Posted on 02/19/2011 7:18:52 AM PST by Zakeet
For the past couple of weeks, I've been writing about Republican politicians' birther problem.
Whether or not the issue is one of mere symbolic belief or genuine agreement among large segments of the Republican base, GOP leaders feel obligated to mollify those among their base who believe the outlandish conspiracy theory that president wasn't born in the United States or that he's secretly a Muslim. But now former President George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove has come up with a new conspiracy theory that is less dumb than the original one, but not by much. According to Rove, the White House wants Republicans to continue raising doubts about Obama's citizenship in order to make the GOP look kooky:
[Snip]
The problem, of course, is that at least one recent poll showed that a majority of Republicans have doubts about the president's citizenship, which explains the rise of "post-birtherism." Republican leaders don't want to anger a large section of their base by flatly calling this stuff what it is, which is nuts. So the new approach is to joke about it or to carefully avoid denouncing the idea completely.
[Snip]
The idea that the issue is a "trap" is belied by the ease with which Republican leaders could shut the entire matter down. All they have to do is say it's silly.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
The exact quote is:
“I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction”
In context "them" is "the muslims", but our parsing friends will claim that he didn't actually say the original quote.
Use the truth to tell a lie...
Who to believe?
What can settle this seeming contradiction?
If anyone believes it is possible that Obambi likes this issue because it makes us look like kooks... Then all they have to do is prove he is a citizen and we are done for-
Why havent they?
Because they cannot prove Obama is natural-born
Unfortunately, the Liberal Media knows that there are enough Liberal RINOs....all they have to do is call some conservatives “kooks”....and the Liberal RINO GOP run away.
The Liberal Media has figured out the real kooks in the Obama Birther issue are the Liberal RINO GOP who attack the Birthers. Libs and Dems have their enemy doing the work for them
Maybe, but please explain why he’s spent over a million dollars to prevent his long form BC from being produced.
Do you think he has spent his own money doing this?
Oddly enough that is exactly opposite to what I was taught as a wee lad matriculating on a US Marine Corps base.
We were told explicitly that those of us born overseas could not qualify to be president.
FWIW, I didn't think it was fair then, I don't think its fair now, but I do think (based on a LOT of research in the past few years) that it is the Founding Fathers' intent.
The President has to have no hint of divided loyalties.
not as bad as another "trend", i'm starting to see.
shades of c.c. cummings.
STILL NOT AS BAD AS THIS THOUGH.
Perhaps the author, Adam Serwer, is smarter than he appears. Perhaps he has proof that Obama was born an American. Perhaps he also knows if Obama attended Occidental College as a foreign student. Perhaps he knows which country's passport got Obama into Pakistan in his younger years. Perhaps he knows how Obama got a Connecticut Social Security Number without ever having lived there.
‘The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide’
Barack Hussein Obama II
“Republican leaders don’t want to anger a large section of their base by flatly calling this stuff what it is, which is nuts.”
Right. And the US Constitution is equally ‘nuts.’ Adam Serwer is a moron. And oh Adam, don’t try running in the future without a proper BC. Won’t be so easy next time - moron. Not sure if this issue will impact bammy in ‘12, but it will impact the future to be sure.
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
President Abraham Lincoln
Long live the United States, and long live the US Constitution and the rule of law.
Who to believe?
Actually, all Abercrombie said was that he ( Abercombie) was in Hawaii when Obama was born. He never said where Obama was. More interestingly, he said his earliest memory of Obama was when he was 5 or 6 :
Evans said that he asked Abercrombie what his first memory was of Barack Obama as a child and that Abercrombie told him he recalled seeing Obama playing in the T-Ball league when he was 5 or 6 years old.
“What about before that,” asked Evans, to which Abercrombie responded, ” I don’t really remember much before that,” a retort described by Evans as “very odd”. Evans said that Abercrombie was shocked when he failed to find the birth certificate, having steadfastly believed that Obama was born and raised in Hawaii.
This is the absolute point of fact that Birthers can't seem to wrap their heads around. So long as their is a sliver of margin of doubt, this issue has no chance of bringing down a sitting President. There is no birth-eligibility scenario in 2011 America that ends with Obama being unseated, unless he resigns. Period. It's a sensitive problem, but so long as the Obami keep their story straight, they're safe.
Additionally, like it or not, there's a racist undertone to the Birther argument. If Arnold Schwarzenegger had run for president under similar terms, and people called him 'the Austrian Usurper', it still wouldn't be the same. Decry it all you like. That's politics. Obama has darker skin than your average American president. Calling him "the Kenyan" or trying to prove he's not a real American appears racist to the average American Idol watching citizen.
Fair or not, Obama is where he is because of popular support. Focusing on his incompetence will make him unpopular. Americans hate nothing more than people who suck at their jobs. Focusing on his eligibility will make him sympathetic. Americans aren't interested in eliminating beloved people on technicalities.
Obama knows this. He got into office because of the deep seated guilt that many Americans feel over race. If you keep that fire alive, he'll win again. If you let that fire die down, and people look at him objectively, he'll lose.
Read Cashill’s book. There is no doubt that Bill Ayers wrote “Dreams”. Obama’s whole story is a lie!
As for his "religion," he didn't reference "my muslim faith" to George Stephanopolous on national television because he is a Christian.
A good post and good logic, but don’t you want to know the truth? I prefer to be known as a truther instead of a birther.
Agree with you that location of Obama’s birth is the least important fact with respect to his qualification for the presidency and public opinion that he is qualified.
Other more important issues are:
1) His self-identification as a foreign student during his attendance at college & grad school.
2) His race, as documented on the birth certificate and thereby validated by his mother.
3) His paternity — Was B. Obama, Sr. and the so-called marriage with Stanley Ann Durham just a cover... and someone else the father. Thereby invalidating Obama’s autobiographical writings?
4) His return from Indonesia to Hawaii as a child. Under what passport/nationality did he travel?
How low can he go? The expressions on the faces of the others and the focus of their eyes suggests to me that he was not just bowing, I think he kissed his hand.
yeah he kissed the ring.
“First they ignore
Then they ridicule
Then they attack
Then they claim it was their idea all along...”
Like they’re trying to do with Reagan. Except there’s a point between 3 & 4:
then they attack like crazy
It's so easy.
And yet it never happens.
Why is that?
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