Dec 04 2009
Palin Dodges Bullet On Obama COLB
As folks know I am a COLB denier. I don’t run with the birthers and spent many hours debunking their insanity. And I have little respect for those who have latched onto this nonsense. The birthers are not as bad as the truthers, but definitely worse than the AGW alarmists (at least there was some hint of math and science behind that one).
As Allah Pundit notes at Hot Air Governor Palin came very close to destroying her political future when she was asked about President Obama’s birth certificate being a possible issue in 2012. I say close because you can read her answer two ways. The one way is the way the left will latch onto try and tar her with birther madness.
But I read her response as trying address the general concept of probing a candidates background and a bit of an attempt not to ridicule the birthers:
Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?
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 ’cause I think there are enough members of the electorate who still want answers.
Do you think it’s a fair question to be looking at?
I think it’s a fair question, just like I think past associations and past voting record — all of that is fair game. You know, I’ve got to tell you, too: I think our campaign, the McCain/Palin campaign didn’t do a good enough job in that area. We didn’t call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were and perhaps what their future plans were. And I don’t think that that was fair to voters to not have done our jobs as candidates and as a campaign to bring to light a lot of the things that now we’re seeing made manifest in the administration.
I mean, truly, if your past is fair game and your kids are fair game, certainly Obama’s past should be. I mean, we want to treat men and women equally, right?
Hey, you know, that’s a great point, in that weird conspiracy-theory freaky thing that people talk about that Trig isn’t my real son. And a lot of people say, “Well you need to produce his birth certificate! You need to prove that he’s your kid!†Which we have done. But yeah, so maybe we could reverse that and use the same [unintelligible]-type thinking on them.
It was one of those topical tight rope walks (which all candidates do). Sadly, it was a tight rope she need not walk. The Birthers are not worth reaching out to because you then lose the other 95% of the country.
Her follow statement makes that clear – she is not going to become the birther candidate.
Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I’ve pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask… which they have repeatedly. But at no point – not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews – have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States.
I am not surprised former Governor of Alaska from small town America is going to stumble here and there. It is part of her common roots charm. America is fed up with fancy dressed, smooth talking, say anything politicians. Being imperfect will not destroy Palin’s relationship with America, because it is a core part of her relationship to American.
Not to mention that America will give her a lot of slack after the un-American crap thrown at her personally last year. The left, in their usual harsh clumsiness, provided her a huge shield of sympathy.
It is unfortunate that if anyone wants the birth certificate released they get lumped into the ‘birther’ class.
I support it’s release to document his birth simply as a strict constructionist of the requirements for Presidential eligibility nothing more.
How did Pelosi certify his suitability to the electoral college ,which she did with two different certifications btw, without the source documents to certify the proof?
MerlinOS2
It was released and it looks completely legit.
McCain showed his B.C. when it was suggested he was not qualified because he was born outside the US to a military family.
Obama should be asked to do the same and to suggest that that is somehow crazy, unfair, or going to cost one 95% of the voting public is ludicrous and is niavely buying into the liberal lefts assertions that all things Obama are off the table, including past associations, past writings, past grade transcripts, past speeches, funding for his home, and the size of his ears.
Because McCain took “the high road” and did not in fact point out any of these things because he was pandering to the media elites and center left does not mean that the next candidate should attempt the same failed, lame strategy!
AJ sometimes you are spot on, as with the Global baloney and others you sound like your in a bubble wrap of the liberal lefty media making and this is an instance of the second!
IMHO!
dhunter,
Because McCain took the high road there fruitnuts on the left had nothing to latch onto, and show the world their insanity!
If you liked being played – be my guess.
[…] radio talk show host Rusty Humphries regarding the “Birther” issue (transcript via AJ Strata): Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you […]
It was released and it looks completely legit
not exactly true. The DOH of the State of Hawaii has never verified that it is a true copy.
I know you’ll deny that but it doesn’t change the fact.
The thing that disturbs me about the whole thing is that apparently the requirements to be president only apply BEFORE they are elected. once they get in, apparently NO ONE has standing to bring suit to enforce the requirements.
I don’t care to get into any discussion on all this, if it’s true, it’ll eventually come out. If it’s not, then it won’t. Discussion in this forum or any other is not going to change the facts. I certainly have no personal knowledge of where, or even if, Obama was born.
uh, I don’t buy the fact that if Palin runs for President that the qualifications(all of them) of her opponent won’t be fair game.
After all we didn’t even ask that a person running have some executive experience and sure enough we got one with none and it’s showing.
I think that there are only two requirements to be eligible for President. Both of them are satisfied by an official birth certificate.
1. be a Natural Born Citizen of the USA
2. be 35 years of age.
Is it too much to ask that a birth certificate be required? A real certified one?
Kinda like if Arnold said he wanted to run, all he has to do is produce a fake COLB and NO ONE has the right to question it.
just saying.
AJ,
If you have seen the Birth Certificate, post it for us. I’ve never seen it. I’ve only seen the Certificate of Live Birth. Thanks.
Only a Birth Certificate can be used for passports, etc. I’m very interested in seeing the B.C. as others are, I’m sure. I’ve searched the web, but I can’t find it anywhere. Thanks again.
get a life steve – a COLB is a valid document, and you are not capable of detecting a forgery.
You said You have seen his Birth Certificate. I, and many others have not. I’d just like a link to the B.C. It can’t be hard, You’ve seen it. Share it with us.
I never stated I was capable of detecting a forgery, did I?
The Certificate of Live Birth can not be used for passports etc. At least that is what several experts have said.
I’m not trying to be troublesome. I just want to see who was the attending physician, what hospital, and that sort of thing, only found on the B.C.
Great work on the Global Warming AJ. Keep it up! Are you still at NASA? If so, what is being said there?
AJ –
I think it was more a case of her trying to say that if peddling rumors about Trig is OK, then so is asking about Obama’s birth certificate.
It was pretty clumsily done.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is tied with Obama, but the TrueConservatives now are on a jihad against him.
The birth certificate issue ranks right up there with the story that nobody can remember Obama’s time at Columbia.
A much better response:
“I personally don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest that President Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii. Of course people are free to speculate otherwise, but I won’t be joining them”.
That she didn’t say something at least similar to that has me somewhat concerned about her actual feelings. She may not get shot down over this, but now she’s going to have to dodge continual “flak”.
Not a smart response, whether she intends to actually run for office or merely do Facebook forever. She’s given people the superficially plausible justification for saying: “Right — let’s listen to a “birther” give us advice on the economy and foreign affairs”.
Of course — the left is infested with “trutherism”, to a far greater degree, which makes “birtherism” seem positively sensible by comparison.
Sorry AJ. I’ll follow you on global warming and the Obama economic follies. However, his birth is another matter. And there are two separate and distinct issues. One is the birth certificate. Until you see a document with the attending physician’s name, then you haven’t seen his birth certificate. A COLB simply certifies that a baby was born somewhere to someone. One of the few hard facts we have on Obama is that he was born.
Natural Born Citizen is a second issue. Redteam states that the birth certificate would settle the Natural Born Citizen issue. Not true. Someone is a Natural Born Citizen based on the citizenship of the parents. The only thing known for certain (based on a 1800s SCOTUS ruling) is a baby is a Natural Born Citizen if both of his/her parents are US citizens at the time of the birth. Obama’s father wasn’t. Interestingly enough, during the campaign Obama’s website termed him a “native born citizen.” It didn’t claim he was a natural born citizen.
There has never been a ruling on whether someone could be a natural born citizen if just one of the parents was a U.S. citizen at the time of birth. When the court ruled on a decision back in the 1800’s, it only specified that there was no question of Natural Born Status if both parents were U.S. citizens at the time of the birth. Some legal scholars argue that the founders relied on previous documents that would lead to the conclusion that the founders wanted both parents to be U.S. citizens.
Furthermore, some legal scholars argue that because Obama’s father was a British subject, then so was his son, which raises issues about dual allegiances and the founders wanted none of that.
I agree it’s a waste of breath for most of us to pursue this. However I am happy various people are chasing down these and other mysteries of his background. Anything negative could instantly make him politically impotent. I can hope, can’t I?
That said, the most important thing right now is to kill the health bill. Cap and Trade will die on its own, thankfully. And as ex-democrat I’m hoping the GOP can get its act together and take 50 to 75 seats in the House next fall. I’m moving back to the Washington area early next year but instead of living in Maryland I’m going to Virginia where I hope I can help elect a fiscally conservative Republican to Congress.
As for Palin, she shouldn’t go anywhere near this issue. There’s no upside in it for her. By 2012, if she or any of the other Republicans can’t beat him on his dismal record, then we’re in more trouble than I think.
Sleepless – you are wrong and wrong. And the whole topic is borish. My two cents
Neo, thanks for that link about Obama at Columbia. I had kinda forgotten about all that controversy. reading all the comments of the various people trying to excuse things is very interesting. Obama’s senior(?) year was ’83 and no one can remember him. he doesn’t have a copy of this or that.
I’m 69, can name at least half the people in my Senior class in my Major, (there were only 19) still have all my class books and papers. Still have my senior thesis, which i wrote between my freshman and soph yrs. Still have my study notes and returned exams. Still have my school briefcase.
Still have several classmates phone no. and address.
I’ll bet more people are like me in this regard than that don’t remember anyone or have no physical reminders at all.
just saying…
info only…. heavy snowfall here in South Louisiana right now!!!
Well, the LBC is one issue, but there is another big issue:
In 1983, when BHO visited Pakistan, it was (next to) impossible to use an American passport (due to the nature of the relationship at the time between our country and Paki) to enter that country. Or so knowledgeable people say.
If that is true, the only password he may have used is an Indonesian one, which he was entitled to, due to his adoption by the Soetoro guy.
But having a second (or maybe only) Indonesian citizenship at the time, goes against the Constitutional requirements for a Natural Born Citizen.
All of this in addition to the speculation he may have benefited of financial help for foreign students at Occidental College, Columbia and Harvard.
Maybe that’s why his student transcriptions are not released.
I am sure something is not kosher here, and that is completely different from the wisdom of bringing this topic up for a conversation on national radio talk shows….
[…] Strata at Strata-Sphere says Ms. Palin “dodges bullet’’ on the birther issue. Here’s how he sees it: I am not surprised former Governor of Alaska […]