Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the language of the Birther movement to slam a Federal Judge in Hawaii who ruled against Donald Trump's Muslim Ban. Calling the 50th state an "island in the Pacific," the AG also seemed to question the right of Federal Judges to uphold the checks and balances built-in to our government.
Hawaii became the 50th state of the union in 1959. The Birther movement, including President Donald Trump, often used the fact that President Barack Obama was born and raised in Hawaii to call into question his citizenship, even after Hawaii produced his valid long-form birth certificate.
“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,” Sessions said on conservative radio host Mark Levin’s show.
Sessions refused to apologize, calling his remarks "a joke."
@bethrenaldi@ericbradner@KFILE I bet he doesn't mind the Cayman Islands, the Seychelles, or Cyprus. It's only the islands that follow the Constitution that he doesn't like
He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."
. . . On May 20, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he has remained ever since. He chose the city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed that it was one of the few places in the world that both could and would resist the dictates of the US government.
. . . He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he "watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in", and as a result, "I got hardened."
. . . Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".
. . . He views his best hope as the possibility of asylum, with Iceland – with its reputation of a champion of internet freedom – at the top of his list. He knows that may prove a wish unfulfilled.
But after the intense political controversy he has already created with just the first week's haul of stories, "I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets."
Q: Is it possible to put security in place to protect against state surveillance?
A: "You are not even aware of what is possible. The extent of their capabilities is horrifying. We can plant bugs in machines. Once you go on the network, I can identify your machine. You will never be safe whatever protections you put in place."
. . . Q: When did you decide to leak the documents?
A: "You see things that may be disturbing. When you see everything you realise that some of these things are abusive. The awareness of wrong-doing builds up. There was not one morning when I woke up [and decided this is it]. It was a natural process.
"A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed in Obama's promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor."
Mr. Snowden, who grew up in North Carolina, did not finish high school and sporadically attended classes at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md. Military records show he enlisted in the Army Reserve as a Special Forces recruit in May 2004 and was discharged less than four months later, reportedly after breaking his legs in a training accident.
Somewhere along the way, he acquired a top-secret clearance, which, with his computer expertise, was a ticket for admission to the national security establishment....
. . . Mr. Snowden bounced between jobs both inside the government and as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency in Switzerland and for the National Security Agency in Japan, Maryland and Hawaii, according to his account. Eventually working for nearly $200,000 a year in classified facilities as a computer systems administrator, he had access to enormous amounts of secret information.
. . . Verax was the name he chose for himself, “truth teller” in Latin. I asked him early on, without reply, whether he intended to hint at the alternative fates that lay before him.
Two British dissenters had used the pseudonym. Clement Walker, a 17th-century detractor of Parliament, died in the brutal confines of the Tower of London. Two centuries later, social critic Henry Dunckley adopted “Verax” as his byline over weekly columns in the Manchester Examiner. He was showered with testimonials and an honorary degree.
. . . I asked him, at the risk of estrangement, how he could justify exposing intelligence methods that might benefit U.S. adversaries.
“Perhaps I am naive,” he replied, “but I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.” The steady expansion of surveillance powers, he wrote, is “such a direct threat to democratic governance that I have risked my life and family for it.”
In an e-mail on May 24, he dropped a bombshell. Whistleblowers before him, he said, had been destroyed by the experience. Snowden wanted “to embolden others to step forward,” he wrote, by showing that “they can win.” He therefore planned to apply for asylum in Iceland or some other country “with strong internet and press freedoms,” although “the strength of the reaction will determine how choosy I can be.”
. . . On Sunday afternoon, as his name was released to the world, Snowden chatted with me live from a Hong Kong hotel room, not far from a CIA base in the U.S. Consulate.
“There’s no precedent in my life for this kind of thing,” he wrote. “I’ve been a spy for almost all of my adult life — I don’t like being in the spotlight.”
I asked him once more which of the two Veraxes he expected to become: the happy ending or life behind bars?
“That’s up to the global public,” he typed back. “If asylum is offered, we’ll have the first example. If not, we’ll have the second. I am prepared for both.”
a spokesman for Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), located in southeastern Maryland, tells Mother Jones a student with Snowden's name and birthdate attended the college from 1999 to 2001 and then again from 2004 to 2005. He did not receive a certificate or degree, the spokesman, Daniel Baum, says.
But here's an interesting wrinkle: Baum says Snowden took no "cyber-related courses" at this college. Nor did he take any classes in the college's NSA-certified "Information Systems Security" program, which focuses on safeguarding computer data and networks, though he went on to work in a related field for the government and in the private sector. It's unclear whether Snowden studied computing elsewhere.
Bill O’Reilly: The pony, that’s what he is doing, and he’s jumping up and down and 800 million views is this? What’s going on?
Dr. Keith Ablow: . . . when you approach a billion views on YouTube and surpassed Justin Bieber, perhaps, you’re tapping into something, and I think what this fellow is tapping into is in fact this PSY, he is tapping into the fact that people don’t want any meaning right now, music, the most popular music apparently is that without intelligible words to some extent that simply conveys you to a distant place beat wise, doesn’t try to convince you of anything; that doesn’t try to raise your emotions, it just is sort of like a drug . . .
Bill O’Reilly: Yeah, but but well, wait, wait, wait wait – Elvis Presley could sing, he had a good voice.
Dr. Keith Ablow: Yes.
Bill O’Reilly:His songs had words: Are you lonesome tonight. Okay, all right.
Dr. Keith Ablow:Yes. Bill O’Reilly: He put on a show, this is a little fat guy from Yongyang or some place the old…
Dr. Keith Ablow: Wearing sunglasses.
Bill O’Reilly: Whatever and he is jumping up and down, there’s no comparison between PSY and you know, they’re are like 16 guys named PSY on Long Island that I can tell you about these, don’t look like him, all right, so there’s no, and the phenomenon I mean you can understand Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, even Justin Bieber I got all that, all right, but this is something more, but I think you may be on to something because this is internet driven and it looks to me like the internet is just a place where people want some kind of numb, they want to numb themselves to some degree.
Until this moment, I didn’t realize “being in Korean” was the same thing as being “without intelligible words.”
~ Entertainment Weekly Popwatch
O’Reilly and Dr. Ablow go on to repeatedly refer to the song as having no intelligible words. Now, remember, we can’t take anything O’Reilly says seriously, but it is hard not to when the comment is so blatantly ignorant of other cultures and countries. The song does have intelligible words–they just aren’t in English. The words are perfectly understandable to people who speak Korean; like PSY, for example.
To continue the racism cultural insensitivity, O’Reilly seems confused about where PSY is from. This is up for debate, because some people think he said Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and some people think he simply said something racially insensitive such as YingYang. Either way, that isn’t where PSY is from (he’s actually from Gangnam District, Seoul) and calling him fat and making generalizations about his place of origin is unacceptable.
~ Seoulbeats
BILL O'REILLY (host): Now I have to say, Hawaii is one of my favorite places in the world. It's beautiful.
JESSE WATTERS (Fox News producer): Yeah, it's beautiful.
O'REILLY: But when I'm there I'm under water. I'm not talking to pinheads. But the state is in enormous debt.
WATTERS: They are. O'REILLY: Alright. They've got a lot of social problems. When you says it's the biggest homeless thing, it's because of the addiction.
WATTERS: Right.
O'REILLY: The addiction is rampant, all over the place, because they don't enforce the drug laws.
WATTERS: No.
O'REILLY: And, you know, I think the one person who said, Look, this is a place where people come to to escape. This is, you know, generally speaking. But you know what's shocking? 35 percent of the Hawaiian population is Asian, and Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They're usually more industrious and hard-working.
WATTERS: But they did vote for President Obama --
O'REILLY: Big time.
WATTERS: -- and if you add the indigenous native Hawaiian population --
O'REILLY: About 20 percent.
WATTERS: -- to the Hispanic population, they outnumber whites by more than two to one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leave it to Bill O'Reilly to thoughtlessly insult 1.3 million people with one sweeping misstatement.
. . . I think O'Reilly's attempt to characterize Hawaii's Asian-American population is most insulting of all. Claiming that Asian-Americans are not liberal by nature because they are ‘hard working and industrious' is the kind of one dimensional and paternalistic attitude that we should have gotten past decades ago.
. . . Bill O'Reilly owes Hawaii and all Asian-Americans an apology. And the next time he visits our state, I encourage him to spend more time getting to know real people, and less time sitting next to the pool and grousing about what he thinks is going on ‘out there.'
~ Response from Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, via KHNL
In a shocking turn of events the majority of Asian Americans in the United States do not vote for The Neo-Confederacy, but have instead voted for Democrats.
~ comment by AnyM on Huff Post
Stick to making statements about people you really have an affinity for Bill, old, rich, and conservative white guys. You are on a bullet train to extinction.
~ comment by Cantab in Nashville on Huff Post
What is it about Opium dens that make those would-be conservative, slant-eyed, Asian bastards vote for Democrats?
~ comment by Serolf_Divid on Wonkette
I can see BillO at the beach in Hawaii, thinking "The tide goes in, the tide goes out, how does that work?".
~ comment by Ancient_Hacker on Wonkette
Asian people tend to respect education and self-discipline, which is why they aren't conservative in the weird US sense of the word.
~ comment by Kadzimiel on Media Matters
Now, Bill a joke - Q: How do you get an Irishman on the roof? A: Tell him drinks are on the house. Ahh, ha, ha, ha. Are you laughing, Bill. That was funny. Oh, was I blindly stereotyping Irishmen? :)
~ comment by EV on Media Matters
Joe Montgomery of Manhattan, Kan., wrote in an email to state officials that he no longer wanted them to investigate whether Obama was really a natural-born U.S. citizen or eligible to run for reelection. The email said that he, along with his friends and colleagues, faced a significant backlash after a state elections board took up his case and agreed to look into whether the president’s birth certificate was real.
“There has been a great deal of animosity and intimidation directed not only at me, but at people around me, who are both personal and professional associations,” Montgomery wrote in an email to the office of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, which released it to TPM. “I’m don’t wish to burden anyone with more of this negative reaction, so please immediatley [sic] withdraw any action on this objection.
Montgomery told The Huffington Post Friday afternoon that public reaction to the complaint led him to decide against continuing. He declined to say exactly what was said in the calls and emails he received, but indicated that people who knew him both personally and professionally were also contacted about the complaint.
"I didn't file this objection with the desire to involve anyone else. This is me expressing myself on a personal political level," he said. "I would appreciate it if people would not call anyone associated with me, whether a personal or professional association."
Montgomery, who works at Kansas State University, filed the objection Monday, claiming Obama was not a "natural born citizen" because his father was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya, and that U.S. citizenship is conferred "primarily" through the father. He also said that Obama has not shown "valid, certified documentary evidence" of being born in the United States.
Montgomery wanted to start a dialogue with his objection, he said. "I have not been successful in that objective," he told HuffPost. "Not in achieving a constructive dialogue."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like the scattered remnants of ‘birthers’ in other proceedings, [Montgomery] presents this argument despite a unanimous series of cases in federal and state courts that have unequivocally rejected the same factual and legal contentions, and also despite public records that have been released demonstrating conclusively that the President was born in Hawaii in 1961. These tired allegations are utterly baseless, and the Objector’s arguments are entirely without merit.
~ Kip F. Wainscott, attorney for the Obama Campaign
With K-State employee filing a birther objection to Obama being on KS ballot, K-State fight song is changed to Looney-Tunes theme.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an informal advisor to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said on Thursday he and his fellow members of a state board were considering removing President Barack Obama from the Kansas ballot this November.
. . . The board will send records requests to Hawaii, Arizona and Mississippi for more documentation of Obama’s birth. They plan to meet again on Monday to discuss the matter. Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett questioned Obama’s birth certificate earlier this year and also briefly considered removing him from the ballot.
The issue was raised Thursday afternoon by a Manhattan, Kan., man who appeared before a state panel that decides eligibility questions about who should be on the ballot in this incredibly red state.
In this case, Joe Montgomery, 51, is objecting to Obama being on the ballot, arguing that the president isn’t a natural-born U.S. citizen because he wasn’t born to two parents who were both citizens. He said Obama’s father wasn’t a citizen.
“I am here to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. I think somebody needs to do it,” Montgomery said.
The Obama campaign blasted the argument, calling it a “tired” allegation that is “utterly baseless” and “without merit,” pointing out that 100 years of Supreme Court precedent contradicts Montgomery’s claim.
[Kobach] served as president of the Harvard Republican Club and found a mentor in the late Samuel Huntington, an influential political science professor who came to see Latino immigrants as a scourge on American culture.
With Huntington as his advisor, Kobach earned the Harvard prize for the best student thesis in 1989. He analyzed how the South African business community functioned within apartheid and took the unpopular position that investors should not divest their holdings in that country but rather remain as agents of change. A year later, he published the thesis as a book.
In 2001, Kobach was awarded a prestigious White House fellowship. He reported for duty at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sept. 1. Ten days later, the United States suffered the worst-ever terrorist attack on American soil. Though he was not a specialist in immigration law or policy, Kobach became Attorney General John Ashcroft's chief advisor on immigration and border security.
He stayed on with Ashcroft after his one-year fellowship expired and helped create the controversial National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, which required tens of thousands of Muslim and Middle Eastern visa holders to register with the government and be fingerprinted. Outraged, civil liberties and Arab-American groups argued the policy amounted to racial and ethnic profiling.
. . . In Arizona, he worked with state Senator Russell Pearce to draft S.B. 1070, and he was also retained by Maricopa County in 2006 to defend a law that made immigrant-smuggling a state crime. That measure was spearheaded by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose heavy-handed tactics against prisoners and immigrants have been the target of numerous lawsuits and a DOJ investigation. Kobach successfully defended the measure in court, then went on to train Arpaio's deputies in federal immigration enforcement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make no mistake, Kansas is a largely Republican state. The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, will get the electoral votes from Kansas. But there is still a very active Democratic base in the state.
First of all, they kicked out another case just like this back in April. The board said no. Also, the United States Supreme Court has refused to wade into these waters. So this would be a highly unusual move if a major party candidate were not allowed on the ballot in November. It's just not happened before.
~ Wichita State University Poly-Sci professor Jeff Jarman on KSN.com
I think that the three stooges live in Kansas and are all republicans. How can you not put a sitting president on the ballot. After reading some of these comments I think this state has more than three stooges.
~ comment by juds5 on KSN.com
He should be off the ballot in Kansas. I can not apply for a job without a birth certificate. I work for half the wages I made 10 years ago. I do not have a free cell phone, the government does not pay my rent or buy me groceries. I see many Hispanics driving vehicles that are worth 3 times my vehicle and at Quick Trip they go in and buy 50 dollars worth of junk food and pay with a VISION card. I have paid Federal taxes, State taxes, Medicare Taxes and SOCIAL SECURITY taxes for 45 YEARS.... Where a are my government benefits. Wait I remember, I am white and I and a citizen who pays taxes to support the illegal immigrants and the others who refuse to work for a living.
~ comment by opinionz on KSN.com
People, it doesn't matter if Obama was born in the US or not, his mother could not pass down her citizenship to Barack because she was not 18 and under law at the time, she was not old enough. Blame it on the law at the time but the law is the law. It really is not that hard. Pretty clear actually. Now, it is up to those who are deciding whether or not they should follow the law. My guess is that they will all wimp out.
~ comment by Michelle on The Kansas City Star
Michelle-check your facts. The president's mother was born Nov 29, 1942 and he was born Aug 4, 1961. That's 18 years, 8 months and 7 days which is over your 18 threshold. So based on your reasoning I'm not a citizen because I was born in 1961 (same year as the President) to a 17 year old. Guess if I'm not a citizen I have foolishly been paying taxes all these year. I'm going to ask for a refund. Will finally be able to buy that little island in The Bahamas I've been wanting.
Please provide the appropriate statues in place in 1961 that indicate that someone under 18 couldn't pass along their citizenship.
~ comment by johnlocke on The Kansas City Star
It's not the house Obama was born in that's causing America a problem, it's the house he's living in now.
~ comment by figmoe on Huffington Post
Eh, let Kansas keep their pathetic 6 Electoral votes Obama won't need them. Then cut them off Federally completely. Let that board deal with that. :)
~ comment by Patrick L. on Huff Post
I wonder what would actually happen if Kansas went ahead and refused Obama a place on the ballot? First I think the lawsuits would fly, and quite possibly create a huge problem come election day. If Kansas removal of Obama from the ballot is unconstitutional, then Kansas must be allowed to vote. If Kansas is stupid enough to pass this an remove him, the citizens of Kansas will find their one man/one vote right has been taken away.
Secondly, since Obama is the President of the United States, and this is a Presidential election, does Kansas even have the right to remove him? It isn't a state election. It's a national one. All Republicans on the board? I think it could be fairly pointed out that removing the President's name from the ballot long after he has been vetted by the state of his birth, the only reason for the removal is racism. Racism is unconstitutional.
So please, Kansas- go ahead. And then sit back and enjoy the blowback. Go ahead- make Kansas the state run by imbeciles.
~ comment by bklynsparrow on Huff Post
Kris Kobach is a national disgrace. I guess being the main author of Arizona's "papers please" law wasn't enough for him nor was putting extreme anti-immigrant planks in the GOP platform.
I feel bad for the sane residents of Kansas for having jokers like him in their government.
~ comment by pistolSO on Daily Kos
If you can't beat him...Kansas Sec of State Kris Kobach, advisor to Romney, considering removing Pres Obama from the Kansas ballot this Nov.
— Jeff Gauvin (@JeffersonObama) September 14, 2012
if Romney adviser Kris Kobach's attempt to pull Obama from Kansas' ballot doesn't smell like desperation, I don't know what does.
— Steve Kimura (@stevekimura) September 14, 2012
Kansas birther Kris Kobach is an advisor to the Romney campaign. Explains a lot of the campaign's terminal case of dumbass.
— William Moore (@Underdad) September 14, 2012
Kris Kobach, the latest racist birther idiot wingnut to crawl out of the Republican swamp of Kansastan.
— Encino Mann (@Encino_Mann) September 14, 2012
I want to see proof that Kansas was admitted into the union.
— Jonathan Jewel (@JonathanJewel) September 14, 2012
Kansas a-holes attempt to remove Obama from ballot based on birtherism. You have to wonder why Dorothy came back. rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/14/…
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) September 14, 2012
@marmel In the books, Dorothy regretted it and made her way back to Oz.
— Brandon J. Carr (@brandonjcarr) September 14, 2012
Kansas Sec. of State: "I may take Obama off the ballot because of his birth certificate. The standard needs to be higher for a black guy."
Speaking about his Michigan roots, he said, "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."
The joke was received with hearty applause by the audience. . . .
~ Mitt Romney, speaking in Michigan
"Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. It's one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.
~ Obama spokesman, Ben LaBolt
Romney was "only referencing that Michigan, where he is campaigning today, is the state where he himself was born and raised.
~ Romney spokesman, Kevin Madden
Our take: Gov. Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 24, 2012
Romney just dropped a birther line. Note: His dad was born in Mexico, ran for President of the United States.
— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) August 24, 2012
To be clear: Mitt Romney's Birther line was NOT a joke. He was saying he's more of an American than President Obama.
— Don Millard (@OTOOLEFAN) August 24, 2012
Rush Limbaugh loved Mitt Romney's birther joke. That's like John Wayne Gacy raving about one of your clown paintings.
— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) August 24, 2012
Pro tip for the equivalency crowd: The difference bt the Seamus story and birther stories is that birther stories are false.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) August 24, 2012
Frankly I'm surprised Mitt made a birther joke yesterday; I thought he already had the racist idiot vote sewn up.
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) August 25, 2012
Dana Loesch wants "you people" to "stop being all uptight" about a presidential candidate making birther jokes bit.ly/QaBZDq
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 25, 2012
Romney's Birther Joke Explained in One Number: He Needs 61% of the White Vote theatln.tc/OdDfAx
— The Atlantic Wire (@TheAtlanticWire) August 24, 2012
Myth Dumbney, we know that you're white. We also know that you're a Racist and a Birther. 'Congratulations' for representing hate and evil. Now, let's see how that wins you this election.
~ comment by kishman on Politico
"No one asked to see my birth certificate" That is precisely the point now isn't it? No one ever asked to see your birth certificate, but 3 1/2 years later, long form, short form birth certificate later. Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Joe Arpaio and the rest of the Ku Klux Klan is still hounding President Obama about his. Nice One Mitt.
~ comment by D. Shy on Politico
This wasn't a surrogate, or a SUPERPAC, this was Romney doing this. His party has become the party of uneducated, racist, the earth is flat believers and he can't seem to rise above. The guy lacks character and a spine. The media and the black caucus need to stand up to this nonsense. There is a big difference between surrogates and superpacs and the candidate himself. All Romney has done is whine and ask for apologies this entire campaign and yet he is playing up to the most racist side of his party. It begs the question..WHY hasn't Romney been dogged about HIS birth certificate since his father was born in Mexico, his ancestors polygamists?? Because he's not black.
~ comment by SallyC2 on Politico
“Ha ha,” this joke says. “The President is an exotic specimen! I am not! I was born at Harper Hospital! I am like you! You don’t ask a white man in a button-down with a name like Willard where he was born! Ha ha!”
~ Alexandra Petri in Washington Post
Team Romney has a list of code words/phrases that get the base excited. 'Birth certificate' is one of them. Others include 'Chicago,' 'Muslim,' 'welfare,' 'Europe,' 'socialism,' 'community organizer,' and 'regulations.' Both Romney and Ryan are scripted to use at least one per campaign appearance.
~ comment by MsJS on Washington Post
One of the worst presidential campaigns I have ever seen! And can you imagine what is going to come out during the circus next week with the likes of Trump and Arpaio!
~ comment by bdwife81 on Huff Post
The crowd loved it when the lions ate the Christians, too. I don't think that's a very reasonable rejoinder, do you, Mitt?
Do you want a list of all the things "the crowd loved" that were immoral and_horrific?
~ comment by NickRofilia on Huff Post
While Mr. Romney appeases the fringe elements of his base with sub-textural r_@ci-zum...
He's loosing the Black vote...
The Hispanic vote..
The Jewish vote...
The Female vote..
The LGBT vote..
etc, etc......
~ comment by 2 far-gone on Huff Post
Trump: "Watch me pull a birth certificate out of my hat".
(Uproarious laughter)
"There's nothing in here! Where was this hat made? Kenya?"
(Wild applause as the hurricane collapses the ceiling.)
~ comment by Nazztea on Huff Post
Dear Mitt Romney, if you run racist ads & tell birther jokes you do NOT get to accuse anyone else of running a negative campaign.
Note: On the same day Romney reached enough delegates to be the Republican Presidential nominee for 2012, his "surrogate" Donald "Birther" Trump went on Wolf Blitzer's CNN Situation Room and had meltdown over President Obama's Birth Certificate on life TV:
Stephen Colbert Update:
According to RealClearPolitics Average of Polls, Obama leads Romney by 45.6 percent to Romney's 43.6%. How is Mitt going to get to that 50.1% up here? He's already got the fiscal conservatives and the social conservatives mixed in - that's not enough! Now Trump gets him the Birthers, but now he's got to reach out to the 9-11 Truthers, the Alien Abductees, the Doomsday Preppers, the Sasquatch Hunters, the Sasquatches, or "Sasqueetch."
Sh** - that's only 50%!
How does he get that tiny sliver? That's going to be tough. Who represents such a miniscule portion of Americans? Wait! I've got it - all Mitt needs are the blacks who like Donald Trump. (Shows Video of Trump saying "The winner is Arsenio Hall" on The Apprentice.) 50.1! 50.1! Mitt, you're hired!
TRUMP: Obama does not like the issue of where he was born. His own publisher, as you know, using his words, said he was born in Kenya and he lived in Indonesia. Of course, now he's denying that, amazingly.
So -- but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk, as you said you would, jobs, China, what's going on with respect to China and how they're ripping this country, what's going on with respect to OPEC and how the nations of OPEC are laughing at the stupidity of our country. That's what I'm here to talk about.
BLITZER: All right.
TRUMP: You know that's what I'm here to talk about, and I thought your introduction was highly inappropriate. But that's OK, because I have gotten to know you over the years.
BLITZER: Well, I -- well, listen, Donald, first of all, I never said we weren't going talk about the birther issue. We had a conversation earlier today. We didn't discuss at all what we were going to talk about...
. . . *SNIP*
TRUMP: Now, you won't report it, Wolf, but many people do not think it was authentic.
His mother was not in the hospital. There are many other things that came out. And, frankly, if you would report it accurately, I think you would probably get better ratings than you're getting, which are pretty small.
BLITZER: Donald, have you seen the actual newspaper announcements within days of his birth in Honolulu, for example, "The Honolulu Star- Bulletin"? We will put it up there. You see the birth announcement back in 1961.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Listen to me, Donald.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Can I ask...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Am I allowed to talk, if you could stop defending Obama?
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Donald, Donald, you're beginning to sound a little ridiculous, I have to tell you.
TRUMP: No, I think you are, Wolf.
Let me tell you something. I think you sound ridiculous. And if you would ask me a question and let me answer it, instead of making...
BLITZER: Here's the question. Did the conspiracy start in 1961, when "The Honolulu-Star Bulletin" and ""The Honolulu Advertiser" contemporaneously published announcements that he was born in Hawaii?
TRUMP: That's right.
And many people put those announcements in because they wanted to get the benefit of being so-called so-called born in this country. Many people did it. It was something that was done by many people,even if they weren't born in the country. You know it, and so do I. And so do a lot of your viewers.
. . . *SNIP*
BLITZER: Donald, let me tell you -- let me tell you who hates this subject. It is Mitt Romney, who totally disagrees with you on this, including today. He issued a statement.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I don't speak to Mitt Romney about it.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Is Mitt Romney a Democrat? Is he an Obama supporter?
TRUMP: Mitt -- what I speak to Mitt Romney about is jobs. What I speak to Mitt Romney about is China, because he's got a great view on China and how they're trying to destroy our country by taking our jobs and making our product and manipulating their currency, so that it makes it almost impossible for our companies to compete.
What I speak to him about is OPEC. I don't speak to him about this. You bring it up because you feel it's probably going to get a few more people watching your station, which, unfortunately, they're not doing.
BLITZER: Here's what Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said today -- today, not yesterday, not last week, not six months ago -- "Governor Romney has said repeatedly that he believes President Obama was born in the United States."
Now, he's not a Democrat.
TRUMP: OK.
BLITZER: He's not an Obama supporter. He's Governor Romney, the Republican nominee. He says you're wrong.
TRUMP: You know what?
Everybody is entitled to their opinion, Wolf. You know my opinion. You know his opinion. And that's fine. We're entitled, as he said yesterday in the airplane, we're all entitled to our opinions. And he's entitled to his opinion and I think that's wonderful. I don't happen to share that opinion. And that's wonderful, also.
BLITZER: But the state of Hawaii says it's not an opinion, it's a fact.
TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I think if you look at the birth certificate, take a look and you tell me, really. You analyze the birth certificate. There are many people that don't agree with that birth certificate. They don't think it's authentic, Wolf.
BLITZER: I don't know when you say many people who don't agree...
TRUMP: Many people.
BLITZER: Like who?
TRUMP: There are many people...
BLITZER: Give me an -- give me a name of somebody...
TRUMP: There are many people...
BLITZER: -- in a position of authority...
TRUMP: -- that do not believe...
BLITZER: -- in Hawaii who says -- but give me a name.
TRUMP: There are many people -- I don't give names. There are many people that do not believe that birth certificate is authentic.
BLITZER: Well, you know what...
TRUMP: Many people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I want to see the certificate that proves Donald Trump's brain isn't a slightly leaky bucket of canned yams.
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) May 29, 2012
Wolf Blitzer Awakens From Coma to Destroy Donald Trump zite.to/LRxV6S via @zite
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) May 30, 2012
Team Romney is finding out the hard way just how distracting all things Trump can be to them.
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) May 29, 2012
Other countries take care of their mentally ill. It seems cruel to just put them on Wolf Blitzer's show.
— Andy Borowitz (@BorowitzReport) May 30, 2012
I MSNBC would stop calling it "Birtherism". It's RACISM, simple and plain. Donald Trump is a racist. Birtherism is racism.
— Black Canseco (@BlackCanseco) May 29, 2012
People will tell you this Trump stuff is part of a devious/smart Romney plan. Actually, it's the total disaster it looks like.
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) May 29, 2012
Just prior to fundraiser with birther Donald Trump, Romney releases HIS birth certificatethkpr.gs/Jzdw7J#classy
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) May 30, 2012
“I am a natural born citizen. My parents were American citizens." Said by George Romney (Mitt's dad) who was born in Mexico. #ctl#Romney
— Cletis Stump (@CletisStump) May 30, 2012
Racist Trump didn't have a problem with Senator McCain being born in Panama and never questioned if Romney was born in Mexico! #Maddow
— Armenta(@ChavezChavis) May 30, 2012
#ManyPeople think Romney was born in Mexico and has 5 wives.
— B. Justice (@zefirotorna) May 30, 2012
BREAKING: State of Hawaii Unable to Confirm Details of Mitt Romney's Birth, Asks Arizona: "Have You Guys Tried Mexico?"
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) May 23, 2012
Romney didn't release a birth certificate, only a certificate of live birth. We'll take a trip to Acapulco to investigate this
— The Democrat Machine (@DemocratMachine) May 30, 2012
Romney released birth certificate. Just lists parents as "Cyberdyne Systems."
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) May 30, 2012
Donald Trump won't rest until he sees the Romney campaign's death certificate.
— Indecision (@indecision) May 29, 2012
Finally Romney has a reason to fire a person who actually deserves to be fired goo.gl/rsZBM
— Rainier Wolfcastle (@r_wolfcastle) May 30, 2012
Chris Matthews:"The problem is that Romney looks like the apprentice.He doesn't look like the boss." #hardball
— Hardball (@hardball) May 29, 2012
Anyone want my Donald Trump bobble head doll? You push a button and it says "Black people are from Kenya."
— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) May 30, 2012
#ManyPeople think Donald Trump is trying to use birtherism to get Orley Taitz into the sack.
— Jean Esselink (@Uncucumbered) May 30, 2012
Hilarious: Breitbart site denies any relation to birthers, yet Donald Trump is citing them to argue for birtherism bit.ly/M3P9AW
— Media Matters (@mmfa) May 29, 2012
Today Mitt Romney became the Heir Apparent to the Republican Throne by delegate count. He is in Las Vegas with Donald Trump on a fund-raising mission.
So what does The Donald do to help his man? He goes on CNN, gets in a fight with Wolf Blitzer, and goes completely crazy-ass over the Birther Issue.
You have to watch it and listen to Trump to believe it. He says Obama was born in Kenya and nothing will change his mind, not even the state of Hawaii issuing a valid birth certificate. Is this helping Mitt Romney?
The other day George Will called Trump a "bloviating ignoramus," and leave it to Trump to prove him right again just two days later. Trump responded that Will was "the dumbest political commentator of all time," but I would say no - that would be Trump as well, and this piece of videotape proves it.
Politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed. For Romney to be legitimate (poor choice of words, I know) he needs to get the big bloviated bedbug out of his campaign.
So, if you were from another planet, say, Nut-tron, and you were circling the earth in your saucer looking for a place to land, where would you touch down?
OK, besides New Hampshire.
Arizona, right?
I mean, you'd want to hook up with beings that were on your same wavelength. And judging from the continuing popularity of the "birther" movement in Arizona, you would be welcomed there with open arms … um, provided, of course, you didn't come in through Mexico.
~ from an article in The Hartford Courant by Jim Shea titled: "Arizona Birthers From Outer Space."
I really can't understand the controversy when you are doing a fraud investigation and looking into the possible forgery of government documents...
We feel that document is a forgery. We’re trying to figure out who did it. That’s good police work....
It's one deputy, so what? We have security issues, too, that I can't got into.... He's not going to make any arrests...I didn't say we're going to keep using him. We're not going to use him constantly. He's not assigned to it. For this trip I feel it's important to have a deputy there. He's just a liaison to give advice if needed. He's not doing anything. The posse's been doing the research....
We did visit the Department of Health yesterday and as predicted we were stonewalled...
~ Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, explaining why he dispatched Mike Zullo, a member of his Cold Case Squad, as well as a taxpayer-funded policeman to Hawaii to confront the Hall of Records about Obama's birth certificate, quoted Here and Here and Here.
I think we have long since passed the point at which I’d find this story believable in a fictional setting, so, sure, why not have two crack detectives flashing their worthless Maricopa County badges at the Hawaii Department of Health. (I just can’t decide if they should be hard-bitten noir characters or Clouseau-esque bumblers.) But yes a completely crazy person who is in charge of law enforcement for the most populous county in Arizona is probably going to attempt to arrest Barack Obama at some point.
~ Alex Pareene on Salon.com in an article called "Arpaio Goons Sent to Hawaii for Important Birther Investigation."
If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn't my intent. I don't think there's anything embarrassing about doing everything I can to help Arizonan's have confidence that the ballot is correct and the people that are on it are entitled to be there. . . . What is so sacred or untouchable about this question that you can't even ask the question?
~ Birther Ken Bennett, Secretary of the State of Arizona, telling radio listeners that he has decided Obama could be on the November ballot after all, but explaining why he was harassing the state of Hawaii over the President's birth certificate.
I don’t know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don’t know that. But I do know this, that in his heart, he’s not an American. He’s just not an American.
~ Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) last week
If I had to do it over again I think I would have said, ‘Let’s move from this birther question, the president was born in the United States, period. . . Let’s just move on and let’s focus on the issues that are going to win this election. And secondly, let’s not ascribe this to those who oppose us that they’re any less Americans than we are.’
~ Ken Coffman (R-Colorado) this week
