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The GOP and the Birther Trap
Opinion Journal ^ | April 14, 2011 | Peter Wehner

Posted on 04/14/2011 3:57:11 AM PDT by Jim Noble

Thanks to Donald Trump—real-estate mogul, reality-TV star, and possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination—a fringe conspiracy theory is now front and center in American politics: the claim that President Barack Obama might not be a natural-born American citizen.

By focusing on Mr. Obama's birth certificate, Mr. Trump has garnered a lot of attention and some support. According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, among Republicans he is now tied with Mike Huckabee as the most popular prospective GOP presidential nominee. If responsible Republicans don't speak out immediately against Mr. Trump's gambit, it will do substantial damage both to their party and to American politics...

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: certifigate; gop; kenyan; naturalborncitizen; obots
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To: Lysandru

Not trying to be contentious, but why did you want to “dismiss the birthers”?

Were you falling for the leftist trap of “you’re not smart if you don’t believe like us” and didn’t want to be called names by those who proclaim themselves to be superior and “hip”?


41 posted on 04/14/2011 5:07:22 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: tsowellfan

““New analysis of Democrat Party’s official 2008 Certification of Nominations for Obama reveals that reasons for his sudden trip to Hawaii in October, 2008 were to visit more than just his sick grandmother. Hawaiian election laws, media accounts and post-dated documents reveal he may have attended a private hearing with the Hawaiian Chief Elections Officer regarding his disqualification from the Hawaiian ballot due to lack of certified Constitutional eligibility.... http://thedailypen.blogspot.com/2011/01/o-con-had-legal-help-from-non-partisan.html “ ~ tsowellfan

I remember Rush talking about it at the time.bttt Here’s the transcript:

October 23, 2008
Obama “Rushes” to Grandmother’s Bedside (After Just a Few Days)http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102308/content/01125106.member.html

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: “Barack Obama says he doesn’t want to make the same mistake with his grandmother that he made with his dying mother,” so today he’s jetting off to Hawaii to make sure that doesn’t happen. He was on The Early Show this morning with Harry Smith, and Smith said, “Lincoln said, ‘All I ever hoped to be, I owe to her,’ in speaking about his mother. Your grandmother, very much like a mother to you, how important is this trip?”

<*KMAGE*>OBAMA: It’s very important to me. My grandmother is the last one left, uh, she has really been the rock of the family and the foundation of the family, uh, whatever strength, discipline, uh, that I have, uh, it comes from her.

SMITH: You said in the past that you regretted your own mother’s illness and her death came so quickly, you didn’t have time to get back to —

RUSH: Stop the tape here a minute. Stop, recue this. Harry Smith is doing everything here but crying, everything but crying here. This is an embarrassment. You people in the media, you don’t even care how embarrassing this is, you do not even care. Here it is again from the top.

OBAMA: It’s very important to me. My grandmother’s the last one left, uh —

RUSH: Right.

OBAMA: She has really been the rock of the family.

RUSH: I know.

OBAMA: And the foundation of the family, uh—

RUSH: Absolutely right.

OBAMA: Whatever the strength, discipline, uh —

RUSH: Hawaii all these years.

OBAMA: — that I have, uh, it comes from her.

SMITH: You’ve said in the past that you regretted your own mother’s illness and her death came so quickly, you didn’t have time to get back to see her.

OBAMA: Got there too late. We knew she wasn’t doing well, um, but the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time and we didn’t, so I want to make sure that I don’t, uh, I don’t make, uh, the same mistake twice.

RUSH: Now, Harry Smith is very, very worried, ladies and gentlemen, that this could hurt Obama’s campaign.

SMITH: Some people say there’s risk involved in this, with so little time left.

OBAMA: Yeah. Well, the, uh, I think most people understand, uh, that if you’re not, um, caring for your family, uh, then you’re probably not, uh, the kind of person who’s going to be caring for other people.

RUSH: Yeah, right. Okay. Now, I have some questions here, ladies and gentlemen. If Obama has this election in the bag, if he has this election in the bag, which they’re all saying, I mean, he’s building the stage. They’re already putting together this massive little stage out there in Grant Park in Chicago. They’re making all these postelection plans. They’re working on the transition team. If it’s in the bag, Obama, please, stop spending money on TV and radio spots. Stop raising more money. You already have tons of it. Stop campaigning all over the country. You’re wasting fuel. You’re emitting carbon dioxide along the way. If it’s over, then behave like it’s over. By the way, I’d like to be a little bit more inquisitive than the average reporter out there and observe that we’ve been hearing and reading for at least three days now that Obama’s grandmother is deathly ill and that he’s going to rush to her side in Hawaii.

Now, if he’s already won the presidency, why hasn’t he already gone to Hawaii? Why is he not already there? What’s he waiting for? “If she’s deathly ill,” I’m pretending to be a reporter here. You know they’d ask McCain these questions. “If Obama’s grandmother is deathly ill, why has this been announced days ago and he’s only going now,” or tomorrow, or whenever it is. Now, I understand, folks, Snerdley’s got his head buried in his hands. I understand this, my friends, anything said about Obama is going to be turned into an unfair racist attack on the man. Am I not asking obvious questions? Who announces days in advance they’re rushing to the side of a loved one who is deathly ill but keeps campaigning in a race that’s said to be over, only to go to the loved one’s side days later? See, I think this is about something else. You know what’s really percolating out there? I’ve been laying low on this because it hasn’t met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program.

This birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Philip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate and he still hasn’t replied. You’ve got a deathly ill grandmother, you are going to rush to her side a few days from now, when you first announced this, you’re going to rush, you’re going to hurry, you’re going to make tracks, you’re going to get over there because you don’t want your grandmother to die before you got there like your mother did, but somehow you keep campaigning, you take three days to get over there, if he’s left yet, and this birth certificate business, I’m just wondering if something’s up. I have no clue, and folks, I’m telling you, this has not reached the threshold until now, and it’s popping up all over the place. There are a lot of people now that are starting to speculate and be curious about this.

I don’t know, let’s say for example that somebody does come up with proof that something’s screwy with his birth certificate and something’s screwy about the fact that he’s allegedly a natural citizen, American citizen, but may not be, dual citizenship, born in Kenya, who knows, there’s all kinds of stuff out — so what? What’s going to happen this late in the campaign? Do you think if it’s proven that they’re going to dump him? That’s not going to happen. But still, these are just questions that I have. And, look, both of my parents have died. When I was told the end was near, bam, I got there, fast as I could. I didn’t announce to the audience, “I just got word my father is said to be passing away and in four or five days I’m going to go to Missouri. In the meantime, I will not leave you here on this radio program.” These are just natural questions. I think any inquisitive reporter — I know the risk I’m running here by raising all this. But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to go back to this one sound bite from Obama, second question from Harry Smith this morning on the CBS Early Show.

SMITH: Some people say there’s risk involved in this, with so little time left.

OBAMA: Yeah. Well, the, uh, I think most people understand, uh, that if you’re not, um, caring for your family, uh, then you’re probably not, uh, the kind of person who’s going to be caring for other people.

RUSH: Okay. “If you’re not caring for your family...” How about George Onyango Bodongo Hussein Obama in the hut outside Nairobi living on a dollar a month? A $20 bill would double his half-brother’s annual income. Not even a sign “Home, Sweet Hut” has been sent to George Onyango Bodongo Hussein Obama, and how many other of Obama’s family members are living in squalor? Yeah, “if you don’t take care of your family, if you don’t put that first, you’re probably not the kind of person that’s going to be caring for other people.” You have a half-brother living in a hut!

END TRANSCRIPT
Read the Background Material...
• AP: Obama Leaving Campaign Trail to Visit Grandmother - 10.20.08
• AFP: Obama Set to Dash to Sick Grandmother
• UK Telegraph: Barack Obama’s ‘Lost’ Brother Found in Kenya
• ABC: Barack Obama’s Branch-y Family Tree - Jake Tapper
• Sweetness & Light: So How Many Wives Did Obama Sr Have?


42 posted on 04/14/2011 5:08:07 AM PDT by Matchett-PI ("Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Tax " ~ Gagdad Bob)
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To: Fred911

As an Indonesian citizen, he either renounced his American citizenship (if he ever was one) or embraced dual citizenship, both of which renders him ineligible to be potus. In addition, as an Indonesian citizen on s student visa, why is he STILL in this Country?


43 posted on 04/14/2011 5:09:35 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few and let another take his office. - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Daisyjane69

More accurately, it’s not the “elites”, it’s the “elitists”.

There are people whom you know, I’m sure, who are deferential to the “elites” or the “ruling class” (as long as they’re leftists) who don’t consider themselves to be part of that class. These are the sheeperals.

On the flip side, there are true elites who are not elitists, who, though they do have some special talents and resources, do not consider themselves capable or authorized to make decisions for others.

Read “intellectuals and society” by Thomas Sowell, and you’ll gain some of his great insight.


44 posted on 04/14/2011 5:14:36 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: kenmcg

That’s the funny part. They KNOW how easy it would be to make it go away if there weren’t truth in it, and it’s impossible to argue against that ease of disproof,

so, like in all things that they can’t defend, they come up with a pejorative instead of an argument.


45 posted on 04/14/2011 5:16:45 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Jim Noble
" The fact that all of these people are so afraid is the most convincing evidence that there's something to all of this. WHY ARE THEY SO AFRAID? WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF, EXACTLY? AND WHY ARE "RESPONSIBLE REPUBLICANS" LEADING THE CHARGE??? "

If Karl Marx Rove is involved in this, we can be sure that he is part of the bandwagon to put this thing questioning Obama's eligibility rebellion ( in their minds ) down in the Republican Party.
The reason why they are afraid is because they know what happened and they are just as guilty.

46 posted on 04/14/2011 5:18:37 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: Matchett-PI

Thanks! Great catch!


47 posted on 04/14/2011 5:19:37 AM PDT by tsowellfan (http://www.cafenetamerica.com)
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To: gusopol3

Responsible Republicans need to re-frame it as “why does this man, with the help of the Democrats, and Republicans, and those in the MSM work so hard to hide his past?” ... there now, fixed.


48 posted on 04/14/2011 5:20:22 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: Lysandru
" I wanted to dismiss the "birthers," but facts are stubborn things. Something is rotten in the State of Hawaii. "

You mean, something came out and is still coming out of Hawaii that is rotten.


49 posted on 04/14/2011 5:22:50 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: Fred911
*** And I’m pretty sure he was a D student....prove I’m wrong! ***

Barry's *people* (Moonbat followers) say he has an IQ of ....(better sit down) .... 180!

They arrive at this outlandish I figure by using the fact that almost all (90% iirc) 'Certified Harvard Law School Students' :-) test at that number as an average -- even though not one IQ Test of Barry's has ever surfaced.

And I say outlandish as an IQ of 180 is really, REALLY, up there in rarefied territory as Albert Einstein's IQ was *only* 160! .. the same as Bill Gates', Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson's and .. Stephen Hawking's! And to get into MENSA you *only* need an IQ of 132 - which is in the top Two Percentile of the population (avg ('normal') IQ is 90-99). And from what we've seen and heard from Barry - 'I don't speak Austrian' - Obama is that he is as dumb as a stick.

Ergo, I say Ditto x 1010. Barry is a walking-talking Post Turtle.

50 posted on 04/14/2011 5:24:43 AM PDT by Condor51 (The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits [A.Einstein])
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To: tsowellfan

You’re welcome! :)


51 posted on 04/14/2011 5:26:37 AM PDT by Matchett-PI ("Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Tax " ~ Gagdad Bob)
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To: The Sons of Liberty

“In addition, as an Indonesian citizen on s student visa, why is he STILL in this Country?”

So we have an illegal alien as president. Never thought of it that way.


52 posted on 04/14/2011 5:33:20 AM PDT by sergeantdave (The democrat party is a seditious organization and must be outlawed)
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To: Jim Noble
These pussy RINOS and so-called Republican "leaders" are afraid of ONE thing - losing power by having the RACE CARD used against them.

Barry's only HALF black, but these panty-waste Republican Nancy-girls are 100% AFRAID to tell the DAMN TRUTH (the DANG truth for all you lurking Freeper McCain fans).

They appear to have decided...

To HELL with the TRUTH.

To hell with putting the onus on the President to explain just WTF he is paying BIG bucks to hide.

To hell with following the CONSTITUTION.

To hell with their constituents and with doing what is RIGHT for America and Americans.

The tree may need watering sooner than we think.

53 posted on 04/14/2011 5:39:51 AM PDT by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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To: SonOfDarkSkies
" This author is like all the other gutless Republicans.

The country isn't listening to Trump because of the birther issue. They are listening because he is speaking his mind in blunt and unambiguous terms.

Americans are tired of the conspiracy of silence regarding Obama that has been crammed down our throats by the Left, the Media, and now the GOP establishment."


You know when the " Established Old Guard Republicans " made waves and balked at the Tea Party candidates, you knew like all of us something stinks and is rotten in the Republican Party.
Just take a look at the one's ( mainly Karl Marx Rove ) who put down the Tea Party candidates, and just look now at the one's who balk at those who question Obama's eligibility.... it does not take a rocket scientist to see what is going on here.

There were reports that Donald Trump is warning that he might go Independent, and if Donald Trump goes Independent, it will be because of the Old Guard " Established " Republicans.
54 posted on 04/14/2011 5:42:37 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: American Constitutionalist
if Donald Trump goes Independent, it will be because of the Old Guard " Established " Republicans.

If he goes independent, it's the end of the GOP as a national (Presidential) party.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

55 posted on 04/14/2011 5:47:52 AM PDT by Jim Noble (The Constitution is overthrown. The Revolution is betrayed.)
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To: Jim Noble

After Boner and the fake budget reductions I’m about ready to vote for an independent.

And the fact that they are now sounding like they will not fight over raising the debt ceiling really frosts me.


56 posted on 04/14/2011 5:53:54 AM PDT by Bobalu ( "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother." ..Moshe Dayan:)
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To: DocH
" Republican Nancy-girls are 100% AFRAID to tell the DAMN TRUTH (the DANG truth for all you lurking Freeper McCain fans)"

They are called “ Pawlenty Republicans “
57 posted on 04/14/2011 5:55:06 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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Comment #58 Removed by Moderator

To: joe fonebone
They are afraid of us focusing our energy on a non issue.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So?....When did the Constitution and the rule of law become a “non-issue”? ( snort!)

59 posted on 04/14/2011 5:58:51 AM PDT by wintertime
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To: Jim Noble
Both political parties are like leg shackles around the American people's feet being lead to the slaughter.
60 posted on 04/14/2011 5:59:52 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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