Blame the Media for the Birther Movement

Townhall.com ^ | February 22, 2010 | Nick Rizzuto

[Kaslin]

As President Obama's approval numbers continue to spiral downward, the left has purposefully tried to tie the increasingly popular small government conservative movement to the largely fringe "birthers". In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not a birther. I happen to believe that President Obama was born in Hawaii and was therefore eligible to be sworn in as President of the United States on inauguration day. That being said, I can't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for the birthers. Ultimately, the rise of the birther movement is the fault of a deficit of curiosity about Barack Obama on the part of the media.

As a result of his lack of experience in both the private and public sectors, coupled with his relative youth, President Obama's personal records are extremely thin. There are huge gaps in what we know about Barack Obama, whereas previous presidents have been open books. The media normally seems to revel in uncovering the seedy and controversial side of every political figure, but they have never exhibited the same interest in President Obama. Every president has had embarrassing issues arise from their past, but President Obama's level of secrecy, meant to maintain his squeaky clean veneer, only serves to fuel speculation.

Since day one Barack Obama has maintained an extreme amount of control over his image. One of the most important elements of that image has been the narrative of his past. To this end Mr. Obama has written two book that serve as the primary basis for this narrative. The media, whose very purpose is to be inquisitive, seems all too willing to accept it without question. Both Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of hope received scant scrutiny or fact checking. For comparison, the Associated Press devoted 11 reporters to pore over every word of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue.

Another example of the difference in inquisitiveness that the media has shown for this president as opposed to previous ones can be seen by the 2004 investigation of President George W. Bush's military records. The search for dirt on President Bush was so fevered that some seemed willing to throw journalistic standards to the wind in pursuit of something that would stick. Distinguished careers were destroyed in the attempt to uncover details about President Bush’s past.

At the time Bush began his stint in the Air National Guard, he was 22 years old. When Obama was 22, he was still a student at Columbia University. An investigation along the same lines as the Bush Air National Guard investigation would be impossible because Obama has not allowed the release of his college records. Unfortunately, the media seems to be perfectly content with this lack of access to key events in our presidents past and for all intents and purposes considers the matter to be a non-issue.

The birthers are naturally being drawn to and are fueled by the alternative media because nearly all of the negative press Barack Obama has received, including his controversial associations from his past, has originated with these sources. While most of the media treated us to puff pieces during the 2008 election, investigations into Obama associates like Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers percolated and exploded almost exclusively out of traditionally conservative outlets and the blogosphere. Mainstream sources on the other hand fiercely fought to discredit these stories, even when these controversies deserved scrutiny and provided a rare insight into candidate Obama.

President Obama's secrecy about his past and the media's apparent lack of interest in it does not assume that they are colluding to cover something up, but it does leave plenty of room for people who are conspiratorially inclined to fill in the blanks. Seeing as the left increasingly sees the birther movement as an albatross to tie around the neck of their enemies on the right, we can most likely chalk up the media’s lack of curiosity to good old-fashioned left wing bias. But even if bias is to blame, it's only natural that some would confuse their lack of investigation to be evidence of malfeasance.

Presuming the media’s love affair with President Obama continues, we can assume that their lack of curiosity will as well. For those who profess such admiration for the President but don’t seem to care much about whom he was prior to his emergence on the public stage though the question remains: Are you scared of what you'll find?

[wintertime]

Anyone who thinks that, on 6 November 2012, after Obama has been President for 45 and 1/2 months, you could fill a Grey Hound Bus with the number of people who cast their vote based on having seen, or not seen, the guy's kindergarten records
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Missing birth certificates are a reason to not vote for Obama.

[DJ MacWoW]

Yup. Clearing FR of lefty trolls that shill for Obama and Axelrod.

[wintertime]

Uh, yes. The Night of 10,000 Maniacs might be a better choice.
parsy, proud member of THE SANITY SQUAD!
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So? The 58% of Republicans, 30% of California, 50% of some states have serious doubts about Obama’s eligibility.

This adds up to “10,000 Maniacs”? Really?

Wintertime: Who is asking, “Who is being sane or insane here?”

[TigersEye]

Apparently you can compartmentalize things and use one example out of 25 typically benign documents being hidden and dismiss the whole issue. Others might look at the whole and find it disconcerting that anyone would want or need to hide so much. But then one would have to really give a hoot about the nature and character of the person who is acting as POTUS.

[DJ MacWoW]

You don't have to tell me that.

I know. And I'm so tired of trolls and idiots. Don't ya wish we had the power of "ZOT"?!

[Uncle Chip]

They even fabricated a document out of whole cloth in order to uncover details about President Bush.

And they fabricated a document out of whole cloth in order to cover up the details about Obama's birth. They just have a propensity for fabrication ----

[DJ MacWoW]

Dude, Ann Coulter is pretty darn conservative and extremely partisan. She ain’t a birther. Glen Beck is, well Glen Beck. He ain’t a birther. Bill O’Reilly ain’t a birther. Huckabee ain’t a birther.

Parsy, some of us form our own opinions as opposed to having it handed to us by famous names.

[wintertime]

1B. Obama scanned his certificate and released it to multiple news sources including Daily Kos, FactCheck, and Politifact. It was published on the Internet allowing anybody who wanted to get a look at it.
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58% of Repulicans, 30% of Californians, in some states 50% do NOT NOT NOT find Daily Kos, FactCheck, or Politifact convincing?

But according to some trolls this huge number of Americans are maniacs and mutants. (Oooookay???)

[TigersEye]

Too bad lefties can’t fabricate something useful like a car that doesn’t have $6,000 worth of union kickbacks in it.

[parsifal]

I would like to say the people who think his kindergarten records are relevant wouldn’t fill a bus. But I would be wrong. There are now a whole slew of people who think kindergarten records are relevant.

Personally, I think this silly. What isn’t silly, is that so many people now think like you. And, while this might seem normal inside the Birther Collective, outside the birther collective, it looks pretty goofy for a bunch of folks to run around clamoring for kindergarten records.

Do a self-test here for sanity. Should the U S Constitution be amended to require Kindergarten records on all candidates? Ask yourself this question. Would the Founding Fathers, would George Washington want to see someone’s kindergarten records???

parsy, who says kindergarten, kindergarten, kindergarten

[wintertime]

Dude, Ann Coulter is pretty darn conservative and extremely partisan. She ain’t a birther. Glen Beck is, well Glen Beck. He ain’t a birther. Bill O’Reilly ain’t a birther. Huckabee ain’t a birther.

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My goodness! It's for real!

You **really** do believe that 58% of Repubs, 30% of Californians, and 50% of some states **are** mind numbed mutants that will follow these guys off a cliff!

Wintertime: Who is asking “Who is really being sane around here?”

[parsifal]

That’s cool. So do I. But dontcha think there’s a reason why these people ain’t birthers? They certainly aren’t shy, particularly Ann C. Its because they have looked at the idea and rejected it. And if real loud, real aggressive conservatives like Ann Coulter, don’t believe it, don’t you think it is worth you re-considering?

parsy, who says you need to unplug from the collective for awhile

[wintertime]

Wintertime: Who says, “Its’ the missing birth ceritificate! It's the missing birth certificate! It's the missing birth certificate!”

My but that **is** odd. Obama’s early school records are the **only** record with a MISSING BIRTH CERTIFICATE! ( Imagine that! )

[wintertime]

SMART and SANE people understand that no one is right 100% of the time. Only God is!

[capacommie]

I don't believe Obama is ANYTHING HE SAYS HE IS he is 100% FAKE through and through Stanley Ann is not his mother, and BHOSr sure as hell is not his Dad.

Premise:  ANY fakery in these BHO-provided photographs means 100% faked

 

bho's head doesn't match his neck which has a notch in it,  2nd guy from right 2 different sleeves or right arm shriveled, guy on far right, 2 different pant legs, 2 different shoes, extra joint in his left forearm, 3' extra long ulna/radius, 2 skin tones for hands

grandpa has diverged arm, bench tilted more than concrete fence behind it, background wrong, bho wearing wedding ring at while ostensibly columbia,

this one is more like it....

too dark lobster claw, picture on top of projection, girl behind bho's hand is washed out but rest aren't, nobody looking at bho

 

bho sr's head stuck on someone else's using leis to sew on the neck

 

another macrocephalic photoshopping

 

look at his left hand amputated, and right hand with the magic-marker black streak, and macrocephalic photoshopping

 

a macrocephalic stanley ann, with adult sized head, stanley wrong uniform

Stanley wearing marine hat, marine belt, but he was in the Army

 

floating white hand on shoulder, turtle-stuck on head

This outfat had to have been cruelly photoshopped on to Michelle.

Rasmussen Approval Index -19

 

Hey, I remembered seeing a picture of him with his uncle Charles Payne. He went from being GINORMOUS head in highschool to pinhead as a candidate. Not to mention check out the hand on the one white guy's should. His arm is like what, 1 ft long?

BO has 1' arm and now microcephalic head (the headhunters got to him and shrunk his cranium!), with uncle payne (sent in to mop up obama's claim about auschwitz)

[TigersEye]

What has it come to when Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly are held up as paragons of sanity and critical thinking?

Tigersy Eyesy, who is wondering if he talks to himself can he generate a reputation of sanity? If I had one what would I do with it? Could you use that instead of logic and facts to make an argument, TigersEye? I don't know why don't you ask someone else? I'm tired of talking to you already, TE. But you haven't answered my question. I don't care what your effing question is, TE, your a birther and that's all I need to know about you. Fine, see if I ever let you post again! We'll see about that. I have the password to this account.

[EnderWiggins]

"58% of Repulicans, 30% of Californians, in some states 50% do NOT NOT NOT find Daily Kos, FactCheck, or Politifact convincing?"

And they have a powerful Constitutional tool for demonstrating that dissatisfaction. They can withhold their vote.

As I'm sure you are aware, Obama didn't get more than 48% of the Republican vote, or 70% of the Californian vote anyway.

"But according to some trolls this huge number of Americans are maniacs and mutants. (Oooookay???)"

By "trolls," you are referring to Glenn Beck, Anne Coulter, Michael Medved I presume?

[DJ MacWoW]

But dontcha think there’s a reason why these people ain’t birthers?

Yes. I do. Obama has taken over banks and car companies. Do you think he's above threatening the press? If you believe that we have a free press, remember how they go after Fox news. There was an article posted on FR about someone being threatened. Wasn't Becks house shot at too? I'm not naive. Are you? Do you think these commentators are altruistic? Hardly.

[wintertime]

By “trolls,” you are referring to Glenn Beck, Anne Coulter, Michael Medved I presume?
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SMART and SANE people do not follow people off a cliff. SMART and SANE people **know** that only **God** is right 100% of the time.

(Wintertime: Who is wondering who the real mutants and insane people are.)

[DJ MacWoW]

Boy you’re in a mood! But I’m enjoying it. :-)