Sarah Palin is a Birther

Sarah Palin outs herself as a birther on a wingnut radio show, which isn't surprising. Most of her followers are birthers:

CNN Extinguishes Birthers and Dobbs Talking Points

Seems Lou Dobbs was getting a little too fringe. While this may kill the story on CNN, it certainly won't end the story for the Birthers. This will simply give them more food.

TVNewser has learned CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein sent an email to a handful of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staffers last night regarding the coverage of the so-called birthers and the validity of Pres. Obama's birth in the U.S. TV Newser

The exchange:

----- Original Message -----
From: Klein, Jon (CNN)
Sent: Thu Jul 23 19:00:44 2009
Subject: Important re birth certificate

I asked the political researchers to dig into the question "why couldn't Obama produce the ORIGINAL birth certificate?"

This is what they forwarded. It seems to definitively answer the question. Since the show's mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite. And then it seems this story is dead - because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef.

Thx

*****************

*In 2001 - the state of Hawaii Health Department went paperless.*Paper documents were discarded*The official record of Obama's birth is now an official ELECTRONIC record Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Health Department told the Honolulu Star Bulletin, "At that time, all information for births from 1908 (on) was put into electronic files for consistent reporting," she said.

Birthers Make Nightly News

It's racism folks. That's all. Obama is eccentric for these folks, many of whom are BIG Sarah Palin fans. Obama's middle name sealed the deal for them. Just watch any Palin rally on this blog. You'll see. This week is the first time that major media broadcasters even touched this issue. But they've yet to call it what it is--racism.
I think we're all getting weary of these losers.
Brian Williams is wrong though to say that Mitt Romney and John McCain had as much criticism over birth certificates as Obama has had. Not even close.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Army Soldier Challenging Obama's Birth Won't be Deployed

This soldier shouldn't be deployed because he's obviously mentally unstable. Hello. Orly Taitz, birthers (just search birthers on this blog if you need background). These people are a wee bit on the nutty nut side. We can't have people like Stefan Cook serving in the military. That would be dangerous. It's a good thing the Army revoked his orders.

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, the reserve soldier who says he shouldn't have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president, has had his deployment orders revoked, Army officials said.
Lt. Col. Maria Quon, U.S. Army Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Army Human Resources Command-St. Louis, said Tuesday evening, Cook was no longer expected to report Wednesday to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for mobilization to active duty.
Cook is an Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA), meaning he is a reserve soldier assigned to an active component unit for duty. He is assigned to the U.S. Army Element of U.S. Southern Command. Last week he filed a request in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector through his California-based attorney, Orly Taitz. Read more here.

This is big news on Fox "News"

Here's a taste of Orly, Cook's attorney. She thinks that the media elected Obama so they could have more free reign. Really. More fun--fellow birther Phillip Berg sued Taitz for who knows why.

Another radical birther and Obama's former opponent, Alan Keyes:

Birthers Say Obama is Forging Long Form Birth Certificate

Talk about aliens having babies and stuff.

Here's a new one from the Birthers, who no matter what proof was given would ever accept the fact that Obama was born in the U.S. They now are preparing for the event in which Obama presents a long-form birth certificate (I don't know why he would and I'm not sure the state of Hawaii even issues them), by saying he's in the process of forging it. The Birthers have been demanding the long-form certificate. As much as I've read I don't think there is any rational reason as to why they prefer the long form-- the key word is "rational." 

It's an interesting study on mass delusion that I've been following since the campaign. Even conservatives have called for the Birthers to stop with their silliness. The irony of all this is Birthers call themselves Christians, when they are the antithesis of Christian. The Birthers apparently have "sources who say:"

“Don’t know about 9/11 conspiracy, but do know from DC source that an Administration team is working on perfecting a forgery of the long-form birth certificate. They plan on presenting it in a a month or so. The source is FBI agent who has drinking buddy from University of Illinois now in the Administration. Its second hand, but the source is supposed to be solid.

They have already prepared the forgery with special paper and ink. The document was printed on a fully functional 1960 Heidelberger printing press located at a print museum in Toronto. Access was arranged by a trustee of the museum who is connected to a large Canadian banking/investment firm with major US interests.” CW

Obama Benefiting From Birth Certificate Controversy?

Well, this is an interesting take by Andrew Walden, a conservative and founder of the Hawaii Free Press, who says Obama is playing the Birthers, the people who question Obama's citizenship.
I'm not sure I follow the logic on how it benefits Obama or how it's part of Obama's grand strategy. Walden insists it distracts from Obama's ties to radicals. Whatever.
I'd sure like to see the Birthers move on to greater things. But it's sort of like a cult now. They have their leaders and they've put so much effort into this birth certificate thing that to turn back now would shake the very ground they walk on. If they did move on, it certainly wouldn't be to any higher levels of conversation, so really, unless they get violent, I guess it doesn't matter what they think.

A fairly impressive internet industry has sprung up claiming that Obama was born in either Kenya or Indonesia. This is nonsense which distracts from the broadly unexplored story of Obama’s upbringing. This kind of nonsense has emerged because the McCain campaign chose not to raise the many questions about Barack Obama’s numerous hard-left alliances. Barack Obama was born in Hawai'i, August 4, 1961 at Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu.
Obama’s birth certificate posted online is exactly the same birth certificate everybody in Hawaii gets from the State Department of Health. It is not forged. There is nothing unusual about the design or the texture. In addition to the birth certificate, the August 13, 1961 Honolulu Advertiser also carries an announcement of Obama’s birth. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin also carries the same announcement. Both papers printed an identical list of birth announcements supplied to them by the Hawaii State Department of Health. Conspiracists have made much of the fact that the Territory of Hawaii gave a phony birth certificate in 1904 to Chinese republican leader Sun Yat Sen for diplomatic reasons. But the modern State of Hawaii has never supplied Certification of Live Birth indicating US birth for foreign-born children.

By refusing media requests for a look at the actual paper birth certificate, Obama’s campaign gave sly backhanded assistance to the forgery hype. The internet release of the birth certificate via hyper-partisan website Daily Kos on June 12 before posting it on a campaign website was likely calculated to fuel the frenzy. This is Obama’s Gramscian strategy designed to redirect the opposition down a blind alley. It was so successful that Hawai'i government offices found themselves inundated with telephone calls from mainland voters in the days before the November 4 election.

Since Hawai'i law forbids the release of birth certificates to anybody not authorized by Barack Obama or his family, Obama further feeds the paranoia by choosing not to grant such permissions. A World Net Daily story claiming Hawai'i’s Republican Governor Linda Lingle ‘sealed’ the birth certificate is totally false. The governor’s office has asked for a retraction. The forgery story was also boosted by video claims that Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, stated that Obama “is a son of this village”—a phrase which can have many different meanings. Read the rest at FrontPage

Florida's Bill Posey Thinks Obama's Ineligible to be President

He lies to Politico about the reason for his new bill:

A spokesman for Florida Republican Congressman, Bill Posey, sends over a statement from the Congressman explaining his bill to require that presidential candidates submit birth certificates is aimed at dousing the controversy -- though he said the Congressman himself thinks Obama could do more to put the issue to rest. Read the statement, which is essentially a lie.

He's one of the fringe, who've been saying Obama wasn't really born in the U.S. and is ineligible to be president. The bill merely requires a birth certificate, which Obama has shown, so the purpose of this bill is to slight Obama. Posey's real intent is in this sentence:

"I think he’s willing to take the President’s word for it," Cecala said. "If the President wanted to put an end to the whole thing he could order Hawaii to release the authentic birth certificate. That’s up to him."

The nut jobs are looking for the long form birth certificate. As if Obama needs this kind of harassment. Posey also recently sent Obama a letter requesting him to hurry up and make his NASA appointment. It's too bad we can't fire congress people. 

Supreme Court Doesn't Take On Extremist's Claims

The extreme extremists on the right are shut down again. You'd think they would put their efforts into something more meaningful, something that actually betters society. They could pick an issue that matters and do some good. They're wasting the time of the Supreme Court and others. Sadly, this will not be the end of their opposition to Obama as they await Armageddon.

Chicago Trib: UPDATE: The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.

The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election. Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth -- his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject -- he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

NYT gives a historical rundown and sums it up pretty well:

This is the kind of doubt-bending thing that lives independently online, but from the looks of today’s decision by the highest court in the land, the accusation isn’t gaining much ground in the realm of reality.

From MSNBC:

Racists Get Their Day in Court

Proof that we still live in a racist society. Make no mistake, questioning Obama's eligibility to be president is racist. End of story.
For more on this, visit here. This particular suit (there have been variations of this) says Obama's father had dual citizenship, which somehow disqualifies Obama from being president. These people need to find a way to get over their prejudice and find a way to better society, not make it worse.  

Justices Decide on Obama's Birth Cert Suits

Update: The SC has thrown out these lawsuits and is likely to continue that trend when others arise. What a waste of our courts. 

The loons have made it into the mainstream press, which proves you should never dismiss the fringe, no matter how loony they appear. They've been working on trying to prove Obama is not a U.S. citizen for a solid year now.

If you Google any of these folks, you'll find that they're way out on a limb wearing a funny hat and polka dot socks. You'll also find out their intentions are race based. They're having difficulty with Obama's blackness. Andy Martin was one of the originators of the Obama is a stealth Muslim terrorist rumor that persisted throughout the campaign.

The Supreme Court will decide what to do with several of the cases tomorrow.

Chicago Trib: Among those filing lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race. Keyes' suit seeks to halt certification of votes in California. Another suit by a Kentucky man seeks to have a federal judge review Obama's original birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials say is locked in a state vault.

Other suits have been filed by Andy Martin, whose case was dismissed in Hawaii, and by an Ohio man whose case also was dismissed. Five more suits, all later dismissed, were filed in Hawaii by a person who is currently suing the "Peoples Association of Human, Animals Conceived God/s and Religions, John McCain [and] USA Govt." The plaintiff previously sought to sue Wikipedia and "All News Media."

The most famous case questioning Obama's citizenship was filed in Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J. Berg and sought to enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal judge rejected it for "lack of standing"—ruling that Berg had no legal right to sue. In cases like this, judges sometimes believe the matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral College or Congress, said legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Obama's Birth Announcement

The wingnuts have gone off the deep end, taking out ads in newspapers (Chicago Tribune today) and insisting that Obama was born in Kenya and not eligible to be president. These people are driving me nuts. I actually called and talked to one of them who filed a lawsuit. They are true believers. 
Anyway, here is Obama's birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, which for them, wouldn't prove anything. Hawaii put out a release stating that Obama's birth certificate is real but the wingnuts didn't buy it. Hawaii is in on it, they say. Factcheck held Obama's BC and took photos of someone holding it. They didn't buy it. Factcheck is in on it, too. It's all a big cover up.

The Chicago Tribune debunked it again today. Wingnuts didn't believe. 

The thing is, these are scary people. At the heart of this matter is racism. Their ignorance is plenty scary, too. 

Will Obama Use His Middle Name in Swearing In?

Chris Matthews wonders: will Obama use his whole name when swearing in as president? I hope he does but I'm not sure he will. He didn't use it during the campaign.

Some of the past presidents didn't, including Ronald Reagan, the right wing idol, and Jimmy Carter.

This is up for full debate at democratic underground.

When you think about it, it's kind of silly that there has to be a question. It's all thanks to the extremists on the right, who have demonized his middle name, which for them, reminds them that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist. These people are still filing lawsuits, demanding that Obama present his long form birth certificate, the so-called "certificate of live birth."

I actually talked to one of these folks who filed a lawsuit because I wanted to have a better understanding of their line of thinking. The man I talked to is a pastor. He pointed me to a site, which he says proves Obama is a Muslim.

He truly believes Obama was born in Kenya.

Why do these people believe this? Because it fits their world view, which is that a black man cannot be president of the U.S. That's what it comes down to, though they themselves could never recognize that.

Because of their deep-rooted prejudice, they've invested in the belief that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist who's going to try and turn the U.S. into a Muslim nation. Their original skepticism has turned into denial, which has turned into mass delusion, which is unhealthy. These people go beyond partisan politics. 

Factcheck has held Obama's birth certificate and photographed it. They say the post on Obama's birth certificate is their most visited. Hawaii put out a release verifying Obama's original birth certificate. But the deniers say that Factcheck and others are conspiring with Obama. More delusion.

If you read their posts, you'll find that they're prone to conspiracy theories and wierdness. One of the headlines today from the radical right: "Stress takes toll on Obama, develops chronic facial tic; Michelle said to be distraught over spasms under right eye." There you have it.

I talked to the folks at Factcheck as well. They said there isn't any proof that they could offer that would ever be good enough. The wingnuts would always believe that something was forged, no matter what evidence was presented. Their belief in the face of evidence -- denial -- is similar to the Holocaust deniers.

Factcheck is right. These people believe they are right and they can't figure out why no one is taking them seriously. I just hope the secret service is keeping their eye on these folks because their words are venomous. The more they're marginalized, the more they'll feel threatened and inclined to take action.

McCain Rally: Obama is a Non Citizen

Obama's birth certificate has been held and photographed while being held by Fact Check. Are people really this stupid or are they just trying to support McCain who's so lame that they have to make stuff up?

McCain's Camp is Outraged at Democrats

Outraged they are.
McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace was on all the morning "news" shows responding to the rumors that spurred the announcement that Sarah Palin's daughter is five months pregnant with the help of, and we may as well call out Levi Johnston, the father.

Wallace blamed the liberal and democratic blogs. She called the rumors "lewd" and the most disgusting ever, "the ugliest of politics as usual." I admit I read the rumor but knew better than to repeat it here, but the republicans have no room to talk. There are wingnuts out there who are still trying to prove that:

1)Obama is a secret terrorist Muslim
2)Obama wasn't born in the US
3)Obama was an "illegitimate" child
4)That he's a drug addict.

The smears against Obama are the ugliest of politics as usual. Despicable. I haven't seen the McCain camp come out against these smears. There has been an all out campaign to smear Obama. Meanwhile, Obama told the media to back off the Palin story. He reminded them that his mother was 18 when she had him. He said families are off limits.

So for the McCain camp to throw the blame at the democrats for outing Sarah Palin, when the McCain camp should've let the public know up front, is an outrage. Their excuse is they couldn't let the public know upfront, Palin was introduced on Friday and she couldn't announce it in her speech.

Well, if they hadn't been so intent on politicking and announcing the day after the democratic convention, they could've allowed time to let the public know.

Here's why it matters: If a poor teen of color gets pregnant it's a scurrilous event but when it's a rich white family, it's the best thing since sliced bread. Sarah Palin is practically a hero at this point.

Here's another reason why it matters:
Palin and McCain believe in abstinence-only education. While she may be able to support her daughter's child, there are poor teens who aren't able to do that. So what's good for her family isn't necessarily what's good for America.

It's hypocrisy at its ugliest.

FactCheck Touches Obama's Birth Certificate

This rumor -- that Obama wasn't born in the US -- has been rampant on all the hate sites and Jerome Corsi's new book of lies also pushes the lie, which is now proven beyond doubt that it's false. Well, at least in reality. Some people live in their small worlds where anything can be true if they say it enough. 

Factcheck picked up the original and felt it and took pictures with it. I checked in with the hate mongers and fear not, they STILL are chewing on this lie (it's even filed as "conspiracy") and they have plenty of other outlandish stuff to please themselves. 

FactCheck: In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."

We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

PolitiFact also went through rings of fire to track Obama's birth certificate and to determine if it was real.
McCain hasn't released his birth certificate but Obama did.
Snopes debunked the lies coming from the radical extremists on the right.
If you suspect Obama's birth certificate isn't real after you've looked at nonpartisan facts, then you should explore the real reasons why you doubt the truth. What are the real reasons you dislike Obama? Admit to those and get on with your life. There is a truth and if you choose to be fooled, you choose to be exploited.

Hawaii Health Rejects Corsi on Obama Birth Cert

This rumor, that Obama's birth certificate is forged, is rampant at places like freerepublic.com, and bigot Jerome Corsi's new book gives it more life. Corsi needs to be publicly shamed for being so ignorant. I wonder why he feels so threatened by Obama? Could it be the whole white supremacy thing? 

We can't be a nation that caters to the lowest common denominator anymore.

MediaMatters: Summary: On Fox News, Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi claimed that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama "has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website." In fact, the Hawaii Department of Health has confirmed that the birth certificate posted online by the Obama campaign is "a valid Hawaii state birth certificate" and has called speculation about Obama's citizenship "pretty ridiculous."
....
On the August 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, claimed that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama "has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website." In fact, the Hawaii Department of Health has confirmed that the birth certificate posted online by the Obama campaign is "a valid Hawaii state birth certificate" and has called the speculation about Obama's citizenship "pretty ridiculous."

Referring to Obama's birth certificate, which was posted on the Obama campaign's Fight the Smears website in response to unfounded claims that Obama is not a natural-born citizen, Corsi said: "The campaign has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website ... The original birth certificate of Obama has never been released, and the campaign refuses to release it." Co-host Steve Doocy asked, "Well, couldn't it just be a State of Hawaii-produced duplicate?" Corsi replied: "No, it's a -- there's been good analysis of it on the Internet, and it's been shown to have watermarks from Photoshop. It's a fake document that's on the website right now."

In an August 13 article, The Honolulu Advertiser reported that Hawaii Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said that her office contacted the Obama campaign to find a solution to the repeated requests for Obama's birth certificate. She reportedly said that the Obama campaign "responded and apparently it isn't good enough that he posted his birth certificate."
Read more about what Corsi had to say.