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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / Re-Birther Of The Uncool, Part Eleventy Squared

Re-Birther Of The Uncool, Part Eleventy Squared

by Zandar|  February 27, 20137:39 am| 92 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America, Republican Venality, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Bring On The Meteor, Wingnut Event Horizon

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Oh racist Republican jackass birthers, don’t ever stop reminding the American people just which party is full of bigots and crackpots whose awful views aren’t just tolerated but are openly welcomed.  Via Taegan Goddard:

Michigan state Sen. Tom Casperson (R) told a radio show he’s not sure where Obama was born, according to Deadline Detroit.

Said Casperson: “I don’t know because it seems like that issue was dropped immediately as far as the major media went. My gut tells me if it had been a different president, say George W. Bush, they’d have been digging into like there was no tomorrow and trying to get to the bottom of, which they never really tried to get to the bottom of.”

That’s because there’s nothing to get to the bottom of, you moron.  The President was born in Hawaii, period.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is a racist clown, point blank.  Stop it.  It’s the guy’s second term already.  If you’re still questioning his birthplace at this point after five years, there’s really nothing left but good ol’ racism to explain it.  End of line.

Ain’t nobody got time for this, as they say.

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Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    Linda Featheringill

    February 27, 2013 at 7:47 am

    I think that everyone in the country has heard the questions about Obama’s birth. Probably most folks believe he was born in Hawaii and a good chunk of the rest of them don’t care at this point. That nonsense might have had some relevance in 2008 but now we’ve lived with the guy for four years. We know him.

    Not all of us are Obots. But most of us in the US really don’t care.

    Your are quite right, though, in that we don’t have time for this nonsense. There is too much that needs to be done.

  2. 2.

    Bob

    February 27, 2013 at 7:47 am

    Racism was the starting point.

  3. 3.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 27, 2013 at 7:48 am

    Let the Repubs continue to show exactly who they are. Good luck with that in 2016.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    February 27, 2013 at 7:48 am

    To be fair, the media was pretty harsh with W. I mean, the way they reported his lies about Iraq as truth, it was clearly a liberal conspiracy to allow him to jump into a disastrous and unpopular war that would ultimately ruin his reputation and that of the Republican Party.

  5. 5.

    Ash Can

    February 27, 2013 at 7:51 am

    Shorter Casperson et al. (with each word spoken between the impact of head banging against wall): “The. President. Can. Not. Be. Black. He. Simply. CAN. NOT. BE. BLACK.”

  6. 6.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 27, 2013 at 7:58 am

    There’s really nothing left but good ol’ racism to explain it.

    I’m going to be charitable and just assume the dude’s just an asshole.

    Bill Clinton after all got to be ‘America’s first black president’ not because he was black, but because he was a Democrat.

    Once you divide the world into those born booted, and spurred, and ready to ride on the one hand, and those born saddled and ready to be ridden on the other, the latter group — the saddled — turns out to be quite diverse.

  7. 7.

    Chyron HR

    February 27, 2013 at 7:58 am

    Yeah, if Bush was born in Connecticut but tried to convince people he was a good ol’ boy from Tay-Has, the liberal media would’ve torn him to shreds.

  8. 8.

    mai naem

    February 27, 2013 at 7:59 am

    This birther issues pisses me off to no end. I am not sure if it would help but anybody who would look into Kenyan history would know that 1/Kenya was fighting for independence when Obama was born(from the Brits) Anybody heard of the Mau Mau rebellion? 2/Obama’s grandma would not have let her very pregnant daughter travel to a third world country fighting for its independence 3/If there was a mixed race kid born in Kenya at that time(and even up to an extent now), trust me, there would be a hundred witnesses because Kenya was/is a pretty segregated country and a mixed race kid would have been a rare shocking occurrence. I used to word with a birther and I wanted to slap her upside the head because she was just sooooo dumb.

  9. 9.

    amk

    February 27, 2013 at 8:05 am

    It’s the guy’s second term already.

    egg.sack.lee. Then why we should care what some unknown teabagging maroon says?

    Time to ignore these idjits and move on.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    February 27, 2013 at 8:08 am

    @mai naem:

    Not that I disagree, but if you are explaining things at that level, you’ve already lost.

  11. 11.

    Linda Featheringill

    February 27, 2013 at 8:08 am

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Once you divide the world into those born booted, and spurred, and ready to ride on the one hand, and those born saddled and ready to be ridden on the other, the latter group — the saddled — turns out to be quite diverse.

    My goodness. Such a good description of life.

    To carry your images a step further, I would guess that we probably can’t completely rid ourselves of the saddles but we don’t have to cooperate with the spurs and riding crops.

  12. 12.

    xian

    February 27, 2013 at 8:11 am

    they never got to the bottom of Bush’s air national guard desertion.

  13. 13.

    Warren Terra

    February 27, 2013 at 8:13 am

    The projection is amazing – especially when you consider the pretty strong case that Dubya went AWOL during a time of war, for over a year, and the utter press disinterest in Dubya’s business career, which consisted of getting capitalized and then repeatedly bailed out by his daddy’s rich friends; selling stock just before the public disclosure of bad numbers, when he was on the board and in fact was responsible to the board for the audit that produced the numbers; and finally striking it rich because a bunch of friends bought into a legal monopoly, appropriated land using eminent domain, and rewarded his political future by giving him additional ownership stake beyond what he was entitled to.

    So, yeah, it’s Obama whose background the media refuses to report on.

  14. 14.

    MattF

    February 27, 2013 at 8:13 am

    Just doesn’t matter if it’s true, just doesn’t matter if it’s racist, just doesn’t matter if no one cares any more. It’s a piece of fecal matter and it gets thrown in the general direction of the libruls. Right now, the best the wingers can do is ‘maybe Obambi was born someplace else‘– to call that weak sauce is a libel on sauce.

  15. 15.

    TS

    February 27, 2013 at 8:19 am

    @mai naem:

    All that you say is absolutely irrelevent. The president’s birth was registered in Hawaii. They do not register babes born other than in Hawaii. They do not illegally register people nor do they illegally change records. These people not only attack the President – they attack the state of Hawaii

  16. 16.

    mai naem

    February 27, 2013 at 8:20 am

    @Baud: I am not so sure. I think it’s kind of like Kerry’s Swiftboating issue which was never aggressively attacked initially. I know its not exactly the same because this definitely has a racist tint to it.

  17. 17.

    Marcus

    February 27, 2013 at 8:21 am

    amk:

    This is just something to note for when they run for reelection. Politicians are used to the short term memories of voters, where they could do this stuff and it would be forgotten come the next election cycle. His comment(s) are now on the intertubes forever, to be googled along with his name, in case anyone wants to know what type of idiot they have on the ballot. And as more and more internet savvy younger folk come to voting age, they’ll check the internet about who is running, and folks like this will find out that what they say may have…career consequences.

  18. 18.

    Southern Beale

    February 27, 2013 at 8:22 am

    I love the logic. So if the media drops the issue, that means there’s something to it? Great. I kinda remember the media dropping the whole George W. Bush went AWOL thing. MUST BE TRUE.

    Assholes.

  19. 19.

    reflectionephemeral

    February 27, 2013 at 8:30 am

    I was going to make the points that xian and Warren Terra made. I remember reading the original Boston Globe story, in May 2000, pointing out the holes in Bush’s National Guard service. I didn’t read it too carefully; “it’s gonna be everywhere,” I thought to myself. “Plenty of time to learn about this.” But it wasn’t. Plenty of coverage of Clinton’s letter to his uncle or whatever in 1992, and of Rev. Wright in 2008, but this just vanished into the ether.

    @ @Davis X. Machina:

    I’m going to be charitable and just assume the dude’s just an asshole. Bill Clinton after all got to be ‘America’s first black president’ not because he was black, but because he was a Democrat.

    That’s true, but racism underlies that, too. It was racism that drove the Republican Party’s transformation from a political party with some shared principles into purely resentment driven identity politics. They courted the Dixiecrats, and now they’re defined by the Dixiecrats.

  20. 20.

    SensesFail

    February 27, 2013 at 8:33 am

    My gut tells me if it had been a different president, say George W. Bush, they’d have been digging into like there was no tomorrow and trying to get to the bottom of, which they never really tried to get to the bottom of.

    The projection level is off the charts here.

  21. 21.

    Paul in KY

    February 27, 2013 at 8:34 am

    @Baud: We are so good at the long con.

  22. 22.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 8:34 am

    The overt racism on Free Republic is sometimes astonishing. Not because you don’t expect it, but because they’re always whining about how people unfairly smear them as racists. They try so hard to post in “you’re not fooling anyone” coded language about how when the SHTF (shit hits the fan) they’re main problem with be dealing with “certain groups of urban unhabitants.” Hmmm… pigeons?

    Birthers get a hard time on Free Republic, but mostly because they have failed so severely. If they’d ever had a victory, they would probably be heroes. Plenty of Freepers, however, consider Orly Taitz the greatest American ever and aren’t embarrassed to say it.

    Sadly, after 7 years, my account was suspended. My crimes were 1) correcting misinformation about Obamacare and 2) failure to hate gays.

    I always played a right-wing libertarian. There are plenty of them on Free Republic. I was combative, but I generally fit in. Occasionally, in character, I would say some things I wouldn’t personally say, but even in character, I couldn’t be the gay-bashing asshole the site demanded.

    When site founder Jim Robinson confronted me personally and demanded to know whether I was “promoting the gay agenda,” I answered with a mealy-mouthed, but honest, “That wasn’t my intention,” and I was thus banished as a troll.

    My only regret is that when he said, “Where in the constitution does it say that the government can FORCE homosexuality on a Christian society?” I should have answered, “It’s not an enumerated power, so I guess that’s delegated to the individual states.”

  23. 23.

    Zandar

    February 27, 2013 at 8:35 am

    @Davis X. Machina: No, it’s racism. At the most broad, it’s Otherization of a guy that’s been President for more than four years now.

    Tired of splitting hairs after half a decade of this nonsense.

  24. 24.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 8:35 am

    @Warren Terra:

    Dubya went AWOL during a time of war

    Bush did not go AWOL.

    He deserted.

    Much worse.

  25. 25.

    Paul in KY

    February 27, 2013 at 8:36 am

    @mai naem: I think we have pushed back (from the beginning) harder than Kerry & team ever did on the swiftboating (at least at beginning).

  26. 26.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 8:38 am

    @mai naem: All true, but you’re really in the realm of, “OK, so let’s say for the sake of argument that the Bavarian Illuminati did manage to replace George Washington with a clone…”

  27. 27.

    MeDrewNotYou

    February 27, 2013 at 8:44 am

    My gut tells me if it had been a different president, say George W. Bush

    My gut tells me that the reason the issue of W Bush’s birth certificate never came up is because he’s the white kind of person. (IfyouknowwhatI’msayingandIthinkyoudo.)

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    February 27, 2013 at 8:52 am

    @MeDrewNotYou: My gut tells me that the reason the issue of W Bush’s birth certificate never came up is because he’s the white kind of person. (IfyouknowwhatI’msayingandIthinkyoudo.)

    True, this.

    I’ve always seen it as the back-asswards way Wingnuts think… he couldn’t possibly be the President, so there has to be a loophole somewhere… so he’s a Kenyan special agent who wasn’t born here… so he can’t possibly be the President!

    I actually hesitate to call it “thinking.” It’s more like rationalization on steroids riding a rocket into the heart of the sun.

  29. 29.

    jon

    February 27, 2013 at 8:56 am

    Since the Democratic candidate is about 98% likely to be white and at least 50% likely to be male, will the Republicans have any policy proposals to counter that candidate?

  30. 30.

    Anya

    February 27, 2013 at 9:00 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Man, stop making excuses for their bigotry. I get sick of people jumping with “well they hated Clinton too,” every time someone points out naked racism against President Obama. Are you that blind to racism?

    Zandar, speaking of racist shitheads, what do you think about the tweets about Mitch McConnell’s wife by a Kentucky progressive group?

  31. 31.

    PeakVT

    February 27, 2013 at 9:05 am

    Hagel nomination roll call from yesterday. Four Repukes voted to confirm.

  32. 32.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 9:05 am

    @WereBear:

    I’ve always seen it as the back-asswards way Wingnuts think… he couldn’t possibly be the President, so there has to be a loophole somewhere… so he’s a Kenyan special agent who wasn’t born here… so he can’t possibly be the President!

    A fellow BJ commenter pointed out that wingnuts act as if they have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Google it).

    A common NPD pattern is “I lost, so you cheated.” When narcissists fly into their characteristic rage — and I can tell you this from experience — they tend to attack however they can. So I think that Obama’s isn’t exactly what causes the freakout. That Obama is such a repudiation of everything they stand for is what causes the freakout. Race is an easy attack vector. It’s like “I didn’t get out of bed planning to be racist, but then I noticed that the president that I had is black so I called him a ni-CLANG.”

    Besides birther nonsense, you also see allegation that Obama is secretly gay and smokes cracks and whatnot. None of it is logical and I don’t find it particularly enlightening to deconstruct it beyond an expression of impotent rage that will continue until the butthurt fades.

    May the butthurt never fade.

  33. 33.

    Punchy

    February 27, 2013 at 9:09 am

    Michigan’s Republicans are some of the craziest. Aren’t these the fucks that “count” hand votes in 2 seconds or less (to override filibusters, I think) and then declare shit passed? Even when video evidence shows otherwise?

  34. 34.

    jibeaux

    February 27, 2013 at 9:11 am

    Lord Jesus, it’s a fire of stupid.

  35. 35.

    Face

    February 27, 2013 at 9:11 am

    Speaking of, what’s Orly Taitz up to these days? Does she still have her dental/real estate/lawyer license in Cali?

  36. 36.

    mikej(droid)

    February 27, 2013 at 9:17 am

    @The Red Pen:

    you also see allegation that Obama is secretly gay and smokes cracks and whatnot

    I remember when Hillary Clinton was supposed to have decorated a Christmas tree with dildos and crack pipes.

  37. 37.

    Citizen_X

    February 27, 2013 at 9:18 am

    @The Red Pen:

    he said, “Where in the constitution does it say that the government can FORCE homosexuality on a Christian society?”

    Somewhere, Sigmund Freud is taking notes and muttering “Mm-hmmm.”

  38. 38.

    John PM

    February 27, 2013 at 9:20 am

    @PeakVT: Rand Paul voted to confirm Hagel?

  39. 39.

    Zandar

    February 27, 2013 at 9:24 am

    @Anya: I covered that last night on my blog.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 27, 2013 at 9:30 am

    @The Red Pen:
    @Citizen_X: Where in the Constitution does it say the US is Christian?

    @mikej(droid):

    I remember when Hillary Clinton was supposed to have decorated a Christmas tree with dildos and crack pipes.

    That is the sort of thing that just baffles me. Why would they think she would do this? Even assuming that she is evil and interested in destroying the country from the inside, wouldn’t you think she would avoid dumb moves like the X-mas tree gambit that telegraph her evil strategy?

  41. 41.

    PeakVT

    February 27, 2013 at 9:31 am

    @John PM: I guess so. Who knows what is going on in his head. I don’t know why Shelby and Cochran voted yes, either, but I don’t care enough to find out. (Johanns can be explained by geography.) I am slightly surprised that Hagel didn’t get a vote from at least one “moderate” like Collins, but they’re probably looking over their right shoulders at primary opponents.

    Wevs. Done is done, thankfully.

  42. 42.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    February 27, 2013 at 9:32 am

    If Republicans seem insane these days it’s because they are. Many, if not most, of today’s current crop were born and grew up in an America where divisiveness (OF which racism is a part), dirty tricks, and the old bait-and-switch almost guaranteed electoral victory. Only now they don’t. Uh oh. Do they re-examine their ideas or do they flee into an alternate reality that exists solely within their fevered brains?

    That question has been answered.

  43. 43.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 27, 2013 at 9:33 am

    You are so fucking done, Zandar.

    Whatever happened to that guy, anyway? Even taco made a guest appearance the other day under a new nym.

  44. 44.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 27, 2013 at 9:37 am

    @Anya: Man, those people piss me off. It’s really hard to make that ***** Elaine Chao into a sympathetic figure, but somehow they managed.

    She’s not pro-China (at least, not more so than any other Republican). She’s pro-asshole.

  45. 45.

    gvg

    February 27, 2013 at 9:41 am

    It drives me nuts because it’s so illogical. I can’t help it, it’s my own problem being unable to accept sheer stupid dumbness. Why would people want to be stupid?

    The idea that some shadowy group who wanted to create a puppet to grow up and be president would have the kid born out side the US when it would be easier to just have him born in the US? I mean why? Mom’s American and he’d be American where ever he was born but it’s still easier for him to just be born in America. Also some cabal is going to invest all it’s hopes and time on a biracial child in the 60’s? Sure my parents generation thought it shouldn’t matter but they knew it still did and while they could hope it wouldn’t one day, the odds would look better backing a white child. In fact there must be thousands of rich white family boys born every year whose daddy wants him to be President but most don’t even get a chance…the odds of any one child are always bad. A stupid investment but these consp theorists don’t see that. I don’t get it. And what is this secret plot backed President going to do? No president even has the power to just make everyone do anything. He has certain powers but making people turn Muslim isn’t one of them, nor would he be able to order gun’s confiscated or FEMA camps without a whole lot of Congressional votes in favor and media coverage. There is no prize there for some cabal to achieve with getting someone elected. Now juicy money contracts for “friends” yeah that does happen, but not take over the country and magically make everyone but you go along. I know it’s mostly racism but the sheer dumbness of the idea just makes me frustrated. When elected people say stuff like this I feel like I’m in insane land. Or maybe it’s movie land.

  46. 46.

    Anya

    February 27, 2013 at 9:48 am

    @Zandar: Great.

    @Bobby Thomson: Excactly how I feel. They’re bunch of morons. First of all, you don’t get to call yourself progressives and then stoke racism and xenophobia. Second, you’re fucking democrats, you don’t get a pass from the media. Everything you do or say reflects badly on the whole party. Stop it!

  47. 47.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 9:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Where in the Constitution does it say the US is Christian?

    Actually, RimJob didn’t say the US was Christian, he said it had a Christian society, which is arguably true, depending on what you mean by “Christian.”

    wouldn’t you think she would avoid dumb moves like the X-mas tree gambit that telegraph her evil strategy?

    For the same reason that the Bavarian Illuminati secretly encoding everything you need to expose them in symbols on the back of the $1 bill. It’s how they roll in Crazyworld.

  48. 48.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    February 27, 2013 at 9:51 am

    I like birthers. They always feel compelled to share within a minute or two of meeting them, so then I can just look them in the eye, say “oh, you’re one of those assholes” and walk off.

    Saves me a lot of time.

  49. 49.

    kerFuFFler

    February 27, 2013 at 9:57 am

    @mai naem: You’re so right! Another helpful hint that all the birther nonsense is precisely that, is that Hillary REALLY wanted to be president. If there had been ANY doubt whatsoever about Obama’s eligibility to run, Hillary would have used it to knock him out of the primaries.

  50. 50.

    Citizen_X

    February 27, 2013 at 9:58 am

    @Anya:

    you don’t get to call yourself progressives and then stoke racism and xenophobia.

    QFT. Whoever wrote those tweets needs a slap.

  51. 51.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    February 27, 2013 at 9:59 am

    Zandar, speaking of racist shitheads, what do you think about the tweets about Mitch McConnell’s wife by a Kentucky progressive group?

    @Anya: Rense is progressive? Shit, I thought they were Paultards, with a VERY healthy dose of Alex Jones Illuminati bat crazy thrown in. But progressive? Really? I’ll take your word for it as that seems to be the consensus but in all honesty I wouldn’t have guessed that. Of course, it’s so full of crazy it’s not like I’ve ever spent more than 5 seconds on their site. One of those “read, recoil, click new tab” places.

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 27, 2013 at 10:01 am

    @The Red Pen:

    Actually, RimJob didn’t say the US was Christian, he said it had a Christian society, which is arguably true, depending on what you mean by “Christian.”

    Still, when dealing with that kind of textual literalist, it is fun to point out that some of his(?) assumptions are not based in the text. Then, once you have established that you can go outside the four corners of the document, you get to ask why it can be done to support his side, but not any other side. It doesn’t get you anywhere, but it pisses off the other guy – so you’ve got that going for you, which is nice.

  53. 53.

    Citizen_X

    February 27, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: I thought that that was the second repulsive thing: whoever wrote the tweet made those comments, AND linked to Rense.

  54. 54.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 10:14 am

    @gvg: Before I got banned, I spent a lot of time tormenting birthers at Free Republic. So, since you asked:

    Mom’s American and he’d be American where ever he was born

    Actually, there is solid contingent of birthers who claim that both parents must be citizens. They cite a bunch of Supreme Court decisions, none of which actually state this. Google “Minor v. Happersett” for some detail. This case, in particular said that “nobody would deny” a person with two American parents was a citizen, so they falsely claim that the Supreme Court “ruled” the converse.

    Also some cabal is going to invest all it’s hopes and time on a biracial child in the 60′s?

    Ah, but who says this was the only “round” that the International Illuminati Conspiracy had “chambered”? Perhaps some ivy-league white boy was passed over when they realized they they could use White Guilt(tm) to propel a black man into the presidency (the theory nicely rests on a favorite trope: that people voted for Obama because they thought they “had” to).

    No president even has the power to just make everyone do anything.

    Obama has “suspended the Constitution” and rules like a dictator when this fiction suits them. He’s also an idiot who can’t even speak a complete sentence unless it’s written on a teleprompter. Somehow both of these things are true, so don’t try to overthink it.

    He has certain powers but making people turn Muslim isn’t one of them, nor would he be able to order gun’s confiscated or FEMA camps without a whole lot of Congressional votes in favor and media coverage.

    There are numerous theories about how Obama will or can get these things done. The idea that Obama will remain in office (through force, if necessary) beyond 2016 is not even subject to debate on Free Republic. If Hillary takes office in 2017, it will merely reinforce their theory that Obama was afraid for his life because Hillary was going to have him killed as she had so many others.

    There is no prize there for some cabal to achieve with getting someone elected.

    Oh, but there is: destroying freedom.

    That’s a thing. And we liberals pursue it. In fact, according to some, destroying other people’s freedom is the only goal of the left wing. It’s not possible that liberals actually believe that left-wing policies are better for people. We know just as well that they are the absolute worst, but we just hate freedom. Seriously.

  55. 55.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 27, 2013 at 10:17 am

    @TS:

    These people not only attack the President – they attack the state of Hawaii

    Along w/ ‘common sense’… ‘intelligence’… ‘facts’… ‘reality’…

    That’s what po’ed me off so much about the Benghazi nonsense…

    To even try an equate an attack in Libya that killed 4 people w/ 9/11 just wasn’t dishonest… it was so self-serving and idiotic that it was an insult to ANYBODY’S intelligence… but try and try and try they did and are…

  56. 56.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 27, 2013 at 10:21 am

    @kerFuFFler: Wasn’t it someone in Hilary’s camp that brought up the birth question in the first place? Then it took off on a life of its own and was adopted by Righties.

  57. 57.

    ericblair

    February 27, 2013 at 10:33 am

    @The Red Pen:

    Actually, there is solid contingent of birthers who claim that both parents must be citizens. They cite a bunch of Supreme Court decisions, none of which actually state this.

    It’s more complex, and to do with minimum US residency over a certain age before the birth of the child, basically to avoid multiple generations of US citizens overseas who have never resided in the US and the diplomatic problems this causes. The laws have changed multiple times and they’re complicated anyways, so I’m not going to wade through them again but believe that Obama wouldn’t have been a US citizen by birth if he hadn’t been born on US soil. There were some birther challenges that Obama isn’t a US citizen despite being born in the US, but that’s total arrant bullshit.

    I seem to remember the halcyon days of yoot when Arnie the Gropinator was being floated as a gooper presidential candidate, and how the natural-born clause was just a technicality that could be and should be easily fixed. Funny how shit changes.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 27, 2013 at 10:39 am

    @ericblair:

    It’s more complex, and to do with minimum US residency over a certain age before the birth of the child, basically to avoid multiple generations of US citizens overseas who have never resided in the US and the diplomatic problems this causes. The laws have changed multiple times and they’re complicated anyways, so I’m not going to wade through them again but believe that Obama wouldn’t have been a US citizen by birth if he hadn’t been born on US soil. There were some birther challenges that Obama isn’t a US citizen despite being born in the US, but that’s total arrant bullshit.

    Of course, the whole question is moot since the man was born in Hawaii. This is, or should always have been, the end of the story.

  59. 59.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 10:52 am

    @ericblair:

    It’s more complex, and to do with minimum US residency over a certain age before the birth of the child, basically to avoid multiple generations of US citizens overseas who have never resided in the US and the diplomatic problems this causes.

    The “two parent requirement” and “residency of the parent” requirement are two separate things. The former is often brought up when the latter is shot down.

    Some of the stuff about how Obama’s mother had not been in the US for the correct amount of time might apply if Obama was born in a foreign country.

    A lot of “yeah, I’ll buy that” birthers still cling to the “born in Kenya” line because they really don’t care about building a case; they just hate Obama. Birther who pride themselves in having a solid eligibility argument have conceded that Obama was born in Hawaii. Instead, they admit that he was born in Hawaii, but disqualify him due to the fact that his father was not a citizen.

    An even more bizarre (but minority) birther claim is that Obama was not only born in Hawaii, but also that both parents were American. This makes him a “Natural Born Citizen” so how is it a birther claim? They argue that Obama has allowed the controversy to continue (seriously, they claim this) because he doesn’t want people to know who his American father is: some obscure black “communist” mentioned tangentially in Obama’s memoirs. See, if people knew that Obama’s real father was a Commie, they would… is anyone even still reading this?

  60. 60.

    The Golux

    February 27, 2013 at 10:53 am

    “‘Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”

    If Lincoln were alive, he’d be able to use that line daily.

  61. 61.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    February 27, 2013 at 10:55 am

    Hawaiian state officials have, repeatedly, pointedly, and exasperatedly pointed out the veracity of the CoLB that Obama presented in 2008, and that they have all the records on file of Obama’s birth [i]in Hawaii[/i].

    So unless these assholes want to bring charges against those officials for lying, then they need to shut their goddamned pie holes.

  62. 62.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 27, 2013 at 10:58 am

    @Ash Can: In fact, just last week I heard the complaint that “everyone talks about how Obama was supposedly faking being American but not a peep about how he’s pretending to be black.”

    This was, of course, a Rush Limbaugh line for ages, the whole “Halfrican-American” thing, followed up with “you liberals are the real racists for applying the one-drop rule to Obama”, etc. I just took it as racist trolling, but I have to admit, it wasn’t until just now that it occurred to me that this is also a way of denying that there is an actual black President.

  63. 63.

    catclub

    February 27, 2013 at 11:02 am

    @PeakVT: One was from Mississippi. SC and OK have definitely taken over the krazee krown from MS.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    February 27, 2013 at 11:06 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    That only tends to confirm my own hobbyhorse, which is my conviction that what drives conservatives nuts about Obama is that he chose to live his life as a black man in an African-American community. He didn’t have to do that. He could have continued to live on the fringes of the white world, take a job at a top law firm in Manhattan, marry a white woman, etc.

    Instead, he consciously chose the life that he did after a long struggle with his identity. He moved to Chicago, became a community organizer in black neighborhoods, joined a black church, married a black woman and had black children. It’s all in his book.

    That’s what they can’t forgive — Obama had a chance to live his life pretending to be white, and he rejected it. And by rejecting it, he brought everything they believe about the natural superiority of being white into question.

  65. 65.

    handsmile

    February 27, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @Zandar: , @Anya:

    Re Progress Kentucky

    Thanks, Zandar. It was this paragraph from your ZVTS post that was most helpful and illuminating:

    “..You notice this story broke nearly two weeks after the tweet was made, until Ashley Judd conveniently had to denounce something less than 24 hours after a story about her in the NY Times? Even more so, let’s remember Progress Kentucky is basically one guy on Twitter, Shawn Mark Reilly. If it’s a Democratic SuperPAC, I’m a world-famous archaeologist because I found an arrowhead once when I was in Boy Scouts.”

    I thought I detected a strong odor of rat-fucking in this story. And surprise: look how quickly and widely it’s been amplified and disseminated (e.g., NYT, HuffPo, RedState) with even TPM prominently featuring it last night. Yet another sentence to that oft-cited fable that liberals and progressives are the “real racists.”

  66. 66.

    flukebucket

    February 27, 2013 at 11:15 am

    If the state of Hawaii says you were born in Hawaii then you were born in Hawaii and it does not matter what Orly Taitz or anybody else says or thinks.

  67. 67.

    ericblair

    February 27, 2013 at 11:17 am

    @The Red Pen:

    See, if people knew that Obama’s real father was a Commie, they would… is anyone even still reading this?

    It’s morbidly interesting, like the whole sovereign citizen/tax protester deal. I was born abroad and am familiar with a bunch of law and jurisprudence that 90+% of Americans didn’t realize existed until all the wingnut constitutional experts decided to train their vast intellects on citizenship law in 2008.

  68. 68.

    PeakVT

    February 27, 2013 at 11:25 am

    @ericblair: Do you know of a good summary of how citizenship works for those born overseas? I’d appreciate a link if you have one.

    ETA: I searched but only got ads posing as blog posts.

  69. 69.

    shortstop

    February 27, 2013 at 11:25 am

    @The Red Pen:

    My only regret is that when he said, “Where in the constitution does it say that the government can FORCE homosexuality on a Christian society?” I should have answered, “It’s not an enumerated power, so I guess that’s delegated to the individual states.”

    Crying with laughter over here.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    February 27, 2013 at 11:30 am

    @Face:

    Speaking of, what’s Orly Taitz up to these days? Does she still have her dental/real estate/lawyer license in Cali?

    The state bar, correctly in my opinion, chooses to focus its scarce disciplinary resources on lawyers who steal from clients or miss filing deadlines while drunk or drugged. They’ll get around to dealing with Orly when the Legislature restores the budget that was gutted during the time of the Governator.

    Also too, props to Zandar for the Miles Davis reference.

  71. 71.

    ranchandsyrup

    February 27, 2013 at 11:30 am

    What ever happened to Digable Planets? Nice title zandar

  72. 72.

    ericblair

    February 27, 2013 at 11:31 am

    @PeakVT:

    Do you know of a good summary of how citizenship works for those born overseas? I’d appreciate a link if you have one.

    This is kind of the definitive one. Very good in wading through all the history and all the permutations, and interesting general information on how other countries approach it as well.

  73. 73.

    burnspbesq

    February 27, 2013 at 11:34 am

    @PeakVT:

    Done is done, thankfully.

    You wish. Stand by for Repub munfactured outrage over Lew’s severance arrangement with Citi.

  74. 74.

    Tonal Crow

    February 27, 2013 at 11:38 am

    Jesus Zandar, the more Republicans cry “birth certificate!!!!!!!!!!” the sooner voters will conclude that Republicans are whackadoodle nutters who should lose power. Encourage them to fly their freak flags proudly and continuously. Along these lines, I haven’t heard enough about “BENGHAZI!!!!!!!” lately.

  75. 75.

    burnspbesq

    February 27, 2013 at 11:44 am

    Oddly, no one ever questioned the status as a “native-born citizen” of a certain Republican who was born in what was then the Panama Canal Zone. More of a state than Hawai’i? He’ll if I know.

  76. 76.

    ricky

    February 27, 2013 at 11:44 am

    If the media had been really digging, like they were with Bush Partjr., we would have been told pigs prefer parking with white women to rescuing baby goats.

    Life is just unfair.

  77. 77.

    burnspbesq

    February 27, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Stand by for full emoprog freak out because the conservative justices asked hard questions in the oral argument in Shelby County.

    We’re doomed! Section 5 is totes going down! No non-white person will ever vote again!

  78. 78.

    Yutsano

    February 27, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Sigh.

    One more time.

    I was born in Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, Hawai’i. I have a Certificate of Live Birth from the state of Hawai’i that looks exactly the same as the one the President has. If you’re questioning his citizenship, you question mine, along with all those born on the islands. And the State Department and the IRS readily disagree with you. So if you’re a birfer, go fuck yourself.

  79. 79.

    The Red Pen

    February 27, 2013 at 11:51 am

    @Yutsano:

    If you’re questioning his citizenship, you question mine, along with all those born on the islands.

    Joe Arpaio will be by to arrest you shortly.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 27, 2013 at 11:57 am

    @Yutsano: I was born almost exactly three years after Obama in IL; the form issued by IL looks almost exactly the same as the one issued by HI. It, like an onion on the belt, was the style at the time.

  81. 81.

    PeakVT

    February 27, 2013 at 11:59 am

    @ericblair: That’s great. Thanks!

  82. 82.

    Ted & Hellen

    February 27, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Shorter Zander:

    Hey look!

    Pay attention to what this insane, racist birther says!

    Hey asshole!

    Why are you paying attention to what this insane, racist birther says!

    Full stop!

    End of line!

    Just no!

    Don’t!

    I can’t even.

  83. 83.

    dance around in your bones

    February 27, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    I’ve never actually met a birther in real life. I only read about them on the intertubes.

    That said, the whole issue is estupido, dumbkopf, ridiculoso, SFS! (So fucking stupid).

    Not sure it’s worth the time we spend discussing it.

  84. 84.

    Yutsano

    February 27, 2013 at 12:54 pm

    @The Red Pen: Good thing I live in the socialist republic that is the Great State of Washington!

  85. 85.

    dance around in your bones

    February 27, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    Also, my kid was born in Amsterdam, and all my husband and I (both American citizens)had to do was go to the American Embassy and file an “American citizen born abroad” paper. Still have it.

    No one has ever questioned the kid’s citizenship. Perhaps if the kid decided to run for President it would be an issue? Just so stupid.

  86. 86.

    handsmile

    February 27, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    As we’ve known (and are still being reminded) since the 2008 presidential campaign, it’s not about the birthplace, it’s about the melanin.

  87. 87.

    dance around in your bones

    February 27, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    @handsmile: Luckily (?) the kid is pasty white.

    I hate all the hate Prez Obama gets. I think he and Michelle are stellar. (Yes, I am an unapologetic Obot).

  88. 88.

    kuvasz

    February 27, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Casperson may well be a tool, but he was one of only a handful of Michigan Republican State Senators who voted AGAINST the right to work laws there.

  89. 89.

    DonT

    February 27, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    @Marcus:
    all that is dependent on where in Michigan his district is located.

  90. 90.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 27, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    State legislator is dumb, film at 11.

    @burnspbesq:

    Oddly, no one ever questioned the status as a “native-born citizen” of a certain Republican who was born in what was then the Panama Canal Zone.

    Actually, they did: there was a joint resolution of Congress expressing their belief that McCain was a natural-born citizen, and the campaign retained Ted Olson in the event of a challenge.

  91. 91.

    PurpleGirl

    February 27, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    @The Red Pen: Just getting back to the thread now… Yes, I’m still reading birther stuff. I find it absolutely fascinating that people believe this shit and yet, if asked, they never can tell you what should be done were it to be true.

  92. 92.

    Original Lee

    February 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    @Punchy: Hell, yes. It’s actually worse than that – they will “count” the votes and give party line totals (thus passing by majority but not a supermajority) and then the very next thing they do is pass a resolution that the previous bill was passed by a supermajority, again with a simple party-line majority. Very Animal Farm.

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