Now Republicans Want to Distance Themselves from the Birther Issue THEY Created?

Somebody better let Fox News know that the issue they have pushed for two years is killing the GOP.

Bachmann joins GOPers distancing themselves from birther issue
April 20, 2011 3:30 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann Wednesday joined a growing list of Republican politicians and strategists distancing themselves from the "birther" issue that questions where President Barack Obama was born.

The issue is causing a split on the political right, with Donald Trump and some conservatives continuing to challenge Obama's constitutional eligibility to be president based on the contention that he was born outside the country.

More and more, though, top Republicans -- including some with presidential ambitions -- are trying to push the debate away from a question considered extremist by many independent voters who are crucial to electoral success in 2012.

On Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a so-called "birther bill" that would have required any presidential candidate to produce authenticating documentation proving they were American citizens born in the United States to get on the state ballot. The move by Brewer followed rejection of the birther issue as a serious topic by former Bush administration strategist Karl Rove, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely GOP presidential candidate.

Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," Bachmann said Wednesday that she accepted the validity of a signed, stamped Certification of Live Birth that showed the president was born in Hawaii in 1961.

"Well, then that should settle it," Bachmann, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement, said on seeing the document. "I take the president at his word."

Asked if that ended the story. Bachmann said "I guess it's over" and added the birther question "is not the main issue facing the United States right now."

Analysts said Brewer's veto could reflect part of a GOP shift away from a fringe but vocal group pushing the birther issue.

"It was an untenable political situation," said Darrell West, vice president of government studies at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. "It seems clear that those who question Obama's birthplace represent a fringe element in the Republican Party."

Brewer "didn't seem to want to be associated with that element," he said.

In explaining her veto, Brewer said: "I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their 'early baptismal or circumcision certificates' among other records to the Arizona Secretary of State."

"This is a bridge too far," the governor wrote in a letter addressed to the Arizona House speaker.

The move effectively stops the bill unless state House and Senate lawmakers garner a two-thirds majority needed to override Brewer's veto.

Another analyst says it boils down to politics at a local level.

"Of the 30 state districts (in Arizona), only about five are competitive (in the general election)," said Thomas J. Volgy, a professor of political science at the University of Arizona, adding that offices are often won or lost at the primary level.

"Once they make it beyond the primaries, they're safe," he said, emphasizing that "primaries are often fought on the fringe" and state lawmakers must cater to the party faithful during their primary re-election bids.

Others argue that support for the bill was derived from what some describe as a longstanding uncertainty over the president's birthplace.

But analysts say the measure posed quandaries far beyond state lawmakers' obvious focus on Obama, including a range of constitutional questions as to how state law might affect a national candidacy.

"It's the federal government who makes the determination of electoral candidacy, not the states," said Volgy. "States' rights versus federal jurisdiction is what the Civil War was fought over."

Obama has been hounded by critics since his 2008 campaign over suggestions that he was not born in the United States, which could violate a constitutional stipulation that allows only "natural born" citizens to be eligible for the presidency.

CNN and other organizations have since discredited those claims, affirming the president's Hawaiian birth.

The Obama team has also produced a "certification of live birth," a document traditionally accepted legally as confirmation of a birth.

But "birthers" -- as those who commonly express doubts over that document's authenticity are called -- allege the president was born in his father's home country of Kenya.

A March CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll suggests they are likely a minority.

Nearly 75% of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States, the poll indicated.

More than four in 10 Republicans, however, believe the president probably or definitely was not born in America.

Meanwhile, media-mogul Trump may be cashing in on the controversy in his own presidential bid, calling on the president to produce his official birth certificate.

But Cantor says Trump is not "really serious" about being a 2012 presidential candidate because of his focus on the issue.

Analysts say some GOP presidential hopefuls may also fear heavy emphasis on an issue most Americans consider not credible.

"There's some evidence that someone who runs on the 'birther' issue can do well in the primary," said Brookings analyst West. "But there's no evidence that they can win in a national election."

The author of the bill, Arizona State Rep. Carl Seel, has said the measure was not targeted at Obama, but at "maintaining the integrity of the Constitution."

Fourteen other states are considering similar legislation this year, according to Jennie Bowser, a senior fellow with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Measures have failed in three states -- Connecticut, Maine and Montana.

 

Let it go. Jeez.

 

All YOU have to do is ignore the post. Try it!

 

The only point of interest here is why it is necessary to create a law to uphold the Constitution. Really dumb when you think about it.

The "birther" issue is a non issue despite the best efforts of Trump and Moen.

 

I thought the Clinton's advanced the birther issue when they were running against BO in '08?

 

Of course you do.

 

And here is what BO got us into

 

Dunno. I guess your like a bad car wreck. Ya just gotta look to see whats strewn across the road.

 

At least I have you lookin'.

 

Nicely done Moen. I'm impressed with your attempt at objectivity, though we all have our leanings, right? (laughs) You've done your homework, the quotes you've provided are accurate (from what I remember) and are very compelling. You've stayed on topic and organized these quotes in a way that tells the story with a minimum of explanation necessary. Thank you for posting!

 

PRWE FAIL!

Moen doesn't know the meaning of the word objectivity.

 

I'm sorry, I'm new. What does "PRWE FAIL!" mean?

 

PRWE is the name of the forum. FAIL means you are wrong. Moen is the most partisan person on this forum.

 

Thank you.

 

Well IQ, first of all, welcome to the pit! Hope you have the stomach to hang around. Objectivity is a scarce animal in these parts but I am attempting breed a new herd. Ha! Every politically neutral post I have thrown out there as been met with the extreme Right wing talking points or ignored for more partisan posts. They seem like the entertainment more than the facts. Oh well!

One thing I have learned here is that the Right wing extremists we have here can't tell the difference between their opinions and actual verifiable facts. If Fox says it, it must be true. Case in point, how long has Fox been pushing the birther issue? Now that Obama has once again been proven to be the only adult in the room, it would appear that Fox has been wrong on all fronts. Do these people still buy whatever Fox says? ABSOLUTELY! If I were watching a cable network that had been pushing a line of crap for years and was suddenly beyond a shadow of a doubt been proven wrong, I'd tend to question pretty much everything else that cable news network was saying as well.

 

And the only "facts" you know are what Soros blesses. Case in point is your saying "Fox been pushing the birther issue". That is absolutely false. There is not one regular on Fox who has not openly and often stated that the issue is BS. They have had their share of birthers interviewed since they are the only one with a balanced venue.

BTW, the second strongest opinion of someone asking to see BO's birth certificate is (was?) Chris Mathews. Go figure!

 

Seriously! You seriously contend that Fox hasn't been pushing the birther nonsense via Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and of course the Fox Friends team?

Sorry IQ, I should have mentioned the nanosecond between an event and the re-writing of that event by the Right. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. What's less than a nanosecond?

 

Dead absolutely serious. Here is an O'Reilly quote (interviewing Trump);
"We very early on did an investigation into Barack Obama's birth certificate," O'Reilly said, noting that his team had turned up two Obama birth announcements in local Hawaiian newspapers, "[So] I just dismissed it but you made a big deal out of it." Bill O'Reilly pounds birther Donald Trump - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com

And here is Hannity for a "Real Liberal Politics" site
"Hannity claimed that he believes that Obama was born in this country, but that it is odd that Obama won’t produce the birth certificate. " Sean Hannity, Show Us Your Birth Certificate!


I also find you comment a little strange considering you do not listen to them.
"I don't listen to anyone on the Right" Moen1305;10-20-2010

As I said, they do interview their share of interviews of the birtheres since they are they only ones who will talk to middle to conservative America and they tend to have more birthers.

 

Dr moen is just another tomc. Anyone who disagrees with this far left ideologue just has to get their ideas from FOX, right? I, for one, will watch a few minutes of FOX a week if I have a chance to channel surf but I'll watch just as much MSNBC, CNN, etc. Most of us on the right just base our views on history and our own experiences/observations.

 

Oh, I knew before I posted anything I was entering a World of chaos. But I am not one who would carelessly put my two-cents in and expect it to be accepted, quite the opposite in fact. I also chose to align myself with you Moen, because although chaos has some entertainment value, it is by it's nature unfriendly. That doesn't mean I will agree with you 100% of the time, as I'm sure you understand, it means I acknowledge your attempts at civility in a world of madness. Now, I fully expect the drooling masses, who are here as a counterpoint in some cases and as an agent of chaos in others, to "tear me a new one" very shortly ...in fact, it has already occurred, but this wasn't something I didn't expect to find ...and the chaos IS, for the most part, entertaining in it's insanity. Finally, I look forward to my new one, one can never have too many of them I suppose... but, am I allowed to choose where it's put? (laughs)