Birthers Return, Compare Obama To An Ape

Mediaite ^ | 12/1/09 | Glynnis MacNicol

[steve-b]

Never fear conspiracy theorists of the world! The Birthers are alive and well and advertising in the pages of the Washington Times. And what an advertisement it is. It's unclear what is more offensive here: the accusation that President Obama is not an American citizen, or the ape imagery. The former, of course, is utterly ridiculous. The latter is not. Also, now Obama is British.

Ape imagery has well-documented racist undertones, making it fairly difficult to miss the subtle message here. Earlier this year the New York Post got in some very hot water for publishing a cartoon depicting policemen shooting a monkey that many interpreted to represent President Obama...

The claims in the actual, full-page advertisement -- the WT has run birther ads before, by the way -- are as ridiculous as you might expect. Now Obama is British. According to the ad, the British Nationality Act of 1948 applied to Obama's Kenyan-born father therefore making Obama a British subject. What it neglects to mention is this:

The Center for American Progress' Ian Millhiser points out that if this rule were actually applied to the presidency, every foreign nation would have the power to remove the President of the United States simply by granting the president citizenship.

[Non-Sequitur]

Do you know her and her background?

I've been watching Orly's antics for some time now and nothing I've seen or read on here or any other source connects her with Democrats. As for contribution, enter her name in at the FEC website and it shows contributions to nothing but Republicans or the Republican party, except for a contribution to Lieberman in 2006 when he ran as an Independent.

[cripplecreek]

But will anyone else challenge his statement?

I've tried but the cowards don't have the stones to do anything more than sling insults and more strawman arguments.

[Vendome]

I wish I had an Ape as my driver.

[jongaltsr]

- and the fourth chimp?
The chimps in the advertisement are representing Congress (see no evil), the Courts (hear no evil), and the media (speak no evil).
The fourth chimp would be Bill Clinton (Hands over his private parts - representing (Do no evil.)

[steve-b]

At some point, the Western classical tradition of rhetoric and analysis of same has been removed from classroom study and replaced with various new forms of criticism which go by many names, but basically boil down to "victimology".

e.g. "That sneaky Katie Couric came up with a bunch of 'gotcha' questions."...

[Fractal Trader]

Obama chimpanzee ping

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

The Center for American Progress’ Ian Millhiser points out that if this rule were actually applied to the presidency, every foreign nation would have the power to remove the President of the United States simply by granting the president citizenship.

What a really really stupid statement.

We are talking about no one knows for sure where he was born as there are no witnesses no doctors have come forth, not even hospital or infant photos.

This ass thinks after you turn 48, someone can change your eligibility -—

Geeez these Libs are dumb.

ANd that’s why they love him, the Anointed One.

[Trod Upon]

I don’t think he’s an ape, although his wife may be a shaved yeti....

[ElayneJ]

Well said, garbanzo - I could not agree with you more!

[TexasRepublic]

I would love to see a similar montage done with Obama instead of Bush. That should drive the Damnocrats wild.

[stockpirate]

thx....

[curiosity]

That is not how dual citizenship works.

Actually, that's exactly how it works. When two different countries claim the same person as a citizen, that person is a dual citizen.

Which brings us to Millhiser's point, which is entirely valid. If the birther claim that dual citizenship disqualifies a person from being president is true, than any rogue state, say Iran, could effectively veto a US presidential election by simply declaring the winner to be a citizen of Iran.

Now I know Millhiser is a leftist kook and all that, but that doesn't invalidate his point. Broken clocks and all that.

[curiosity]

Literally, “victimology” is the only means leftists have of understanding arguments.

Seems to be true of Orly and her gang, too.

[garbanzo]

Or using tu quoque rather than addressing someone's substantive point. Like I said, the whole of Western rhetorical tradition is dying off.

[paulycy]

Zer0 could just show the certificate and stop all this madness.

[STE=Q]

Former Deputy State Attorney General Philip J. Berg — DEMOCRAT — was perhaps the first to file a “birther” lawsuit.

A Conversation with Philip J. Berg, Esq.

(Saturday, August 23, 2008)

http://www.americasright.com/2008/08/q-with-phillip-berg.html

Excerpt from interview:

“I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to break the story, which only now is beginning to gain traction for a hopeful leap into the mainstream media. Berg, who served as Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania for eight years, ran twice for governor in 1990 and 1998 and once for the U.S. Senate in 1994, was former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County and a former member of the Democratic State Committee, was more than happy to speak with me yesterday afternoon in the lobby of the courthouse following a hearing in the chambers of the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick.”

STE=Q

[steve-b]

Zer0 could just show the certificate and stop all this madness.

Why the hell would he want to stop his opponents from making asses of themselves in public?

[paulycy]

Why the hell would he want to stop his opponents from making asses of themselves in public?

At first he wouldn't especially when his opponents were almost universally condemned.

As time has passed, however, reasonable people may believe that he is a citizen - therefore they are not "birthers" - but do believe that as a matter of constitutional law he should be required to show his birth certificate. Arguments against showing it will appear to be trying to hide something and his integrity (such as it is) will be on trial.

As he begins to fail and his supporters become weak then the truth will out, common sense will prevail and there will be significant pressure for him to actually show the certificate. This pressure will be greatest at re-election time and will come from his own party, too.

[steve-b]

I'm just not seeing that. Birtherism remains firmly on the political fringe.

I suppose that Obama might produce additional documentation at some point -- timed to suck the media oxygen away from some other story or to make one of his critics look especially foolish, not in response to some groundswell that is supposedly going to get traction Any Time Now.