The American Spectator : More Media Follies

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More Media Follies

By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 7.23.09 @ 6:09AM

Obama-bashing for sport — still more evidence of the trivial nature of the contemporary American news media.

What follows is a column adducing still more evidence of the trivial nature of the contemporary American news media.

The other morning I was lying in bed recovering from minor surgery, my body heaving off the residual effects of a powerful anesthetic, Propofol. Believe me it is a powerful anesthetic. It thrust me into the utmost darkness, for forty minutes according to my doctor. It could have been for eternity. I would have had no idea. I cannot imagine why people abuse such charmless drugs. Why not just pull the trigger as Hemingway pulled the trigger, and enter the darkness forever with absolutely no more pain. Incidentally, Propofol is one of the substances Michael Jackson repaired to for sleep. If he found security in Propofol, his life must have been hell when he was awake.

Yet to return to Washington, D.C. and to my trivial media story. The last aftereffects of Propofol were giving way as I read my doctor’s strict instructions. For the remainder of the day, I was not to “drive a car…use a hot stove… heavy machinery …or make important decisions.” As I read his enjoinder against making important decisions, the telephone rang. A media booker was at my ear inquiring as to whether I would accept the invitation of a well-known cable news show to talk about how the Republican Party was being affected by Obama critics who have been harassing Democratic politicians with claims that the President did not have a legitimate birth certificate and was born abroad, perhaps in Botswana, or Upper Volta, or Lapland. On his provenance there is no unanimity among these critics.

Well, my doctor’s instructions did counsel that I not “make important decisions,” but how would that hinder me on a political talk show? As I saw it, I would be in perfect condition to answer the witty ripostes of cable news’s talking heads, say Tucker Carlson or Jon Stewart. I agreed to do the afternoon show as long as I did not have to drive a car or use heavy machinery to get to the studio. Moreover, I had good news for the booker. Choosing me to discuss the president’s national origins was an inspired choice. A crack reporter of mine at The American Spectator had investigated the matter when it was a hot rumor during the presidential election and found no empirical evidence in support of the story.

Better yet, the Spectator’s reporter found evidence militating against the story. At the time of Obama’s birth in 1961, a notice of the blessed event was published in the major Hawaiian newspaper. I would not rule out dark and treacherous conspiracies by a Democratic president, especially one in cahoots with Rahm Emanuel, but a conspiracy going back almost five decades exceeds even Emanuel’s diablerie. Thus I would gladly appear on this news show and present evidence that the questions about the President’s place of birth are without merit. The news story is nonsense. Those who dwell on it are distracting us from today’s real issues: the Obama Administration’s bankrupting of the country, its attempt to transform American healthcare into a rationing system against senior citizens and the chronically ill, its cap-and-trade bill guaranteeing high unemployment and higher energy costs in time of recession.

Well, ha-ha-ha. Back comes my disappointed booker after conveying the good news that we would be setting the record straight on the show shortly. Alas, the show’s producers did not want me to set the record straight. They had wanted me to defend the false story. But I reminded the booker, I knew the story to be false. In fact I had provided the show with irrefutable proof that the story is false. Obama is American-born.

The show proceeded to find a guest who would repeat the false story, either knowingly or out of ignorance — so much for getting to the truth of issues on television. As for me, I would never knowingly publish anything that I knew to be untrue, not in this column or in The American Spectator.

I shall make a prediction. This presidency is going to be one of the greatest presidential disappointments in a generation. Arriving on the grim winds of recession with two wars already going on, the Administration’s failures are going to be a serious challenge to the country’s well-being. If major media continue to treat the news as entertainment rather than the dissemination and analysis of fact, they are going to create still more danger for the country. I say, let them eat Propofol.

About the Author

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (157) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Ben Snyder| 7.23.09 @ 7:01AM

The name of the anesthetic drug is not Proposal but Propofol.

Robbins Mitchell| 7.23.09 @ 7:09AM

Maybe so,Ben...but I've had the misfortune in the past of listening to some very long winded proposals that very nearly put me to sleep.

Lawrence Boccardi| 7.23.09 @ 7:20AM

Yeah? Well, I still have a problem. If Obama's birth records only show what we've been told that they show, why have the Governor of Hawaii embargo them? So much for transparency!

P. Aaron| 7.23.09 @ 7:48AM

Ben Snyder| 7.23.09 @ 7:01AM
The name of the anesthetic drug is not Proposal but Propofol.

That's just the Propofol talkin'.

John - TMF| 7.23.09 @ 7:58AM

Dear Mr. Tyrell:

The motive for faking The One's birth in this nation is quite simple and straight forward as Occam's Razor suggests.

American Citizenship and all of the benefits therein. It is just that simple.

All attempts at retrospective re-analysis based on current events are invalid.

In 1961 a good deal of Hawaiian Territorial Law still existed on the books. Many of the those regulations have been corrected over the years, but in 1961 Hawaii was still a very green state.

I am not given to profanity, name calling, finger pointing, invective so I can forgive the impulse to "let it move on" that more than a few people in the new media have expressed.

1. Obama has demonstrated absolutely no real verifiable Certificate of Live Birth. A Certification of Live Birth is not proof of birth in a particular location. It is a certification that some one was born, nothing more.

2. Before sometime in the mid-1970's when the law was changed, anyone who was born outside the United States of America, regardless of the conditions had to swear an oath of loyalty to a judge, upon the family producing a valid birth certificate from the nation or facility in which he/she was born, and have the judge certify that the parents were legal US citizens on assignment under US the rules of US sovereignty.

My family knows, my father was a Troop Commander stationed in Bavaria on the Czech border, so my sister was born in a Nurenburg hospital and holds a German Birth Certificate. -Which from memory is extremely detailed-.

The fact remained that my parents still had to demonstrate to the federal court who they were and why they were overseas.

My sister (who by law up until that time held dual German and American citizenship) had to renounce her intentions to be German.

3. Stanley Ann Dunham was none of the qualifying categories of US citizen that WAS capable of conferring any sort of claim to US citizenship on her son, IF he was born in Kenya. Also... knowing the airline rules of travel both past and present, and Dunham was known to have gone to Kenya shortly before the birth of The One in er well where... we really don't know... how did she fly anywhere and close to delivery?

So there are two conclusions:

A. That this all goes away if The One produces a real Hawaiian Certificate of Live birth with signatures, non-proportional, ribbon inked, PICA or Elite type in the boxes, and associated stamps.

Further, the release of his school records, scholarship information, and other passport holdings and travel are essential for the public record.

IF he voluntarily, as an adult, used a passport or benefits of dual citizenship in some other nation, then there are serious legal and constitutional qualifications at stake.

The controversy remains because the evidence is missing from the case.

B. What is so difficult about motive, here? The motive was simple Stanley Ann Dunham wanted her son to be an American. That is enough for most Americans... maybe y'all think too hard sometimes.

Oh... and one other thing... Birth announcements in papers are unverified as well. We announced the birth of our children in the local paper... it took us (not some official clerk) filling out a little form and sending the form into the paper. It showed up some month or two later in the birth announcements section. No calls to verify, no checks of county records, no birth certificate needed.

Best Regards... TMF

KyMouse| 7.23.09 @ 8:29AM

I don't mind people checking into this birth certificate controversy, as long as it doesn't take our attention away from the damage that Obama is doing on a daily basis. Every day seems to bring a new outrage; so if we're still arguing over whether he should even be president, we may use up time, energy and resources we need in order to stop him from taking America farther down the drain, today, right now.

Michael Tomlinson| 7.23.09 @ 8:31AM

John-TMF I'm with you. If Obama is a native born American as he, the Democrats and media claim then why the paranoia about making his legal birth certificate public? This mini-controversy could be easily resolved if he would produce his American long-form birth certificate. It is his unwillingness to be honest and transparent (as he promised – another Obama lie) that leads hundreds of thousands of Americans to doubt his Constitutional right to the Presidency based on a potential foreign birth.

Why after promising to be transparent is Obama so paranoid and secretive? What else is he hiding from the American people? Things will only get worse as his Presidency slips further and further into the morass of failure.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 8:45AM

Give it up, Tyrrell, the Republican party has been taken over by wacky right wing extremists. Fox News wants this continue because their audience needs this confirmation. MSNBC wants this to continue to make Republicans look dumb. It is a smart political move by the Dems to keep this issue alive. Not only do independents not want to be aligned with these crazies, but it minimizes and delegitimizes all other conservative issues.

In addition, this brings out a "just under the surface" racial prejudice. Have you seen many blacks or Hispanics raise this issue? With this as the underlying dynamics, why would any Democrat want to stop it? Just keep showing the crazy ladies holding up their own birth certificates.

After all of this, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Beck, Hannity, etc., who is going to take any Republican as serious?

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 8:48AM

One more thought -- do you really think that if Obama showed the sealed birth certificate it would stop this issue? Every one of these crazies would claim it is a forgery as were the announcements in 1961. Where is the theme from the Twilight Zone when we need it most?

moron| 7.23.09 @ 8:53AM

"questions about the President's place of birth are without merit. The news story is nonsense." So Big E, would you share with us how you arrived at this conclusion?? Like, you know, demonstrate a copy of the birth certificate, not another fake, or explain why Big O does not release it, or why he is spending great sums of money to NOT SHOW IT!! Thanks for your help, to many of us clowns this has the appearance of a big FRAUD and cover-up!!

moron| 7.23.09 @ 8:56AM

http://obamadocuments.wordpress.com/
Yo.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 8:59AM

Tyrrell, I wonder how many other writers at TAS will back you up on this. To do so would lower their readership.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 9:05AM

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

moron| 7.23.09 @ 9:10AM

Factcheck cites forgeries as well. The New Dan Rather.
http://polarik.blogtownhall.com/

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 9:29AM

Ahem, morons, do you think we could fight the enemy that's actually coming over the HESCO barriers right now? Obama is president, get over it, and get behind some policy battles. And I don't give a crap if he was born on Mars; his mother was American, and that makes him American enough for me. A mis-guided, deluded, effete, racialist, not particularly loyal American, but, an American.

I used to post as Bob| 7.23.09 @ 9:34AM

With all due respect for those who are posting here but in repsonse to Bob....
Kind of reminds you of the truthers doesn't it Bob. That fairly large group of our learned friends on the left convinced and willing to prove the US governement brought down the Towers on 9/11.

moron| 7.23.09 @ 9:37AM

Good Doorgunner. It may be good enough for you, a liberal, bit it is NOT good enough for the USConstitution, and likely not even good enough for a wise Latina. And I am behind policy battles---against the TARP boondoogle, against "tax and trading" our economy to extinction and against spending $1.6 trillion more to "save our economy."

Thomas| 7.23.09 @ 9:40AM

I fail to understand why there is any controversy here. Merely releasing the long form birth certificate will end the skepticism of the majority of doubters. The sooner it is released, the less likelihood of any credence being given to claims of forgery. In fact, had I been running for President, and a potential controversy existed concerning my place of birth, my school attendance, or whether I had a library card or not, any and all documents relating to those things would be released immediately. After all, millions of Americans produce long form birth certificates to obtain driver's licenses and identification every year and think nothing of it. So, why would Barack Obama spend literally one million dollars and counting to avoid doing what millions of Americans do every year?

There was a time [actually as little as one year ago when W was still in office] when investigative reporters would have climbed all over a politician who refused to answer questions. Does anyone remember Richard Nixon and Watergate? Where have all of the investigative reporters in the national media gone?

As to why the eligibility of Barack Obama is not only important, but crucial, to America, is that if he is not eligible for the office, then any actions he takes while in office are not valid. Every appointment, every order, every bill signed into law, all become worthless. The legal challenges alone will flood the courts for years. Not to mention the firestorm that will be ignited concerning his ultimate replacement.

The eligibility question is not a frivolous one. And it should not be treated as such.

moron| 7.23.09 @ 9:41AM

No relation to truthers whatsoever. We have proven forgeries, denials is Hawaii that the certificate was provided by their office, testimony from a secretary not knowledgable whatsoever about the subject, large sums of money spent by Hussein to coverup, and yet to prove otherwise all Bambi need do is produce the certificate!!

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 9:42AM

Used -- Yes, it absolutely reminds me of the truthers. They are crazies as well. They made the Democrats look like idiots just like the "birthers" do now for Republicans. I have a problem with stupidity no matter where it resides. But this issue clearly favors the Democrats in the eyes of most voters and takes our eyes off of the real issues.

You will never convince either side they are wrong because conspiracy theorists can always come up with some rationalization. Like I said before, if he actually shows the real birth certificate at this juncture, the birthers will only say it is a forgery.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 9:48AM

The question of Obama's birth isn't incidental to his Presidency, it is a central requirement. It is also trivial to demonstrate.

What possibly could be on that form that requires such secrecy? The Obama story is that there is no story. The charitable interpretation is that there is something that isn't relevant but is embarassing and Obama is standing for a principle. If so, he has spent a bundle affording his principles. The non-charitable interpretation creates a crisis which grows with time and each bill signed into law.

It simply defies reason not to release the birth certificate. He has already been elected President. If there is no story he can talk about foolish "flat earthers". If there is a story, is there a better time to deal with it?

Mr. Tyrell states "a conspiracy going back almost five decades exceeds even Emanuel's diablerie". Quite so! But the question is about a conspiracy today.

I used to post as Bob| 7.23.09 @ 9:54AM

I think the larger point is being missed. It is not the questioning of the One's birth status that is the problem but the dangerous and widespread trivialization of all news.
Regardless of whether one is liberal, conservative, moderate or independent, the quality of information and depth of investigation is woefully lacking in what is presented as news.
In many respects it is as though the sports departments have taken of the entire news room. We are given the daily stats and a few locker room interviews and not much more.
The rise of the talking heads and the pundocracy has us feed ‘inside baseball’ discussions from former members of the various teams. It is all spin and counter spin.
All the while we are involved in 2 wars, the economy is in tatters and the government is spending the wealth of our great great grand children while lusting after the overhaul of our health care system.
The role of the press is to provide vital information to inform the citizens not entertainment and cheerleading. I wonder if there is a correlation between their failing in this regard and their plummeting financial situations.

Old Texican| 7.23.09 @ 10:01AM

I sincerly hope we can lay aside Obama's birth cert. for at least the time being.

Hiding all his records might be a...TRAP!

What if...

One day, as pitch-fork bearing citizens are marching around the whitehouse...only to be proven wrong.

Then the communists put all of us in the loony bin.

Mr. Obama is certainly an anti-American. He is trying to "give life" to the constitution so he can kill it.
What more motivation do we need to oppose him at every corner in this house to house fight?

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 10:06AM

Notice the pattern?

Bill Clinton did not release his medical records.
John Kerry did not release his military/medical records.
Obama won't release his birth certificate, school records, or his medical records.

Meanwhile we have pictures of Reagan's colon.
We had congressional inquiries into Bush traveling to Iran in a supersonic spy plane. We know every tick of Dick Cheney's heart.
And, by the way, we had a congressional investigation into John McCain's eligibility for POTUS because he was born in the Panama Canal.

It has been over six months and STILL Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign is paying millions fighting lawsuits to block release of his birth certificate. Hells bells, a tall 12 year little league player comes under more scrutiny!

People who are interested in wanting to know why Clinton, Kerry, or Obama are hiding personal documents have always been held as suspect for there motives. Labeling people as "birthers" or conspiracy loons NEVER answers the obvious question: Why is Obama spending millions to fight legitimate lawsuits seeking his birth certificate? What rationale does Mr Tyrell give for spending millions to block access to the most innocuous of personal documents? Mr Tyrell and others offer no explaination. They poo-poo the whole subject and never answer the basic question.

Now that you are clear minded Mr Tyrell, would you mind offering a rational explaination to why Obama is spending millions on defense if there is nothing to defend? This question is always asked and never answered.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 10:07AM

Bob,

Why are people who insist a President be qualified under the Constitution crazy? I take no position on whether Obama is or is not a citizen. I have no personal knowledge of the facts. I do take the position that a legitimate question has been asked and that a great has been spent to avoid the direct answer. Why has this been done? Why shouldn't that be viewed with some suspicion?

Of course a conspiracy theorist will rationalize away evidence. How does this differ from those who take the view that this issue has been settled with a COLB, a picture of which has been released?

Naturally, an Obama supporter is not as interested in the question as an opponent. That doesn't make the question any less vital.

Ran| 7.23.09 @ 10:11AM

Perhaps, Mr. Tyrrell, Grandma Sarah's videotaped account of having helped with BHO's birth in the local medical clinic was so much enthusiastic mythopoeia.

Perhaps, too, 'Birther' claims that a Certificate of Live Birth was a generic alternative to a Birth Certificate is just a meaningless distinction.

Perhaps as well one may have been able to travel to Pakistan some decades ago on an American passport, despite claims to the contrary.

Even the Left is beginning to feel doubt about who the man is. Perhaps, instead of eschewing the Bush Administration's wars and power grabs as promised, Obama rather sees them as he sees Reparations: "They don't go far enough."

A good-faith exposition of a genuine Birth Certificate, his Passport, his school application forms and transcripts would do much to restore the confidence of the People - the man reports to us and to the Constitution.

Given the present climate of unemployment, special "Czars", the bulldozing of Contract Law, the direct intimidation of private citizens, the misuse of TARP funds, the non-closing of Gitmo, the expansion of the Afghan War, the seizure of Private Property, the broken campaign pledges... Do we not deserve something, anything at all, to mitigate his aloof arrogance and restore public confidence?

Chuck | 7.23.09 @ 10:18AM

Doorgunner

I have your back on this one. The birth certificate thing is a complete non-starter, except where it can be used to make the Presidents critics look deranged.
This President has given us quite a bit more to be concerned with other than some silliness about his origin.

Sue| 7.23.09 @ 10:20AM

I'm not a crazy or a "truther" whatever that is. I do wonder though why a simple document cannot be produced by him. Is he above such things? Michael Medved said that he had to prove citizenship to run for the Senate of Illinois, and since that event occurred, he's qualified to be President. If this is true, then why can't the filing requirements (paperwork) for the Illinois Senate election be available? I just don't understand how all of this controversy continues to exist. The man has written two books detailing his past (an open-book life) so why couldn't he have placed the birth certificate at the end or with other legal paper filings?

Surely he knows that with a foreign father there are questions as to his legitimacy, both by birth and by marriage. Maybe his birth mother didn't list his father on the certificate and it's stamped "illegitimate birth" like my Mother's is and he doesn't want to be judged by the actions of his mother.

My mother didn't want us to see her birth certificate because of this very reason. But today, it's a badge of honor for young women to present "illegitimate" babies to the State. It results in lots of free stuff from the nanny State.

In my State, the father isn't even asked about anymore, and the mother doesn't have to list one at all. The paternal lines of our civilization are ceasing to exist and replaced with the familial lines which is what all the feminists have wanted since the 1960s.

I'm on the side of the "requesters." And the very fact that they may call it a forgery doesn't negate the fact that he's the one who wrote all those books glorifying his ancestry. Let him prove it.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 10:22AM

John,

Conspiracy theorists will rationalize ANYTHING against ANYBODY they don't like. This is exactly the same thing that people use against Palin. But you and others won't believe those things, will you?

The point is that this has nothing to do with facts -- it is political theater. Axelrod wants to keep this alive for POLITICAL reasons. If I were him, I wouldn't show the birth certificate either. It helps Obama and hurts Republicans in the eyes of the general public. Whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge, we elect POLITICIANS -- who must be partisan in order to get into office. We do not elect people based on objectivity.

The media wants ratings -- that's why they carry these stories. Getting into the details of health care or making the Fed transparent lowers ratings. This is also extended by the internet. If the internet were around in Reagan's time, we would have seen much more as well. Some left wing crazy would have come up with a conspiracy theory, like, let's say, Reagan had Altzheimer's when he was elected the first time and was actually a puppet for someone else.

Ran| 7.23.09 @ 10:26AM

Old Tex,
I, too, smell a trap, a rope-a-dope. I think it's likely that he's 100% legit.

There is an arrogant mendacity in this man that allows him to enjoy the doubt.

I also think that given the pressure on Bush and Kerry to release their records, it's really not too much to ask. The Won ran on glasznost and perestoika, did he not? This was supposed to be the most transparent Administration in history. One thing is definite: We can see right through him.

Tim| 7.23.09 @ 10:44AM

Bob
You had me persuaded, until I realized that no has ever seen your birth certificate...
What are you hiding Bob? If that is your real name...

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 11:12AM

Does anyone here not understand that, regardless of parents marital status, or his father's nationality, that an American woman can give birth to a child overseas and that that child has complete citizenship rights? One trip to to the closest consulate resolves the matter. Had Obama been born overseas, we would most likely have even MORE documentation of citizenship.

Jackass Birthers are to the conservative movement what drunken soldiers on a pass overseas are to the ARMY... an embarassment that has to constantly be apologized for.

Please see the folly and wasted effort and join the real fight.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 11:17AM

Tim,

Birth Certificate? My alien creators told me that as long as I post as "Bob", I wouldn't need one!

As an aside, using my name has an allied story. 15 years ago I received an unsolicited e-mail from a woman who used an internet name. She saw my profile on AOL and thought it looked interesting. Having never dated anyone who contacted me in that manner, I was a bit skeptical. To make a story short, I ended up marrying her and she is the love of my life -- one in a million. When I asked her what got her attention, she responded that all she saw were names like "The Big One", "Loverboy", etc. I was the only one she found that used their real name.

So yes, "Bob" is my real name as given to me by my alien creators -- also known on earth as "Mom" and "Dad".

William| 7.23.09 @ 11:24AM

If you are not to make important decisions while under the influence, how are you to know which decisions are important or not?

What is the sound of one Bob yapping?

Was Obama's babymamma punished with a baby?

I am feeling so Zen today.

I used to post as Bob| 7.23.09 @ 11:28AM

One other point on the One’s natural origin and citizenship. Think back to 2000 the hanging chads the recount all the BS about a stolen election that the left continues to believe to this day. Think about how you felt about their claims.
We elected GWB twice, we knew for a fact he was president. Over time some of us may have felt disappoint at how he governed but we never doubted the fact that we won those elections. It was provable fact, those that to this day refused to accept it suffer from Bush deraignment syndrome.
We must defeat his ideas if we are to save our nation. The republic is in no greater danger whether he is or is not legitimately eligible to run. If we were in our wildest dreams to remove him from office on this basis alone his ideas would stand and those that supported him would be driven all the more to push them forward.
It will be far better in every respect to defeat their ideas in this battle, to convince all but the most rabid ideolog of the folly of statist progressivism and the value of individual liberty and our founding principles.
The technicality of his eligibility to run is made mute by his election and swearing in there is no evidence sufficient to now convince those that voted for him that their vote meant nothing. The referee that is SCOTUS is not going to throw a yellow flag and eject h m from the game they have neither the will nor the power. The constitution provides the only means for his removal. HE would have to be charged in the house and tried in the senate. Check the roster in both of those esteemed bodies. Note which side has the most votes, recall who is voting trillion dollar bills in the middle of the night without reading them and ask yourself in your heart of heart if you think that group in the face of any evidence what so ever would remove him from office.
Winning the battle of ideas bringing to our side those whose mind can be changed will be by far the greater more lasting victory.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 11:32AM

Doorgunner:

It is still somewhat of a free country. People have the right to be "drunken soldiers," "embarrassments," and "Jackass Birthers."

I am simply curious to why Obama is spending millions to block access to his birth certificate.
Obama's grandmother proudly claims to have been present to his Obama's birth in Kenya yet no Hawaiian Dr has proudly stepped forward as Obama's birth doctor. I am sure this is simply a curiousity to millions of people and one that could easily be resolved without spending millions to keep the matter unresolved.

Issues are issues. I see the folly. I am wondering why you are blind to it. So tell me ON THIS ISSUE: What rational and/or completely obvious explaination can you give for why Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign is to this day spending millions to block access to his birth certificate.

You seem so cock sure of yourself and have all the smug put downs at the ready. You seem like such a fountain of wisdom and clarity. So tell us: What is the reasonable explaination for Obama withholding a birth certificate when little league players and Olympic gymnasts have to disclose theirs? Are baseball & tumbling held in higher regard in your high minded priorities than the constitutional eligibility of POTUS? Tell us oh wise one: Why pay millions to defend release of such an innocuous document?

Tell us all that, then you can tell us all about whatever 'real fight' you are leading.

Tim| 7.23.09 @ 11:51AM

Bob
I don't trust palindromes. I suggest you change it to BYOB, sounds more party ready and friendly.

JeffW| 7.23.09 @ 11:52AM

Bob,
I don't think this issue of the birth certificate is going anwhere soon and Obama is happy to have it that way. It makes the right look more deranged. That being said, I do not think it has anything to do with race. And not to split hairs on your comments but.

"Have you seen many blacks or Hispanics raise this issue? "

Have you not heard of Alan Lee Keyes?

Thomas| 7.23.09 @ 11:54AM

I Used To Post As Bob,

"One other point on the One’s natural origin and citizenship. Think back to 2000 the hanging chads the recount all the BS about a stolen election that the left continues to believe to this day. Think about how you felt about their claims."

What is your point? This isn't about feelings. The 2000 Presidential election in Florida was investigated and parsed for two years. There were two official recounts, recounts done by three major newspapers in Florida and at least one done by the Democrat Party on their own. The results were the same in every case, W won. But, the point is that the media, various concerned citizens and the losing party demanded and received proof that GWB had won the popular vote in Florida. The Republicans didn't spend a million dollars in legal fees to block the recounts.

As to his eligibility being mute by virtue of his being elected, tell that to all of the politicians over the years who were removed from office for living outside their district, or failing to provide required documentation to run and serve. Tell that to the little leaguers who have been removed from their teams because they were not qualified to play because of age or residency.

I see your point, though. It is perfectly alright to keep something if people give it to you, even though you obtain it through fraud. By your reasoning, Bernie Madoff would be a free man.

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 12:00PM

Mr .Rowan,

Sir, if indeed he is spending millions, it is well spent. It keeps us divided and off-focus; it is why Congress (Democratic) gins up an investigation into the CIA/Bush-Cheney/Whatever whenever they try to pass through another few trillion in pork/vote-buying spending. It's a clearly false flanking manuever.

This birth certificate nonsense is especially devious because it's seemingly perpetual and so clearly a windmill joust for us; it simply cannot be 'won' and the sputtering indignation we spew makes us look as though we're fighting yesterday's battle while they're valiantly slaying the dragons of "Health-Care" and "The Economy".

And I do not "lead" any fight. I train and I execute my commanders intent as an NCO Blackhawk Crewchief with a National Guard unit.

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 12:07PM

... and your right to be an embarassment or Jackass Birther are roughly equal to my right and duty to call you on it. And as a soldier, you have no "right" to be drunken at any time, although you are sometimes afforded the privlege.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 12:07PM

Doorgunner,

I'm less concerned about whether or not Obama is a citizen then I am about the crises if he is not.

What is to be the effect of all the executive orders if there is no executive? What becomes of the bills signed into law? Is that something we want to have to find out?

To everyone who claims this makes me a "Jackass Birther", I say fine., I'm a "Jackass Birther". That and $2 gets you a cup of coffee.

However, I am perfectly prepared to accept the document which is being so carefully hidden as dispositive. If it weren't so easy to put this issue to rest I might even agree with those who say there are bigger fish to fry.

As to an American woman giving birth oversees and conferring citizenship, I'll grant you that and more. Obama's parents could have claimed Kenyan citizenship for him at birth and he could still claim American citizenship when he reached majority. Of course, if he was born overseas that would make him naturalized, not natural born.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 12:12PM

JeffW -- that's why I used the word "many" and not "any". I do believe that if Obama was white you would not see a lot of this behavior. Do I think this is overt racism? No. But do I think some of this is being done because Obama is "different"? Yes. In any event, I've heard that many blacks and Hispanics believe this is racism so whether it is really racism is moot. It will affect the Republican party in that it will make it less likely that blacks and Hispanics will join the party.

Thomas -- the evidence that Obama spent "millions" on the birth issue is pure fiction. I've seen the argument and it rests on general payments to specific lawyers. These lawyers handled ALL election related legal issues. There is not specific breakout of legal expenses for the birth issue. Most of the lawsuits were against state governments with state lawyers. It is highly unlikely that Obama spent that much specifically on this issue. If you can prove your point other than general payments to specific lawyers, let me know.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 12:18PM

Good Lord man! Did you read what you just posted? Your "false flanking" manuever is one of the kookiest of conspiracy theories I've ever read!

There are real live people bringing dozens of actual lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility.
Maybe they are all useful dupes to Obama's grand "false flanking manuever."

That is not an obvious or rational explanation for why Obama is spending millions of dollars in blocking his birth certificate. You are claiming the "Jackass Birthers" are conspiracy loons. To butruss this "fact" you offer your own conspiracy theory.

You are not answering the obvious question with an obvious answer. To this date, no one has asked Obama why he is spending millions to block access to his birth certificate. To this date, NO ONE has given anyone a rational explaination to why Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign is spending millions in legal fees to block access to his birth certificate.

I am just curious to why.

I used to post as Bob| 7.23.09 @ 12:29PM

Thomas with all due respect sir, no need to get your knickers in a twist, I was making a practical point. We have limited time and limited resources to fight. If Healthcare passes and is signed into law and the One is removed from office later I can assure you Socialized Healthcare will not be repealed on those grounds. If they carry him out kicking and screaming tomorrow Biden will sign any bill that is brought before him.
The point you might have missed is who would remove him? Nancy Pelosi’s house? In case you haven’t noticed the republicans can’t even send out a mailing she disagrees with. Trial in the 60 vote Al Franken Senate again the republicans can do nothing to stop anything. Wonder how that vote would turn out.. I did not say I thought it was right in an absolute sense. I am speaking in tactical terms of a battle underway. Chase down every bit of information you want to gather witnesses for a trail if you can find them. But as you are doing that call a couple of Blue dogs and some moderate Dems in the senate to keep them from voting for the takeover of our healthcare system. Send a couple of emails to those working with you to do the same. We need every hand we can get in a battle that will go down to the wire.
As to the earlier question about my point RE 2000 I am sorry I did not make that well. What I was trying to say was 2 things in the face of facts look how silly the left looked with the whole Bush stole the election rant. WE were certain based on fact…. His supporters will be no less certain and I would submit their allegiance to fact is substantially less than our own… further removing him even rightly on that score will strengthen his core support where beating his ideas will have the opposite effect. If in 2003 or 2007 congress had contrived to remove Bush from office for whatever reason they could “prove’ relating to the election I am certain his supporters would have rallied around him myself included by force of arms if necessary. I still may not be making this point too well.
Thomas just asking because I do not know; has anyone that has been elected and certified to national office ever afterwards been removed for reasons of eligibility? I have seen it in state politics based on residency but never after certification and taking office. In the instances I have seen it has always been a contest to certification or before.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 12:34PM

Bob:

"These lawyers handled ALL election related legal issues. There is not specific breakout of legal expenses for the birth issue."

EXACTLY BOB!! Give that man a cigar! What other election related issue is currently being fought by OBAMA's ELECTION CAMPAIGN in courts across the land? ACORN stuffing ballots? Hillary having more primary popular votes? Obama bumbling his swearing oath of office pledge?

No, the only issue in regards to Obama's lawful election is the fact that Obama has not released his birth certificate. Kinda silly don't ya think?

I will stand by my "pure fiction" of millions of legal fees Bob. Unless you have proof a lower number, it stands to reason that over six months of legal fees in dozens of lawsuits legal fees would amount to the "pure fiction" of a million or two.

Millions seems reasonable to me Bob. Maybe your guess is better than mine. What amount do you think is reasonable for Obama's Presidential Campaign to block release of a $25 document?

bullwhacker| 7.23.09 @ 12:43PM

The 1961 birth announcement has made the rounds quite a bit the last 48 hours. All it says is that M/M Obama had Jr. on Aug 4 and gives an address in Honolulu, PERIOD! No hospital and no country is listed. It is also dated Aug 13, 9 days after the birth. Rather than proving that no conspiracy could have existed then, all it proves is that M/M Obama were proud parents and wanted friends and family in Honolulu to know they had a son. Meanwhile, much more recent inconsistencies are ongoing concerning Obama's own contradictions concerning which hospital he was born in. Can't someone just ask him now, directly, then we could go from there.

Michael Tomlinson| 7.23.09 @ 12:50PM

Despite all the rhetoric that the "controversy" over Obama's birth certificate is hurting Republicans the polls don’t support that. On issue after issue the American people trust Republicans over Obama and Democrats. Its Democrats and defenders of Obama who are screaming and acting irrationally (illustrated nightly by Chris Matthews). They seem to want to keep this “controversy” alive in hopes that it will distract people from their disastrous handling the economy and national security.

Speaking of the economy according to the Bureau of Labor under Bush and the Republican Congressional majority 4.7 million jobs were created or 65,000 per month. It was only when Democrats became the Congressional majority in 2007 we started losing jobs. In 29 months Democrats with Obama have caused 5.48 million to lose their jobs. Obama may have been born in Hawaii (something he refuses to verify to end the controversy), but what he’s doing to the US is pure Third World. Might as well be a Kenyan.

John Navratil who cares what the Obama defenders think – enjoy your cup of coffee.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 12:54PM

I used to post as Bob:

You bring up some interesting items; Health care, socialized healthcare, Nancy Pelosi, republicans, Al Franken, tactical terms of battle, Blue dogs, moderate Dems, emails, battles to the wire, Bush stole 2000.

Plenty of time to forcefully argue those points. Just so happens that Mr Tyrell wrote about Obama's birth certificate today. I am just asking why Obama is spending millions to block release of his birth certificate. So far, no one has answered that rationally.

The answer is "no." No one has been removed from office for reasons of eligibility. I also can say that in our 233 year history, no president has been removed from office for perjury, sexual harrassment, subornation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, warrentless armed kidnapping of Elian Gonzalez, and so on.

Someday, after years of this bemusing issue, some enterprising young reporter will ask: Why is Obama spending millions to block access to his birth certificate? Seems that this innocuous little question will just have to go unanswered for today.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 12:54PM

I used to post as Bob,

Let's assume that Obama will retain the Presidency even if discovered to be ineligible. There is still a partisan advantage to knowing that he campaigned as an imposter. What Democrat will now wish to embrace him? There would, of course, be no second term. It might be the best thing to happen.

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 12:55PM

Good grief.

Shanahan| 7.23.09 @ 12:57PM

Go to a bookstore.
Find Obama's autobiography , " Dreams From My Father."
Do not buy the book, but, turn to page 26, bottom of the page.
Obama talks about seeing his birth certificate , which his grandmother had tucked away.
Now-Obama suddenly has a COLB and no longer a long form birth certificate.
Here's an intriguing concept for those who dismiss any questions about this discrepancy.
How about the truth ?

ccc| 7.23.09 @ 12:58PM

Assume the fantasy of verifying that Obama is not a natural born citizen, what then? His supporters would want to amend the constitution to define natural born citizen as one who was born a citizen, that would take years. Otherwise Biden would be POTUS, is that what your looking for?

Jeff| 7.23.09 @ 1:19PM

I LOVE reading the comments on this site. However horribly partisan the articles may be the comment they warrant are absolutely priceless. Alot of you really are complete nutjobs. I find the claim that Obama is spending millions of dollars fighting lawsuits to be particularly amusing.

Anyways, I can sleep soundly knowing that many of you are completely delusional and I will not have to worry about a new Republican majority anytime soon.

Jeff| 7.23.09 @ 1:25PM

Tom Rowan,

If you could post exactly where you are receiving the information that Obama is spending MILLIONS of dollars fighting the release of his birth certificate I would be enthralled. Especially because virtually all the lawsuits have been thrown out on technicalities and none of them have made any serious headway?

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 7.23.09 @ 1:40PM

Like many of our above posters and the author of the article which started this debate over the Kenyan-in-charge’s eligibility for an office which is clearly above his pay grade, I accepted that he met The Constitution’s citizenship requirement. But then, Major Stefan Frederick Cook’s lawsuit asking for conscientious objector status and a preliminary injunction against his being deployed to Afghanistan based upon his belief that obumassiah is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as president of the United States and commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces was declared moot by the government since before the issue got to court, Cook’s orders to deploy to Afghanistan were revoked, and he no longer has to deploy. So, a soldier defies an order and is allowed to remain disobedient. Or is he? All the government had to do to change this soldier’s orders to an extended deployment to Leavenworth was produce the annointed one’s official birth certificate. Instead they caved. All of a sudden, the conspiracy crowd does not seem so out of touch after all. Nor do I accept that the simple fact that the anointed one’s mommy was a U.S. citizen automatically confers citizenship on him. Where is the legal justification for this position? I thought that to be a “natural born” citizen the person had to actually be born within the geographical boundaries of the United States or within the boundaries of those territories of the U.S. which have been authorized to confer U.S. citizenship on their own people. An exemption was made for children whose mothers were outside the United States provided they were so absent because they were performing official U.S. business. For example, if Hillary should deliver a child while conferring with world leaders in North Korea or an American soldier delivers a child in the sands of Iraq. I do not know if such an Army Brat would be entitled to hazardous duty pay. Probably should be. But then I have, for personal reasons, great sympathy for all Military Brats.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 1:45PM

Jeff:

Tell us chuckles, if you don't think scum bag Democrat lawyers don't rack up millions in legal fees, what amount do you think is reasonable to block access to his birth certificate?

Go back to sleep delusional nutjob. 2010 is just around the corner you drone.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 1:51PM

Jeff:

You seem to know more about all of this than all of us Jeff. You seem like an expert! You tell us how much Obama's 2008 Presidential Election Campaign has spent blocking the release of his birth certificate. You seem so amused because of what....you have the real amount? Tell us Jeff: More than a million? Less than a million? You scoff so easily. You must know the answer Jeff. Why not let us in on the joke?

Can anyone rationally explain why Obama is spending ANY money on blocking his birth certificate? Jeff? Anyone? Hello?

I used to post as Bob| 7.23.09 @ 1:55PM

Jeff, I find it interesting you find comfort in ",..been thrown out on technicalities... ". It would seem preferable to be able to declare them without truth or merit.
I guess from an ends justify the means vantage point any victory is worth celebration….. kind of like being found not guilty as opposed to proven not guilty…

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 2:27PM

Tom Rowan,

Really, Jeanine, you've either got to find work, or, spend what little you have left for some therapy. Now, you may have to leave Hollywood -that little incestuous nest of enablers- and walk amongst us lesser beings, but you're probably going to have to.

You see, I understand that as an "actress of a certain age", not to mention 'actress of myriad trucker tatoos and really, really poor personal hygiene', it's mighty unlikely you're ever going to be cast as anything more than a shrub in a teen slasher flick. And it's even more unlikely that you'll ever find Hollywood therapist that'll a) ever take on a z-list has-been, or b) tell you the truth about bathing being the first step to self-esteem.
Any which way you turn, your healthiest future is as a Wausau truck-stop short-order cook and with an honest HMO analyst.

But this imposter-trolling on conservative websites must stop; it's dragging you deeper into the demons of delusion. Clearly now, you post something, and then see it appear and think... THERE! THERE ARE THOSE RACIST, IGNORANT, EVIL, STUPID FOOLS! RIGHT THERE! DO YOU SEE?! DO YOU SEE?!

Please, get help. Please.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 2:58PM

Doorgunner:

You simply cannot answer the question.
Why is the Obama 2008 Presidential Election Campaign spending millions on legal fees to block access to his birth certificate?

If these dozens of lawsuits are delusional or merely figments of my imagination, then ANY money spent by Obama's Presidential Election Campaign are misappropriations of campaign funds. But they are not. Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign is spending actual dollars to actual lawyers defending his legitimate election.

While you are fantasizing about Jeanine Garafalo, take a moment to ask yourself; Why Obama is blocking access to his birth certificate?

So far your explainations have veered from grand "false flanking manuevers" to Jeanine Garafalo's "demons" and "delusions."

You won't answer because you can't. There is no rational or obvious explaination for Obama not to release his birth certificate.

The Democrats are in the midst of raising taxes to lower the "planet's fever" when global temps have fallen for the last decade.

The Democrats are in the midst of taking over the health care and insurance industries that over 80% of Americans are happy with.

I am just asking why Obama is spending millions to block access to his birth certificate and my sanity is called into question.

It is just a simple question and it is only a damned birth certificate. Why all the hub bub?

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 3:12PM

"The Democrats are in the midst of raising taxes to lower the "planet's fever" when global temps have fallen for the last decade.

The Democrats are in the midst of taking over the health care and insurance industries that over 80% of Americans are happy with.

I am just asking why Obama is spending millions to block access to his birth certificate and my sanity is called into question.

It is just a simple question and it is only a damned birth certificate. Why all the hub bub?"

Exactly my point.

"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

Ya see that "fourteen Years" part, Sparky? You ever actually read the constitution? It only takes an adult maybe twenty minutes. You don't have to be born here. You only have to be born of a U.S. citizen and been a resident within the U.S. for fourteen years.

And as for your completely asinine "spending millions of dollars" hiding his lawsuit, you've shown absolutely no proof... zip, nada, bupkiss. But it is common knowledge amongst the grown-ups that, when, someone files suit against an entity, thathe wise entity will respond- which requires that money be spent. Is that the "millions" you're referring to, jackass?

Christ Almighty, what a maroon!

Patriot| 7.23.09 @ 3:18PM

Is crazy RINO Bob saying that Sarah Palin is not a U.S. citizen?

Tom, I think you have a point. But Obama's mother was a U.S. citizen; doesn't that make Obama a citizen, too?

Geez, fantasizing about Jeanine Garafalo? Give us a break!

KyMouse, I agree with you.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 3:33PM

Dogrunner:

Yes I have read the constitution you swarmy little puke.

There have been dozens of lawsuits regarding Obama's eligibility under Article 2. Some have gone to the door of the Supreme Court. Many lawsuits are still winding there way through the courts.

Sarah Palin has spent a half million defending herself against frivolous ethics complaints. I stand by my assertion that Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign has spent millions over the last year blocking access to his birth certificate.

Do you deny that there have been dozens of lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility under Article 2? Whether these are frivolous or not, Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign has spent millions on blocking access to his birth certificate.

All I am asking is why? So far, you have added nothing to answering this question other than screaming like a little girl, offer zany conspiracy theories, attack the ghost of Jeanine Garafalo, and stamping your feet and name calling.

What is it Dogrunner? You cannot refute the cost of Obama's legal defense or answer why he won't release his birth certificate. Intead of answering a simple question you give us the petulent pouting of a cry baby.

If the question is too hard go cry to your mommy.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 3:44PM

Doorgunner,

Check your facts. You DO need to be born here in the U.S. to be a natural born citizen (yes, there are limited exceptions for overseas like military bases and while working for the Gov't). If you are not born here you may naturalize. If you are born overseas and you have an American parent you may claim citizenship for yourself when you reach majority, but you are, again, naturalized.

Schwarzenegger is a naturalized American citizen. He was not born in the U.S. He can be governor of California but he CANNOT be President.

Richard Baker| 7.23.09 @ 3:52PM

Now you know why the story last year that John McCain was not natural born, as his place of birth was Coco Solo in the Canal Zone, came about. The effort was to divert attention from the Kenyan. Like John McCain's case, my middle brother was born in Munich in 1954 and was considered natural born because my Father and, thence, John McCain's were at each posting under military orders. All the Kenyan has to do is request that the Governor of Hawaii release the long certificate and if he's legal then I'm satisfied. End of story. But, he won't. Ay, there's the (Constitutional) rub!

Marc Jeric| 7.23.09 @ 3:54PM

It is clear that Abu Hussein was born in Kenya; but there are more important issues, e.g.:
In English In Russian
Reform Perestroika
Transparency Glasnost
Community organization Soviet
Now that is much more disturbing!

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 3:54PM

I answered your question clearly at 12:00pm. And I have not offered any conspiracy theories. An excerpt:

"...the sputtering indignation we spew makes us look as though we're fighting yesterday's battle while they're valiantly slaying the dragons of "Health-Care" and "The Economy". "

And other than his handlers, who cares what campaign monies he spends on the frivolous lawsuits? It isn't evidence of anything any more than the money Palin has spent defending herself against baseless lawsuits is.

I did like "Dogrunner" , though. And I still say you're a Lefty troll; no conservative could be this obsessively obtuse.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 3:59PM

But let's not take my word for it. Let's use the U.S. Dept. of State: http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

Birth Abroad to One Citizen and One Alien Parent in Wedlock: A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) INA provided the citizen parent was physically present in the U.S. for the time period required by the law applicable at the time of the child's birth. (For birth on or after November 14, 1986, a period of five years physical presence, two after the age of fourteen is required. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, a period of ten years, five after the age of fourteen are required for physical presence in the U.S. to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.

Notice that at the time of Obama's birth, his mother could not have had five years physical presence in the U.S. after the age of fourteen as she was only eighteen. Thus, it is quite problematic as to where Obama was born.

Freeman| 7.23.09 @ 4:01PM

Obama is NOT an American citizen. Examine the "birth certificate" they're showing on the internet and you'll see it's a clear fake. It fooled even the officials in Hawaii, who are unwittingly participating in this con job. The alleged coverage in a local newspaper could also easily be faked. Obama is a citizen of Kenya! No wonder we're becoming a third world country.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 7.23.09 @ 4:02PM

Doorgunner, I don't think you are reading the Constitution correctly. If all that mattered was that a person be a citizen and have lived here for 14 years both Kissinger and Arnold would be eligible to run for president. But they are not. At the time the Constitution was ratified there were very few natural born Citizens. Certainly none 35 years of age nor any who had lived in the United States for 14 years. So the Founders modified the natural born and residency requirements to allow all persons who became citizens upon ratification of the Constitution to be President if they met the other requirements. The first President to be born in the United States after the signing of The Declaration of Independence was #8 Martin Van Buren. The first President born in the U.S after the U S. Constitution went into effect (3/4/1789) was #10 John Tyler. obumassiah is the first president not born in the 48 continental states.

Freeman| 7.23.09 @ 4:06PM

Barack HUSSEIN Obama is the closest thing to a Manchurian Candidate we've ever had. He's been placed in the presidency on behalf of the whole Muslim world, to which he owes his allegiance.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 4:07PM

John, you are actually wrong. The Naturalization Act of 1790 states the following:

"the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States."

After this, the words "natural born" never appear again. But this was the intent of the original Congress. If you remember, the same issue came up for McCain because he was not technically in the Canal Zone when he was born. However, in all naturalization laws, if you are born to U.S. parents outside of the U.S. (there are many people who work in foreign offices for U.S. companies), you are considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

So John, all of the court decisions thus far have held that you don't have to be "naturalized" to be a U.S. citizen.

Look it up -- I did....

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 4:16PM

Dogrunner:

You have not answered the only question I have over this birth certificate issue. No one has. Call me obsessively obtuse, but I am not talking about any issue other than the release of his birth certificate.

Name calling or changing the subject leaves my question unanswered. Why is the Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign spending million, (or ANY amount of money,) to block access to his birth certificate?

It is a fact that Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign is spending the money to block access to it. All I want to know is: Why?

No one seems able to answer this question. Bob Tyrell won't ask it himself nor will he take a stab at answering it.

I cannot think of one truthful thing the Obama Administration has said about anything so I cannot trust anything they say about the matter.

I guess that leaves Obama'a paternal grandmother with the last word: Obama was born in Kenya. Obama's own grandmother witnessed the birth according to her, not me.

So either Obama is lying or Obama's grandmother is lying. Obama's grandmother has never lied to us yet that we know of. Obama has repeatedly lied as a matter of fact.

So I ask all those interested in Bob's article today:
Why is Obama blocking the release of his birth certificate? I have yet to see a rational explaination to a very simple question.

Mike Giles| 7.23.09 @ 4:18PM

Actually I'm convinced that RET jr. - not to mention many conservative pundits - actually believe that the Obamameister ISN'T a natural born American citizen. They're simply hand waving away that possibility because they are scared to death of the resulting Constitutional crisis, if it were discovered he wasn't eligible. Have you paid any attention to some of his supporters? Can you say Civil War?

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 4:21PM

Bob,

On the off-chance that our message "crossed in the e-mail", I will acknowledge that the definition of "natural born" does form part of the debate. I also point out that citizenship, itself, does not. We are speaking specifically about the requirements listed in the Constitution to be President where is it stated that the President must be "natural born" OR a citizen at the time of ratification.

The best assumption seems to be that "natural born" refers to acquiring citizenship at birth and not through an application for citizenship. If I am wrong on this assumption, my argument fails. If not, then I believe, according to the State Dept. site cited above, that I am actually correct. I am certainly ready to hear any clarification of the definition of "natural born".

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 4:27PM

Dang it, I'm going to have to back up a bit:

1) Apparently there is no explicitly relevant judicial precedent re citizenship for a child born abroad to parents, only one of whom is a citizen. (God help us if Sotomayor's empathy comes into play -yes, that's a joke, barely)

2) As an irrelevant aside, there is precedent to deny McCain "natural born status" -Ted Olson's opinion notwithstanding- because of his having been born in Panama during his father's military posting there.

3) As there is no clear precedent, all that clear evidence of an OCONUS birth (the existence of which I am unconvinced of) would generate is swift show trial through the Senate through to SCOTUS in which the conservative movement would be lynched in the spectacular fashion. And Biden Would preside initially. Can you imagine the 'speechifying'. Think Henry Louis Gates got to unjustifyably put the smack-down on Cambridge PD? How could that be? Think any justice would vote against Obama's Mama's 'compelling personal story'? Really? Yeah, keep this stupid stuff up.

4) The time for this was during the primaries; it's avGI-NORMOUS venus flytrap now.

So, yeah, I'm probably reaching on President Obama's status as a "natural born" IF he was born OCONUS. But the most relevant fact now is that word "President" before his name.

And Jeanine still needs help.

daboss| 7.23.09 @ 4:31PM

This is not really that far fetched ... there were rumors about President Chester A. Arthur being born in Canada.

Makes for interesting discussions, either side you come down on the issue.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 4:32PM

Bob,

I see that I was wrong is asserting that one must be born on something akin to American soil (a base, for example) and that it is merely sufficient to be born to two American citizens at least one of whom had a physical residency in the U.S. (I'm sure that's not the last mistake I will make today)

Still this isn't what is alleged.

John Navratil| 7.23.09 @ 4:38PM

Doorgunner,

You are quite right. The time for this WAS earlier. It was tried and was dismissed as so much B.S. Still, and regardless of the answer, the question remains legitimate and the answer remains easy to obtain.

Bob| 7.23.09 @ 4:41PM

John, as I said before, I had to look it up. The issue over McCain was interesting as he was not on a U.S. base when born and was thus on foreign soil. I continue to maintain that Axelrod is keeping this alive on purpose to keep the right wing wackos in the news. That's exactly what I would do if I were him. If they start the precedent of answering the wackos, where will it start on other issues?

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 5:06PM

Bob:

"I continue to maintain that Axelrod is keeping this alive on purpose to keep the right wing wackos in the news. That's exactly what I would do if I were him. If they start the precedent of answering the wackos, where will it start on other issues? "

Really Bob? There has been a virtual news black out on this issue other than calling people with honest questions about it "right wing wackos."

Think whatever you want. The fact is that Obama will not release his birth certificate. Obama himself has asserted himself that calls for his birth certificate are "smears."

Why the demonization? If everyone with a question about his birth certificate are crazy loons then why not release the birth certificate to show how nutty the "birthers" are?

It is a simple question and everyone is dancing around it and not addressing it:

Why is Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign spending millions to block access to his birth certificate.

Crickets, jeers, and changing the subject are the only answers I have heard to this simple and obvious question.

Dustoff| 7.23.09 @ 5:10PM

Let's see what party went nuts over Bush's service records?
OOOOOOO-that was the dem's right, plus they even sucked in a not so famous reporter. Dan something. LOL

I could care less about the Birth BS.
He's failing as everday goes by. Plus picking on the cop didn't help him one bit...

Shame, shame.

Jeff | 7.23.09 @ 5:22PM

Tom, you keep saying "tell me why Obama is spending millions of dollars blocking the release of his birth certificate?"

I am asking what evidence do you have to support this claim?

Just because Sean Hannity says something does not make it true. In fact, the reverse is usually true.

Thom| 7.23.09 @ 5:28PM

My official raised seal birth certificate has who (my parents and their place of birth, certifiable medical official to verify said info), when (date and time of my birth), where (the state, city, hospital) and what (me of course). I’ve used them my whole life for a lot of things requiring proof of citizenship but nowhere on this certificate does it say that and in fact every copy I’ve ever had and have is in fact a significant forgery. Anyone want to guess why? I wouldn’t know this except for being told by the person that signed the form saying the information on it to be “correct”. Takers? I submit a birth certificate can be anything the issuing agency wants it to be but as an end all to citizenship it has numerous problems….. Any takers?

Mazzuchelli| 7.23.09 @ 5:47PM

There goes the liberal name calling, Bob. The fact is by law the President must be a naturally born U. S. citizen. Since when is the law trivial? All this trivializing by the media to build on the original blog's intent, as well as by Americans in general, denigrates and erodes the principles upon which the country was built. It has allowed BO to employ tactics with the bailouts and with his critics that are illegal with no outrage from the media. You know why? Because trivializing the law is a slippery slope down which we are now sliding. THAT'S why I want to know. While I don't want him removed from office at this stage of the game because of the potential impact to black Americans, a little disgrace is definitely in order if his grandmother is indeed correct.

helen sabin| 7.23.09 @ 5:48PM

I want to know the name of the paper that published the BIRTH of Obama!! AND does it say LIVE BIRTH? ANd if so, then why doesn't Obama SHOW HIS HOSPITAL birth certificate??

Who was the doc who delivered? HUH?? HUH?? AND when??? huh??

Sorry - this is NOT convincing to me and I am NOT from Missouri either!

Occam's Razor| 7.23.09 @ 5:48PM

The name of the drug is Propofol, Bob---otherwise, correct.

alec kitson| 7.23.09 @ 5:57PM

Think not about the 'birther' position. They might all be nuts, I dunno.

Rather, think about the reactions of Obama and his people to them. That's what's odd, what triggers alarms even in the sane.

Seeking the Presidency is a job application, the employer the American people. this guy is a hired hand like most of the rest of us. Here comes an accusation of 'resume fraud' after the event (though I guess it was around and largely unaddressed before the 'hiring'. I'm not particularly concerned with it, rather with the peculiar 'circle the wagons' knee-jerk reaction.

So now conspiracy theories abound, many of them probably by nuts. Forget the theorists. Think Obama.

There apparently is a 'long form' original birth certificate around which the accusations revolve in a vault in Hawaii that has been sealed but will be released in a heartbeat if Obama says so. What was released - late and reluctantly, was a short, newly produced and abbreviated piece of evidence that the long form certificate exists, nothing more. Little of its content. I have asked some pretty bright people of all political stripes 'can you think of a reason not to release the original unless there's something damaging in there'. Nobody has come up with one.

One can imagine some of the collateral information being damaging electorally - remember this thing was started by the Clinton campaign when they were digging into Obama while opposing for the nomination (and perhaps the stakes looked less to the Obama people then, Hillary looked as though she had it wrapped for a long time).

There are other - many other - missing or withheld Obama documents. More 'circle the wagon'. Why would anyone refuse to release their college application forms/ Parental marriage certificates? Passport applications and so on?

Well, most of them play to one's origins, can that be it?

Most, maybe all, candidates routinely release this stuff as asked to do so. Not this fellow. Even the most balanced can be forgiven for a pensive 'Hmmm, why?'

It doesn't take a conspiracy nut to wonder whether something is 'wrong'.

As I mentioned earlier, candidacy is a job application and a full resume a reasonable requirement of the hiring party - the American people. Incomplete or fraudulent resumes are discovered daily in the ordinary course of commerce, oftn after the candidate has been hired, and they are usually dealt with pretty firmly.

So, forget the accusers, wrong focus. Ponder why not disclose especially when if all is OK the matter dies overnight? Still haven't found a credible answer unless there is 'a problem'.

Alec Kitson

Wendy L| 7.23.09 @ 5:59PM

If you want to shut up the Republicans all you have to do is show the real birth certificate and other requested documents and we will go away. It is really that simple. You are making more of it than we are, we are just wanting to see what every AMERICAN President has to show. His vetting stinks!

Thom| 7.23.09 @ 6:28PM

Obama’s COB is not a Birth Certificate and in fact it is not even a copy of one. It’s merely a certificate of birth in Hawaii. Contrast to my official photo copy from 1952 and my raised seal copies of that (minus some information that I know was on my official Birth Certificate when I was born) which shows both typed and hand written info and signatures as required by law in my “birth” state, Obama’s COB has little to nothing that would indicate citizenship. It is assumed by virtue of the two parent names given that this is by default the case and may be but in my case that can not be said because my official photo copy and raised seal copies are all forgeries. The part that is forged and shows on my certificate vs. Obama’s mere COB could quite possibly bear on his official status as a natural born citizen. I have no way to find out because that info is sealed and he will not release it as is my information which is sealed (from me no less) but I did find out and have the truth of the matter (most of it anyway). Could Obama be illegal under the wording of the Constitution, you bet and some State officials in very hot water too. What bothers me the most is the games being played. If there is incriminating evidence and he suspects or actually knows this to be true by other means (like the way I found out) then there is criminal intent before the fact. After the fact might be washed under the bridge so to speak but not before the fact. Mine games like this are fun for those that get off doing this kind of stuff but otherwise dangerous to let go on. His COB alone would not get him in the door where I work even though it is an official COB issued by a State. So is mine and it is a very much a forgery.

George Coates | 7.23.09 @ 6:30PM

Taking a newspaper annoucement as proof of birth is just plain stupid! Obama's family lived in Hawaii. They would want their friends to know about his birth. What better way then to announce the birth of the Savior then in the local paper. This does not substanciate his citizenship, just that he was born. Lets dig a little deeper then the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Tom Rowan| 7.23.09 @ 6:45PM

Jeff:

Do your own fact checking. I charge $190 per hour for forensic accounting.

The Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign is spending money to block access to Obama's birth certificate. You can cry, stamp your feet, change the subject and ask for particulars but you cannot deny the fact that Obama's 2008 campaign is spending money to block access to his birth certificate.

Why would he do that Jeff? Concentrate and focus Jeff.....Why is Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign spending ANY MONEY AT ALL blocking Obama's birth certificate?

If all these lawsuits are frivolous then Obama's own campaign is misusing campaign cash. Obama's own campaign certainly has Obama's approval and are acting on Obama's direction.
So why is Obama wasting the time of high priced lawyers on the one hand and smearing "birthers" on the other. Sounds like Obama is having his cake and eating it to, no?

Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign is actively defending lawsuits across America and lawyers are billing Obama for the services to block access to his birth certificate.

This is not too hard for you to understand, is it Jeff?

I am just curious to why Obama is spending campaign cash to block access to his birth certificate.

Seems odd if there is no "there there."

Freeman| 7.23.09 @ 7:00PM

The only reason Obama would not show his birth certificate is BECAUSE IT DON"T EXIST!!!!

Obama is a citizen of Kenya, not the US.

He's an illegal alien, to boot, since there's no record of his having become a legal citizen.

Therefore, he should be incarcerated, tried, and deported as a criminal.

Anything else would make him above the law. Why are all these librals always talking about the president not being above the law? Let's see them apply the law to their Muslim terrorist president.

Doorgunner| 7.23.09 @ 7:25PM

Tom Rowan, George Coates, Thom, Wendy L, Mazzuchelli, helen sabin, alec kitson...

Every one of you, yeahhhh, just Kos Kid crawlers, trying to stir up some silly quotable crap. Smelly mold beneath the Astroturf.

Buh bye.

alec kitson| 7.23.09 @ 7:28PM

I think it goes back to the belief I always had that he wasn't running for the presidency when he announced his candidacy all that time ago. I think now, as I thought and expressed then, that he was a young mid-forties fellow putting down a marker for an important place in the Democratic party in years to come. Getting publicity, prominence. Maybe in the back of his mind a future candidacy for president.

So with Hillary 'owning' the polls and the candidacy at that time, failure to disclose potentially awkward details was low risk - if you're gonna run third or fourth after Hillary and Edwards and so on ... so what, who's gonna check? Deal with it later if at all. It's about getting known, not examined.

Then came the practically overnight implosion of Hillary at Christmas a year and a half ago. Now it all ramped up to the surprise of the Obama campaign, came out of nowhere, now he's a player. Hillary's people get serious about both Edwards and the rookie upstart and they start digging into the latter pretty deeply. The birth/other document vacuum becomes one focus of the Clinton team, the Obama guys obfuscated and that's where this all started. The wagons were circled by the O team because positions had already been taken at the low-stakes' stage, locked in.

At this point we're still not talking 'presidency' with Edwards and others prominently in the race, we're still talking a real shot at the candidacy, already ahead of expectations . So maybe the bluffing began then. I doubt the campaign in general knew anything potentially 'awkward' (if indeed such exists, I dunno). I can however imagine a small coterie subsequently learning some awkward bits and gulping, but with the candidacy as yet unresolved never mind the election ... well, those 'do we 'fess or do we bluff/tough it out' meetings are not exactly unknown, are they?

If that's what happened, as with Edwards, Bill C, Nixon and a zillion others it sort of worked ... as with them... for a while. The question is, if there really is a 'fraud' of some description even if by omission, does this thing get hot and are we looking at Obamagate? Won't take long to know in my judgement, I think now it's gone mainstream it has to be addressed by its subjects, Obama and his guys.

Stakes could hardly be higher.

Funny when you consider that the simple release of a few routine documents fixes it overnight.

Maybe it'll happen.

Hmmmm

Alec Kitson

Kearney Smith| 7.23.09 @ 7:31PM

Strange that citizens have to produce their birth certificates to get any of a dozen privileges of citizenship (like passports, etc.) but to be president of the US , it is NOT required.

loulou| 7.23.09 @ 8:21PM

Oh, no--is Tyrrell pulling a David Brock on us?

The fact is, Obama has no Hawaii Birth Certificate to show us. He has a Certification of Live Birth, which is meaningless regarding his US citizenship or lack thereof. Am I going to have to cancel my AmSpec subscription or is Tyrrell going to come to his senses when the fog of anesthesia lifts?

Smitty| 7.23.09 @ 8:28PM

I don't think they're ALL Kos Kids, Tailgunner. I also don't think it helps being so narrow minded.

If Bob the troll is against it, I'm usually for it.

Thom| 7.23.09 @ 8:28PM

alec kitson, if any “fraud” occurred it occurred day one with the filing of info that Obama’s COB shows a shadow of. The original fraud would be on the State and probably several other people’s heads but Obama would be held blameless for the same reason’s I’m blameless for my forged Birth Certificate. The Rub comes in if there is knowledge before the fact in this case that his credentials are lacking in some way or the other. State produced documents are found to be frauds all the time, ie Driver’s license, voter registrations rolls for just two examples. Something like the COB Hawaii is showing is designed to show as little info as possible and hide a lot of information that my Birth Certificate contains that his COB does not. My copy has information masked out that is important regarding the truth and accuracy of my particular situation in life and while I can’t get at the info through my birth state I do know what it is and such irregular circumstances could bear on his “status” under the law. It is really up to the State in my opinion to set the record straight but as in my case those records were sealed to protect that information from me. If Obama is the road block here ( I can’t say one way or the other ) then he is ultimately going to damage his credibility by either playing a silly game for political sport or find himself in some serious do-do on Constitutional grounds. As others have said, given the number and depth of effort I’ve had to go through my entire life for background checks and alike, his COB wouldn’t pass muster with anything I’ve had to provide. Are there privacy issues here, certainly just as there is in my case (and millions of others like me) but I’m didn’t run for the President of the United States which has to be a natural born citizen. Those extra ordinary requirements are there for a reason just like all those other inconvenient clauses in the Constitution that are regularly ignored.

Doorgunner, I don’t camp out in Marx’s backyard; The Kool Aider Marxists came into this backyard as I remember.

Jeff | 7.23.09 @ 8:49PM

Hey Tom Rowan, retard, http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Ru7dnfSjI
How are they spending millions of dollars to block access when they have already let people see the fucking thing?

NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS

Jeff | 7.23.09 @ 8:54PM

I think this "conspiracy" if it even warrants that name is simply a manifestation of old white people's--and Alan Keyes-- pathological hatred of Barack Obama. To me, that is the only explanation for the hysterical response his policies--which he campaigned and WON on--could elicit. Get used to it wackos, youve got 4 more years. Scratch that, 8 more years.

RichardNous| 7.23.09 @ 9:24PM

If 4 years from now it was determined that Obama did not meet Constitutional requirements to be POTUS would every Bill he signed into Law be null and void?

Just curious.

RichardNous| 7.23.09 @ 9:27PM

Wow! All this crazy conspiracy talk, don't you people know that President Obama has a long form original but only Bonesman and Goldman Sachs employees/former are allowed to see it.

Bwahahahahahaha!

loulou| 7.23.09 @ 9:43PM

Jeff, you idiot wacko--you must know that factcheck.org is an arm of the Obama/ACORN campaign.

P| 7.23.09 @ 9:45PM

If you google his name, Barry Soetoro, you will find very interesting facts...one in particular that he obtained an Indonesian Passport and used it to obtain foreign student funds to attend Columbia. How could he do this is he was an "American" citizen...that would be "fraud"...a crime. Is he American, born in Kenya...or Indonesian?? He can't make up his mind...whatever best fits the situation at hand! Google his name, before he changed it back to "Barack Hussein Obama"

alec kitson| 7.23.09 @ 9:46PM

RichardNous

"...would every Bill he signed into Law be null and void?"

Good point and one much speculated about. A logical progression. This would presumably be Supreme Court territory? I don't think there's precedent; it's almost impossible to imagine such a world, isn't it? I mean, every interest that felt damaged by laws enacted ... every dead and wounded soldier's family seeking redress ... treaties signed... appointments made

Well, let's hope there's an 'innocent' or at least tolerable explanation of the 'sealed' document mysteries and that it's provided pronto.

At least that would reduce the controversy from the 'conscious fraud' accusations to ... er, I suppose just ... what ... dumb?

That would beat a constitutional crisis I guess and wouldn't be a first in any jurisdiction.

Lordy.

Alec Kitson

RationalGeezer| 7.23.09 @ 10:04PM

Exactly what proof is there that the Ineligible-Affirmative-Action-Usurper-in-Chief was born in Hawaii, Mr. Tyrrell. Your "belief" simply doesn't cut it.

Bob Keiser| 7.23.09 @ 11:24PM

Fine! That should settle the problem of his birth.

Now tell us: What Hawaiian Newspaper was the announcement published in and on what date was it published?

Or were you having an anesthesia induced dream?
Bob K.

Curmudgeon | 7.23.09 @ 11:57PM

Up your ass, Bob, you miserable Commiecrat troll.

Mr. Tyrell is right. He was born to an American mother, in Hawaii. Case closed. Let's defeat the Demunists and crush the Commiecrats in 2010 and 2012, and focus energy accordingly. To dabble in this "birth trooferism" is to ape the Left with it's "9/11 trooferism".

Reagan Was Right| 7.24.09 @ 12:24AM

The birthers are a cancer on our party, like so much of the other bullshit these losers are doing in our name. We either cut off a toe or lose a foot.

These people are unbelievably stupid and crass.

SoCon| 7.24.09 @ 2:29AM

Funny thing is the truthers are probably right; I'd put nothing past the crappy libs--but so what? We've got Obama and his fellow commies on the run without the birth certificate issue, and I think we need to focus.

Now go out and kick some liberal a$$, people.

ranndino| 7.24.09 @ 4:57AM

I love the "logic" of the crazies. It goes somewhat like this.

- Obama, why are you hiding your birth certificate?
- I'm not hiding it, here it is.
- That's a fake! Show us another one that's not a fake.
- But... it's the only one I have and it's real.
- No it's not. We knew it, you weren't born here!

Unbelievable. Once people get something in their heads it's impossible to remove. The conspiracy theories of the right are every bit as ridiculous as the ones of the left. The same people who call liberals who believe that 9/11 was staged by the US government crazy see nothing wrong with believing equally insane, without any basis in reality, conspiracy theories like this one. Amazing.

Kway| 7.24.09 @ 6:34AM

You missed the point of the article -
It's about the media and what poses as "news" these days.
If you get get as passionate about that issue, and rally the troops to boycott their advertisers or encourage some enterprising group to start a real news program - perhaps call it "Old School" that would be progress.

Richard Wheeler| 7.24.09 @ 7:09AM

If the Savior was born in Hawaii, all he would have to do is produce a Live Birth Certificate Signed by the attending Doctor. Why have his Birth Records been sealed in Hawaii.

The only thing produced so far is a "Redacted Copy of a 'Certification of Live Birth' ", with no signature of anyone and the Certificate No. has been blacked out. Why?

If he is so honest, why does he keep lying. Isn't there a law against it?

And, why has he spent a Million Dollars defending his lies?

Why are his birth records in Kenya sealed so nobody can look at them?

Why does his Maternal Grandmother state that, "He was born in Kenya and she held him in her arms."?

If one would want the real truth of this phony president, he should go to the World Net Daily website. Joeseph Farah was the former editor of the Sacramento Union and being truthful he couldn't compete with the Radical Liberal Sacramento Bee published by McClatchy Newspaper.

Tom Rowan| 7.24.09 @ 9:02AM

"Hey Tom Rowan, retard, http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Ru7dnfSjI
How are they spending millions of dollars to block access when they have already let people see the fucking thing?

NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS NUTS"

Wow Jeff! Touche' ! I am wounded mortally by your thrusts and parry of logic and reason. I hang my head in shame to your superior intellect.

Why do you get so bent out of shape on a simple question about this issue? Why the name calling? Why the smears?

All I want to know is why Obama is paying money to lawyers to block release of his birth certificate.

Q: In six months in office, what jobs or industry has Obama created?

A: Birth Certificate Defense Lawyers.

owyheewine| 7.24.09 @ 5:39PM

Perhaps the reason for withholding the hospital certificate is that it reveals the true father, as the estimible Mr Limbaugh revealed today.After the Messiah's performance in the Gates case, the true last name of the president is Nifong.

Kearney | 7.24.09 @ 5:55PM

Newsmax made good points about Obama's lack of transparency:
. . . Obama's refusal to release his birth certificate does mean that Obama remains one of America's most mysterious and opaque presidents ever.

Obama, for example, has not released many other documents regarding his public and private life.
Many of these documents were sought by reporters, who easily acquiesced when Obama said he would not release them – though most presidential candidates release them as a perfunctory matter.

Among the key documents that Obama continues to shield from the public:

Obama released just one brief document detailing his personal health. McCain, on the other hand, released what he said was his complete medical file, totaling more than 1,500 pages.

Obama refused to offer his official papers as a state legislator in Illinois. Nor did he produce correspondence, such as his schedules of appointments or letters from lobbyists, from his days in the Illinois state Senate.

Obama did not release his client list as an attorney or his billing records. He maintained that he performed only a few hours of legal work for a nonprofit organization with ties to Tony Rezko, the Chicago businessman convicted of fraud in June 2008 but did not release billing records that would prove this assertion.

Obama ignored requests for his records from Occidental College, where he studied for two years before transferring to Columbia University.

Obama's campaign refused to give Columbia, where he earned an undergraduate degree in political science, permission to release his transcripts. Former President George W. Bush and presidential contenders Al Gore and John Kerry all released their college transcripts.

Obama did not agree to the release of his application to the Illinois State Bar, which would have cleared up intermittent allegations that his application may have been inaccurate.

Obama did not release records from his time at Harvard Law School.
During the presidential campaign, McCain's campaign released a full list of all online donors.

Obama's campaign still has not released the names of those who donated at least one-third of the $750 million he raised.

Ironically, Obama accused the Bush White House of being "one of the most secretive administrations in our history," and chided then-Sen. Hillary Clinton for not releasing her White House schedules.

MaryAnn| 7.25.09 @ 12:23PM

If Obama has nothing to hide, he should release his birth certificate and put the matter to rest. One has to ask why he is spending millions of dollars to keep secret a document that could prove the "birthers" are nuts.
The whole episode is another example of Obama attempting to cause chaos in the country so the gov't can take total control to solve the country's problems.

SoCon| 7.26.09 @ 3:31AM

Great post, Kearney. You, too, MaryAnn. No one else gets away with Obama's sneakiness. Extremely creepy.

bluecollarbytes| 7.26.09 @ 9:36AM

The Obama B-certificate epic reminds me of the Clinton saga. In the end the payoff was questionable, even though Clinton received Some due process with a unique place in history.

How much 'proof'' would it take to convince a majority that Obama should be removed? Busy Obama-folks are just now starting to realize Who Obama really is. Why muck that up with pipe dreams of an impeachment or some super-court reversal of a national election?

Obama and Dems are digging a huge hole. At some point voters will want to get out of it, leaving Democrats in it.

Simon Templar| 7.26.09 @ 12:17PM

Yeah..completely out of the realm of possibility..like who would ever believe that the American public would elect a real life socialist to the white house who would appoint a real life communist as his energy czar? Or how about a candidate who has known frienships and professional asociations with domestic terrorists. Crazy right wing nuts!

Simon Templar| 7.26.09 @ 12:28PM

What if you had a portal that could transport you to parallel worlds..worlds where the president is a socialist community organizer and the federal government is run by left wing hippies and beuracrats...where you are the same person and its the same year but everything is different and what if you can not find your way home?

Joe Heathen| 7.26.09 @ 5:24PM

So what if Lou Dobbs was born in Mexico and never became an American citizen? See his Texas "birth certificate":
-
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mupm2BmIjtc/SmuFVV_O3bI/AAAAAAAAIBw/M3xrfetDDLk/s1600-h/lou+dobbs+birth+certificate.jpg
-
Notice on Line 1(b) the asterisk beside "Childress" and then, to see what that asterisk represents, look at the bottom right corner of the "birth certificate".
-
I wonder if this is important to "Lou the birfer" who sez there's many questions to be answered?
-
Maybe Lou oughta start explaining his ancestry before he starts getting questioned. Or, deportation actions should be initiated against Lou and he can go back to eating beans and rice.
-
Once an idiot, always an idiot. As with his fellow travelers.

Dave| 7.26.09 @ 8:46PM

I'm at a total loss as to why this has to be an emotional issue. What ever happened to the rule of law? If the candidate was screened properly, he is under no further obligation, and I can see where it would be a matter of principle for the president. If not, that is the real issue.

Rubicon| 7.27.09 @ 12:56AM

In the final analysis, I think Obama "is" an American. However, I also question why the 'real' Certificate of Live Birth has been with-held & so much money expended to keep it out of the public eye. Do I think Obama & his handlers would use this to distract folks from his failures or a monumental failure? Sure. One way to distract folks from a failure is to provide another issue as fodder. If he has the real certificate, then just as he is exposed as an idiot whose plans are destroying America, one of his handlers can release the real Certificate & suddenly the news is that real document & not his colossal policy failure we are all hot under the collar about at the time. But that too would be an enormous conspiracy that would assume he expected to have a big failure & would need a distraction sometime during his presidency. Doubtful.
As many have said here, the real issue is, his policies that are harming this nation. And they truly are and will.
In addition, once out of office, that document will surface. If he was a pretender, then the lawsuits will start & go on for decades as many of his actions are over-turned in the courts.
One thing I will mention that I do find important.
The "Constitution" stipulates the President must be a natural born citizen. Ignoring that document or courts ruling no one has 'standing' to question him or demand such documents, is absolutely disgusting. Every citizen has the standing & right to demand Obama 'prove' who he is & where he was born. If it was appropriate to question McCain in the Congress, its just as appropriate to question Obama & in fact moreso since he was actually elected.
His actions & constant apologies ever since he was elected, are beginning to show all that he does not respect or love this nation. That alone makes him unsuitable for this office.
My real hope is we can stop his socialist policies & that he is a one termer.

EdwardM| 7.27.09 @ 1:38AM

I grant that Obama is more likely than not to have been born in Hawaii - his Indonesian school records give his birthplace as Honolulu, for instance - but would still like to know why he can't simply produce a verifiable birth certificate, instead of spending (so far) nearly a million dollars in lawyers' fees to keep from being required to do so. It may not be his birthplace that he's hiding, but to spend that sort of money argues that he must be hiding something.

I would dearly like to know what it is.

Anne| 7.27.09 @ 7:37AM

Would a newspaper announcement stand up in court as proof of the location of a birth? I don't think so. When John McCain first ran for president, there were Congressional hearings and much ado in the media over his eligibility as a "natural born" citizen. He had to produce thousands of pages of documentation. I don't think a paid newspaper announcement would have sufficed.

chris king| 7.27.09 @ 3:03PM

I am absolutely baffled by this whole story. the documents i have seen prove absolutely nothing. This article is next to worthless in discussing the merits of the documents. the author gives absolutely no evidence for his position except implied disdain for anyone that does not believe as he does. Now Ann Coulter is parroting the same nonsense but she gives absolutely no evidence as to how she knows this is a non issue.

so riddle me this:
First they said people inside the Hawaiian govt had seen the real long form document but could not release it because Mr. Obama had not authorized.

Now they say it doesn't exist because the records went digital in 2001 or sometime there about. How can these two claims be made to reconcile.

douglas| 7.27.09 @ 7:19PM

WHAT ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN HE WAS NOT EVEN BORN IN NONE OF THE 50 STATES HAVE NO BIRTH RECORDS ON FILE?

ibenunot | 7.27.09 @ 8:03PM

People aren't looking into the birth certificate from the correct direction as it's likely given what Spectator has found is correct...he was born in Hawaii. HOWEVER - His birth certificate is very likely to say that Obama is WHITE. Back when Obama was born, most states had only two boxes for race on birth certificates....white and black. The box was checked based on the mother's race.

ibenunot | 7.27.09 @ 8:06PM

John McCain was born in a U.S. military hospital in Panama that was located in the Canal Zone. Considered U.S. territory at the time...even had a U.S. military General as governor of the Zone. He's a native born citizen and did release his birth records.

Pingback| 7.29.09 @ 11:31AM

Thank You, Mr. Stein | The Secret To Wellness.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…am” into the picture. There is nothing racial here — it is only a good cop doing his job. – Gordon Nilsen East Northport, New York THE PUNAHOU POLICE Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.’s More Media Follies: When Obama applied to various schools, the application probably asked if he was a citizen of the U.S. How did Obama answer that question? What say Punahou? What say Columbia? What say Harvard? I will…

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Hard to believe that what they are reporting is really true. UTI Treatment

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Claire Healey | 5.24.13

BBC World Survey Ranks Israel Near Bottom in Global Popularity

Aaron Goldstein | 5.24.13

Obamacare is a Big and Growing Problem for Democrats

Ross Kaminsky | 5.24.13

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?

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