Posted on 07/29/2009 5:19:16 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
Republicans and conservatives opposed to a rapid increase in the size and scope of government should be heartened by the American public’s gradual turn away from Obamaism.
But when we need Republican and conservative leadership the most, when we need our leaders and thinkers to clearly differentiate their vision for the country from Barack Obama’s vision, many of our leaders have failed us. Instead of taking the opportunity presented to proclaim the conservative vision to the American people, some Republican leaders have opted to latch on to wild conspiracy theories promoted by the fringes of the Republican Party. Or, at the very least, some of our leaders have allowed such wild theories to fester by not proactively combating and denouncing them.
Just last month, for instance, Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan Administration Defense Department official and conservative intellectual, wrote in The Washington Times that Barack Obama might very well be a secret Muslim. “[T]here is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” Gaffney wrote. Among Gaffney’s “mounting evidence” was the fact that President Obama referred to the Koran as the “holy Koran” during his June speech in Cairo, Egypt.
But of course this was merely pandering on Obama’s part. It no more helps prove that President Obama is a secret Muslim than President Bush speaking in Spanish to a Latino audience proves he is a “secret Hispanic,” or President Obama wearing a yarmulke at a gathering of American Jews (as he has) proves he is “secretly Jewish.”
How much resonance such conspiracy theories have within the Republican Party is unclear, but a YouTube video put up last week of a town hall meeting held by Republican Congressman Mike Castle is worrisome. A lady pressed the Delaware Republican about why Obama has not produced his birth certificate and then loudly declared that Obama was in fact a citizen of Kenya, not the United States. “I want my country back,” she shouted in her rant at the befuddled congressman, who could only respond, responsibly, that President Obama was in fact an American citizen. It’s impossible to tell how many people in the audience agreed with the woman, but there were certainly enough of them to make some noise.
These “birthers,” as they have come to be known, allege that Obama is ineligible to be president because he was not born in the United States. Despite overwhelming proof that Obama is in fact native born – including an official birth certificate from the state of Hawaii – the birthers movement persists in claiming otherwise.
Why stop there? With equal plausibility, one might suggest that 48 years ago, a group of Islamists conspired to take over America by making Barack Obama president. Having the incredible foresight in the 1960s too see that a black man would be the obvious choice for president of the United States in 2008, their strategy would be to hide his foreign and Muslim identity by having his parents name him Barack Hussein Obama. Somehow, they knew this child would be smart and talented enough to get into elite colleges and become the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. The men behind this clever movement to take over America wisely encouraged a young Barack to take drugs in his youth and then to later write about his drug-taking days in a memoir because, presciently, they understood that writing about one’s drug-taking past is usually a successful presidential strategy.
That’s not all. Instead of having Obama be born in America, his mother’s native country, as most people trying to conduct a successful take over plot of America would do, they had Obama be born in Kenya. But in order to deceive the American people that Obama was an actual American citizen 47 years later, the men behind this plot made sure local Hawaiian newspapers published notices of Obama’s birth. The secret cabal behind Obama was also able to fool, evidently, the state of Hawaii.
One might go on and ask why someone who supposedly is a secret radical Islamist, determined to create a Sharia state in America, would add troops to Afghanistan to fight radical Islamists there; launch predator drone attacks against Islamist terrorists in Pakistan; and keep the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facilities open despite his campaign pledge to shut down the facility?
Yet another problem with the conspiracy theories is that they distract from more serious criticisms of the administration. I have written articles in opposition to Barack Obama’s policies and I will continue to do so as long as he pushes policies that I think are harmful. However, we have to have responsible leadership in the Republican Party that opposes Obama on the basis of principle and uses reasoned discourse, not idiotic falsities, to make its case.
Conservative commentators, leaders and thinkers have a responsibility to denounce idiocy put forward under the conservative banner. Republicans and conservatives have a real opportunity to take back the country in 2010 and 2012. But they aren’t going to do it by promoting outlandish conspiracies.
The State of Hawaii has done that, and they do have scholars and lawyers who were sure to go over that statement, as it carries the full weight and authority of the State of Hawaii on the matter. The person who is the head of that department is a representative of the State of Hawaii. You can bet your bottom dollar the lawyers and scholars behind the scenes made sure it was correct.
So, when they said this from the State of Hawaii, you can bet your sweet bippy, that it means what it says... :-)
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf
“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”
We would not need any talk of health care reform if it were not for lawyers, so take LAW and stick it where it should be stuck.
“Orly Taitz is correct that even if he were born in the Lincoln bedroom he would not be a natural born citizen. Citizen, yes! Natural born, NO!”
There is no law defining “natural born” for this purpose. You can make a case, but you cannot assume that your preferred analysis will be supported.
“If he is ineligible to be president then everything he has done to this point ( ALL the Marxist inroads made) will be null and void.”
On a larger matter, it is unsound politically and constitutionally to hope for magic solutions based on nit-picking legal argument (thats the way it will appear to the public). A large number of people voted for him and for a while anyway backed his agenda. You win convincingly by persuading them, not making a court force your interpretation on them.
You said — They pressured Fukino into declaring something which she had no authority to say.
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The head of that department is speaking with the full weight and authority for the State of Hawaii. And you can bet your bottom dollar that every word of that statement was gone over by lawyers and they were looking over her shoulder every step of the way along with any scholars who might have some information to bear on the issue of national importance.
Anyone with a sensible mind knows that the State of Hawaii doesn’t put a statement like that on their official website and post it for the whole world to see, with all the news reports out there about this very issue — and let some employee “talk through her hat” on the matter... LOL...
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf
“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”
On that statement, you can bet your bottom dollar, it’s exactly as it says...
Go away and let the adults save the country...
The Constitution does not require him explicitly to show his birth certificate.
Neither does the Constitution require a given pay-scale of Army officers, in spite of being a necessary part of providing for ‘the common defence’.
These are the sorts of details that are defined by Congress or the courts.
A court may find that the Constitution requires him to show his birth certificate, but you first have to convince a court that way.
>There is no telling what he might do if one or more superpowers tried to blackmail him with a threat to release his Birth Certificate.<
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Sell the country to the highest bidder. But what is even more obnoxious is that no congress critter is making an attempt to get to the truth. They’re no different from Obama.
He who knows the truth but hides it is also a liar.
Perhaps I am Pollyanna, but I just don’t see it.
As Adam Smith said, there is a lot of ruin in a country. And I should know, I’ve spent a lot of time in countries far more ruined than the US is going to be anytime soon (and may God grant us that mercy !).
Well... considering you’re having trouble getting one person to produce a birth certificate, I don’t know why you think you’ll have success in making me go away... LOL..
She never said what that "thing" might be.
Is it possible that this "thing" could have been some document...or maybe a BC which told a story that Obama didn't want told???
The truth will eventually come out....somebody will give Zer0 up for money or revenge.
So why aren't we the people allowed to see it?
Yes it is necessary, that or a decision by a court. The US Constitution is not self-implementing.
“By what convoluted reading would the constitution require something and then prohibit the enforcement by omission?”
Because of a million arguments one could make about the required details of enforcement ? And because there is no established definion of the requirement ? What is “natural born” ? It does not have an established legal meaning.
“The secretaries of state, members of congress and the judges have all taken oaths to uphold and defend the constitution. Their failure or cowardice in not do so, is not indicative of the need for a new law. Shall we give them more laws to ignore?”
Well, goodness knows they ignore a lot of laws they shouldn’t and enforce more laws than they should. But this complaint is just griping. You and I have even less right than they do to personally implement our reading of the law.
Reminds me of class warfare...us vs. you.
When did upholding and sustaining the Constitution become “nit picking”?
Any way, having head lice is not trivial. Ask any parent who has had a child with head lice and had to remove the nits one by one.
First, lets kill all the lawyers ?
I agree it sounds good, but it didn’t work out to well for Hotspur. Its also not practical or productive.
Release the documents in court. End all these court challenges. As you point out it is already a QED ( quite easily done) decision for any judge to make.
Oh?...But, Obama has fought this all the way to the Supreme Court. Gee! I suppose he isn't as confident as you are.
You said — Reminds me of class warfare...us vs. you.
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Yes, there is a class warfare.. it’s between the “us” (sane conservatives) and the “you” (nut-bat conservatives)... LOL...
As have I, FRiend...but I do know in my heart, one driven by God and Country, that things will get ugly here..whether through our death as the greatest civilization to abide on the planet, or by our re-birth and reset back to the country created by God.
Because there is no legal requirement for a candidate or a President to show the public his birth certificate.
And that’s precisely why I’ve been proposing, since after the election, to enact a state law which requires the candidate to show his birth certificate or else he cannot be on the ballot...
An easy solution...
I think the officials in Hawaii have verified that he was born there of two American Citizens and meets the constitutional requirements. That is all they are required to do. They would not go out on a limb and why Should they! The Hawaiian officials legally can’t give more information like verifying the COLB etc since it would violate confidentiality. Does anybody know of a patient named Davis gave birth when Obama was born? I really think Obama is hiding something like Frank Davis is his father. Barak Sr. only saw Obama once after he left and didn’t seem to give a rats rear about him. I think Obama built a Dream about his Father being Barak because Frank Davis was a dissipated Drunken pervert and Obama was discussed by him! I can’t get my head past the Hawaiian officials so adamantly stating he was born in Hawaii and a citizen!
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