Well, at least Keith Olbermann (two n's) doesn't come up with forgeries that make the letter I faked from my mom to get out of gym in 7th grade look brilliant. Older posters may remember the rumors that Paul McCartney was dead. He'd get on TV and say "here I am alive and well" and they would say "how do we know it's really you?" Reminds me of the birthers. Except that the Paul is dead morons were at least funny.
Yeah, that's Dan Rather's and Mary Mapes' job...at least it used to be. I think they're a bit nuts, because even if he has dual citizenship or was born outside the country, it doesn't matter. There would be a vote in Congress to overturn the "natural-born citizen" clause and it would pass without much problem with votes from both Democrats and Republicans. After all, the alternative is Joe Biden, and the thought of him being President scares both parties to death. Of course, I don't quite understand why President Obama just doesn't tell the State of Hawaii to release his birth certificate. It seems to me to be a pretty easy solution.
I don't think he has the authority to demand the state of Hawaii to release the original certificate. I could be wrong, though. Besides, until the Birthers can explain how Obama also managed to forge birth announcements in two Hawaii newspapers, it's moot. Anyway, if I were in his shoes and I actually had the ability to release the original, I wouldn't bother. The longer this goes, the more this silly fringe group is a nuisance to the rest of the Republican party.
That was my first thought--let 'em hang themselves. However, on second thought I arrived at a different conclusion. The debate will eventually shift from the birth certificate issue to one of openness and transparency. He made a promise on this issue he hasn't lived up to. Putting out his birth certificate would go a long way to helping that argument.
Yeah, I've been disappointed by the lack of openness in this administration. I guess I should've expected it, given how tightly he ran his campaign and the nature of the modern presidency. I doubt this really ever will become a symbol of that lack of openness though, anymore than his unwillingness to allow reporters into Area 51 or his unwilligness to support a full investigation of Big Foot. It's just too silly.
It won't because the original documents have been viewed by people in HI. He has had his COLB posted on the internet for over a year now. The fact that people fail to accept that document does not make the situation less transparent. This is the "Bush was behind 9/11" crowd only on the Republican side. Did the "Bush is behind 9/11 crowd" ever get people to really challenge the office of the president?
He posted a reproduced copy. It should be pretty easy to get the original. The originals have a gold-embossed stamp with the signature of the hospital administrator on top. My dad was born in Hawaii and that's how his looks.
