I used it tongue in cheek. You used it as if it has some intrinsic value. I guess it does to the left. Because they use it to paint everyone from the congresscritters that are sponsoring a bill to require a BC to run for Potus, to Lou Dobbs who thinks Obama is US born yet still demands he prove it, to Rush who just points out the fact that Obama has not released his BC, to those like Berg who have the more implausible theory of Kenyan birth. So alas, Steyn agrees with Andy Mccarthy and will forever be a “birther” to those who don’t understand the issues invoved. Like you.
Most of us use simple words for things because it is easier than typing out lots of words, and we are lazy.
That’s why it is important for movements to choose good one-word names, because otherwise someone else will.
The problem with the birth certificate issue is that, as simple as it sounds, there is a trivial disconnect.
We want to see the “original” birth certificate. But then Obama says he has already shown the birth certificate. Well, no, but we can’t even get a straight answer about whether such a thing exists.
I know that I have what I think is a birth certificate from Maryland, but it’s not the original piece of paper filed with the state, and I’m not sure the state has such a paper, or if so how anybody would get to see it. I’ve had a paper that said I had a birth certificate, and I have in my possession a paper that says it is a copy of my birth record. I don’t know which of these, or if neither of these, would satisfy the request to see my original.
I know that I used the registrar-certified copy to get my passport; but reputable people have said they have handled a registrar-certified copy of Obama’s birth record, and that this birth record they have seen would be sufficient to get a passport.
But we think there is something embarrassing on the original record. And we’d like to see it. But while Obama should have to prove he is a citizen, I don’t think he is required by law to allow us to see any paper that we think would embarrass him. We of course have every right to ASK for such a thing.
The left though has pulled a fast one. Because of the littany of voices, and the number of people who truly are conspirists in this matter, they have gotten away with, as you note, putting together the nuts with the rest of us who really just want to see the original BC, not because of some legal right, but because as President Obama is a public official and we think public officials shouldn’t be hiding things from the people.
But the only real reason a politician makes things public is because the public insists on it as a condition of election. And in this case, the public did NOT insist on these records. So we don’t have most of the records of his schooling, we don’t have a lot of stuff about his youth, we don’t even have his original BC. And unless he thinks he needs to release those things to get re-elected, we’ll never see them.
God Speed to the man who is trying to force the BC public through the courts. But I don’t expect it to get Obama disqualified.
I don’t remember anybody demanding that Bush release his birth certificate. We probably should have; it’s a reasonable request, and if we or the left had done so in 2000, there would be a precedence now.