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The Birther Madness (FreeRepublic mentioned)
The Claremont McKenna College Forum ^ | December 3, 2009 | Charlie Sprague

Posted on 12/03/2009 7:11:22 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The Birther movement is convinced that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen and hence is constitutionally prohibited from being President.

Most Birthers claim that Obama was born in Kenya, while others think his birth occurred in Indonesia. Even though Obama has released a copy of his birth certificate showing that he was born on Oahu, these conspiracy theories continue to animate the fanatical right.

What is most surprising about these conspiracy theories is the number of relatively mainstream people willing to associate themselves with the Birthers or at least recognize the issue as a legitimate controversy. One of CNN’s many reasons for dumping Lou Dobbs was his repeated raising of Birther issues. More predictably, The Birthers have found audiences on conservative talk radio and conservative web sites such as Free Republic and WorldNetDaily. The number of people who have serious doubts that Obama was born in the United States is shockingly high. According to one poll, 28% of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States or are unsure. These numbers, however, ignore an important geographic disparity: doubt about Obama’s place of birth is far higher in the South than anywhere else in the country. In the South, only 47% of respondents said they believe Obama was born in the United States, with 30 % unsure and 23% convinced he’s foreign born.

Many Republican politicians find themselves in an uncomfortable position when it comes to Birther conspiracy theories. On the one hand, the Birther movement kills the Republicans’ credibility among the vast majority of the population and Republicans. At the same time, Rep. Mike Castle, a moderate Republican congressman from Delaware, was blindsided at a rally in July when a near-hysterical woman accused him of ignoring the “truth” that Obama was a citizen of Kenya. Wanting to pander to the fringe without becoming entirely discredited by the lunatics, many Republicans have opted to align themselves only tangentially with the Birther movement. For example, Republican congressman of John Campbell of California proposed a bill that would require presidential candidates to prove they are “natural-born citizens.” On MSNBC, Chris Matthews interviewed Campbell and repeatedly asked him if he believed Obama was a natural-born citizen. The extreme evasiveness of Campbell’s answers perfectly demonstrates his “wink-wink” strategy of secretly pandering to fringe elements of the conservative movement without having his reputation sullied by outright association.

As a final note to seniors still seeking employment, the Birthers are willing to throw down cash for investigations of Obama’s past. Neil Sankey, a former member of Scotland Yard, has been hired by Birthers to investigate Obama’s personal history. I know most CMC alums can’t match Sankey’s background, but perhaps “Topics in Forensic Science” has taught some desperate seniors enough to follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Ames.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Free Republic; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho44; birthcertificate; birthers; certifigate; colb; conspiracytheory; freerepublic; kenyabelieveit; obama; obamanoncitizenissue; obroma; pds; politics; polls; stuffwarsmadeof
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To: Venturer
It isnt the Birthers who are crazy, It’s the ignorant followers of the Won.

I like Korean money, it's green! LOL!

21 posted on 12/03/2009 7:35:43 PM PST by Tamar1973 (http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/)
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To: cripplecreek

It seems like a new article stating that Obama was born in Kenyan pops up out of the Internet ether on a regular basis. :-0)


22 posted on 12/03/2009 7:37:44 PM PST by Red Steel
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

You know, even if we’re WRONG, just PROVE IT!! Rub it in our faces, I don’t care-—I just want to know for sure!! PRODUCE THE CERTIFICATE—THE REAL ONE!!!

(I’ve been yelling a lot lately, and now it’s carrying over into my posts)


23 posted on 12/03/2009 7:40:07 PM PST by swatbuznik
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Wanting to pander to the fringe without becoming entirely discredited by the lunatics, many Republicans have opted to align themselves only tangentially with the Birther movement.

One thing that is never questioned, or even discussed, is the tendency for criminals of all sorts, specially members of real widespread conspiracies to treat questioners and skeptics as the fringe.
Obviously this abused word sets the mood for what follows, either in speech or in writing. It seems to be a major tool of the left and "progressives."

This words, repeated consistentltly, tends to neutralize any validity the questioners actually have, particularly in the eyes and minds of the ignorant and the unengaged; the dull minds unencumbered by knowledge, thinking and the irritating need to use logic and reason: in short, the vast majority of voters, who overwhemingly vote issues and candidated without knowing why :
Democrats and voters for "change." Global warming supporters; Share the wealth supporters; voters who enjoy virtual total support of their lives from the productive taxpayers, AKA public assistance.

Shouldn't this technique of abusing the magic word, fringe, be discussed, and the search for truth to gain preeminence over this technique for avoiding guilt and punishment?

I think so.

24 posted on 12/03/2009 7:45:32 PM PST by Publius6961 (Â…he's not America, he's an employee who hasn't risen to minimal expectations.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

... “these conspiracy theories continue to animate the fanatical right.”

Really?

Former Deputy State Attorney General Philip J. Berg — DEMOCRAT — was perhaps the first to file a ‘birther’ lawsuit.

A Conversation with Philip J. Berg, Esq.

(Saturday, August 23, 2008)

http://www.americasright.com/2008/08/q-with-phillip-berg.html

Excerpt from interview:

“I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to break the story, which only now is beginning to gain traction for a hopeful leap into the mainstream media. Berg, who served as DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL of PENNSYLVANIA for eight years, ran twice for GOVERNOR in 1990 and 1998 and once for the U.S. SENATE in 1994, was former CHAIR of the DEMOCRATIC Party in Montgomery (PA) County and a former member of the DEMOCRATIC State Committee, was more than happy to speak with me yesterday afternoon in the lobby of the courthouse following a hearing in the chambers of the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick.”
(EMPHASIS MINE)

STE=Q


25 posted on 12/03/2009 7:47:42 PM PST by STE=Q ("It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government" ... Thomas Paine)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Chris Matthews interviewed Campbell and repeatedly asked him if he believed Obama was a natural-born citizen. The extreme evasiveness of Campbell’s answers perfectly demonstrates...

Poofter Chris Matthews comes from the discredited Bernie ward school of interviewing, demanding "yes" or "no" answers for questions with no clear yes or no replies possible with the level of knowledge at the moment.

There are two issues here, and insisting on confounding them is a clever way to make the victim look stupid.

However the proper response is extremely simple: "I don't know. However, it is an important enough issue that I, and most American citizens, would want to know."

What is evasive about that?

26 posted on 12/03/2009 7:58:12 PM PST by Publius6961 (Â…he's not America, he's an employee who hasn't risen to minimal expectations.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Th issue is not only not going away but will continue to grow so long as BO refuses to produce his birth certificate. His socialist cronies can attempt to discredit those who demand he obey the Constitution by referring to them as “birthers” but that won’t change the fact he has knowingly and willingly violated the Constitution.


27 posted on 12/03/2009 8:04:12 PM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it! www.FairTaxNation.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why is it “madness” to want the best evidence of 0bama’s eligibility (the long form certificate showing attending physician and hospital)? I wonder what the press meme would have been had Bush pulled something similar, or sealed his academic records, or...oh wait...the press went after him with forged documents of their own. Silly me—forgot that the “fourth estate” has become a fifth column.


28 posted on 12/03/2009 8:09:11 PM PST by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Trod Upon
Here's the way I see this coming late to the party.

1. A court should decide if Obama was born a British citizen, based upon his father, or not and require him to present his papers to verify place of birth.

2. Since many have decided that "birthers" are loons, the media should request that Obama open his files and prove what loons they are so we can move on (and I don't mean .org)

3. I can't understand why a supposed innocent person would go through all this trouble and waste time and money refusing to hide a few pieces of paper. What happened to transparency?

29 posted on 12/03/2009 8:14:18 PM PST by votemout
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
 
1st.  They and everyone has said all along the COLB is an abstract.  That means there is a long form.
 
2nd.  Hawaii already said they have seen Barry O.'s vital records and issued two statements - blah, blah, blah, right?
 
3rd.  Barry O. never had to show his long form BC ever, in his life, for anything?  Like obtaining a passport.  That one document is better than a drivers license.  It saying to the world you are who is contained in the passport document, which is based on an investigation of your background and YOU MUST provide a Birth Certificate as foundational proof of who YOU say you are.  From there the State Department does their background check on you and if you are who you say you are with no ammendments, modifications or whatever to your identity they issue it clean. 
 
Most adults can go to a desk or filing cabinet in his house and produce a birth certificate in a few minutes?
 

Barry O. tried to pass of something that was inconsistent with what the rest of have and know to be a “Birth Certificate”.

The so called COLB has many flaws with it:

  • His father’s race could never have been listed as “African”.  That was not the nomenclature at all, in the 1960’s.  So that begins the suspicion of a fraudulent document.
  •  The COLB is also cropped in many of the pictures that claim it is a scan.  If it is a scan, why not leave the document and size intact?
  • The COLB also has no artifacts such paper folds.  A scan does not make those disappear and in fact will highlight them.
  • The COLB that is scanned mysteriously does not show the Seal of Hawaii.  Why?  Because it was computer generated and not scanned.  Guess they forgot to add that back in.
  • More over, many of us are concerned and want to know why he wasted time producing a document that is inconsistent with what we know a Birth Certificate looks like.

 The best part and even more confusing is why he didn't release any of the three Birth Certificates we know already existed before 2007.

  • His kindergarten records and the BC, that should be there, have mysteriously disappeared.
  • The BC he used to get into college, apply for loans and most definitely used for his passport. That wasn't available?
  • Why couldn't he just present the one he found among his mother's belongings upon her death.   He waxed on and wondered about it and his father in one of his books.  Why not post that one?

Those were most certainly BC’s and not a COLB. There is no reason to create confusion but, for the fact he is hiding something. That something will be discovered, though and this is a long process.

“I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school. It’s a short piece, with a photograph of him. No mention is made of my mother or me, and I’m left to wonder whether the omission was intentional on my father’s part, in anticipation of his long departure. Perhaps the reporter failed to ask personal questions, intimidated by my father’s imperious manner; or perhaps it was an editorial decision, not part of the simple story that they were looking for. I wonder, too, whether the omission caused a fight between my parents.”

From “Dreams From My Father” (Pg. 26 last paragraph)

So with all these Birth Certificates lying around, why did he feel it necessary to produce a "Certification of Live Birth" that is inconsistent with a Birth Certificate and wholly lacking all of the information you would find, in you know, a Birth Certificate?

He seemed to have some emotional attachment to the Birth Certificate found among his mother’s belongings.  Why wouldn’t he just slap that one up, for all the world to see?

It seemed important that he found a document that is called a “Birth Certificate” and it is highly unlikely he would not know what one looks like.

Hope no one brings up some house fire that vaporized his BC.  That was in 1972 and none of the documents listed here would have been affected by that “fishy” event.

 
 
 

30 posted on 12/03/2009 8:54:19 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All

... these conspiracy theories continue to animate the fanatical right ...

Conspiracies? Oh, REALLY?! What on EARTH would Leftist, booger-eating, collegiate, sycophant blow-hards like this Charlie Sprague know about conspiracies??!

Hey Charlie: ask Algore about right-wing "Conspiracies" in a couple of weeks when he's lecturing in Copenhagen on "global warming" ... oh, wait ... Algore won't be at his $1,200 per handshake "conference" because of "unforeseen changes."

Conspiracies indeed!


31 posted on 12/03/2009 8:57:02 PM PST by BP2 (I think, therefore I'm a conservative)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

After the globwarm debacle with decades of phonified data, it will take a lot of nerve to refuse to show the original bc. I want to see that original. I’m not in the mood to take anyone’s word for it.


32 posted on 12/03/2009 9:04:18 PM PST by marron
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To: Tamar1973; SevenofNine

33 posted on 12/03/2009 9:19:10 PM PST by monkapotamus
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To: monkapotamus

Can you put BYJ in there instead?


34 posted on 12/03/2009 9:20:55 PM PST by Tamar1973 (http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/)
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To: monkapotamus

Nice!


35 posted on 12/03/2009 9:29:00 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: swatbuznik

SHOW US THE MOMBASSA BIRTH CERTIFICATE !!!


36 posted on 12/03/2009 11:03:49 PM PST by American Constitutionalist (There is no civility in the way the Communist/Marxist want to destroy the USA)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“FREE THE LONG FORM!”


37 posted on 12/03/2009 11:11:00 PM PST by Dryman ("FREE THE LONG FORM!")
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To: Tamar1973

38 posted on 12/04/2009 12:22:38 AM PST by monkapotamus
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Perhaps Mr. Sprague can tell us why Mr. Obama still won’t release a ten dollar document that, if he is telling the truth, will clear all this up?


39 posted on 12/04/2009 12:32:59 AM PST by EternalVigilance (The Supreme Law of the Land: "No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law.")
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To: EternalVigilance; STARWISE

Where’s Alan Keyes on the issue?

IIRC, there’s a story floating around that mentions a missing tape of a Keyes and Obama’s debate wherein it’s claimed that Obama replied that he wasn’t running for POTUS so it didn’t matter that he wasn’t born in the US.

I think Starwise might have the details.


40 posted on 12/04/2009 12:38:28 AM PST by onyx
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