How could there NOT be a so-called birther movement? Obama came from pretty much nowhere, it is a fact that most of his records, school admssion records, immigation records, passport records, various law papers and other records, along with his long form birth certificate are locked-up and protected by DOJ lawyers at a great expense.

It’s also true that it is a given in Kenya and surrounding countries that Obama was born in Kenya. Many references from Kenya and other African news sources are still available that refer to Obama as “Kenyan born”. These are dated from around the time of his Senate race, (2004), up until late ’08.

Even if he was born in Hawaii, the issue of him being a “natural born citizen” is anything but clear. His Dad was a citizen of both Britain and Kenya, Obama himself went under the name Barry Soetoro for a while, and a school record that is available has him identified as a citizen of Indonesia.

At the very least there is enough uncertainty to have an independent investigation into the issue.

To call people who doubt his eligibility “racist” or “bigots” is just plain dumb. To do so is playing right into the hands of the Alinsky playbook, first isolate them, call them a derogatory name and make them out as “crazy”. The left fears the birthers and that it why they get so bent out of shape when this issue is discussed. They KNOW Obama is not eligible per the US Constitution to be POTUS.

If you will spend some time carefully looking into the evidence you too will become a “birther”.

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Mata is right about the left throwing gas on the birther fire. A dead birther movement would leave them with very little cover for their actions. As it is now they can say, “Socialized health care? Higher taxes? Look! A birther!!11!!”

To me, the whole issue of no birth certificate, no college records, no medical records, denial of his pastor, his socialist mentors, and his pretenses to moderation are all of a piece. Bammy is a fraud. The missing birth certificate is a symptom, not the disease.

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@james manning: ” The difference with Democrats and Republicans is that we generally keep our nutcases tied up “

Michael Moore sits with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter in the Presidential Box at the Dem Convention in 2004.

Nice job of keeping that fat loon “tied up” James!

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Here it is:

The “interesting theory” about Bush and Sept. 11

Dean’s statement suggesting Bush had advance warning of the Sept. 11 attacks came during a Dec. 1 appearance on National Public Radio’s “The Diane Rehm Show.” During the interview, Dean discussed Bush’s interactions with an independent commission headed by former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean that is investigating the attacks [Real Player audio - 42:50 in clip]:

DEAN: There is a report, which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.

REHM: Why do you think he’s suppressing that report?

DEAN: I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far, which is nothing more than a theory, I can’t — think it can’t be proved, is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now, who knows what the real situation is, but the trouble is by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and then eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the clear — the key information that needs to go to the Kean commission.

In this statement, Dean tried to have it both ways, promulgating an unknown and unproven theory while not taking responsibility for it. Indeed, he blamed Bush for the emergence of such theories even as he repeats one himself.

On December 7, “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked Dean about this “theory”:

WALLACE: The most interesting theory is that the president was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Why would you say that, Governor?

DEAN: Because there are people who believe that. We don’t know what happened in 9/11. Tom Kean is trying to get some information from the president…

WALLACE: Do you believe that?

DEAN: … which doesn’t — no, I don’t believe that. I can’t imagine the president of the United States doing that. But we don’t know, and it’d be a nice thing to know.

WALLACE: I’m just curious why you would call that the most interesting theory.

DEAN: Because it’s a pretty odd theory. What we do believe is that there was a lot of chatter that somehow was missed by the CIA and the FBI about this, and that for some reason we were unable to decide and get clear indications of what the attacks what were going to be. Because the president won’t give the information to the Kean commission we really don’t know what the explanation is.

Again, Dean claimed that Bush’s failure to fully cooperate with the commission justifies his repetition of an unproven rumor, which he elevated to the status of something “we don’t know” that would be “a nice thing to know.”

Then, during the Democratic debate in Durham, NH on December 9, Dean was again asked about the remark, and blatantly dissembled about what he had said:

SCOTT SPRADLING, WMUR-TV: Governor Dean, you had once stated that you thought it was possible that the president of the United States had been forewarned about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. You later said that you didn’t really know.

A statement like that, don’t you see the possibility of some Democrats being nervous about statements like that leading them to the conclusion that you are not right for being the next commander in chief?

DEAN: Well, in all due respect, I did not exactly state that. I was asked on Fox fair and balanced news that… (laughter) I was asked why I thought the president was withholding information, I think it was, or 9/11 or something like that. And I said, well, the most interesting theory that I heard, which I did not believe, was that the Saudis had tipped him off.

We don’t know why the president is not giving information to the Kean commission. I think that is supposed to be investigated by Congress. I think it’s a serious matter. I agree with Wes Clark, the president is not fighting terrorism. And we need to know what went wrong before 9/11.

I did not believe, and I made it clear on the Fox News show that I didn’t believe that theory, but I had heard that. And there are going to be a lot of crazy theories that come out if the information is not given to the Kean commission as it should be.

Spradling was obviously asking Dean about his comments on “The Diane Rehm Show,” not Fox News, yet Dean referred to his comments on Fox (again disavowing the rumor while repeating it and blaming Bush for its existence). Most importantly, as Noah points out, this mischaracterization allowed Dean to say “I made it clear on the Fox News show that I didn’t believe that theory.” However, he did not include such an explicit caveat during his original appearance on Rehm’s show.

Finally, in a story in the Washington Times today, Dean spokesperson Jay Carson continued to disingenuously spin the issue:

“Governor Dean has been very clear that he doesn’t believe in or subscribe to that theory,” said Dean spokesman Jay Carson. “He simply pointed out the need for the Bush administration to be more cooperative with the 9/11 commission so that theories like that could be put to rest.

“The irony here is that the Republicans are trafficking this supposed claim all over the place, thereby pushing it in a way that it never would have been possible,” he said. “Governor Dean was clear that he didn’t actually believe it.”

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@james manning #16:

The difference with Democrats and Republicans is that we generally keep our nutcases tied up or chasing the WTO meeting around the world while the GOP let theirs run wild.

Really?

*ahem*

Birthers? Why didn’t the Truthers get all this attention?
By: David Freddoso
Commentary Staff Writer
07/31/09 7:09 PM EDT

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans believe President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, and 30 percent are “not sure,” according to this poll.

But before liberals begin to smirk, here’s a poll from 2007, in which 35 percent of Democrats said that President Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, and 26 percent were not sure.

So if 58 percent of Republicans are living in a delusional fantasy world because they are out of power, then 61 percent of Democrats were doing the same thing until just recently (perhaps they still are). It’s a clean, apples-to-apples comparison with a clear lesson: People get a bit kooky when they’re out of power, Democrats about 3 points kookier — which is probably within the margin of error.

I bring this up because I did a short mid-afternoon segment today on MSNBC with Tamryn Hall and Donnie Deutsch, in which I was asked about the Birther poll. I brought up the Truther poll and wondered aloud whether MSNBC had ever brought as much attention to the Truthers.

The Birthers are getting an awful lot of coverage right now, and that’s great news for a White House desperate for distractions. President Obama is losing the public opinion battle over health care and putting his foot in his mouth over Henry Gates. His only major legislative accomplishment so far — the stimulus package — is widely perceived as a costly and ineffective boondoggle.

I was also asked about a video shot by the thoroughly disreputable Mike Stark, whose selective editing and misidentification of members of Congress contributes to the appearance, at least, that a significant number of Republican members of Congress are “Birthers” — or at least that they won’t say they’re not Birthers. Stark, you may recall, is the man who made a scene during a 2006 Senate race by shouting repeatedly while cameras were rolling in order to start an unsubstantiated rumor that then-Sen. George Allen, R-Va., spat on his first wife.

Tamryn then asked a good question: Back in the Bush Era, did any Democratic members of Congress avoid questions about whether “Bush Knew?” On the spot, I couldn’t remember. But the truth is, they didn’t just avoid the question — they stoked the flames of conspiracy theories and in some cases embraced them.

A few names: Hillary Clinton (the famous Bush Knew” speech of May 16, 2002), Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D, Ga.). When I covered Congress for Human Events, I asked Rep. William Lacy Clay, D,Mo., about McKinney’s suggestion that Bush might have withheld knowledge of the attack. His reply: “I’m curious as to whether it will reveal what Congresswoman McKinney has stated. I’m interested. I’m interested in an investigation.”

So who’s kooky now?

I also recall presidential candidate Howard Dean pondering “It’s an interesting theory”, when asked some question…I think in regards to whether or not President Bush had foreknowledge of 9/11.

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@SoCal Chris
glad you enjoyed. i may actually have to write that into a skit and youtube it.

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I do know and I still don’t care.  Do you actually think someone could become the POTUS and not be a citizen? Are Republican investigators that incompetent that they would not have found anything? McCain folks looked. Nothing. ABC, NBC, Fox News, CBS all looked… nada.
In fact, I believe my theory that he’s an alien has just as much credibility as the birther’s. Althoug I believe mine would make for a better movie. In fact, I want royalites if anyone of you ever use it for a book or movie script.

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@Scott

lol – funny how the right complain about comparisions during Bush’s time and now UNLESS it suits them. Birthers and 9/11 conspiracy theorists are all whackos as far as I can see although I don’t think all your items you list can be considered conspiracies…e.g. how is ’2006 Democrats will end deficit spending’ a conspiracy? That’s just the typical election promise bs.

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@pdill: The appearance of a birth announcement doesn’t really carry any weight.

Dunham’s parents lived in Hawaii and most likely just called in the birth announcement like someone would call in a classified ad or lost and found.

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@james manning:
Wow, James. If you aren’t already, you should be writing Sci Fi movie scripts! That was pretty darn creative! I wonder if birth certificates from Mars are green? Hmmm, now there’s something to think about!

But, exaggerating the point (very illustriously, I might add) doesn’t answer the simple point of lack of transparency on BO’s part in the many areas Aye mentioned, not just his birth certificate.

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