Hola amigos. Been a while since I’ve blogged at ya. But between moving into a new home and my recent marriage to Sister Babe things have been kind of crazy here in Bobville for the last few months. As our lives are slowly returning to normal, I’m starting to make my way back into the blogosphere.
Now that The Donald has officially dropped out of the presidential race, it’s time to look back on his short but memorable presence. Personally, I think a Trump presidency would not have been good for our country, but I am grateful for his candor. Yes, Trump is an a-hole, but you have to appreciate the kind of guy who has the cajones to get up in front of CPAC and happily absorb the chorus of boos as he informs the crowd that Ron Paul will never be president. And there’s no need to rehash everything that he’s said and done that have been covered by others, with one exception. I want to thank Donald Trump for his contribution to help bring back sanity to the presidential race.
I am of course, referring to his harassment that finally forced President Obama to produce his birth certificate. The Birthers have always been an annoyance in the same way that the 9/11 Truthers always were during the Bush presidency. And each group served its purpose to the president in office at the time. Having these fringe elements constantly on the attack actually helps the president they’re trying to damage. Remember Michael Moore’s hype around Fareheight 911 and how the Democrats eagerly embraced him despite the fact that fact that his mockumentary was riddled with distortions and outright lies? The saddest moment might have been at the Democrats’ 2004 National Convention when Moore was granted a place of honor in the presidential booth alongside Jimmy Carter. Here you had this image where sitting on one side is an angry, bitter man who takes pleasure in voicing his disdain for the country that gave him such incredible opportunities and the other… OK, maybe not the best contrast. My point is that when a fringe voice gets loud enough it becomes easy to lump in all critics in with the fringe and in the end make it more difficult for the voices with real and legitimate criticism. I’ll never be able to prove this, but I believe that after all was said and done I think that Michael Moore did more to help Bush get re-elected than he did to hurt him. Bush’s team realized this and never gave much more than passing acknowledgement to Moore and let him run wild and become an unofficial mascot for the Kerry campaign. A steady diet of Michael Moore in the press over several months gave the impression that he was what the Democrat party represented, and the rest is history.
The Truthers served a similar purpose for the Obama administration. Just like all of the conspiracy theorists took bandwidth from Bush’s legitamate critics, the Truthers served the same purpose for Obama. With all of the legitimate reasons to criticise this president the Truthers made it easier for the administration and its minions in the press to deflect the critics. So what went wrong?
Until the recent popularity spike that the president is enjoying thanks to the death of Bin Laden, Obama was having image problems. And Trump’s loud mouth questioning the birth certificate was getting louder and louder to the point where it was really was hurting the president’s credibility. Far from being an amusing diversion, Obama was forced to come clean, show the certificat once and for all, and put this silly conspiracy theory to rest. Despite Chris Matthews’ giddily crowing what a great victory this was for the president by putting Trump in his place, it wasn’t a victory for Obama. For that matter, it wasn’t a victory for Trump either, but the most important accomplishment of Trump’s attacks was to take away one of the weapons that the president and his team has in discrediting its critics. Now the focus can go back on the legitimate issues. And for this we owe Trump a debt of gratitude.
Granted, there are a few fools out there who still are not convinced – here is a pretty thorough guide to knocking down those arguments. And of course, some of the lazier and more intellectually dishonest members of the left willstill throw out the birther label against people who commit the heinous crime of disagreement. The radical elements of both sides never go away.
But if you need one more argument against a birther use some jujitsu and turn the consipiracy mind against itself. Sister Babe (who is actually a big Hilary Clinton supporter ) raised this simple question:
“If there were any credible evidence that Obama was not a citizen how come nobody in the Clinton political machine exposed it during the primaries?”
Game. Set. Match.
And thank you, Donald.
Trump has been very quiet, and one blog stated that the admin sent out to IRS. Has anyone any more info on that?
Also, why has Obama spent 2+ million dollars to hide his records, and put LTC Lakin in prison, if it was so clear cut?
Thank heavens… peace at last.
To point one… it’s a question many of us wonder. My theory is the political advantage of keeping it alive and using it to castigate birthers as loons. The other legal reality is that he’s never had to fight the evidence in court. They answer the lawsuit with a motion for dismissal, and the judges have been dismissing on the petitioners not having legal standing… not on the evidence. Even the simple act of filing dismissal briefs racks up the legal costs. They cannot refuse to respond.
LtC Latkin is not in the brig because of Obama’s legal birth status. He’s in jail because he refused orders from his superiors…. as any soldier would be if he did the same.
@MataHarley — “Even the simple act of filing dismissal briefs racks up the legal costs.”
That’s true, but a simple review of the list of cases reveals that Obama himself was a party to very few of them. Most were filed against other officials or government agencies and did not require any effort or expense on Obama’s part.
The fact is, the “Obama spent 2+ million dollars to hide his records” meme has always been a fake. There is no evidence to support it except a filing that disclosed the total amount that the Obama campaign spent on legal expenses. It is comparable to the amounts spent by other candidates in other recent presidential elections, and there is no evidence to tie any of the expenses to hiding records.