Birther or Not, Here They Come! Rightbloggers Work the Obama Birth Certificate Angle

As you may have heard, there is among certain people a controversy as whether Barack Obama was really born in the United States. They generally believe that Obama's certification of live birth and the confirmation of Hawaii's State Department of Health are either bogus or insufficient. When lawyer Philip J. Berg demanded better proof of Obama's citizenship before the November election, he had little evident support, but in these early months of the Obama Presidency some Republican politicians, talk show hosts, and of course rightbloggers have taken up his cause, and for that have been granted the derisory cognomen "birthers."

To be sure, some prominent conservatives have dismissed the birthers' claims, and even those GOP officials who have entertained them seem disinclined to to go to the wall for them. Despite a poll showing an ominous level of support among Republicans for the notion that the President is an undocumented alien, there's little hope at present for a serious groundswell of birther agitation, aside from some "citizen grand juries" summoned by the more creative sort to defenestrate the usurper.

But while the birther movement has its diehards, many rightbloggers enjoy roiling their concerns just to cloud Obama's reputation. They present themselves as birther agnostics -- observers who don't necessarily believe the charges, and sometimes take pains to distinguish themselves from the birthers, but find in the very existence of the controversy proof Obama has something to hide.

National Review's Mark Krikorian, for example, stated "the whole birther thing is lunacy" -- then quoted an email asserting that "we do know that there are things Obama tried to hide, such as his association with Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger as well as William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Do his records reveal other questionable associations or statements?... Why is Obama getting a pass when other presidents do not?" While we are unaware that other presidents have had their birth records so tirelessly questioned, context suggests the lesson the correspondent draws from the birther investigation is that Obama is untrustworthy.

An author at Right Wing News rose to "point out one more time, I believe Obama was born in Hawaii, is considered to be a natural born citizen, and has every right to be president." However! "I suspect there is something embarrassing on the certificate of birth (versus the short Certification of Live Birth) that he doesn't want people to see, hence the lawsuits."

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/08/birther_or_not.php

:eyes:

As was the Terry Schaivo case, it is a steadily eroding force on what little seriousness they've brought to the party over the last several years.

Every day this preposterous twaddle is trotted out -- and people pretend that it's true or even reasonable to ask whether it's true -- further undermines independents' support for the right. No one wants to be associated with cranks, crackpots, and the tinfoil-hat brigade.

Eventually, Birtherism will die its own death, but in the meantime it's making the whole Republican party gangrenous. Obama has got to be loving this.

Let the crazy continue!

they disagree with the birthers? I haven't heard of any who have made disclaimers. I have not heard anything from the RNC either.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/exclusive-michael-steele-blasts-birtherism-as-unnecessary-distraction-says-obama-is-us-citizen/">claimed it was a distraction. The other cowards are waffling because they are using the issue as fodder to attack this administration for other things.

And he's stupid. Or at least a feckless twit.

Yeah. When they listed "20 inches" they weren't talking about his height.

They's terrified of the scary Black man in the WH. Sucks to be them.

...such as a notation of an unforecasted total eclipse of the sun, a scary raven on the windowsill, a creepy nurse hanging herself with the umbilical cord, a big mean dog showing up and growling at the doctor when he tried to slap the baby as it exited the birth canal which reeked of brimstone, and the baby saying Hail Satan! instead of crying.

Who knew.