Speaking to the conservative talker Rusty Humphries today, Sarah Palin left the door open to speculation about President Obama’s birth certificate.
“Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?” she was asked (around 9 minutes into the video above).
“I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers,” she replied.
“Do you think it’s a fair question to be looking at?” Humphries persisted.
“I think it’s a fair question, just like I think past association and past voting records—all of that is fair game,” Palin said. “The McCain-Palin campaign didn’t do a good enough job in that area.”
Not to get all Andrew Sullivan on you...but if she wants to see a birth certificate for Obama, she make an even exchange for Trig's.
There are honestly more questions surrounding the proof of the birth of her last child than there are about Obama's. Even Glenn Beck isn't sailing on the U.S.S. Birther.
[h/t Balloon Juice]
13 comments:
To be fair, I think this was just her being diplomatic and not trying to alienate the birther-kook fringe. Unlike the stupid death panel comments, she seems to be saying that people have the right to make it an issue if they want. No shit, huh. People have a right to make anything an issue, and the rest of us have a right to ignore them and move on with our lives.
I listened to morons whine about the 2000 election for years afterwards, thankfully no one in the democratic leadership decided to pursue this past Bush v. Gore. Wise decision.
There are honestly more questions surrounding the proof of the birth of her last child than there are about Obama's.
No, really there isn't. I would say that this ranks right up there in the realm of tinfoil hattery.
To be fair, I think this was just her being diplomatic and not trying to alienate the birther-kook fringe.
But she's so real!?!?
No, steves, this is not "being diplomatic," this is her deliberately stirring the pot on this. Using her current media presence in the wake of Oprah and all of her other appearances from her book tour to lend credibility to the ridiculous. She's doing more than "trying not alienate" the fringe base. She's not even content to give a bone—she's throwing them meat.
It undermines the legitimacy of Obama's Presidency—which is deliberate—and it feeds her own persecution complex to bring up her son on her own, and keeps her supporters fired up and treating her like a martyr.
Your attempt at equivalence between any of this and 2000 is absurd. That was a closely contested election determined by a minute number of votes that had a massive impact on the direction of the country. Both sides continue to point to contrasting "evidence" of the actual results, and the fact that the judicial system was used in one way or another by each side to impact the results was unprecedented.
For the most part, people—including Gore and the entire party—moved on and regarded Bush as the PResident and treated him and the office as expected. Sure some people along the edges continue(d) to make noise about stolen elections, but the media avoided them like the plague.
Today, the number of birthers might well be a small minority of the GOP, but their voice is loud and constantly amplified. And they are regularly bolstered by the support of active politicians and the circus barkers on the radio. The supposed "mainstream media" keeps the story alive by treating its supporters as one side of a semi-legitimate debate when they should be mocked off the air.
It's been a year since the election and they are still carrying on about something that has been clearly and completely shown to be false.
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Whereas, in the case of Palin, it is herself more than anyone else who keeps the story alive and evolving...
I'm sure Trig is her son simply (as Mrs F reminds me) for the fact that the odds of having a Downs Syndrome baby are exponentially greater for a woman in her 40s versus a teen mother.
But it is Palin and her constant and pathological storytelling that make the debate simmer. Her story of her transcontinental labor, the timelines of her pregnancy, who knew what,when, etc are constantly shifting.
Her inability to tell (or write) anything without making parts up as she goes, or embellish the truth means she herself cannot keep her stories straight—and it goes from her blatant policy lies to this sideshow about her kid—something that actually has nothing to do with her duties in any office.
As I said, I'm sure it's her kid, and I think Sullivan is chasing a fantasy—but if anyone were brazen, narcissistic and foolish enough to think they could pull over a cover-up such as this, it's Palin.
I didn't hear the entire interview, but I think the interviewer brought it up, not her, so it seemed to be him that was stirring the pot. She gave a very 'political' answer.
Your attempt at equivalence between any of this and 2000 is absurd.
No, it really isn't. My point was that, following the highly contested election, a decision was reached by the highest court and the election was concluded. Gore conceded and the leadership moved on. That didn't stop the stolen election people from griping for the next 8 years, nor did it stop them from making their voices heard.
This is certainly similar (in even a minor way) to what is happening now. Obama won and only a tiny fringe of lunatics are pushing the birther issue, which is also being avoided by the MSM. This isn't going anywhere and isn't undermining the presidency in any meaningful way. The people pissed off about the birth certificate are people that aren't going to support Obama anyway.
Whereas, in the case of Palin, it is herself more than anyone else who keeps the story alive and evolving...
Nope, I will say that Sullivan will keep this alive, as he is scarily obsessed with Palin...to the point where I can't take him seriously on the topic anymore.
That was me...accidentally signed into my gmail...
You're nuts, steves, if you think the media cover these things the same way...
The fact that we're discussing this is proof that a year after the fact, this story is alive and well.
You're nuts, steves
You can disagree with me, but that is uncalled for.
Outside the blogosphere and discussion boards, this story gets little press. The fact that we can easily remember both of these topics suggests similar levels of coverage.
Where has the any of the MSM suggested this is legitimate topic? Who has pressured Obama to produce a birth certificate?
"Nuts" is a figure of speech, steves. Take it easy.
Certainly the internet amplifies things, but I think it's clear that there is a massive right-wing presence on radio and they are camped out on the fringe in many if not most cases. The supposedly "liberal" media is only liberal in their own mindset (and that's only socially liberal—not financially), and not in their coverage. They have long gone out of their way to overcompensate from the right-wing working the refs.
Juat from the last month or so...
GOP Rep. Deal, Candidate For Georgia Governor, Asking For Obama's Birth Certificate
Eric Kleefeld | November 5, 2009
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA), a candidate in the GOP primary for Governor of Georgia, has announced that he is signing a letter to the White House with several of his colleagues -- asking for a copy of President Obama's birth certificate.
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Mainstream media? Here's an article in TIME (an obviously huge magazine) on Lou Dobbs—a man with an evening news show on the supposedly liberal CNN and three hours a day on the radio nationwide...
Lou Dobbs, the television pundit and syndicated radio host whose controversial positions and persistent questions about President Barack Obama's birthplace have made him an emblem of America's poisoned public discourse in the eyes of many, announced on his CNN program on Wednesday that he would immediately step down from the network where he was a fixture for nearly 30 years. A decorated journalist and an eager brawler, [...] he used his megaphone to become a mouthpiece for the cult of "birthers" who insist that Obama is not a U.S. citizen, even in light of evidence presented by the government of Obama's home state...
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The State of Hawaii is still being hounded on this...Oct 31, 2009:
HONOLULU: State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen, and therefore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president.
Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said she hoped to end lingering rumors about Obama’s birthplace.
[...] So-called ‘birthers’ — who claim Obama is ineligible to be president because, they argue, he was actually born outside the United States — have grown more vocal recently on blogs and television news shows.
Fukino issued a similar press release Oct. 31, but was prompted to speak out again because of the renewed attention on Obama’s beginnings. Hawaii’s Health Department has been flooded in recent weeks with questions from individuals and several national TV news networks asking for proof that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.
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Again in TIME, Oct 22, 2009, ina story on the Florida GOP primary for U.S. Senate:
Then again, according to other polls, about a third of Republicans nationally don't think Obama was born in the U.S. A disproportionate number of them are the people who go to rallies and vote in primaries. The activists will probably be the heart of Rubio's campaign — although the candidate told me he doesn't consider the President's birth certificate an issue. "There are much bigger problems to worry about," Rubio said.
A careful statement that affirms the issue for his supporters.
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The main right wing windbags (Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity) have avoided this topic, so we are left with people like Rusty Humphries, who I never ever heard of until this article. I would hardly consider him mainstream or even in the top two tiers.
Dobbs certainly is (or was) mainstream. Considering that he was fired (aka forced to resign) for what it seems like jumping on the birther bandwagon, this doesn't seem like an argument for the MSM thinking this is a legitimate topic.
Time is certainly mainstream, but the article on Dobbs refers to the "cult of birthers". Again, this hardly seems like support for this being a legitimate topic.
Considering that most of the GOP candidates for governor of Georgia support secession, I am not surprised that some are asking for Obama's birth certificate. At this point, I am not convinced that them leaving the Union is a bad thing.
Among the media, being a birther is ok if you are "Reno's #1 Entertainer". If you aren't, then it seems you will be fired, or asked to resign. You will also be referred to as being part of a cult, which isn't positive or neutral by any stretch of the imagination.
Frankly, I think this is the way it should be. The whole birth certificate controversy has been thoroughly debunked and only continues among the lunatic fringe. On some conservative boards I still visit, it gets some play, but most threads on that topic are laughed at or just closed.
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