This birther thing started a long time ago. It’s really quite deranged. You should check out this late October 2008 piece from Pam Gellar’s place that attempts to prove that Barack Obama’s real father was Malcolm X. And if you don’t believe that literally, they ask you to at least admit it figuratively.
Its dishonesty is quite striking. They appear to think the average gestation time of a human being is eleven months and think the word ‘autumn’ is synonymous with the word ‘August,’ just to give two obvious examples of the sleight of hand they like to use.
The article helps explain, unintentionally, why these birther stories arose and why they won’t die. After all, it’s a very odd allegation these people are making. Ann Dunham began classes at the University of Hawaii in late September 1960. By early December, she was pregnant. She married Obama’s father on February 2nd, which is about when you would expect if it took her a couple of months to realize she was pregnant. Obama was born on August 4th, 1961. And Ms. Dunham took her new baby home to Washington state, where her parents lived, and enrolled in classes there that fall. Meanwhile, Obama’s father graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1962 and left for Harvard. The family was never reunited.
So, that’s a sad little story, particularly for the time in which it took place. But it had a pretty happy ending, no? That little boy grew up to be a U.S. Senator and president of the United States. What a country!!
Whatever you might say about the circumstances of Obama’s birth, there isn’t any room for him to have been conceived or born in Kenya. Contemporaneous newspapers have announcements of his birth. The state has issued two separate records of his birth certificate and vouched for their authenticity. There’s simply no reason to doubt the facts here.
But the point isn’t that Obama was really born in Kenya any more than the point is that Malcolm X is the president’s true father. It’s supposed to be figuratively true even if it isn’t literally true.
Now, Pam Gellar is a hateful bigoted idiot. But the same thing is true of Donald Trump. He’s saying the same types of things about the president. And, yet, this doesn’t prevent him from joining up with Mitt Romney to raise money for the Republican’s campaign.
Trump will join Romney and former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for a campaign fund-raiser in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening. Romney’s campaign also is raffling a chance to have dinner with Trump for supporters who donate $3 to the campaign.
“I want you: Dine with the Donald,” a campaign flier proclaims, along with a drawing of Trump in the pose of Uncle Sam.
The campaign offers: “Airport transportation in the Trump vehicle; Stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York; Tour the Celebrity Apprentice Boardroom; Dine with Donald Trump and Mitt Romney.”
Even the normally jaded campaign press corp is appalled.
Asked on his charter plane whether Trump’s questioning of President Barack Obama’s birthplace gave him pause, Romney simply said he was grateful for all his supporters.
“You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get 50.1% or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”
He might as well have said “I don’t agree with all the racists who support me but I need to get 50.1% and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.” Seriously.
Remember when Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona went to the Senate floor and falsely claimed that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is perform abortions? Do you remember what his office said when he was called on it?
“We did call [Kyl’s] office trying to ask what he was talking about there. And I just want to give it you verbatim here. It says, ‘his remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions.'”
The birther controversy isn’t intended to be factual either.
While Malcolm X may not be Obama’s biological father, Malcolm X is demonstrably Barack Hussein Obama’s philosophical father, and the lineage is undeniable! Obama Jr. was sired in the social soup stirred by Malcolm X. Now read the whole article and really WAKE UP.
I think it’s Mitt Romney who needs to WAKE UP.
Even the normally jaded campaign press corp is appalled.
I hope so. They’re asking Romney about it, but it seems to me that they’re so gobsmacked by his insistence that it’s acceptable for him to pal around with a birther that they might just accept that premise as reasonable.
You know what else birtherism is about? Racism, pure and simple.
You don’t know the half of it Booman. Birtherism has moved on from the “was born in Kenya” nonsense to “you need 2 citizen parents and be born in America to be an nbc” And they will swear black and blue that this was always the case and a fair amount even claim they were taught it in school. And they claim that a Supreme court case on Women Suffrage, Minor V Happersett, backs them up on this.
I quote the half paragraph they use to prove this.
http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/88/162/case.html
Of course they “forget” to include the next 2 sentences.
Stunning, eh, that the very case that they claim ruled on NBC status says that they did not rule on it.
The idiots have lost 120 cases over the last 4 years on this crap. Hell there are now 8 cases specifictly ruling that Barack Obama is eligible for the presidency.
Of course it will be no surprise to learn that the Author of the “swiftboating” attack on John Kerry, Jerome Corsi, is pushing this for all he is worth, as well as Joseph Farah’s World Net Daily, whom Corsi works for. And guess who is the “Special investigator” for Sherrif Joe Arpiao’s Cold Case Birther Squad, that currently has a deputy in Hawaii annoying Law enforcement? Yep, that’s right, Jerome Corsi.
I know, you are shocked that the author of the Swiftboating crap could be in Birtherism up to his neck.
The mythological two-citizen-parent-for-presidents-only rule would disqualify two of Trump’s children.
This is their “clincher”? How pathetic. The only thing relevant to the question of Obama is the phrase “As to this class there have been doubts”, which is nothing but an “obiter dictum”. An obiter dictum, to quote Wikipedia, is a remark or observation made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court’s opinion, does not form a necessary part of the court’s decision. Of course it did not, because it was not relevant to the issue under adjudication; which means that the issue under adjudication is not relevant to “the birther question.”
But if it is true that “as to this class there have been doubts”, then fine, let’s hear what those doubts have been. Maybe those doubts were in magazine articles or other political propaganda,but I don’t believe they ever had the slightest legal authority. If they did, show us the decisions, birthers.
None of my family from my grandparents’ generation were born in this country, and when my parents were kids, their cousins and friends were children of parents who were not born in this country and possibly not citizens. None of them ever ran for president of the United States, and it’s been a while since this imaginary stricture could have applied to anyone in my family. Yet I feel very indignant about this bullshit. Well, another reason is that I voted for Obama and I plan to do so again. I did not vote for someone that was ineligible. Who do these fuckwads think they are?
Wonder if Romney would qualify then? His father was born in Mexico, after his grandfather fled the US to set-up a polygamist’s colony in Mexico. Curious how that background doesn’t bother Republicans.
Let’s not forget that Romney was “ecstatic” to get Trumps endorsement. The way he bounded across the stage to shake Trump’s hand I have to believe he was really excited to get the support of this bloated and amoral huckster.
Like he really looked up to him.
Romney’s embrace of Trump and Nugent (and Christine O’Donnell for that matter) seems totally inappropriate for someone running for president and a clear break with the Establishment Republicans.
It’s more Sarah Palin than John McCain.
I wish the press would ask him what it would take for him to renounce someone’s support. Just what limit does he have.
The sky’s the limit. Romney laid down with dogs and is full of fleas. Maybe he should go for a ride on the roof of his car.
I wonder if the Dems will play this for all it’s worth? It certainly tests some basic political assumptions. Is there a limit to the insanity and lying that even Rep voters can accept? Are indies tuned in enough to be repelled by the Mitt & Donald coupling, or do they just continue to see elections as basically American Idol except the screeching doesn’t have a background beat?
Are there really people out there who think dinner with the reptile and the cuckoo promises a gratifying experience? Do they think they’ll learn the secret of becoming rich and famous without ever doing a useful thing? Does it seem fabulous to serve as the specimen by which the Royals learn What Do the Simple Folk Do?
The mind begins to melt. One bit of free advice to the “winner”, though: don’t bring any cookies.
Quote: “‘You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,’ Romney said. ‘But I need to get 50.1% or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.'”
He’s running for office, for pete’s sake.
did he really say this?
He sure did. I guess we should be thankful he apparently has a tin ear when it comes to “things so crassly calculating and political they shouldn’t be said aloud.”
I looked for a video link and couldn’t find one (but I keep seeing it on the tube). But here’s CNN quoting Romney (3rd paragraph from the top):
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/28/romney-doesnt-back-away-from-birther-trump/
What birtherism really is , is a way to negate a positive for Obama — the very American story of his lower middle class beginnings and rise to the top. It doesn’t matter that the birther story is crap, it shifts the focus, injecting controversy into an otherwise true-blue American morality tale. That’s its purpose, just like Kerry’s swift-boating.
Amazing that people fall for this crap, but many people believe what they’re inclined to believe.
Amazing that people fall for this crap, but many people believe what they’re inclined to believe.
Yes, it’s classic confirmation bias. The belief comes first. Then people look for information to support what they wish to be true. That is why the zombie lies are impervious to facts.
Strange creatures, we humans.
This aint so hard to see, or figure out.
Romney, Eric the Proud( outer of transgender politicians),NEWT, and now THE DONALD!
Don’t get no more feathery than that group!
I can see the oil from the Gulf of BP on their feathers!
You don’t understand, Booman. The woman who enrolled in the University of Hawaii in September 1960 was an Ann Dunham lookalike using the name “Ann Dunham”. The real Ann Dunham was in Kenya. This should be obvious, because, seeing that she was in Kenya, how could she possibly have been taking classes in Hawaii?
Your logic is perfect!
I should have donated $3 to try and win and sit at the table and just ask questions that neither can answer. Too bad, missed my chance.
Eh, their handlers will be carefully vetting a selection of “winners” to pick the perfect ideologically correct photo-op finalist.
Bet on it.