Gardner struggles with Obama citizenship question

Republican congressional candidate Cory Gardner, fielding a question about President Barack Obama’s citizenship status, told a Fort Collins town-hall meeting Wednesday night that “the administration is trying to say he was born in this country.”

That made Gardner the latest Republican to try to finesse a question about whether Obama was born outside the United States, an issue viewed by many as a fantasy of fringe conspiracy theorists but which polls show is a fairly widely held belief among Republicans.

I mentioned Gardner’s awkward answer in my Thursday morning story on the meeting. But I thought it was worth sharing in more detail.

Here’s a quick rough transcript of the exchange. I’m going to post the audio as soon as my technical wizards can pull out the 2 minute, 30 second segment from my two-hour recording.

The Obama citizenship question, and Gardner’s response, illustrate the challenges he faces as he tries to unseat Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Fort Collins, in 2010.

Gardner, a state representative from Yuma, is the clear frontrunner for the Republican congressional nomination. He was in the first group in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program to provide help to GOP candidates seeking to oust Democratic incumbents.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=07deebf354a64ac8be008d98

You give these cretins too much attention. Let them die off.

It should become a term interchangeable with wide-eyed lunatic, something no normal person could possibly vote for.

but I was specifically talking about the birthers. They get so much attention.

Hence the usefulness of this sort of publicity.

Well said.

:patriot:

...you can turn it off, go to a different forum OR...

use the "hide thread" feature.

You will find the "hide thread" feature especially useful after the death of a famous person, ie Michael Jackson or Tim Russert.

PS:

Some of us are entertained by the craziness of birthers, myself included.

Surely you're not suggesting that things that I, NYC_SKP, enjoy not be posted because you don't care to just pass on the thread or use the handy "hide thread" feature.

Are you?

:donut:

Carry on.............B-)

<deep1 pops out of thread and goes about her own merry way>

much attention to the lunatic fringe of the party. But the GOP have to parse, weave, dodge and cater to these people.

It speaks volumes that the Republicans feel they have to give these nutcases the time of day. Perhaps that is because that is just about all that is left of them.

Remind me to donate her some money before November of '10.

Hawkeye-X