Let me state unequivocally at the outset the outset that i do not subscribe to the birther nonsense, and although i'm certainly no expert on the matter, his mother was an american citizen, and that should be sufficient. moreover, having been elected, i'm not sure what the remedy would/should even be. that said, I agree with everything Sully writes below: [rquoter]Back To Square One The whole birth certificate issue gets weirder still: "I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago...." But why are we supposed to rely on the testimony of Dr Fukino, whom I believe entirely. It is not my job as a journalist or yours as a citizen to take public officials on trust. They are not to be trusted, whoever they are. It is our job to demand all the evidence we want or need. I know the electronic record is legit. I have no doubt that Obama has every constitutional right to be president. I think the Birthers are nuts. But there is no reason on earth that the original cannot be retrieved and shown. Jon Klein and CNN were wrong, and I retract my apology of yesterday. Obama promised total transparency. Where is it? Or will it arrive at the moment when he tackles the deficit, and withdraws from Iraq?[/rquoter]
I'm a consistent reader of the Daily Dish, and I've never once thought to refer to Sullivan as 'the gay fella'. Bravo derailing your own thread.
I think the scandal is that before the elections ramped up, Axelrod saw the original birth certificate and then the amendment to it when Obama was adopted by Lolo Soetoro. Two problems in convincing the American public that Obama is safe: 1) His name was listed as Barry, not Barack 2) Lolo Soetoro is an Indonesian Muslim Instead of trying to reconcile these things versus the public 'image', Axelrod told the sympathetic administrator at the Hawaii government office to put the original under lock and key. Never release it. Then they publish the Certificate of Live Birth (gave it to DailyKos actually) after cleaning up a couple of things. Thus, no messy explanation is necessary on Points 1 and 2 above. That approach blows up when the BC is demanded by the people, which Axelrod though he could avoid by trying to pass the Cert. of Live Birth off and obfuscating the difference b/w the original. So the issue is more of a coverup than of where he was born. Go back and look at all of the White House statements on the topic, and you can see that they are always pushing the issue towards where he was born -- this is an evasive attempt to direct the dialogue away from the production of the original bc. Folks, this is real.
...hmm, waiting to see who the true lunatics are in aligning themselves with the birthers. I've lurked/posted on one or two extreme right boards and they're always the most delightfully deluded of people.
Can't read what the poster in question is writing. Though, to be frank, I can guess and it wouldn't surprise me. Back to the topic at hand...
The birthers make Scientologists seem almost normal. There is nothing Obama can do to appease those wackos! They will dismiss any explination. It's quite simple; they just cannot accept a black man as president.
First, FOIA is a federal law so it doesn't apply to states. Second, even if it weren't, it it a medical record, so no. Third, even if it weren't, the original birth certificate endorsed as authentic by God, Jesus, the Pope, Charles Darwin, and Ronald Reagan wouldn't satisfy the birthers, so what does it matter?
i agree with the latter statement, but i gotta believe that if Obama wanted to produce it, her could.
A simple yes or no will suffice. For that matter, how about you Jorge? Do you believe Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States?
Basso, you don't support the birthers and you realize their whole premise is stupid and pointless but you want to support it because you... a) Support complete transparency in gouvernment matters (in which case you should be kicking down doors to get Cheney arrested) b) Like wasting bandwidth. c) Like giving government bureaucrats taxpayer's money so they can knock themselves silly getting a birth certificate that doesn't prove anything and has no impact. d) Believe that on Obama's birth certificate, someone will find Satan's seal.
