There are some conspiracy theorists out there that are convinced that Barack Obama in ineligible to be POTUS because he was really born in a hut in Kenya and not in a hospital in Honolulu. The land of the free and the home of the brave is also the neighborhood of the nutjob. These particular nutjobs are known as “birthers.”
Birthers are sometimes confused with “Trig-truthers” because of the name. Trig-truthers are the people like Andy Sullivan who are convinced that Trig Palin is really the child of Bristol Palin and that Sarah faked a pregnancy and childbirth to conceal that fact.
Here at The Confluence we’ve had a big ix-nay on the subject of birtherism since last year. Sadly, some of the people misusing the PUMA name are birthers but we never had any desire to be affiliated with those people or to give them a platform to spread their insanity. In order to avoid calling attention to them we simply banned them, deleted their comments and made the topic taboo.
The people most obsessed with birtherism are the blogstalkers, who seek out and publicize anyone they hope will discredit the rest of us Democrats-in-exile. One blogstalker became so obsessed with birthers she blogs about nothing else.
I’m not gonna get into a discussion of all the various flavors of birther, nor is this an opportunity for them to try to proselytize their fringe religion. The reason I am bringing this up is because suddenly even the White House is talking about the subject. If everyone else is talking about it we might as well discuss it too.
Here we are, halfway through Obama’s first year in office and suddenly birthers are big news. The birthers haven’t won a single lawsuit nor has any new evidence turned up, so what changed? Could it be that POTUS answered a question on Gates-gate last week without the aid of TOTUS and stepped in doo-doo?
The Kool-aid blogs are pushing the birther issue hard and proclaiming that birthers are right-wingers. I don’t know if any paternity tests have been done but if birthers are wingnuts then who do the 9-11 conspiracy loons and Trig-truthers belong to?
Every family has a crazy aunt or uncle that no one takes seriously. If you visit the mainstream conservative blogs you’ll see that they want nothing to do with the birthers either. This even includes the blogs that are convinced that Obama is a Muslim socialist.
Don’t be fooled by the shiny objects. Health care reform is going down in flames (as the Democratic leadership planned) but so is Obama’s approval rating (which they didn’t plan). So Axelrove responds by ginning up a diversion, just like he did last year whenever Hillary won a primary.
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The Confluence 
OT:
Obama and Randi Rhodes in 2004
Gee, its two bad we can’t get that Old 2004 Obama to talk to this 2009 one.
He’s not the Obama he used to know. Yeah, yeah … you saw that line coming from about 20 miles away. ;-D
I don’t know what’s behind it, but just this weekend I drove by a massive billboard on the 78 freeway here in PA that simply said
“Where’s the birth certificate?”
My husband was like, “What the hell is that?” I had to do my best to explain it to him. Weird conversation.
BTW, we also passed another massive billboard stating:
“Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Guess we’re all going to hell!
That’s funny. 🙂 The land of the free, the home of the unintelligible billboard.
*sigh*
Axelrove is starting to bore me. If he’s going to do his job better he has to be more inventive. Birthers? Give me a break.
You’d think they’d be smart enough to connect the two events. Their smoke and mirrors couldn’t even get Obama the nomination, but no worries guys, he’s guaranteed high approval ratings as Health care tanks and he carries on like Bush without the cowboy hat. There’s always winter semester to gin up a stupid controversy about honorary degrees, cheer up!
I don’t think this is Axelrod. I think it’s because Vince Foster died so long ago that the wingnuts can’t pin his suicide on Obama.
Vince Foster 😦 The anniversary of his death was a few weeks ago.
I have to agree with myiqbb on this one. Birthers are this week’s distraction.
Maybe. I noticed Helen Thomas asked Gibbs, “why do you think this keeps coming up?” He didn’t really answer her. I’d love to know why she thinks it.
What could they want to hide? Hemmm…NO END TO THE WARS???? Hemmm…NO HEALTH CARE REFORM???? Hemmm…MORE BONUSES to THE WALL STREET POOR MILLIONAIRES??? Hemmm…Anyone seen any trickle down STIMULUS????
HEMMMM….
[…] right, according to Big Media an Obama problem which grows daily and has now busted full out on broadcast news, cable news, and at White House press briefings is now magically a […]
I think of birtherism as static and filter it out accordingly.
When birtherism first popped up I looked at what they had to say, concluded they were full of shit and never gave them much thought ever since.
Where’s the beef? They’re all bun and no beef. After asking for any semblance of real data to back them up and anything to explain, you know, the legal birth certificate, well, you get a bit bored. I think if you ask enough questions you’ll find that they got their info from, you know, the aliens that abducted them.
I frankly see it as not productive, in fact destructive and he is the POTUS for the next couple of years, and that isn’t going to change.
Frankly, I always suspected George Bush Jr., of being from outer space but no one ever listened. 😦 The proof is in the laugh…
We need laws against aliens dumping their sewage here.
Actually in honesty, BUSH Sr. did a good thing, the ADA and BUSH Jr. passed the medicare medication coverage (if Obama could only be brave and pass HR 676 Single Payer), albeit not the best, but it gave seniors some much needed relief.
But I still say a space ship left him behind on a scout mission.
Bush Jr. was good on AIDS in Africa. So, I’m thinking he had some humanity in there. Maybe an alien-human hybrid…a chimera-in-chief?
Ok my dumb jokes aside, is there some future protocol in the nomination/election process that we can implement to prevent this birtherism hysteria in the future, especially from continuing during a presidency once the person takes office? It is so counterproductive for the country.
Lol That’s twisted, he has uncontrollable prejudice against his own kind.
It’s all starting to make sense. 🙂
It’s all starting to make sense.
One more bong hit and you’re there!
Yep, that did it. Night.
Nite folks…don’t let them deport myiq2xu to Venus or is that Mars…I forget where the men are from. 😳
Night everyone. I have to go to work early tomorrow and I really have to try to catch some sleep. I will watch my season one box set of Hannah Montana. That will put me to sleep.
LOL.
I used to go to bed watching the Teletubbies. It was SO soothing and peaceful having little Po whisper ‘Big Hug!’
There’s a framed quote in my living room: The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held; instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment. — Bertrand Russell. I find it hard to be as dismissive of the birthers as many others are. But then again, I could be wrong …
Love that quote. Seriously good.
Of course always have an open mind. Who knows, aliens may show up, proof of the birth certificate being forged may show up, etc. But I wouldn’t place many bets on either. It’s one thing to be open minded and definitely not dogmatic, and be open minded in general because who knows, but some theories out there seem a bit off. But sure, who knows.
The enlightened mind makes decisions based on empirical evidence and logic.
Birtherism has neither to support it.
Exactly, Myiq – I have one friend I am starting to avoid because he brings up the fact that we’ve seen no documents time after time – my typical response is – show me the evidence – his response is “the millions of dollars they’ve spent on lawyers fighting the suits in various States.” pishaw :p
It wouldn’t matter what evidence Obama produced – the birthers would claim any witness was a liar and any document was a forgery.
YEah and maybe little green arugulas will land on earth.
I’m going with distraction from Axelrod. They could have put this to rest a long time ago by just satisfying whatever these idiots are asking for, but the administration prefers to keep it alive and throw it out into the media whenever they need an opportunity for some smoke and mirrors. IMO birthers are the distraction for the moment.
If all this is some plan by Axelrod to distract from Obama many screw-ups, I think it’s incredibly stupid.
With Obama’s numbers dropping daily, he needs to distract with something at least remotely positive – another date night, a new puppy, more vegetables in the backyard. How about taking Michelle on a date with some vegetables dug up from the backyard by the new puppy? Katie Couric & all of MSNBC would be tingling from head to toe with that fluff.
But this birther stuff is a dangerous distraction. All this will do is give those waking up from their Kool-Aid coma another reason to doubt him even more. And for those already doubtful of him, this will just bring it all to the front yet again.
Yeah, but it has to be a date that costs less than $300,000 and I’m not sure Axlerove can comprehend that.
Naw, it needs to be something that gets the people worked up, not a feel good moment. That stuff is good for the campaign, but when things aren’t going well, they need someone to hate, (Palin) while making fun of someone (birthers), to keep folks distracted.
One thing I noticed is that it got prime time play once the GOP admitted they had no alternative plan on Health Care Reform, but that hasn’t gotten any air time.
LOL, good point. I guess they could use a distraction about now too. ;D
I’m going to bed.
Anyone who wants to post birther bullshit in my absence is welcome to do so, but be advised I will delete nonsense when I wake up.
I think it is the fact that Obama has spent several hundred thousand dollars not to show his long form birth certificate. And that, combined with all the other records that can’t be accessed, makes people wonder just what he doesn’t want people to know.
Maybe he wants his opponents to discredit themselves by baiting them into engaging in bizarre theories that he was born in Kenya??
He’s playing birthers for the suckers that they are.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the sudden news surge is Axelrod’s tactic to redirect attention from O’s foot-in-mouth re the Gates arrest. It’s like all the reporting about Rev Wright’s church that you’d have thought would have turned people off, but caused many to rally around the poor candidate with the batshit pastor being unfairly attacked. Now it’s the poor President being unfairly called ineligible.
*****A
Ahh, yes, Gates-gate – good point Adreienne – he really put his foot in his mouth with that one. 😕
I saw that Lou Dobbs covered the birth certificate story (via youtube), so is this being covered elsewhere on TV? I don’t really turn on the news much these days…
I’m not a birther, and it does disturb me that anyone who has doubts about BO’s “credentials” are lumped into this category. The controversy surrounding his birth sprung up from the conflicting statements made – by BO and his family. But it’s just one point in the whole mystery of his background. Because of the lack of any solid paper trail from him (college, Harvard Law Review, etc) and the actual facts we do know (adopted by a man from another country, visited Pakistan), the birth certificate issue is just one little piece of the Obama puzzle…
Like the intro to Scientology, what you’re saying seems to make sense (at first).
Do you really doubt that Obama attended/graduated from college/law school?
Do you have a shred of evidence to support the idea that Obama was not born in Hawaii?
Nobody lumped you in with the birthers, but if the tin foil hat fits . . .
I looked on wikipedia’s entry for Natural Born Citizens. It seems other presidential contenders have had place of birth issues: Chester A. Arthur, Barry Goldwater, George Romney, and even McCain. Arthur, who was president, was allegedly born in Canada but no one could prove it.
“I don’t know if any paternity tests have been done but if birthers are wingnuts then who do the 9-11 conspiracy loons and Trig-truthers belong to?”
That’s an interesting question. Allow me to try my hand at administering the paternity test.
I would say that the 9/11 CDers find their natural home in that strange realm where far-rightists stand alienated from the Republican party. Alex Jones and Jim Marrs exemplify the breed.
Alas, a lot of ignorant people don’t know that there are many right-wingers who stand outside the Republican/Democrat divide.
For a while there, the CDers had gulled a lot of “progressives” into joining their ranks. For a period in 2006/2007, the CD movement was mistakenly thought to be a left-wing movement. After all (the thinking went), the CDers didn’t like Dubya, and anyone who dissed Dubya just HAD to located somewhere on the left.
Right?
Wrong. It ain’t that simple.
I think everyone finally understood the complexity of the situation when it became obvious that many Ron Paul supporters were also CDers.
The Triggies are a different story. They were, by and large, lefties. Really, really stupid and obnoxious lefties.
That would make the CDers orphans? I wouldn’t claim any of those nutballs.
Paranoid delusions are not part of the Enlightenment ideal.
I think the issue may have gone mainstream because of the billboards, the continuing lawsuits and the special birthday postcards (a where’s the birth certificate sign photo shopped onto a picture of the White House) being sent to Obama on August 4 (okay, I got curious about all the new coverage and read at one of the birth conspiracy web sites).
I don’t think the issue is going to go anywhere (of course, they’ll probably be rumblings about it for decades like many of the other conspiracy theories). Unfortunately, the issue plays into the whole he doesn’t look like us, so we can’t accept him as President argument, and is being used to discredit those who disagree with him on substantive issues.
Perhaps the GOP are being set up to walk a fine line with their angry constituents back home. After calling someone a stupid nutjob, it’s kind of hard to expect them to vote for you. (Of course, if they don’t call them a stupid nutjob, then they risk being painted as a stupid nutjob themselves.)
One of the problems that I see is teh ongoing refusal to answer questions. None of his collegiate writings published , the efforts to block Michelle’s, etc. Things like this can working any conspiracy theorist worth their salt into a frenzy. Further, if the constitutional requirements are stated, why not produce a birth certificate when you announce that you are running? You have to produce it to get into the first grade, why not the White House?
I dislike the snide ridicule that has been attached to all “birthers” . I believe there is some there there. But it is not the born in Kenya birther proponents. I think it is the questions of his dual or triple citizenship question that puts into question his “natural born citizen” status. Since his father was a British citizen, 0bama was automatically conferred British citizenship. Since his mother was a US citizen, he was a US citizen, too. Since he was likely adopted by his step father, Lolo Soetero, Obama may have forfieted his US citizenship. Did he reinstate his US citizenship? if so when? Did 0bama use his foreign status to get a scholarship reserved for foreign students while at college and maybe Harvard? There are a number of legitimate questions which merely raise the possibility that his “personal narrative” was a big lie. (SHOCK upon SHOCK!) These questions that intrigue me do not make me a kook. But the attempt to paint people who question Obama’s many scenarios as nutcases is too typical of right wing thinking, not Riverdaughter sanity. If legitimate questions go unanswered, then some feel the appropriate response is more questions. Does this make me eligible for ridicule? Just asking!
I agree with you. I would add that Obama used some slight of hand to visit Pakistan, during a period when Americans were discouraged from doing so.
Obama is a fraud and his records would prove it.
I find this post troubling. We are not allowed to voice support for ‘birthers’ or we are threatened with being banned and/or deleted. This post is therefore doomed to be one-sided. I love the back and forth or most TC discussions, this one seems pointless.
Yes, I find it troubling too.
I don’t like the fact that Obama was allowed to run with all his academic records closed.
I don’t like stuff disappearing off google either.
I know that myiq believes he didn’t release his birth certificate, because possibly his father’s name does not appear on it.
(It seems that Obama’s father was already married when he came over to Hawaii to study. )
That would mean that he was NOT automatically conferred Kenyan citizenship.
But IF he was-this is from the FAQ section of the Kenyan High Commission London:
http://www.kenyahighcommission.net/visas.html
Let’s be honest – the only reason anyone even entertains the notion that Obama is not a natural-born US citizen is their inability to accept Obama as President.
Hawaii yet again confirmed that Obama’s birth certificate is real. Whatever your objections to Obama may be, this crap about birth certificates and citizenship simply flies in the face of reality.
Oh, come in, Tom. This is the new “r@cist”? I thought that anyone who questioned Obama did not like black people. Now anyone who questions anything cannot accept him? How Bush-ian. This is so reminiscent of the days when anyone who questioned Dubya’s star-studded service keeping Lubbock’s airspace safe for democracy was “unpatriotic”. Inability to accept – that’s an amazing deeduction. Did those who questioned Arlen Spector’s “magic bullet” theory simply find themselves unable to accept LBJ?
I let you through btw and a big shout out to all of you lurking about!!! Thanks for the hits and the memories!!!
You mean the laughs, don’t you?
yeah, that too …. a big shout out to the Mrs!!!
Wow, kat-you let JUSTLEN post a comment?
There goes the neighborhood
😈
well, the minute i saw the post, i knew it was going to be filled with craziness so might as well let it go into the universe of the surreal…
too bad Fellini is dead
Yeah, kinda defeats the purpose of banning trolls.
Just out of curiosity, I googled Texas Darlin’. To my surprise that blog is still up despite it’s owner being made a fool of by one “Techdude” She said her blog would “go dark” after the election.
I mention this not as a comment on that whole sorry episode but as an example of how far off the rails some people go in believing conspiracy theories.
I wonder how much of this is a smoke screen for when Patrick Fitzgerald comes out about Obama’s involvement in the Chicago Pay to Play scandal?
The O-bots will try to relegate that to the tin foil pile as another nutter conspiracy.
Too bad. You should be supporting the efforts to out obama. He is not a natural born citizen because of his father’s citizenship and Obama being a british subject at birth.
You are trashing your allies, why, so you can get more acceptance from the obots????
The last laugh will be on those who ridiculed their allies who tried to save this country from a usurper.
The Obots can go Cheney themselves – I live in the real world.
Let me know when you find ANY evidence to support your claims or get ANY court to agree with you.
ah, that’s how she escaped …
we’re attracting all the hoi polloi here today … trying to make my life interesting?
You let the blogstalker out.
I just thought people should see what a birther looks like.
That’s why I didn’t delete it . I figured this one was in your purview.
Do you understand the concept of natural born citizen? Doesn’t sound like you do.
Too bad, the obots aren’t the only ones with blinders on,
Yes, I do – it means anyone born in the US or to US citizens abroad.
If you think it means something else you better have some legal authority to support your claim.
HINT: “Legal authority” means a statute, case decision (holding, not dicta) or constitutional clause.
Here’s your “legal authority”
http://supreme.justia.com/us/88/162/case.html
now I’m off I wont trouble you with my birther nonsense any longer.
I have seen this case before. I am not impressed.
Do you understand the difference between the “dicta” and the “holding” in a case decision?
Minor v. Happerset DOES NOT define “natural born citizen” the way you birthers think it does.
The idea that ONLY a person born within the US to two US citizens is eligible to be POTUS is merely a legal theory that has never been codified into law or recognized by any court of competent jurisdiction.
well you obviously have your minds made up and think we are stupid conspiracy nutjuobs but has it ever occured to you that even if he was born in HI he revoked his US citizenship when adopted/acknowledged in Indonesia?
And do you not have any questions as to why he spent so much money to quash these lawsuits according to the FEC http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2009/Q1/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html
I don’t understand why you have such intense anger toward “birthers” when really nothing has been decided on yet. What is the big deal?
The adoption was meaningless because Obama was a young child at the time and never renounced his US citizenship. The adoption would not suddenly change his place of birth, nor change the fact that his mother was a US citizen.
Obama has spent so much money fighting (and winning) lawsuits because birthers keep filing them. Even conservative GOP judges won’t touch the issue.
The big deal is that this fringe lunatic nonsense makes the rest of us look bad.
Birtherism is stupid, idiotic, insane. Even Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny want nothing to do with it.
He never won a single lawsuit. Not a single lawsuit was heard on the merits. Therfore not a single court have ruled over his citizenship. people said the same things about puma that you say about “birthers” dems said puma’s made them look bad did it ever effect anyone? No. I never knew we went with the status quo. So forgive my stupid birther self but I dont understand why anyone, especially a puma would care if they looked bad.
And you are wrong about the adoption he could’ve went back through immigration at 18 only to become a US citizen not natural born. Indonesia didn’t allow for dual citizenship he effectively revoked his natural born citizenship statuts see US constitution section 1481 article 2
A dismissal is a final judgment and if you are the defendant it is a “win”
Why go 15 rounds when you can knock the other guy out in the first round?
It would be legal malpractice for an attorney to fail to request a dismissal when the other party had no case.
Well if wankstain and crotchrot are here then the blogstalkers must have a post up about us.
Hi boys!
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