummmm..., okay...
May I ask... “what’s taking you so long, then?”
To say the least, if this bill passes, Obama will not be permitted to run in 2012 (lol).
Good Luck with that, it did not help Alan Keyes one bit.
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