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Why All the Birther Attention Now?
Real Clear Politics ^ | 7/31/09 | David Kuhn

Posted on 07/31/2009 6:42:03 AM PDT by pissant

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the media is paying exponentially more attention to the birther issue today than during the campaign? There was reason to ignore conspiracy theories during the campaign. There were a great deal of lies flying around about Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008 (there were a few flying around about John McCain and Sarah Palin as well).

But the treatment of the "birthers" is peculiar. I went on Nexis and did a search of the broad "news" category of the phrase: "birth certificate" and Obama. In the past month there were 564 pieces on the subject (302 in the past week alone!). That is more than half of all the pieces on the subject written before Election Day 2008, which totaled 1051. Major broadcast outlets from MSNBC to National Public Radio have devoted hours of coverage to the subject in the past week.

I don't think the subject should have been more covered during the campaign. But it's hard to argue the media should be covering the "birther" conspiracy theorists now more than the campaign. One cannot overestimate how much activist conservative blogs were blowing up with this issue in 2008 and the media largely did not cover it.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: article2section1; barackobama; bho44; birthcertificate; birthers; certifigate; colb; larrysinclairslover; naturalborn; obama; obamanoncitizenissue
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Actually, a reasonably thoughtful piece by this liberal.

He left out the fact that the SRM is an arm of Axelrod/DNC.

1 posted on 07/31/2009 6:42:03 AM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

it started because Lou from CNN started talking about it. When one of the anchors from a MSN talks about something, they either listen or go in defensive mode


2 posted on 07/31/2009 6:43:25 AM PDT by 4rcane
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To: curiosity

A thoughtful libs take on the coverage


3 posted on 07/31/2009 6:43:34 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant

Because people are getting fed up with him and want him OUT. The birth certificate issue is one way to LEGALLY get him out. In the future to remove him may require force and people are thinking about this ... .


4 posted on 07/31/2009 6:43:54 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: pissant
It's a simple thing to put to rest. I have a passport and a birth certificate. I can produce them at my house in a matter of minutes. I have not spent a million dollars to either acquire them...or to hide them.

This is not a unreasonable thing to ask for since being a "natural born citizen" of the US is a constitutional requirement for the job of President. It's not hateful, and it's not racist.

Proving that you are should be an honor.

Yet Obama cannot or will not simply produce either. Why?

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING

5 posted on 07/31/2009 6:46:15 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: pissant

The reason for all of the birther attention now is that Lou Dobbs brought up this issue on his show, an issue which had been previously ignored by all MSM outlets. I think that if he had said and done nothing, the birther movement would have remained an isolated, underground movement.


6 posted on 07/31/2009 6:47:05 AM PDT by joejm65
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To: pissant
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

The White House is gearing up to go from stage 2 to stage 3 against the Constitutionalists (better term than “birthers”)

7 posted on 07/31/2009 6:47:22 AM PDT by silverleaf (If you can't be a good example, at least don't be a horrible lesson)
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To: 4rcane

http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2009/07/30/why-obamas-birth-certificate-issue-wont-go-away-vanderbilt-expert.85536

Now it’s cracked academia


8 posted on 07/31/2009 6:47:58 AM PDT by gusopol3
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To: joejm65

Lou Dobbs. Rush Limbaugh. Orly Taitz not having one of her cases tossed. The freeper/soldier. It was all coming to a point Obama (MSM) had to respond.


9 posted on 07/31/2009 6:49:22 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: nmh
Because people are getting fed up with him and want him OUT. The birth certificate issue is one way to LEGALLY get him out. In the future to remove him may require force and people are thinking about this ... .

I do believe that Presidents have been impeached in this country before. Let's see, what were they for.......oh yes, a cover-up and a cover-up.

10 posted on 07/31/2009 6:50:12 AM PDT by NurdlyPeon (Sarah Palin: Americas last, best hope for survival.)
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To: nmh

When his approval index was positive,
they knew they could ignore the issue.

But now they have to defend it,
because they know that people
with a highly negative opinion of him
will be seeking a way to get him OUT.


11 posted on 07/31/2009 6:51:29 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: pissant

It’s a really good question and one I’ve wondered about as well. Did the coverage heat up when Major Cook questioned the validity of his CiC? Or was it before that? I think Dobbs started his coverage shortly after the Cook story.

Whatever is behind it- it’s amazing to watch how many media sources are covering it now- daily.

Is this the lead-up to something breaking soon on the issue? It’s as much a mystery to me as is Obama himself.


12 posted on 07/31/2009 6:51:47 AM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
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To: joejm65

It could be Lou Dobbs.

But the other day, a long time posted posted about a real flurry of lawsuits, class action and otherwise, that are brewing amongst our soldiers. That the Stephan Cook case really stirred things up because he got his orders pulled when he challenged Obama.

We speculated on that thread, since the timing was about the same as the influx of MSM articles, that the WH put out the order to taint the issue and go after it full bore(boar?)


13 posted on 07/31/2009 6:54:56 AM PDT by spacejunkie2001
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To: pissant

O’Reilly is even covering it, although he is very dismissive of the whole arguement. At least he has come around to realizing the actual birth certificate has not been released.


14 posted on 07/31/2009 6:55:41 AM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: Jeff Head

Well said. Covers it all. Geeez.


15 posted on 07/31/2009 6:55:41 AM PDT by Republic (Ubama OWES Sgt Crowley a HUGE APOLOGY right away...if he can man up, he will do this immediately)
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To: SE Mom

The MSM is universally condemning the ‘birthers’. They are universally ignorant of the story and relying on the liars at FactCheck and Media Matters.

They universally have not uttered a word about the legal expenses Obama has had to pay versus allowing his BC to be released.

They are claiming the COLB has been verified. It has not.


16 posted on 07/31/2009 6:55:44 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: nmh

not only that but more people are getting fed up of him not showing it plus his past records.

I’ve lost count to the amount of people who have said they do not know what he is but he should show the damn thing with his past records.

I feel the same too, he should show it and his past records.

This guy came out of nowhere, those behind the scenes cleverly closed everything about him and wrote their own version of his past by the way of books.

All we could go on was what they had wrote for us, think about that.
All we know is what he has wrote for us to read and the media fell for it hook line and sinker.

There has been NO investigation work into him, none at all.

All it takes is for them - the media to go to Kenya and ask his own family why they say they saw him born in Kenya and why is there a place being touted as bozo’s birth place.

It really is that easy for them and yet they refuse t go and do their work and job


17 posted on 07/31/2009 6:55:57 AM PDT by manc (Marriage is between a man and a woman , nothing else-- end racism end affirmative action)
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To: pissant

It polled up so they have to “rebrand” the Birthers.


18 posted on 07/31/2009 6:56:33 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: spacejunkie2001

...long time POSTER posted.....


19 posted on 07/31/2009 6:56:51 AM PDT by spacejunkie2001
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To: 4rcane
"it started because Lou from CNN started talking about it. "


That is certainly part of it, but I think that the author of this piece has a valid point. The left watched Clinton turn the tables on conservatives and the GOP by painting their opposition to him as a purely personal vendetta. In doing so, he successfully shifted public attention off from the fact that he and the Dems overreached after his election and the GOP had an alternative (The Contract With America). Obama, the Dems and their policies are losing in popularity steadily and they need to change the focus of the conversation. What better way than to paint him as the victim of some conspiracy? As I told a friend the other day, this reminds me of the "rope a dope" tactic that Ali used against Foreman.
20 posted on 07/31/2009 6:57:43 AM PDT by rob777 (Personal Responsibility is the Price of Freedom)
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