Birthers of a Nation

Excellent post. I've got nothing to add Thanks for posting!

In grad school I worked on a project looking at the rhetoric of conspiracy theories -- which meant we looked at the psychology of conspiracy theorists. The kinds of people who are most likely to buy into a conspiracy theory are the ones who feel most disenfranchised.
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Who doesn't look around at our world today and shudder just a bit? All these awful things happen at such a fast pace and we know about them immediately. It becomes overwhelming. They feel powerless, unable to change anything -- in a word, kinda disenfranchised. These are the minds ripe for picking if you've got a conspiracy to sell.
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When they have the "real story" about any given thing, they feel powerful, included. I KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AND THE REST OF YOU ARE JUST SAPS. When you try and show them facts or documentation that refute the conspiracy, you become part of it. By definition, reliable sources are not reliable. The more shadowy and anonymous a source, the more trust the conspiracy theorist gives it.
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TV and the internet have opened up whole new channels for the nutjobs out there. They can recruit, communicate, plan, etc. They can forward emails with the understanding that if someone has taken the time to type an idea, it must be worth considering. Remember Pierre Salinger and his "evidence" of military involvement in the crash of TWA 800? As much distrust as these guys show, they are INCREDIBLY gullible and fall for things that anyone with Word and Photoshop could create.
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Our pundits and parites make things worse by acting as if this election/vote/confirmation/plan/speech/etc. is THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE EVER, and if things don't go our way, America is doomed. That stuff, the conspiracy theorists believe.
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SO -- more disenfranchisement, greater access to information, and a heightened sense of urdency have made America a conspiracy theory buffet.

One more thing -- why is Obama such a big deal? Obama feeds into so many existing conspiracy theories he's a Godsend to those who service the wingnuts.
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First, every new president gets the "Antichrist/New World Order" treatment. Reagan got it, the Bushes, Clinton, and now Obama. BUT he's got that funny name that links him to the Islam-related and foreigner-related conspiracies. He's well-spoken, which, for some reason, is the sign of evil. And he's black, which reignites all the old racist conspiracies that have never really died.
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Any TINY LITTLE THING in his background was gonna be fodder. The birth certificate thing was perfect.
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The reason it continues is because, remember, we had entire segments of society being told over and over that if he got elected it would be THE WORST THING EVER. Well, he got elected -- those segments feel powerless, now. But people keep sending them these accusations about how he's the Antichrist and how he was born somewhere other than Hawaii and all of a sudden they've gotten some leverage back. They can't vote against him for a few more years, so all they've got is talking and pushing and screaming their nutjob theories from the rafters.
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NONE of this stuff is going to go away any time soon -- not as long as we are willing to demonize people who disagree with us and satisfy our control needs by ripping our leaders to shreds.

I don't doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii, but I wonder why he won't just release the certificate people want to see? Redact the hell out of it, whatever, just shut these people up so we can go about the business of getting things fixed.

Another thing I find distasteful is that there was all kinds of hullabaloo over McCain's eligibility because he was born on a post in Panama (to the point of congressional proceedings) but this simple question can't be laid to rest by releasing the appropriate paperwork?

The reason it won't die is because the President won't let it, and I'm starting to wonder if it's intentional. Now that he's in the Oval Office (and I helped put him there by voting for him so relax) he seems more ready to be divisive and vindictive. And things like this birth certificate mess allow that division to remain.

I also don't like that the conservative movement is being vilified through this issue, and others they are being painted as callous, racist, and greedy. I thought we were supposed to be working together on this country of ours?

@kabong30 - correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't that already been verified? He shouldn't have to go to any lengths that any other candidate hasn't gone through, he shouldn't have to produce any documents that others haven't had to produce - simply because he shouldn't have to bow to the whim of every wingnut who wants to put him through a hassle. The official birth certificate on file in Hawaii has been officially verified. He released the certificate he had, and provided official verification of the one on file. End of freaking story.

@shara: Exactly right.

Obama released his copy during the election when this issue was first raised, the state of Hawaii verified it.

Part of it is these nut jobs taking advantage of how self-conscious news reporters are about making sure they are "unbiased." I am not talking about nut jobs like O'Reilly who are clearly biased, I mean people like Williams who do entire segments on the issue because they feel like it would be HAVE to report on these things if it is getting any attention. But just because someone makes up random nonsense about someone doesn't mean they should get on the news for it. The other part is this ridiculous level of competition between news organizations where if one network or show reports on it EVERYONE thinks they also have to report on it because they don't want to risk ignoring a "big story" or being criticized for it. Which then leads to this idiotic situation where we have all the news channels recycling each others stories so that they all end up looking the same.

Why can't you all just be honest. He released a secondary piece of document without signatures and location of which hospital the birth took place.

I suspect its a case wher he was born outside of the US but went through the tricky process of claiming US citizenship through parents but he probably made a mistake somewhere later ( college or medical paperwork) where he listed birth as in Kenya or his fatheres citizenship in UK. Now he has conflicting paperwork so he simply hides the incriminating or dodgy ones. Real simple. Now carry on with your cover up.

@Shara: Indeed!

I was born in Kenya. It's not too bad a thing, unless, ofcourse, you're trying to be president of the United States. Which I'm not, I don't think.

Nothing wrong with being born in Kenya. Maybe the big O will be ok as a president - we'll soon see. But still, looks like he may be inelligable for presidency. Maybe his and his parents pride over their other citizenship has come back to bite him

The bigger question: why is America so full of conspiracy-fearing nutballs?

because Team Obama refuses to release the original documents.

Now I don't think that Obama was born outside the USA. But whenever there is a question like this, the primary source documents are always where you look. And its the refusal to release these primary source documents (and relying on anecdotal evidence to back up 'secondary' sources) that leads to conspiracy theories.

And given the fact that these are historical documents that are part of the kind of hyper-detailed historical record that we keep concerning presidents, there is no good reason not to release them. Will releasing them eliminate all the talk of conspiracy? No -- unlike with the "Palin maternity" story, which was shot down immediately, the longer you wait to adequately rebut a conspiracy theory, the harder it is to convince the conspiracy theorists.

So until Team Obama does release the contemporaneous (the state registry of birth, the hospital admission and billing records) the questions surrounding Obama's birth will remain unanswered. Obama supporters will be "certain" that he's a citizen, and the conspiracy theorists will continue to believe otherwise, but neither side will be able to point to primary source documents to back up their contentions.

Oh come on! If they would release the primary documents then the majority of the people who sort of believe the conspiracy theory would drop off. Of course there would be hard core conspiracy nuts still around but too few to mention. This issue will not go away. If the conspiracy is true, then of course Obama will never release the documents. Just ride out the storm big boy!

The main thing is going to be and ought to be, the quality of his presidency - which so far has proved to be bold, humane and lacking in the party interests we're so used to seeing. The man is the best kind of American one could hope to have in its highest office.
Arlene Corwin

Hawaii, sort of a funny name, and OK, it IS a state NOW, but maybe it wasn't "back then"... And we bought Alaska from the Russians, maybe there is a Palin conspiracy we should investigate... nuts and bolts, so when did us whacko's get the wings? (as in wingnuts...) Me? I don't even live in the U.S. anymore. I find that living in Mexico is safer. Hope that the U.S. doesn't lie about weapons of mass destruction here, it is enough that U.S. drug use fuels the drug wars AND supplies the weapons. Is that just another conspiracy theory? I just get SO CONFUSED. Hey, Obama doesn't look like a duck, walk like a duck, or talk like a duck, so I guess he won't be a lame duck like Bush. Quack Quack.

I am on the side of truth. That is universal truth, not opinions or guesses. As for Arlene's comment - that is insane writing its "the quality that counts". Thats like saying the ends justifies the means. Again insincere people protecting their favorite in the face of truth and justice. There were requirements set for the presidency for a reason! Maybe we should relax the age limit, felon clause, - oh no, that would be too radical, lets only break the rules a little bit I hear you say. Based on facts, Bush is looking better and better based on economy, security, fairness......who would have guessed that ?

It seems that conservatives have one thing in common, they are conservative only when it comes to using their own brains. Clearly, if they weren't conserving brain power this wouldn't be an issue.

Yes, it is sad that Brian Williams had to actually report this in the news so that the facts could once again be repeated. It's just too bad that the right-wing of this country is not interested in facts.

Even if Obama was born in Kenya, there is every chance that even his long form Certificate says he was born in Hawaii. Here's what could have happened: To ensure her son's US citizenship, Obama's mother flew to Hawaii, planted a couple birth announcements (that don't mention the hospital), applied for his birth certificate and claimed she had a home birth (at grandma's house). The online Certification (not Certificate) does not list a hospital. I'd bet anything that the Certificate of Live Birth indicates home birth. The dishonesty in this discussion is shocking--the talking heads (Matthews, Olbermann, Maddows, all of whom I like) refuse to discuss the missing CERTIFICATE of Live Birth.

Besides not discussing the missing Certificate, the aforementioned talking heads as well as Lou Dobbs and others are missing the real issue: Indonesia. When Obama's mother remarried and moved to Indonesia, Obama became an Indonesian citizen. Why? Because at that time, Indonesia did not accept dual citizenship, and the US was reciprocal, meaning if the country in question didn't allow dual citizenship, neither did the US. So what's really needed is a look at his passport records, which he used for travel as an adult before relocating to the US. Assuming he traveled on an Indonesian passport, at best he could only be a naturalized citizen, which doesn't satisfy the Constitutional requirement. Anybody see Obama's passport records lying around? School admission records? No? Big surprise. BTW, I'm a Libertarian who places the truth and the Constitution above party affiliation.

For over two centuries now, the people of this Country have known that Constitutional phrase "Natural Born Citizen" means the President must be born in the United States by parents who are BOTH citizens of the United States. The writers of the Constitution did not enter a definition of that statement but their documented debates define the statement. Article 14 of the Constitution did not define “Natural Born Citizen” but it and several following Supreme Court rulings are used to allow full citizenship to people born outside the United States if the parents or single parent are U.S. Citizens especially if the parent or parents are on foreign soil due to military/government requirements/direction/orders. Using Article 14 still does NOT make a person a "Natural Born Citizen".

My own birth certificate notes the State where I was born, the date and time I was born, the hospital where I was born, my parents' names, my parents' residential address, my parents ages and that they were married and listed as Citizens of the United States. What does your Birth Certificate show? Shouldn't the person who is the President of the United States prove his Citizenship with a document like yours and mine?

Two things - If Mr. Obama would distribute a varifiable Long-Form Birth Certificate and the Supreme Court would rule that being born in the U.S. with only one parent who is a U.S. Citizen meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution to be President, then all debate and discussion on this issue would end thus requiring all military people having to go where ordered.

Honestly, if you're one of these people who "have questions" about where he was born, how can you watch that Daily Show clip and not feel like a complete jacka--?

Wanna know why he doesn't release whatever piece of paper you want him to release? Because talking about this stuff on the internet keeps the crazies occupied! If they weren't occupied, god only knows what they would be doing. Also, its hilarious to hear the theories,
"Here's what could have happened: To ensure her son's US citizenship, Obama's mother flew to Hawaii, planted a couple birth announcements (that don't mention the hospital), applied for his birth certificate and claimed she had a home birth (at grandma's house)."

IT'S GENIUS, how did no one else figure it out? Obama's mother flew 6,000 miles and committed fraud so that on the off chance that her african-american son, who was born when Jim Crow laws were still in effect, wanted to become president of the united states 47 years later, he'd be a natural born citizen and not a naturalized citizen. Of course this all happened in 1961, 2 years before she shot JFK from the grassy knoll and 8 years before she helped NASA fake the moon landing. Damn she was busy back then!

Keep em comin boys, I could read this stuff all day...

Happy birth certificate day!