Last night at a town hall meeting in Lincolnton, when asked about President Obama’s citizenship, one of North Carolina’s representatives in Congress, Rep. Patrick McHenry said, “I haven’t seen evidence one way or the other.”
Apparently he missed it when candidate Obama handed over this birth certificate to the media. Guess he didn’t read the birth announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers. Guess he’s pandering to his base.
Listen Rep. McHenry, you ignorant vote-hungry politician, you know good and well that our president is an American citizen. The only reason you fanned the flames of doubt is because polls indicate there are a lot of confused North Carolinians who’ll believe what they read in grocery store tabloids before they’ll look into the facts behind an issue.
Here’s a fact for you: President Obama is a citizen.
Here’s another one: He won the election fair and square.
One more: The lead “birther” is a conspiracy theory junkie.
See, the problem here isn’t that Obama hasn’t shown the world his birth certificate. The problem is there is a group of people who aren’t going to believe him no matter what he does because they simply don’t like him and are still ticked that he’s president.
Hawaiian officials have spoken: The birth certificate is real. The Supreme Court of the United States of America has refused to hear an appeal — a common practice when a case doesn’t have merit.
It’s time to move on. This issue is dead.
Today, McHenry decided to sing a different tune:
Said McHenry in a statement this morning: “As I stated last night, I have not carefully reviewed the evidence as a jurist would. However, from what I have read, I have absolutely no reason to question President Obama’s citizenship. I anticipate that as a legal matter the courts will continue to come to the same conclusion.”
FactCheck.org inspected the birth certificate themselves last year. Here’s what they have to say:
In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document’s authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is “fake.”We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as “supporting documents” to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.
Update, Nov. 1: The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Honolulu.
Watch the Young Turks sum up the issue, discuss FactCheck.org’s inspection, see a copy of the birth certificate in question and hear the truth: “Republicans are indifferent to facts. You can show them all the facts in the world. They don’t care.”
Further reading: Right-wingers are the new hippies. The Charlotte Observer’s Tommy Tomlinson is calling them “Rippies.” Read it here.
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2009.
Hello, I am channeling Frank Griffin’s “reply” to this post:
Why can’t Obama produce a long form birth certificate? For that matter, what is a long form birth certificate? He’s not a legitimate president like God’ Own President, George W. You can’t trust liberals, conservatives are the new oppressed, women should be submissive to their husbands, Ugh, grunt, cops good, blacks bad, ugh, gimme gun, ugh, grunt.
Re: “Like I said before what will probably sink Obama was that he was in Pakistan in 1981 when it was illegal for Americans to be there. ‘
This is an example of the misinformation and mythology surrounding this situation. It was never illegal to go to Pakistan, and it certainly wasn’t in 1981 when Obama visited. Neither Pakistan nor the US government kept US citizens from visiting Pakistan for tourism.
Pakistan encouraged tourist visits, and since it was relatively peaceful in 1981, US newspapers ran travel articles on visiting Pakistan and going to “scenic Lahore.” Pakistan granted US visitors 30-day visas at the airports when they arrived.
So, Obama could have traveled on a US passport, and he did, since he never had an Indonesian passport. The US State Department has said that Obama was never an Indonesian citizen and never adopted while he was in Indonesia in a court filing. (http://www.scribd.com/full/17508463?access_key=key-1vg7c228ugapeqcnkki6).
And if you don’t believe this, then it is easy for you to check yourself by calling up the Indonesian Embassy in Washington (which gets calls on this subject all the time) and asking about the alleged adoption and the alleged Indonesian citizenship. They will tell you NO and NO. Telephone number: (202) 775-5200. Ask for the Press Officer.
Re: “Why else would you spend millions over something that is a non issue right?”
This is another example of the mythology and deliberate misinformation surrounding this situation.
The vast bulk of the cases were before the election and their purpose was to stop the election. They cited many reasons for wanting to stop the election but none of the cases, so far as I know, even asked that Obama show the court his birth certificate. These were not cases in which the plaintiffs sought documents. They were not cases in which Obama tried to hide documents. They were to stop the election. Obama did not want the election to be stopped. Naturally he defended the cases, and won.
Subsequent to the election the bulk of cases were again to stop the certification of the election or to stop the Congress from validating the election or to stop the Inauguration. Again, these were not cases about documents and did not ask to see documents. They were to stop the Inauguration. Obama opposed those cases, and won.
And you say that Obama has spent millions on not revealing information. There has not been one single case against Obama (There was one against Hawaii, but Obama was not involved and hence did not spend any money) that simply asked for Obama to show a court his birth certificate or any other document.
Obama personally intervened to get the jerk reassigned? Hardly. He had VOLUNTEERED to go to Afghanistan; in fact, he did so after he had been signed up as a potential plaintiff by Orly Taitz. When he made his desire not to go to Afghanistan public (by suing), the Pentagon said he didn’t have to go, since all he would have had to do to get the order changed was to ask. Since he was a volunteer.
Do try to get at least a few of your facts right. I understand how difficult it is for you.
Daddy was a Kenyan Brit. His British Citizenship and the British Nationality Act of 1948 makes the Senator a British Citizen at birth. If your daddy is a non American and you are born a British Citizen you may somehow be a “citizen” but you can never be a “Natural Born American Citizen”.
Article 2. says all Presidents have to be Natural Born. What about this is so hard to understand? Wake up America!
So old1 says Pres Obama is a Brit now! Wow, they couldn’t hold onto The Colonies so now they steal our citizens with legal trickery! The Earl of Sandwich would be proud! Oh, wait, the islands are called Hawaii now and they are a State. Oops, well maybe then that 14th Amendment applies, you know, that part that says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction therof, are citizens of the United States.” Somehow the part that says “except if they are the wrong color or political leaning” must have been accidentaly left off…
Until Obama shows ALL PAPERS not only birth cert. it will leave a big question in peoples minds, at least the ones that have one and can think for themselves and not comatose like the people writing articles like the on i am respondindg to.
furthermore i believe the US is a free country where you HAVE THE RIGHT TO QUESTION. Not like the NAZI’S writing these articles, because that kind of thinking can lead to lost freedoms and more government control. this is a country of WE THE PEOPLE and the government works for us, something that a lot of people have forgotten along with their ability to think and reason and have become blind followers like lambs being led to slaughter. God help us all and protect us from these comatose people.
Standing behind Obama on this is like standing behind a John Deere manure spreader. It makes little sense for me to believe in this Presidents Transparency when he spends a million $ to be Mr. Transparent and hide. The original “birthers” signed the US Constitution. Show the birth certificate and quit hiding!
Re: “when he spends a million $ to be Mr. Transparent and hide.”
This is another example of the mythology and deliberate misinformation surrounding this situation.
The vast bulk of the cases were before the election and their purpose was to stop the election. They cited many reasons for wanting to stop the election but none of the cases, so far as I know, even asked that Obama show the court his birth certificate. These were not cases in which the plaintiffs sought documents. They were not cases in which Obama tried to hide documents. They were to stop the election. Obama did not want the election to be stopped. Naturally he defended the cases, and won.
Subsequent to the election the bulk of cases were again to stop the certification of the election or to stop the Congress from validating the election or to stop the Inauguration. Again, these were not cases about documents and did not ask to see documents. They were to stop the Inauguration. Obama opposed those cases, and won.
In short, the lawsuits against Obama were not to find documents, they were to stop the election or nullify it. Since, if he did not oppose these lawsuits, the effect would have been to stop the election or nullify it, naturally he opposed the lawsuits. He did so with money contributed by his supporters, which is what we expect him to do.
And you say that Obama has spent millions on not revealing information. There has not been one single case against Obama (There was one against Hawaii, but Obama was not involved and hence did not spend any money) that simply asked for Obama to show a court his birth certificate or any other document.
Re: “Presidents Transparency”
Remember, it was transparency in GOVERNMENT. That does not mean transparency with regards to private things.
His academic records for example. No president has ever shown his complete academic transcripts, which means the marks on every course. Some presidents have voluntarily shown their grade point averages.
So the question is whether there is a right to see the complete transcripts of all presidents. If a court ruled that there was such a right, it would be judge-made law, since there is nothing in the laws that say that we have such a right, and it’s not in the Constitution. Remember, judge-made law is bad.
The next point is somewhat startling to birthers. You will have to check me, if you don’t believe this. In the case in which Obama’s college records were sought, Keyes v. Obama, the plaintiffs did NOT include in their subpoena the financial aid records.
This may have been an oversight. Or, maybe not. Maybe there was some deep plan involved. In any case, even if the subpoena had been granted, the key point about Obama allegedly receiving financial aid as a foreign student would NOT have been supplied. (Obama was not a foreign student since both Indonesia and the US State Department have said that he was never a citizen of Indonesia. Yes, there is an application to a private school [unsigned] in which the parents claim that he was Indonesia, but that was obviously a lie, since Indonesia says that he wasn’t.)
Finally, the same subpoena did ask for one more thing, Obama’s housing records. Now, how would that show his citizenship status? And, wouldn’t that also affect the privacy of the people Obama lived with (and the privacy of the people that future presidents live with)?
Finally, Obama’s college records were not sealed. They are private, as all college records are.
Hmmm, I wonder how many birthers would be willing to send me their original birth certificates so I can verify they too are citizens. I promise to send them back, cross my heart…. Ooops, sorry I forgot, one only has a certified copy of the original, which is in their state’s hands. I’ll accept your certified copy. Or maybe you would feel safer in providing a photocopy, like Obama did during the campaign last year?
Of course, if one is deeply into conspiracy theories, one could believe that the State of Hawaii wrote its laws about privacy of things like birth certificates some years ago, not to protect the privacy of its citizens (heaven forbid!), but rather as part of a plot many years in the making to place this unlikely future president in position……
And maybe these plotters somehow bought off the University of Pennsylvania, their Annenberg Public Policy Center, and all the folks at their FactCheck.org website, so that when they went to Chicago last fall and viewed Obama’s State Of Hawaii certified copy of his birth certificate with seal, took pictures, and reported on it on their website, it was all just a part of this conspiracy also……
I did like that manure spreader analogy though, too bad it seems to be applied to the wrong side of the argument.
issues closed, move on birthers there are bigger fish to fry.
There are so many lies obama has told us about his so called life and you would believe some one who worked under him as a source,man thats like asking an x wife what kind of guy you are and expect to get a good report.
Are you kidding. He is not shown anything but smoke and mirrors. He released a receipt of a birth certificate, the original is sealed!!! As far as his passport records scrubbed before the election and the key witness shot in the head. He has multiple soc sec numbers and is a tremendous fraud. From no selective service notice to no college transcripts and he is funded by an international currency speculator named SOROS.
Look at the thieving he Obama accomplished in Illinois. You dummies… He is a fake… And if he was legit the whole of record would have been released before the election… Do some reading the level of his criminality is astounding and the state run media viciously protects him… Be afraid of a guy who does not have to release who he is…
Bowman – You are the ignorant one. The Pres HAS NOT published his birth certificate; only the computer generated “CERTIFICATION OF LIVE BIRTH”. And that’s the problem.
In a nutshell.
Re: The Pres HAS NOT published his birth certificate; only the computer generated “CERTIFICATION OF LIVE BIRTH”. And that’s the problem.
The Certification of Live Birth is the official birth certificate of Hawaii, and it is the only birth document that Hawaii issues. (http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/kokualine/20090606_kokua_line.html)
So in 2007 or 2008 Obama asked Hawaii for a copy of his birth certificate, and Hawaii sent him the computer-generated, short-form document called the Certification of Live Birth.
That, however, is the official birth certificate of Hawaii, and it is the only document that Hawaii sends out. So, how can Obama show what he does not have?
However, the facts on the Certification have been repeatedly confirmed by the officials in Hawaii, and this witness recalls being told of the birth in Hawaii at that time because she wrote to her father, named Stanley, about hearing about the the unusual event of a woman named Stanley giving birth (http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/554495.html)
As the Wall Street Journal commented on July 30: “Obama has already provided a legal birth certificate demonstrating that he was born in Hawaii. No one has produced any serious evidence to the contrary. Absent such evidence, it is unreasonable to deny that Obama has met the burden of proof. We know that he was born in Honolulu as surely as we know that Bill Clinton was born in Hope, Ark., or George W. Bush in New Haven, Conn.”
re: “At the end of the day it is Obama applying for the job…”
What do you mean “applying for the job?” He got the job. He won the election with 365 electoral votes. So, obviously, what he showed must have been sufficient for his future employers to consider him qualified for the job.
Now that he has the job, there is only one way of firing him, which is impeachment. If you want to try, you are welcome to go right ahead, but it is extremely unlikely. So, all your crying about “why doesn’t he show school records?” is meaningless. He does not have to, and as I said before, no president has ever shown detailed school records, only grade point averages. In the next election, if Obama’s opponent shows his complete transcript and Obama does not show his complete transcript, then you may have a point. This, however, is unlikely.