Has any other candidate for President been required to prominently andpublicly display his/her birth certificate to prove they are American (particularly after they have already won the nomination)?
If so, I am unaware of this happening. If not, I guess this is just more proof of Geraldine Ferraro’s thoughtful “black guys have it easy” thesis.
*** Update ***
The verdict from the lunatic fringe- it isn’t good enough! the birth certificate needs additional debunking. A genealogist needs to be summoned to determine whether or not Obama’s father is indeed “African.”
You think I am kidding? Check out the comments at Hot Air.
*** Update #2 **
I am looking at my original birth certificate right now, from WV, and it does not specify what hospital I was born in, or what time I was born. Interestingly enough, it does not ask what “race” I am, it simply asks what color I am (“White”, the birth certificate informs us). Although if we wanted to haggle, sometimes when I have had too much sun I take on a pinkish red. Clearly there is a conspiracy in WV regarding my birth.
The Moar You Know
Oh, for fuck’s sake. The reichtards seem to be succeeding in their plans to drown us all in irrelevant bullshit.
Kevin
Weird, this is actually the first I’ve heard of this ridiculous rumor.
I’ve never heard of such demands in previous elections, either.
gypsy howell
So will they make McCain release his, so we can get into a good, substantive debate about whether being born in Panama qualifies as being born in the United States?
ThymeZone
Barack will need to wear two lapel pins now:
The flag pin, and his birth certificate pin.
Also his I Love Jesus pin, his I Support the Troops pin, his God Bless America pin, and his Remember the Maine pin.
Actually, he will have so many pins, a body man will have to follow him around with a pin board in order to display them.
Let us thank the GOP for turning the American Experiment into an exercise in navel-gazing superstitious symbolism.
Luckily, we have a media that is well suited to advancing this vision of our politics.
Tzal
Go check out Sadly, No. They have Fox’s latest missive, with Michelle Malkin thrown in for good measure. Also, check out some of the links in the comments.
David Hunt
I’m not a history buff, but I seriously doubt that this has ever come up before, especially for anyone at this stage of a Presidential election. If a candidate wasn’t a natural-born citizen, that fact would have been exposed long before this point in the race. The only reason that it’s happening now is as an obvious slur to keep (near)rational-minded Republican and near-Republicans from defecting to Obama in November
smiley
I’m only surprised at the rumors themselves, especially the middle name, but not that there were rumors. With his name and international background, I’m not surprised.
cleek
i hope the wingnuts realize that electing John McCain, with his Panamanian heritage, will help bring about a massive invasion of central American immigrants. they should spend their energy researching the fact that McCain is the Manchurista Candidate.
Zifnab
I am the first in line to advocate that there are a great many stupid people in America. However, I don’t think we’re that stupid. Or, at the least, we bore easily enough that having cable news harp on for the next three days about exactly how authentic a Barack Obama birth certificate is will cost the major networks another blow to their ratings.
There was a time when cable news was an actual news source. People watched it to get news. Now its just cheap entertainment. Eventually, however, people are going to stop tuning in. I mean, this shit isn’t even controversial. There’s no blonde haired bimbo to strut across the screen to even pass as your standard cable news porn. Even the dumbest of the dumb just isn’t going to care after a while. At this point, the harpies have passed up “tactless” and sunk straight down into “boring as sin”.
Should Know Better
Of for the love of…
I know it’s pointless but I’m writing to Fox, that is some f’ed up bullshit right there.
KCinDC
I really thought when I read the initial question that it must be about McCain, since he’s the one who’s birth is at all questionable with regard to presidential eligibility (not that I agree with the questioning).
stickler
Given the fact that the most exotic President we’ve ever elected was (gasp) an Irish Catholic, I’m not actually too surprised that the exoticism of Barack Obama’s background has attracted hand-wringing. I’m surprised it hasn’t been worse, frankly (and I expect it will get worse before the end of his second term, too).
But think about it: we’ve been electing WASP-y white guys for two hundred years. And now we’re looking at electing a black guy whose middle name is Hussein.
How is that possible? Visionary, but hopelessly incompetent leadership. That’s George W. Bush: architect of the amazing. (Looks like he might just have engineered the dawn of a new era in party organization, too — by destroying the GOP. Creative destruction!)
KCinDC
Damn, the middle name thing is stupid. “Hmm, having Muhammad as a middle name might be a drawback. I know, I’ll says it’s Hussein instead!”
Kevin
I think Michelle Malkin ought to show us her birth certificate.
jenniebee
So… is being born to a parent with American citizenship no longer a qualifier for being a natural-born American citizen? Or do questions like that just get in the way of investigations into the Kerning?
norbizness
I heard they all went on a junket to bless the rains there.
jenniebee
Salon has the Baby Mama Video
crw
That’s an irrelevant question. Barack was born on US soil, so he has automatic birthright citizenship. You would think the wingtards who are constantly complaining about anchor babies would realize this.
Dennis - SGMM
This is only the beginning. It isn’t as though the Republicans can run on their ideas or their record. If you can’t build yourself up then tear the other person down. I’m stocking up on popcorn in anticipation of watching the R’s work themselves up into a state of complete inanity.
Just Some Fuckhead
Maybe we need to check out your countertops, Miss Smartypants?
4tehlulz
Seconded.
cleek
heh, wow. Ed Morrissey is like the voice of reason over at Hot Arse.
but, please, wingnuts, make a big deal out of this. maybe we’ll get to see if McCain is older than birth certificates!
jibeaux
I actually read on some comments on tnr yesterday a big long screed about how he wasn’t American because his mother was only 18 when he was born and I don’t know what that has to do with anything in the universe but it was a big long screed about how she hadn’t been a citizen for 5 years and therefore couldn’t have citizen children and blah blah blah, nothing that made any sense.
The fact that he was born in Hawaii, which is and was in 1961, an American state, was mentioned nowhere.
montysano
From the Fox News screen grab at Sadly No:
That’s classy.
jibeaux
Quoted without comment from Hot Air.
passerby
Eventually, they will deploy The N Word.
They cannot win the White House. Polarizing the electorate is a scorched-earth approach. It is their goal and measure of triumph.
It’s all soooooooooooo fuckin schoolyard.
T
Just Some Fuckhead
And rightly so. After all, Hawaii hadn’t been a state for five years yet. And at the age of two, Hawaii was not nearly old enough to begin producing native-born Americans.
4tehlulz
Let’s learn math:
From the Helvetica movie web site:
2008 – 50 = 1958.
1958 is earlier than 196x.
Therefore:
cannot do math, is a lying piece of shit, or both.
TheFountainHead
Do these guys really think that there is anything left to be uncovered on Obama at this point? I mean really? I never say never, but I can’t imagine that there’s anything about this man that hasn’t been explored in embarrassing and shameful detail at this point.
The Other Steve
I seem to recall John McCain wasn’t born in the United States at all.
Dennis - SGMM
From Wikipedia:
Helvetica is the name of a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1937 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger.
TheFountainHead
Yeah, but THOSE brown people aren’t nearly as scary as the ones that Obama comes from. Mostly because McCain’s brown people have been under our thumb for centuries, in fact they’re practically slaves….
….oh wait….
…well, shit, that logic doesn’t follow at all!
RSA
And whose last name ends in a vowel. (A vowel that’s not a “y” or a silent “e”. You’d think we’d have gone through at least one Italian-American President by now, wouldn’t you?)
crw
But but…we haven’t seen the papers Obama wrote for his 6th grade history class. He might have wrote some Islamofascist Anti-American screeds! The world needs to know!
jibeaux
What kos posted is not an original birth certificate and should not be expected to look like whatever piece of paper his mom would’ve been given in 1961. The font, etc., do not indicate a forgery. A couple of people on the thread including Ed Morrissey, Voice of Reason, pointed this out, and everyone keeps merrily pointing out what is missing and what doesn’t look right.
This is just too fun.
cleek
that’s because it’s a reprint – hence the date of Jun 6 2007 stamped on the back (and bleeding through to the front).
and see that statute number in the bottom-right (338-13) ?
here’s the relevant statute:
the thing is a new copy, generated just over a year ago, by a computer.
and for completeness, 338-19:
4tehlulz
They should also post their social security and credit card information, so we can confirm their identities. After all, this could be very important to our country’s future.
taodon
Wow. They really are scared.
The Other Steve
It’s clearly fake. The fonts and kerning are all wrong.
jibeaux
I’m going to keep doing this until my desk collapses from undone work.
The Moar You Know
I’ll see your Malkin video, and raise you this:
Obama Puppets
What year is this, 1922?
The Other Steve
See it’s a clear fake!
jibeaux
John in Chicago
“You think I am kidding? Check out the comments at Hot Air.”
I’ll take your word for it. Cannot. Stand. The Sight. Of Wingnuts.
zzyzx
I don’t think it has as much to do with race as it does with the Rather thing. They did it once, so now they want to try it again and again and again and…
John Cole
Don’t do that- then they will claim Obama is financing his campaign with a Nigerian credit card scam. You know, his dad is from AFRICA and is BLACK so it could happen.
over_educated
*Sigh*. This is why we can’t have nice things.
TheFountainHead
If you think for a second that those papers, and anything else he may have ever penned EVER, haven’t been at least attempted to be collected and parsed, I have beachfront property in Arizona I’d like to sell you.
jibeaux
John in Chicago, free entertainment does not come any finer.
Dennis - SGMM
My Birth Certificate was registered in Honolulu. When I requested copies a couple of years ago I was sent newly printed copies which contained the same info as the original.
This is a new wrinkle. No one had to prove when and where George W. Bush was fished out of the toilet.
jibeaux
Cap’n Ed keeps trying to step in…
…is he unfamiliar with his readers?
Sloegin
They’ll do this, *and* they’ll claim teh opresshun, because the PC police are restricting their freedums from using the N Word.
4tehlulz
In Utah, it might be.
Just Some Fuckhead
I still think the Chicagoan from Hawaii will beat the Panamanian from Arizona. And mainly because of the easy way he dispatched the New Yorker from Arkansas. And let’s face it, the Panamanian from Arizona isn’t being helped one little bit by the Texan from Connecticut.
cleek
… on second thought, i suppose that is made completely obvious by the word “LASER” in the bottom-left corner.
TheFountainHead
From Hillis44.com (yes, there are still gems in that cold dark mine!) a commenter regarding the Republican smear campaign:
I make no comment.
4tehlulz
RAPPERZ SAI IT A11 TEH TIME. FUCKING REVERSE RACIZM
RSA
To Captain Ed’s credit, he’s treating the questions about Obama’s citizenship the same way he did questions about McCain’s: they’re non-starters.
OriGuy
The next wingnut idea is that the action of making Hawaii a state is illegal.
So, why did they wait until now to decide to cut Hawaii loose?
jibeaux
cleek, can you to register at Hot Air and explain how lasers didn’t exist in 1961 and you saw a documentary about lasers once and lasers are for eye surgery and Jedi fights anyway and what do they have to do with birth certificates anyway and this whole thing is just very suspicious?
Or do you have programming to do?
ThymeZone
Remeber, everyone. The antidote to this crap is a little thing called Voter Turnout.
We outnumber them. That’s a fact. We will outnumber them at the polls.
Don’t get thrown off track by this crap.
Garrigus Carraig
This is all very weird. Has nobody over there requested their birth certificate before? I think my original birth certificate is in a safe in my Mom’s house. But when you write the state for it, this is more or less what you get: a notarized print out of the information. This is not news. They can kern all they want.
What struck me is that his father’s race is listed as “African”. Which is interesting. I suspect that if he had been American, it would have been listed as “Negro”, “Colored”, or “Black”. And if he had been a white Kenyan, it would have been “Caucasian”. It’s as though they invented a racial category to cover the oddity of the situation.
cleek
oh boy. now they’re wondering about the state of his parents’ marriage back in 1961.
Garrigus Carraig
This is all very weird. Has no wingnut requested their birth certificate before? I think my original birth certificate is in a safe in my mom’s house. But when you write the state for it, this is more or less what you get: a notarized print out of the information. This is not news. They can kern all they want.
What struck me is that his father’s race is listed as “African”. Which is interesting. I suspect that if he had been American, it would have been listed as “Negro”, “Colored”, or “Black”. And if he had been a white Kenyan, it would have been “Caucasian”. It’s as though they invented a racial category to cover the oddity of the situation.
cleek
(looks around nervously)
Just Some Fuckhead
“Kids, come on now, we don’t eat the paste, we use it to stick things together. I’m going to show you one more time. First apply the paste to- yes Mr. Bauer?”
“Yumm, me mix with koolaid single.”
Just Some Fuckhead
You are so busted.
jibeaux
There’s also discussion about how his dad was still married to a Kenyan woman when he married his mom, so his last name should be Dunham.
His mother could have named him Barack Skywalker Soleil Moon Frye Zappa if she wanted to, WTF is wrong with those morons?
Original Lee
I particularly love this comment WRT to McCain’s birth in Panama:
1. When McCain was born, the US had not yet declared independence from England, so they could not be US citizens.
2. There is no proof that he was born, but there are indications that he was hatched.
3. The decision in 1790 constitutes an ex poste facto law.
montysano
OTOH, if the wingnuts want to conduct a serious, side-by-side comparison of potential First Ladies, that’s a conversation I’m willing to have right now. Bring it!
zzyzx
You know what’s great about this whole line of reasoning? Some people are trying to argue that releasing this document is proof that there is something odd going on. So if you don’t release the certificate, you’re hiding something, but if you do, that confirms that there should be suspicion. Gotta love conspiracy theorists. It doesn’t matter what the evidence is, it always means that they’re right.
Tzal
Since this is a thread about racism and the clumsy deployment of racism by wignuts as a means of electoral success, I humble offer:
Sock Obama
Jim Pharo
This is a good example of “Accuse us of Their Sins.” There’s nothing questionable about BHO’s origin. But their man, JSM, is a proud son of the Panama Canal Zone, and his ability to serve as President is the product of statutory interpretation and unquestioned law.
If the shoe were on the other foot, we would have dozens of legal “scholars” running around debating whether or not birth in the Panama Canal Zone, w They hich, after all, let’s face it is NOT EVEN PART OF THE UNITED STATES, was a complete disqualifier or merely a partial one.
One other historical precedent worth knowing: George Romney, who was born to US citizens in Mexico. When he ran in 68, it was as clear as McCain’s CZ birth “right” that old George was eligible to serve, but there was a minor dust-up over it. Could have had something to do with the fact the Mitt-man grandparents were hiding out in Mexico since their old home in the US had rendered polygamy illegal.
Punchy
Fixed.
KCinDC
Jim, in Captain Ed’s world, the media “put McCain through the wringer” about his birthplace. He’s still recovering from the scars. In fact, that’s probably the whole reason Obama is ahead in the polls — the millions of people who refuse to vote for McCain because he’s not a real American.
The Populist
Hey Michelle Malkintards: Is this the best you can do?
Sheesh, they are lost and have nothing, NOTHING on this guy.
LOL…terrorist fist bumps (crickets), Hussein middle name (whatever), his wife is a loudmouth black nationalist who calls white folks “whitey” (uh huh, next) and my favorite, Barack is a closet Marxist (yep…but the GOP you Malkintards follow in lockstep isn’t fascist?). Guess what idiots? Obama isn’t a Marxist. He has some Socialist tendencies BUT ALL POLITICIANS DO (remember when y’all demanded this country come together YOUR WAY after 9/11?).
Sorry, you are grasping at straws badly here and I am confident that Americans may be smarter than you give them credit for (I hope).
TheFountainHead
May you die a horrible death a thousand times over for creating that image AFTER I’ve had my lunch.
Tony J
And if WordPress Error makes both of those eaten posts show up, I curse thee John. I curse thee with a hiss and a boo.
Dulcie
My mother was born in 1943, and she’s listed as “colored” on her birth certificate. I was born 20 years later, and mine says “negro”. My youngest brother was born in Reno, NV. The hospital wanted to put “negro on his BC. My mom threw a fit – it WAS the seventies after all. So my baby brother was the first AA child born in Washoe County, NV to have his race identified as “black” on his BC. Just a little family trivia on a Thursday!
TheFountainHead
Seriously, the WordPress is teh suk. WTB fewer SQL errors.
Tony J
Oh ferfucksake!
For the record, I was snarking that John McCain was so born in the US of A, even though, at the time, the US of A referred to the Unified Satrapies of Atlantis, and something about being close enough for government work.
S’not even funny to me now. Sulk.
ThymeZone
Hawaii has its own culture WRT race issues, for sure.
I find this pretty fascinating because I have immediate family who graduated from Punahou, and nobody in my family from my or the preceeding generation had any tolerance for racism of any kind.
From the page where I captured that exerpt above …
A comment:
So, you know, this kind of thing isn’t going away. Just keep focussed on the goal, and the methods. Learn about GOTV and start planning.
Punchy
Thanks, pal. You owe my monitor a cleaning.
That site just brings the funny.
GSD
The GOP and the conservative movement have been reduced to a crib of jabbering and bawling infants upset that they may not be in possession of their binky after November.
It is stunning to see the foolshness and childishness in such open display.
-GSD
mrmobi
Ok, so I followed the link to Hot Air and looked at the comments, and something struck me. Those folks sound an awful lot like some of the commenters at Talk Left. Just sayin’
I also have to say I’m loving the way Obama is handling himself against McCain.
Also, McCain is the worst candidate I’ve ever seen, and I watched debates between Obama and Keyes. McCain is hands-down worse than Keyes. Worst. Candidate. Ever.
flyerhawk
Well many people believe that Andrew Jackson was born on a boat on the Atlantic Ocean, thus unqualified to be President. Not sure if they had birth certificates back then.
cleek
the SQL errors are probably a symptom of a flaky db, rather than anything WP is doing. you can often see the SQL WP’s generating in those errors, and there’s nothing crazy about any of it – simple standard stuff.
it looks an awful lot like the db keeps failing to respond and then WP eventually falls over too.
Zifnab
I’m sorry, but McCain really hasn’t been as bad as Bush. That guy was an absolute train wreck from the get go. The difference between today and 2008 is that the media has to be that much more shameless to take shots at Barack and looks that much more shameless for fluffing McCain.
But, in all honestly, McCain just isn’t that bad by comparison.
That’s not to say I’d vote for him. Not to say I’d dream of voting for him. Just that the McCain / Bush comparison, at least in how they run their campaigns, is hardly fair.
Face
Jeebus. It’s only June and they’re this low on ammo? Wow.
Steve V
From the Hotair comments ….
If they really think this is “significant” we really are looking at a landslide this year.
jibeaux
That’s a cool story, tracing the evolution of the nomenclature. Funny, though, I’m pretty sure on mine it just lists the race of the parents. Seems like whatever the resulting kid would be, you’d just look to the parents. I have to say, part of my colorblind ideal includes getting rid of racial classifications like these, particularly with all the multiracial folks out there it just gets silly, but on the other hand it is for identification, so I don’t know.
Evinfuilt
Holy @#$% I can’t believe that exists, its so f^*kin unbelievable to think that someone is doing that. My jaw has literally hit pants (well my drool, I can’t close my jaw.)
Just WOW!! No code, no double-speak, just out and out pure racism in its most pure form.
Dork
Not sure they even had boats back then.
JR
Let’s say this supposed birth certificate is real. How do we know it’s not from some other Barack Hussein Obama II and this islamofscist terrorist has stolen an innocent man’s identity?
I think we’re going to need DNA tests, going back at least 3 generations. Start digging up those coffins now.
P J Evans
Obama’s ancestry, online for all to see:
wargs.com/political/obama.html
D.N. Nation
Oh wow. Those Malkinite comments are just gems:
And my favorite…just out of the blue, in reference to Kos pwn1ng all their d00dz:
I love these…things.
Dulcie
My bi-racial niece and my two nephews don’t have a “race” on their birth certificate, so I think we’ve definitely come a long way. It may be because they were all born in Las Vegas. There’s a huge multi racial population here, and they don’t put race on BC’s any more.
rollSound
The entire Republican party is reducing itself to Juror #10.
ThymeZone
Seriously, anyone here really didn’t expect this?
Racism is real, and it isn’t going away. But … here’s the beauty part … we will defeat it.
Thanks to a congenial arrangement of circumstances, we’ve been given an opposition that cannot find its ass with both hands, and is — today, as we speak — selling itself as the Iraq Surge Candidacy as represented by an old fool with an annoying speaking voice.
Like our war in Iraq, McCain’s candidacy is surging.
Feel the surge.
Cain
The wingnuts are out in force, racists are out in force. Change sucks for some people.. Too fucking bad. We’re going ram it down their collective throats.
cain
Michael D.
This is the stupidest issue I’ve EVER seen come up in a campaign. The ONLY good thing about it is that it is making the Right look like a bunch of fucking morAns. When I see shit like this, I’m embarrassed to even be remotely interested in politics.
Other things I don’t give a fuck about:
1. John Kerry’s service record
2. Bush’s National Guard service record
3. Barack Obama’s middle name
4. Barack Obama’s birth certificate
5. John McCain’s age
6. Hillary’s stint on the board at Wal-Mart
7. John Edwards’ fucking hair
8. Who Bush’s ancestors were and who they had business dealings with
9. What the candidates’ religious beliefs are (although I prefer none)
10. Umpteen dozen other things that have nothing to do with whether or not someone can fix the economy, uphold the Constitution, balance a budget, inspire the country, and the countless other things a president has to do.
FUCK!
Lee Burl
These wingnuts aren’t right in the head. There’s just some level of mental illness at work in their poor little minds.
That this should even warrant discussion, just tells me how low these cockroaches are willing to sink to smear Obama.
Steve V
BTW, an offshoot of this whole birth certificate flap is that the crazy righties think that Obama’s African side isn’t really “black” but is instead Arab. I’ve only seen it in blog comments here and there and I haven’t felt like exploring it, but that looks like another below-the-surface rumor that’s ripe for mocking.
Bey
The sock puppet is bad, but I think the monkey is worse
I think we should start a pool for when they lose all control and go for the N-word. $5 to get a spot and the proceeds go to the Obama campaign.
I call the morning of August 23 for sentimental reasons. 3 of my 5 sibs were born then.
dadanarchist
The only person off the top of my head it could have an issue with in the past was Alexander Hamilton, who was born a bastard (out of wedlock) on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. There was some question if Hamilton would have been able to run, but this issue was sticky as technically none of the founders were born in the “United States.”
It all became moot however after Hamilton was killed in the duel.
Krista
I can’t see the point of putting race on BCs. We don’t do it up here. I can see the point of indicating where the mother and father were born, as that has some sort of record-keeping value. But race? That IS just silly.
Kevin
Apparently, someone over at the GOS has found McCain’s birth certificate.
Ray Radlein
There was actually some speculation back in 1964 about Barry Goldwater’s citizenship, given that Arizona was not yet a state when he was born there, but the overall National Stupidity Quotient at the time was nowhere near the level required for anyone to actually make any kind of fuss about it.
David Hunt
Maybe to you and me, but I’m going to take a guess that your formative years happened sometime after the 60s. The best thing I can say about the level of racism in the U.S. today is that it’s much better than it was then. We haven’t stamped it out, but we sure have given several beat-downs. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised that the racial notations on BCs was (at least in part) to keep those lousy half-breed n****rs who looked like real honest white folk from passing. Not the only reason, I’m sure, but…
jibeaux
Nutpicking for fun, I’m sorry but I did warn you I was going to keep doing this.
Original Lee
Anybody here belong to the Sons of the American Revolution? According to the genealogy link given upthread, Obama qualifies 5 times over. Maybe someone can sponsor him quickly and make some gooper heads explode – if they can’t understand a duplicate birth certificate, then they surely won’t be able to understand that belonging to the SAR doesn’t have anything to do with your citizenship.
nightjar
I was born in the back of a Greyhound bus rollin’ down Highway 41.
Cathy W
For what it’s worth, I’m a genealogy hobbyist. I haven’t got any personal experience with Hawaiian vital records, but in general, in most locations, at present (enough qualifiers? :) ), when you order a certified copy of a vital record, a court employee types or prints out a new one on a standard form. So no, the typography isn’t consistent with what an original document from 1961 would show, but nobody ever claimed it was or should be. The one thing I’m surprised to not see is a signature of some sort, but I don’t know what Hawaii’s standard requires.
…and I have to agree that if this is all they got, they got nothin’.
D-Chance.
You mean, other than the other presidential candidate, whose place of birth was also a point of contention?
Zifnab
Isn’t that the origin store of Mel Gibson’s character from Road Warrior?
John
Given that Jackson was born in 1767, and thus would fall into the category of “people who were citizens when the constitution was enacted” rather than “natural born citizens”, I’m not sure how that would work.
OriGuy
No one even suggested it until the wingnuts brought it up. The fact that McCain was born in the CZ has been mentioned, but disqualifying children of US military born overseas is so distasteful that it would only be suggested if it affected a Democrat.
jibeaux
D-Troll, you got a link to McCain’s birth certificate? I call fakesies on this one.
Zifnab
There are a number of scholarships and various economic or legal benefits that come with being of certain racial ancestry. Native Americans, for instance, have certain land and legal rights that your average citizen doesn’t posses. For a while, certain colleges – like U. Michigan – had racial quotas that admissions directors were required to meet.
There are legitimate reasons for indicating race or ethnicity on legal papers like a Birth Certificate. It’s not complete nonsense.
Zifnab
Weren’t the Repubs talking about amending the constitution to let Arnold Schwarzenegger run? I mean, if they don’t mind an Eastern European running for Governor of the most populace state in the nation, you’d think they would whine a little less about Barack Obama just because he was born in Hawaii.
I mean, they support John McCain. They support Arnold. What characteristics do McCain and Arnold share that Obama doesn’t? … … …
…
…
…
Oh, gee. I hope this isn’t that Republican Racism thing again.
KRK
Edited for rhythmic purity.
J.R. Labrador
From the wayback files: Chester Arthur was rumored to have been born in Canada.
jibeaux
For any amateur lawyers out there, Grutter and Gratz were the cases setting the affirmative action in universities parameters. (Okay to consider race, no to a bonus points system would be the supershort version.) Suffice to say, I don’t think that would any longer be a compelling reason to include race on a birth certificate. I do see value in it, though, for identification & fraud concerns. BCs are often used to procure other identification like driver’s licenses. It could theoretically limit fraudulent use of birth certificates, but only pretty theoretically. Most of us probably all know someone who doesn’t look like their “assigned” race. As for American Indians, the legal rights are conveyed with federal recognition from the tribes and if I’m not mistaken, the tribes would issue their own identifications to those it considers members. I filled out my kids’ birth certificates myself. I don’t think I could’ve gotten them a share in a casino just by putting “Native American” on there.
scarshapedstar
These dumbshits do know that McCain was born in Panama, don’t they?
Tsulagi
I bet Captain Ed trying to herd the loons is real happy now he jumped his own ship to be a deckhand on the USS Malkin Hot Air.
Have no idea where mine might be, but now I’m kind of curious as to what my birth certificate might list as race or color. I’m multiracial. Maybe there’s a “?” under race or “Tan” under color.
Just checked my passport, but it doesn’t list either one. But hey, noticed it does indicate which state I was born in.
Alert the Hot Airians! They have another source that could prove Obama wasn’t born in HI. But then, no doubt one of the citizen sleuths would correctly point out the State Dept. is a bastion of commie liberals that would cover for Obama.
KRK
Are any of those economic or legal benefits based on the ethnicity indicated on one’s birth certificate?
Members of Native American tribes receive rights and benefits based on inclusion on tribal rolls. Its not a question of ethnicity, but being recognized by a sovereign nation (tribe) as a citizen. The only relevant information on a state-issued birth certificate is the identity of the parents.
It’s always been my understanding that race-based eligibility in other areas is a matter of self-identification by the applicant (or eyeballing by decisionmakers) and not any documentary proof of racial ancestry. For example, if black students had to submit birth certificates or other documentation to prove their blackness when applying for scholarships, that would undermine the entire premise of the otherwise utterly true-to-life epic Soul Man.
Dreggas
Let’s not forget, this rumor originally was started by hilltards…
Dreggas
Fixed…
nightjar
LOL, absolutely correct. Sorry Dickey.
Echo without Bunnies or Men
Dumbest fucking people on the planet. The lot of them. How pathetic and desperate can you get?
David Hunt
Listen, idiot. If you think for one second that Hilary Clinton’s people wouldn’t have tracked down any irregularities in Obama’s birth records and used them during the primaries, then you’re way too far gone for meaningful conversation. This in entirely a smear that Republican operatives are throwing out into as chum into places like HotAir so that it will bounce around the echo chamber until Sean Hannity starts talking about it, which then gets it talked about by Brit Hume on FoxNews, and then pogos its way into the AP as a “legitimate” story that the originators of the whole thing hope will shave off another 0.5% to 1% of the popular vote come November.
I don’t know why I’m bothering “saying” that, however. If you don’t realize that, you’re likely too far gone to reach. If you did realize it, then you’re not worth justifying with a response.
Dreggas
Actually the rat-fuckers on NoQuarter and elsewhere were starting this rumor a while back, or at least trying to.
Zifnab
Well, yeah. If the quota system says “You must enroll X% of your applicants from the African-American population”, a BC certifies that any given one of those people is, in fact, African-American and not Scotch-Irish or Japanese.
And, I could be mistaken, but you can’t just become a member of the tribe to gain the privileges of being Native American. The sovereignty rights come from bloodline. Yeah, you could just reference the parents, but then they’d have to prove their bloodline in turn. At some point, someone needs to sit down and identify himself or herself as Cree or Sioux or what have you. Otherwise, some red neck Floridian with great-grandparents from Germany could run a Casino off his property just by claiming membership in the Cherokee tribe. And who’s going to argue?
Tsulagi
That’s Tsalagi to you, paleface. Actually, before the Trail of Tears Cherokee were in the GA area. Seminoles were in FL.
karen marie
there has never been a candidate who’s been asked for his birth certificate.
there was chatter about george romney in 1968 because he was born in mexico, his parents having fled there so they could continue practicing polygamy but returned to the united states in 1912 when the mexican revolution broke out.
but mccain has the same “issue” as george romney in that he was born in panama.
the republicans have nothing but a lot of burning match books to toss around.
Adrienne
Yeah, but I was applying for schools in 2002-2003 and guess how many asked for a copy of my birth certificate? NONE. Zero. So, that’s bullshit.
BC
Myself, I think Barack Obama is in the witness protection program and this birth certificate was written by Justice Department and put into the Hawaii Bureau of Vital Statistics files. Can you prove me wrong?