Headline ‘O the Day
by digby
Can you see what’s wrong with that picture? I knew that you could …
Richard Shelby:
In February 2009, the Cullman Times, an Alabama newspaper, reported that at a town hall meeting there, U.S. Senator from Alabama Richard Shelby was asked if there was any truth to the rumors that Obama was not a natural-born citizen. According to the Times report, Shelby said, “Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.”[119] A Shelby spokesperson denied the story, but the newspaper stood by it.[120]
Roy Blunt:
On July 28, 2009, Mike Stark approached Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt asking him about the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen. Blunt responded: “What I don’t know is why the President can’t produce a birth certificate. I don’t know anybody else that can’t produce one. And I think that’s a legitimate question. No health records, no birth certificate.”[121] Blunt’s spokesperson later claimed that the quote was taken out of context.[122]Jean Schmidt
After giving a speech at the Voice of America Freedom Rally in West Chester, Ohio on September 5, 2009, Republican congresswoman Jean Schmidt replied to a woman who commented that Obama was ineligible for the Presidency, “I agree with you. But the courts don’t.”[123] Schmidt’s office subsequently responded that a video clip of this comment was “taken out of context”, and reiterated that her stated position is that Obama is a citizen.[124] She had earlier voted to certify the Electoral College vote affirming his presidency, and had said she believes Obama is a U.S. citizen.[125] The statement was issued in response to a July 28, 2009, YouTube video in which Schmidt was seen running away from Mike Stark when he asked whether or not she had any questions about President Obama’s citizenship status.[126]Nathan Deal:
In November 2009, then-Representative Nathan Deal replied to a question about whether he believed that Obama “is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president” with a statement that “I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question.”[127] Contrasting the differing fates of Deal, who won the 2010 gubernatorial election in Georgia, and former Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney, who lost her primary after endorsing 9/11 conspiracy theories, David Weigel of Slate noted: “Dipping a toe into the birtherism fever swamp didn’t stop Deal from winning a statewide primary.”[128]Sarah Palin:
During a December 3, 2009 interview on Rusty Humphries’ radio talk show, Humphries asked Sarah Palin if she would make Barack Obama’s birth certificate a campaign issue in 2012, should she decide to run. Palin responded, “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.” Humphries followed up, asking whether she thinks Obama’s birth certificate is a fair question to be looking at. Palin answered, “I think it’s a fair question, just like I think past association and past voting records – all of that is fair game. The McCain–Palin campaign didn’t do a good enough job in that area.”[129]After news organizations and blogs picked up the quotation,[130] Palin issued a statement on her Facebook page in which she clarified that she meant to say that voters have the right to ask questions, and she herself has never asked Obama to produce a birth certificate. She then went on to compare questioning of Obama’s birth certificate to questions that were raised during the 2008 presidential elections about her maternity to her son, Trig.[131] This analogy was criticized by Mark Milian of the Los Angeles Times, who commented that “It’s not like Barack Obama hosted a radio show and called her a baby faker.”[132] In addition, Andrew Sullivan, an established skeptic of Palin’s relationship with Trig, wrote in response to her comments: “Palin has never produced Trig’s birth certificate or a single piece of objective medical evidence that proves he is indeed her biological son.”[133]
David Vitter:
At a townhall meeting in Metairie, Louisiana on July 11, 2010, Senator David Vitter responded to a question about Barack Obama’s birth certificate saying “I personally don’t have standing to bring litigation in court, but I support conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court. I think that is the valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it.” His campaign did not provide any additional comments on the matter.[137][138]Newt Gingrich:
On September 11, 2010, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stated that Obama could only be understood by people who “understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior”.[139] While Gingrich did not define what constitutes “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior”, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs accused Gingrich of “trying to appeal to the fringe of people who don’t believe the president was born in this country”. Gibbs went on to say, “You would normally expect better of somebody who held the position of Speaker of the House, but look, it is political season, and most people will say anything, and Newt Gingrich does that on a, genuinely, on a regular basis.”[140]Andy Martin:
In December 2010, Andy Martin (plaintiff in Martin v. Lingle and self-crowned as “King of the Birthers”) announced his candidacy to seek the 2012 Republican nomination for the President of the United States.[141] In February 2011, Martin’s planned appearance at a Republican meeting in Deering, New Hampshire, was cancelled after his anti-Semitic past was discovered.[142]Mike Huckabee:
On February 28, 2011, on Steve Malzberg’s radio program Mike Huckabee, a 2008 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, falsely claimed that Obama had been raised in Kenya[143] and that “[Obama] probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.”[143] Huckabee, speaking on The O’Reilly Factor, said that he misspoke and intended to say Indonesia, characterizing his own comment as a “verbal gaffe”.[144]Michele Bachmann:
In March 2011, Representative Michele Bachmann told conservative radio host Jeff Katz on his program, “I’ll tell you one thing, if I was ever to run for president of the United States, I think the first thing I would do in the first debate is offer my birth certificate, so we can get that off the table.” Previously on Good Morning America, when asked about President Obama’s origins, she replied, “Well, that isn’t for me to state. That’s for the president to state.”[145]Joe Arpaio:
Volunteer investigators working under the direction of Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio have asserted that Obama’s birth certificate is a computer-generated forgery. Rejecting this claim, an assistant to Hawaii’s attorney general stated in July 2012 that “President Obama was born in Honolulu, and his birth certificate is valid…. Regarding the latest allegations from a sheriff in Arizona, they are untrue, misinformed and misconstrue Hawaii law.”[146] Arizona state officials, including Governor Jan Brewer and Secretary of State Ken Bennett, have also dismissed Arpaio’s objections and accepted the validity of Obama’s birth certificate.[147][148] Alex Pareene, a staff writer for Salon, wrote regarding a May 2012 trip to Hawaii by Arpaio’s people that “I think we have long since passed the point at which I’d find this story believable in a fictional setting”.[149]Mike Coffman:
On May 12, 2012, Mike Coffman, a congressman running for re-election in the Sixth Congressional District of Colorado, addressed a Republican fund-raising event in Elbert County. Coffman stated that he did not know where President Barack Obama was born. Coffman went on to say of Obama that “in his heart, he’s not an American. He’s just not an American.” Coffman issued an apology on May 16, saying that he had misspoken and that he had confidence in President Obama’s citizenship and legitimacy as president.[150] In a May 23 Denver Post op-ed piece, Coffman described his comment as “inappropriate and boneheaded.”[151]