Birtherism: Worst. Trap. Ever.

Washington comPost ^ | February 19, 2011 | Adam Serwer

[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.

[philman_36]

Look how they keep asking our potential candidates if they believe Obama was born in the USA.
IMO if there's any trapping going on the Dims and MSM are trying to trap the Pubbies into being seen as complicit and guilty as them for this situation through seemingly supportive public statements. ("See, they knew about it too and did nothing either.")
Thus you need Pubbie leaders to call it "crazy" or something else negative and take a sympathetic stance.
This is on the Dims and their political party. The party and it's members didn't do their job. Pubbies are letting them hang themselves.

That's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

[Godwin1]

Blah, blah, blah. The fact is we have not seen ZERO’s long form birth certificate. In a recent probate procedure, I obtained mine from an out-of-state county in about two weeks. Why don't the Obama loving “journalists” commit some journalism, obtain a copy of the document, publish it and put this to rest?
Is Zero a Christian? I don't know. But he seems to take enormous pleasure is stating that America is not a Christian nation. And he says nothing about the relentless persecution and killings of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, anywhere ,in fact, that Muslims are in a majority. Hmmm......

[SamuraiScot]

And a secondary issue is his history, school records, passport records, voting records, etc. These are never brought up either because of the birth location thing.

I wish we could find a way to overcome this.

They're overcoming it for us, because they keep talking about it. The issue is getting explored more and more, including the real definition of "natural born," and the consequences of having one parent who wasn't a citizen. I didn't know this stuff before.

The longer they keep nattering, the more dirt gets turned over, just out of boredom. You will see lamestreamers mentioning his parents' citizenship and his school records, just to have a story to write. This is how the narrative gets out of control.

[philman_36]

...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.

Funny how those among their base who think that he isn't a natural born citizen didn't get grouped in.

Things that aren't said are as important as those that are.

[Kleon]

If you feel the need to lie about anything else, just let me know.

From the article:

"The Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution"

Passing a resolution is not the same thing as holding hearings. As I said, no hearings were held to determine McCain's eligibility.

[olezip]

There were no hearings to determine Sen. McCain's eligibility.

There were hearings. On April 30, 2008, "Senate S.Res.511 - A resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen," was passed after appropriate hearings on the matter of his eligibility.

[null and void]

I see. A debate isn’t the same thing as a hearing.

I guess that it really does depend on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.

[Tex-Con-Man]

In the birther-freeper universe it is indeed a fact.

However, in the real world, the only evidence that exists is payments made by the Obama campaign to the Perkins Coie law firm for unspecified services rendered. This law firm has an office of 70 attorneys in the Chicago area and was involved in the Blagojevich trial.

Of the millions paid to the firm, no one knows if in fact a dime of it went to any “eligibility” cases, since most never required legal response.

But back to the birther-freeper universe...speculation = facts, so yes, it is a fact.

[jerseyrocks]

Totally agree. I heard Jeffrey Tubin on CNN the other night making the same kind of comments. The media has realized the “birther” label has not worked and are now changing the label to “nutty”. That will not work either. It is not just the BC it is ALL OF OBAMA’S SCHOOL RECORDS. They may get away with keeping the BC sealed but why the school records? We have been told by a reporter that he is the most intelligent President ever to serve, shouldn’t we be able to look at his school records to confirm that statement? The only “nutty” part of this whole thing imo is Obama’s secrecy and the media following their leader.

[libertarian27]

There was a Congressional resolution declaring McCain a NBC.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:S.RES.511:

S.RES.511
Latest Title: A resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen.
Sponsor: Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] (introduced 4/10/2008) Cosponsors (5)
Latest Major Action: 4/30/2008 Passed/agreed to in Senate. Status: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.

The interesting list of co-sponsors:
Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] - 4/10/2008
Sen Coburn, Tom [OK] - 4/10/2008
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] - 4/10/2008
Sen Obama, Barack [IL] - 4/10/2008
Sen Webb, Jim [VA] - 4/10/2008

***********************
To date there has been no such action taken in Congress in regards to Barry....not even to put “This silliness”(as people are saying) behind them.

[Kleon]

I see. A debate isn’t the same thing as a hearing.

A Senate resolution is not the same thing as a Congressional hearing. They're actually two very different things.

[Kenny Bunk]

That boat is never going to float.

well, let's just say it looks as if it is not going to float fast enough to do anything about Obama before 2012.

There are two more years of Obama and we need to concentrate on getting a good, conservative candidate and uniting behind her (or him).

Amen. And there are Democrat fingerprints all over the hype that keeps the "Anti-Birther" thing going at fever pitch. It's a deception and a distraction.

[null and void]

Yep. The resolution is the result of a debate or hearing.

You parse like a clinton.

[Exit148]

Yeah — kooky ole GOP and the ‘birther’ issue.

And kooky ole prez to allow Lt.Col Lakin to rot in prison, because the ‘birther thing is a non-issue.

[Tempest]

Republicans should be scared of rockin the boat...

[Kleon]

Yep. The resolution is the result of a debate or hearing.

No, it's the result of a Senator or Senators proposing it. They're often just symbolic.

[null and void]

Did you happen to read the title of the article I linked?

U.S. Senate ends McCain citizenship debate

Please explain how they ended a debate that didn't exist.

[Radix]

It seems to me that if states begin the process of requiring proof of citizenship in order to get one’s name on a ballot, then it will be indeed quite likely that this sort of question will never again come up.

But today, this issue is not going away. The ancient 20th century media is in a disreputable condition and dissension is on the rise. The Internet is making a big difference as we all know.

The fact that Obama has little or no documentation concerning his background is a serous deal.

Where are my FOIA concerns being addressed here?

I can spy on my neighbors 24/7 by 365 yet I cannot ascertain where my President has been for nigh on 50 years?

[philman_36]

There were no hearings to determine Sen. McCain's eligibility.

Informative reply on topic...
Remember, trolls aren't offended by being proved wrong. Their goal is to confuse as many as they can.

Courtesy ping, Spaulding.

[Kleon]

Please explain how they ended a debate that didn't exist.

The debate refers to the questions raised by the Press, not within Congress. That's why it passed unanimously. Like, duh.