Posted on 07/24/2009 2:32:56 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Among those on television who've been covering the sudden public resurgence of the Birther movement -- but in a much more responsible way than Lou Dobbs -- is MSNBC's Chris Matthews. The other day, he beat up pretty badly on Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., who's a co-sponsor of the "Birther bill" that would require future presidential candidates to provide proof of their natural-born citizenship. Thursday, he hosted Watergate burglar turned radio host G. Gordon Liddy, who's fallen under the Birthers' sway.
Liddy himself looked decidedly unwell, and sounded out of sorts -- even Matthews seemed to realize that making him into a piñata would be unsporting. I'm not going to do it either, but you can watch the video below.
I'm posting on the appearance, though, because of something Liddy said during it: "You've got a deposition, which is a sworn statement, from the step-grandmother, who says, 'I was present and saw him born in Mombasa, Kenya.'"
Liddy got this particular myth a little garbled, but it's a favorite of the Birthers'. I've covered it before, but it's worth posting on now, I think, because cable news is just getting back to this story (there was some coverage late last year, when the Supreme Court declined to hear one of the Birther lawsuits) and hosts like Matthews don't know all the crazy twists of the conspiracy theory well enough to knock them down.
What Liddy was referring to is actually an affidavit filed by a street preacher named Ron McRae, who conducted an interview with Sarah Obama, the second wife of President Obama's grandfather, through a translator. (Sarah Obama is not the president's biological grandmother, but he calls her "Granny Sarah.")
In that interview, Sarah Obama does in fact say at one point that she was there for her grandson's birth. But that was a mistake, a confusion in translation. As soon as a jubilant McRae began to press her for further details about her grandson being born in Kenya, the family realized the mistake and corrected him. And corrected him. And corrected him. (The audio is available for download here.)
No matter, though, because people who believe in a conspiracy theory simply hear what they want to hear. So some Birther sites have posted transcripts and YouTube clips that end abruptly with the mistranslation and don't include the corrections. McRae, for his part, included the full translation in his affidavit -- he thinks it's all just part of the conspiracy. "Some few younger relatives, including [translator Vitalis Akech Ogombe]," McRae wrote in his court filing, "have obviously been versed to counter such facts with the common purported information from the American news media that Obama was born in Hawaii."
Here's the conversation:
MCRAE: Could I ask her about his actual birthplace? I would like to see his birthplace when I come to Kenya in December. Was she present when he was born in Kenya?
OGOMBE: Yes. She says, yes, she was, she was present when Obama was born.
MCRAE: When I come in December. I would like to come by the place, the hospital, where he was born. Could you tell me where he was born? Was he born in Mombasa?
OGOMBE: No, Obama was not born in Mombasa. He was born in America.
MCRAE: Whereabouts was he born? I thought he was born in Kenya.
OGOMBE: No, he was born in America, not in Mombasa.
MCRAE: Do you know where he was born? I thought he was born in Kenya. I was going to go by and see where he was born.
OGOMBE: Hawaii. Hawaii. Sir, she says he was born in Hawaii. In the state of Hawaii, where his father was also learning, there. The state of Hawaii.
(VIDEO AT LINK)
Thank you, that is exactly what I have been trying to get you and others to see. There is a legitimate legal question even if Obama was born in Hawaii. Lawyers make a living by arguing the law on both sides. It can be decided by a quo warranto action that probably will end up in the USSC. It ain't over till the fat lady Sotomayer sings...of course she should recuse herself if she is a SSJ when the case is heard unlike the clown in the Wong Kim Ark case.
Whether or not there is a 'legitimate legal question' depends on who you talk to.
It can be decided by a quo warranto action that probably will end up in the USSC.
Not having a lot of luck with that to date, are you?
Every other thread brings up "facts" which may or not be known and we start all over with definitions quotes, and docs.
Something like alamo-girl did on Clinton
Do you talk to yourself? You just said unsettled law!
How many different federal cases are there concerning the meaning of "inhabitant" Where there are lawyers there are legitimate legal questions..
Excellent idea!
He was born in Hawaii. What makes you think he doesn’t have an American Birth Certificate?
note number 86 as an example.
None of those things are correct.
The Ambassador said BHO’s father was born in Kenya.
Grandma says BHO was born in Hawaii.
There are no affidavits, that I have found anyway. So I'd be more than happy to see some.
Just sayin’.
Nice try. The Fourteenth Amendment is beside the point as far as the language in the main body of the Constitution is concerned. You are apparently trying to obfuscate by referencing language not at issue with regard to the “natural born citizen” requirement. Medved displayed the same willful ignorance the other day, I noticed, and was quite contemptous about it.
So truth or lies are one in the same, whaty fine conservative values.
2) His mother was 18 at the time of birth. Even if she wasn't, why would that change anything?
3) Wouldn't change his US citizenship obtained from being born in Hawaii.
Placemarker
GWB while holding the White House never voiced a objection or even a concern.
Cheney certified the Electoral College vote before the Congress.
I was not aware that a Swiss philosopher’s writings were a governing document of the United States.
Huh?
How is it Dick Cheyney’s or GWB’s legal responsibility to determine Hussein’s eligibility?
How do you know that Justice Roberts or Scalia didn’t vote to hear the cases?
How is it John McCain’s legal responsibility to determine Hussein’s eligibility?
How is it Sarah Palin’s legal responsibility to determine Hussein’s responsibility?
How is it the responsibility of every GOP governor to determine Hussein’s eligibility.
As far as the congress and senate...already treasonous in my opinion.
Do you realize that if Hussein and the DNC KNOWINGLY sought donations in an effort to elect a man known to be unqualified that EVERY SINGLE DONATION is an individual charge of mail fraud?
Do you also realize that if in fact this man is ineligible, then everything he signs is invalid, everyone he appoints, including sonya sodomizer, is invalid.
We will get to the truth, and I don’t care who it hurts. This is my country, and I will do whatever it takes to defend it.
obumpa
Survive or get steamrolled over by our enemies. If you're dead, your values aren't of much use to you.
Yes, Yes, Yes, all correct.
d. Alleged Kenyan birth records
140. Obama’s Kenyan step grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama alleged that she attended his birth in Mombasa Kenya.
141. The Principal Registrar alleged that birth records exist for Ann Dunham giv¬ing birth to Barack Hussein Obama, II in Mombasa, Kenya on August 4, 1961. Id.
142. M.P. Odhiambo implied in Parliament that Obama was Kenyan born (jus soli):
“The President-elect, Mr. Obama, is a son of the soil of this country. . . . It is only proper and fitting that the country which he originates from should show the same excitement . . .”
143. Kenyan birth would irreparably disqualify Obama from “natural born citizen[ship]”, not being born within the U.S.A.
144. If Kenyan born Obama would not even have acquired U.S. citizenship on birth, as his mother would have been too young to confer citizenship on him.
e. Uncertain birth place
145. Kenyan and Hawaiian Public Registrars claim to hold Obama’s birth records. Obama’s step-grandmother’s and MP Odhiambo’s statements contradict Obama’s U.S. relatives’ filings. Public records evidence controversy and uncertainty over Obama’s birth place.
http://defendourfreedoms.org/James_v_Obama-pleading.doc
Kenya’s ambassador sure Obama was born in Kenya.
Kenyan Ambassador: Obama’s Birthplace “Already Well Known In Kenya”November, 21, 2008 — nicedeb
I wasn’t going to say any more about the Obama birth certificate controversy, but I found this intriguing.
Mike in the Morning, a radio talk show out of Detroit MI, (of all places!), decided to call the Kenyan embassy............
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2008/11/kenyas-ambassador-sure-obama-was-born.html
The Video and Audio records have been removed from youtube.
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