Politics
More PoliticsThe 'Birthers' Began on the Left
by John Avlon
John Avlon's new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and a CNN contributor. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
David McNew / Getty Images
Investigating the roots of the Obama birthplace conspiracy theory, John Avlon—author of Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America, available now from Beast Books—uncovers the first Birther and finds she's a Hillary Clinton supporter also implicated in Dan Rather's exit from CBS.
Plus, read more on Avlon’s new book.
The Birthers were back in force at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
WorldNet Daily founder Joseph Farah used his prime-time speaking slot, broadcast on C-Span, to pump up claims that President Obama was not born in the United States—and received enthusiastic applause from the audience. Birther queen Orly Taitz was in the house, making the rounds as a celebrity conspiracy theorist.
The persistence of this much-debunked rumor is a reminder of how the fringe is blurring with the base in American politics. It provoked conservative Internet impresario Andrew Breitbart into a confrontation with Farah, the new guard vs. the old, with Breitbart arguing that attempts to prove Obama was born abroad are stupid and self-destructive, "a losing issue."
"I determined that I was going to start digging up every bit of dirt that I could find on him and…convince the Democratic Party to dump him and make Hillary the nominee."
The high-profile resurgence of the Birther claims on cable television provoked much self-satisfaction from liberals as the latest evidence of the influence of wingnuts on conservative politics.
Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America. By John Avlon. 304 Pages. Beast Books. $15.95.
But there's an inconvenient truth liberals are going to have to confront: The Birthers began not on the right, but on the left.
Investigations for my new book, Wingnuts, revealed that the Birther conspiracy theory was first concocted by renegade members of the original Obama haters, Party Unity My Ass, known more commonly by their acronym, the PUMAs. They were a splinter group of hard-core Hillary Clinton supporters who did not want to give up the ghost after the bitter 50-state Bataan Death March to the 2008 Democratic nomination.
In the early summer of '08, message boards on sites like PUMAParty.com began lighting up with the ultimate reversal-of-fortune fantasy—that their party's nomination could be overturned on constitutional grounds. "Obama May Be Illegal to Be Elected President!" read one representative e-mail: "This came from a USNA [U.S. Naval Academy] alumnus. It'll be interesting to see how the media handle this...WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL newspaper editors etc. Keep this out there everyday possible. Also write to the DNC too!"
That June, the Obama campaign released his certificate of live birth on its Web site as part of its "fight the smears" effort. Factcheck.org and other organizations examined the document in person and declared it genuine: "Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said." But posters at the PUMA sites were unimpressed: "Nobody believes it's for real, except the Kool-Aid drinkers themselves."
A Clinton supporter from Texas known as Linda Starr was particularly fired up by what she later told me was "the daily misogynistic hate speech against Hillary" during the primaries. As a Democratic precinct captain in Medina County, Starr had volunteered for the Clinton campaign during the hotly contested June Lone Star State primary and served as a Clinton delegate at the state convention. But Starr's real talent was as an amateur opposition researcher—she'd dug up dirt against Republican congressional leaders like Dan Burton and Bob Livingston during the Clinton impeachment hearings in the late 1990s. She was also cited as a key source for CBS' discredited election year investigation into George W. Bush's National Guard records that led to Dan Rather's replacement after 24 years as the evening news anchor.
After Clinton's concession, Starr turned her attention to Obama. "I determined that I was going to start digging up every bit of dirt that I could find on him," she told me after I hunted her down in late 2009, "and that hopefully that I would find something against him that would convince the Democratic Party to dump him and make Hillary the nominee."
In the first week of August 2008, as the Democrats were getting ready for their convention in Denver, Starr called Philadelphia attorney Philip Berg and offered a challenge. Berg recalled the conversation for me: "She called me up and said, 'Have you heard about Obama not being national born?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'Well, now it's for real, and you're the only attorney in the country with brass balls enough to sue Obama.'"
Berg also had been a Clinton supporter, but he was best-known as a former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania and a serial unsuccessful Democratic campaigner for statewide office. He also had a reputation as an enthusiastic litigant: In 2004, he filed a 9/11 Truther lawsuit against Bush, alleging that the government allowed the terrorist attacks to happen and that the World Trade Center was destroyed from within. Now he had a new conspiracy to push.
• Peter Beinart: The Tea Partiers’ Phony PopulismOn August 21, 2008, Berg filed the first Birther lawsuit, requesting an injunction to stop the Democratic Convention from going forward and alleging that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii. He faxed notices to the DNC and Obama campaign headquarters, and the next day, he launched the Web site Obamacrimes.com with Starr's assistance. The lawsuit went nowhere. Berg still fumes when recounting his frustration: "[DNC chair] Howard Dean at that point should have called Obama and said 'What's the story, are you natural born or not?'…Obviously there was collusion there and I think when it's all said and done they should all be tried and put in jail." Journalists ignored his efforts, as well. "I wish I could sue them," said Berg, of the media. "If the American public knew what was going on here Obama would be out of office or we never would have had him in office."
Of course, the rush to delegitimize Obama once he was elected president fell to wingnut conservatives, who continue to confuse losing an election with living under tyranny. But this new evidence of the conspiracy theory's roots on the far left is a reminder that wingnuts exist in both parties, wherever anger and absolutism drive people to believe that their political opponents are their personal enemies. Unhinged activists can have a disproportionate influence on our debates.
The far right and the far left can be equally insane, and the extremes end up echoing each other.
John Avlon's new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the web and in paperback. Advance orders can be placed here. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
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John Avlon's new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and a CNN contributor. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
confused
The inconvenient truth is that the problem isn't with who started it. The problem is with the wingnuts (dem & repug) that won't accept proof . By definition teabaggers are neither democrats or republicans. Just because the republicans are successfully using them right now, doesn't mean it will last.
PinkoLefty
There is an even more inconvenient truth here. The whole argument is moot.
Article II of the Constitution states that, "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President". This does not mean that the person must have been born on U.S. soil. It simply means that the person must be a citizen by right of birth, and Barack Obama, as the son of a U.S. Citizen abroad would have had that right.
Even if the nutcakes could produce a grainy film of a Kenyan nurse holding up an hours-old Barack Obama in front of Mombasa General with him mouthing the words, "I'm Barack Obama and I want to be President of the United States," it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans. He would still qualify. His electability would be questionable given the xenophobia in this country, but that's a fait d'accompli. Many of us were born to U.S. citizens and dignitaries abroad, but are still considered to be natural born citizens and are perfectly eligible for the office of the Presidency.
Let's see how the right reacts when Tim Tebow makes a run in 2040.
verbatim
I agree with you in principle that the point is moot. At this point, even is isn't a citizen, it's too late, as he has already been the prez for a year.
However, I disagree on one point you made. There actually is some question, constitutionally, as to exactly what "natural born citizen" actually means. There is some discussion that it means that both parents must also be citizens. John McCain was born in the canal zone, not on US soil. Yet both his parents are citizens. So part of the constitutional "citizenship" question, may actually not be where he was born, but rather, where his parents were born.
estcruzer
Just another data point showing that the wingnuts are unimaginative mimics and lackeys of political hacks.
herbie7
Confused: Yeah, so right. Bear in mind that the wingnuts are people living in a state of paranoia and that they neither understand America or the rest of the world. They are G&B's (Gun and the Bible).
thebaker
I own guns and a Bible. I'm not a "birther", a "truther", or a "wingnut", thank you very much. I think you are the one who doesn't understand America.
camfield
I believe that the birthers I know probably are typical. They're closet racists and just can't get over the idea of a black president. They also go ballistic over Mexican immigrants, cloaking their racism in a distinction between legal and illegal ones, perceived financial cost to taxpayers and such.
Warthog0
Because you disagree with a birther they automatically are crazed, evangelical, gun toting(both Uzi's), Nazi's, winguts ( if you can think any more help me out) I think that you have just returned through a time warp or a worm hole or fell asleep under the same tree that Rip van Winkle dozed under, wash the sleep poopie from your eyes. Lets see legal alien, works, has a SS number, pays tax( according to his....)pays into his pension, hopefully has medical coverage etc, you know like you and i, Hopefully.
The illegal on the other hand, could be a criminal, a mom or dad looking for work, a youngster looking for a good place at the inn to have her baby because there are no rooms at the other inns. A youngster looking for an education assisted through marriage, The Perceive financial cost? You figure it out Einstein (sorry Albert, owe you lunch).
timeflies
The populist extremists of all political persuasions have something in common, way beyond the tin hate fractious incidentals: driven by anger and fear, while saddled with their and other's trillion dollar debt, they suspect there is something afoul in the almost complete integration of politics, shoulder-shrugging banking and financial system. If they could ever get past internecine social squabbles and coalesce around the red flashing neon sign of "follow the money" global economics, they'd actually be onto something. (Say, you might ask, how did that deregulation trend of the 1970s work out, and how's it going with members of the Trilateral Commission?) Until that happens, they're flying blind; it will a string of chaotic daily photo ops for Elmer Gantrys, whose every breath will be covered by what has replaced good, old pro journalism: marketing. Perhaps that is why corporate America, which now controls every lever of government and society, first dismantled the press system, which it already owned, before moving on to every other arena.
Several weeks ago, Naomi Klein penned an interesting article about the new selling of America via the White House. Made me long for the simpler days of Vance Packard's hidden persuaders.
On one side are the Bushie 'pubs who successfully hollowed out govt., outsourcing an enormous number of functions to Lockheed Martin ("Lockheed Martin doesn't run the United Slates," observed a 2004 New York Times exposé. "But it does help run a breathtakingly big part of it . . . It sorts your mail and totals your taxes. It cuts Social Security cheques and counts the United States census. It runs space flights and monitors air traffic. To make all that happen, Lockheed writes more computer code than Microsoft.")
On the other side are the warm and fuzzy hopefuls who bought into the branding of Obama and are now as deeply cynical as the screamers on the other side. Unless actual transparency and accountability are the ultimate goals of these proto-social movements, me thinks this will not end well. For citizens, that is. It will continue to be grand for those mad men who keep devising new ways to part us from out money. We have sold ourselves for a bunch of logos that are basically the same product cycle of profiteering. And we expect the outcome to be different. What a hoot.
My parents' generation didn't trust Wall St. because they understood market fundamentals and had long memories of Depression era bread lines. When no one today drills down to ask the hard questions, it's fairly easy for the powers that be to punt. Simple: hand over your money to a crook and he will take it. Time is on their side as long as the one dimensional American attention span is about as long as its last tweet. Hard to tell which crackhead has the bigger appetite. Anyone surprised at today's announcement that John Thain is back, and did he ever really go away? Yes, that Thain - he of Merrill Lynch/BofA/Goldman Sachs/NYSE fame. Bueller, Bueller?
Jafly08
Good post, timeflies, well written and indicative of a person with more overall context than the average Joe, which includes myself. Need to brush up further on history, economics, international relations, etc. If you have any suggestions (afforable online or evening courses, periodicals, etc.) please let us know. Looking for more information, but do not wish to be fed any more of the "status quo." I'm aware of Zinn's "A People's History...." for starters, but looking for additional resources. Thanks.
timeflies
@Jafly08
Long answer:
Sources: history. Human behavior never changes. You've read Zinn. Understanding = quiet little revolutions of the mind. Caring = quiet little revolutions of the heart. Americans, as individuals and as a nation, are rapidly giving away both essential core qualities, replaced with limitless self-aggrandizement, in an oddly group think manner. In doing so, we are not as interesting, as joyful or as resilient. All anyone has to do is look at crime around the country, which has become our #1 industry, as well as how we treat all creatures as commodities. We are consuming ourselves. We reject that which nurtures the intellect and cuts down on the chaos, valuing the recurring societal debt of LCD celebrity, sex scandals, and buying more crap we can't afford - to the exclusion of all else. We admire dysfunction and then wonder how we got this way. Or, rather, how the other guy got this way. The definition of smart in this country has become synonymous with money, not intelligence and its offspring: judgment. Why the American masses are so easily distracted, seeking out that which further erodes one's ability to think for self, seems based on fear and denial, which places us in a precarious continual state of exploitation (followed by more fear). So much of life is simply the basics of human behavior repeating itself rather regularly. As most older newspaper reporters will tell you, connecting the dots isn't that difficult. Americans keep looking for that stimulating new 'n' improved frontier, while the real world challenge is in the sameness of 'nothing new under the sun.' Take technology; it's still just reading and writing. Discerning quality is another matter, another horizon forever out of reach but easily marketed. As will be the next mass medium.
On a lighter note, when this happens, the world has just gone off the edge: http://www.roubini.com/globalmacro-monitor/258117/drug_money_saved_banks_in _global_crisis_
Short answer: don't yield gracefully ... seek instinctive bedrock knowledge, instead of the shaky moorings of news dystopia. Symmetry is underrated.
Warthog0
@timeflies
How embarrassed I am and also angry and literally pissed at you. Most of us who post on these venues, do it because we have a point of view, influenced and coalesced by the exposure of all that passed out way and dropped a little crumb for us to chew on. I in particular am probably a right brain model of the usual suspects here, striving for a glimpse at my left brain. But at 60 something my heart and love for this country, my long gone friends, my sentiments get in the way. So my ranting is though a clear and lucid understanding of the important lessons taught to me by all that have been part of my life. Most were right brain individuals I think because I am what they were, with just a smidgen or two touched by Asimov,Sagan,Feynman and Hawking. I'm Pissed at you for allowing me and probably others in this group from seeing your enlightened post until now. Please continue, am thankful for the crumbs, it is one of the best I have read, thanks!
njoy-d-ride
confused, another truth in this day and electronic age is that it is easier than ever to forge something. So no, you can't just slap what you consider "proof" in front of someone and expect them to not test your "proof". Ask CBS news if they accept documents "from the past" without checking the font...
BTW, I've seen the Obama stuff, if he got that forged he didn't get his money's worth! Creases and such are things any good forger would have added to make the document "authentic".
unbesteveable250
Hawaii does not release the actual documents for anyone's birth certificate not even to the subject of the certificate. What they issue is a digital duplication. This has been much commented on. But don't take my word for it, call the State of Hawaii and find out for yourself.
johnnynyc
It's funny how we haven't heard much from the birthers since Orly Taitz was fined $20,000 by a judge for wasting taxpayers time and money, isn't it?
"At the hearing, counsel failed to make coherent legal arguments but instead wasted the Court's time with press conference sound bites and speeches."
"Counsel Orly Taitz is hereby ordered to pay $20,000.00 to the United States, through the Middle District of Georgia Clerk's Office, within thirty days of the date of this Order as a sanction for her misconduct in violation of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure."
http://washingtonindependent.com/63558/orly-taitz-sanctioned-for-20000
MTinMO
Sorry to inform you, Oily Taters won't just dry up and blow away. She has filed a new quo warranto lawsuit in DC
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14703418/File-Writ-of-Quo-Warranto-on-Barack-H ussein-Obama-II
and wants to run for office herself- not president, we KNOW she isn't a natural born citizen- she wants to be the AG of California.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/orly-taitz/2010/01/
And on top of that, another crazy has crawled out of the shadows and filed to join her suit as a realator.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26257994/Strunk-Motion-in-Taitz-v-Obama
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26258075/Strunk-Exhibit-1
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26275473/Strunk-Replevin
I always knew that Berg and some of the so-called PUMA's were the ones who were trying to find any reason they could to keep Obama from being the nominee. I was a Hillary supporter too, and voted for her in the primary. She didn't win it in my state by I did what I could. When it became evident she was not going to win the nomination, instead of getting angry, I started reading up on Barack Obama to see if he was a candidate I could get behind. Because as much as I want to support party, the candidate must be someone I can believe in for me to be involved in more than just voting. I liked what I found when I did the reading. As much as I wanted to have the first woman president I was able to get behind the first black president. I did my research on the birth issue too, and found no evidence the birthers had so much as a toe, let alone a leg, to stand on. On the contrary, I found plenty of evidence he was born in Hawaii. Unfortunately, you can't change the minds of those who are close-minded.
Polycentrism
One of the reasons that you do not hear much from persons still in the fight is the FACT that when a reply is made that is not part of the charade John Avlon is pushing they do not get posted.
For instance that Rudy Guiliani along with Geoirge Ptakai are Members of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, and that the SMOM control much of what is happening here in New York and elsewhere at the Behest of General Nicolas.
The only question of significance requiring a Judge to issue a Declaratory Judgment report is the matter of "Dual Allegiance"
BHO was born to parents who were not only married but one was a British citizen and the other was an American citizen. BHO does not have two US Citizens at birth no matter where he was born I could care less.
If he contends that he has two US Citzens let him bring in DNA to prove it.
ps2os2
re: Confused
You are correct. Unfortunately there are quite a few people out there that are conspiracy freaks. They just will not listen to reason. Apparently there are some freaks out there that seemed to be convinced that the planes really did not hit the World Trade Center. Despite massive proof they still cling to the belief that
A: NO Airplane hit either of the World Trade Center and
B: No airplane hit the Pentagon.
I am not sure on how to handle these people (and the birthers). When you give them reasonable proof they stop the discussion with well what about X and when you explore X it has about as much credibility as Santa Claus.
People will not listen or discuss with anything close to an open mind. If you forget about them and ignore them they just get louder. There has to be some rational way to get these people to sit down and have a reasonable discussion.
Dennis
I think you're still rather confused, confused.
If the inconvenient truth isn't who started it, why is that the only response from liberals when they're asked why they use the sexual epithet "tea-baggers" is 'Hey, you guys started it."?
Why is it that what's good for the goose is never good for the liberal gander?
ThisThatTheOther
Actually, the liberals are using the epithet because it's hilarious.
ThisThatTheOther
I agree that the issue isn't where it started but that it persists! Anybody can come up with a conspiracy theory, and there are some for virtually every big time candidate. The issue is that this one gained so much traction and that a large number of nuts won't accept the truth. He was born in Hawaii.
Orion12
When people are so set in destroying and creating chaos without some measure of common sense, it is because they DO believe someone will see and accept their point of view. This does not bode well for Americans because it may mean that if you say rubbish long enough and persistently, people will believe you. I think people believe too much what they hear and read instead of investigating to find the truth.
If the Birthers REALLY believe that they are right, then again we do have a problem. It shows that against all logic and facts they remain closed minded. If people like those are walking the streets, then there is a danger that mentally ill people are breeding a lot of frustration and hate, which can ultimately lead to, perhaps, dangerous actions. In my view, they do deserve some counseling to put them back on track.
Again, it seems as if the media loves this type of rubbish and continue to fuel the debate. If they just ignore the Birthers, then these people will not get the public attention and coverage that fuels their irrational behavior.
What a world we live in!!
amanda07070
Bravo Orion12. Without name-calling or accusing a particular party, you hit the nail on the head.
sippewissett
You rightly said, "This does not bode well for Americans because it may mean that if you say rubbish long enough and persistently, people will believe you. I think people believe too much what they hear and read instead of investigating to find the truth."
Isn't that precisely our crisis right now? Faux Nooz ratings are demonstrable proof of the dumbing-down of America. I don't care if tea baggers are from the left or the right, they share in common:
* Credulity of anything they hear
* Lack of intellectual curiosity and
* Simplistic views of what can help our economy, financial reform, health care reform and extraction from hideously expensive wars.
Why else would Palin have air time?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Snertly
And then there's rear don galt, always willing to pour gasoline on any spark of controversy.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
TheDeciderer
Orally Taintz? Is that you?
dreaday19
It would also be great to see W's transcripts and compare. Why were those never released?
MTinMO
Maybe he doesn't have his original certificate! I misplaced mine and requested a new one from my birth state. The one I received looks very much like the high resolution photos that have been posted online at factcheck.org since prior to the election in 2008. They don't give out the old style certificates any more. Mine has the basic info and is stamped with an embossed state seal. Like the presidents. According to Hawaii and my state of birth, the certificates we received are lawful certificates to be used to show proof of birth in the city and state on said certificate. Hawaii's Secretary of Health has stated she has reviewed the original documents they have on file and the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on the date and time indicated and is a natural born citizen. The states registrar has stated the information is on file that backs up the certificate that has been shown. I checked with the passport office in my local post office with my copy I got and they said it was sufficient for them to proof I was a US citizen. The state I live in now has accepted my certificate as proof for insurance, drivers license, etc. So if it is good enough for the federal and state government, why is it not good enough for you? Who are you to demand more proof than say the passport office? Which had already issued a passport to Barack Obama long before he ever ran for president. Remember, He had to have it even as a child to leave this country and come back. He had to have it to travel when he was a young man. And there had to be a passport file in order for the contract workers to illegally access his, Hillary's and John McCain's files. Remember when that was done? If there is no passport, there is no file.
herbie7
Orion 12. Well said. The Birthers and Wingnutters have no respect for the will of the American people and are set on defying the electorate. They have no respect for democracy, the very thing they claim to cherish.
cbl99201
Yes, most people will believe anything they hear, particuarly if it advances their causes. Especially when it is repeated ad nauseum. Sad for our democracy, becuase the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out" truely applies here.
mcmchugh99
This is assuming that Clinton supporters represesent the "left". I never thought so at the time and still don't.
As for the Republicans, they have always been good at using retarded non-issues like these to pick up low information, racist white voters of the lower classes. It's the only way they can remain competitive in national elections and they have known that since the days of Joe McCarthy.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
letuckerchicago
'minorities and all lower class citizens"? I beg your pardon????????????
Aranxa
aackc, your name just happens to be the sound I made when I read your post.
easton
letuckerchicago, why beg the pardon of a fool? The statement is illogical. Most subsidies go to the wealthy, and people who have "cadillac" health plans are not poor. As to "handouts" like unemployment compensation, well perhaps acckack would prefer they just be lined up and shot so as to get rid of unemployment once and for all.
sippewissett
Wow. You return insults with insults instead of facts and issue? Doesn't reflect well on you, aackc1.
Jafly08
aackc1: do you mean the residents of the good state of Alaska when you speak of "all lower class citizens" in such a manner? They receive handouts from the oil companies doing business in Prudhoe Bay every single year, and the more people in your household, the more money you receive. Sort of makes breeding worthwhile up there in the frozen north, don't you think?
theschmooze
One cannot negotiate with lunacy. Counselling for these folks would be useless because they will not/cannot see the truth. I am very concerned for the safety of our president because of the types of people who are drawn in from the extreme fringes.
sophia5
Has there been,
or will there ever be an article on Far Left Wingnut TRUTHERS
who believe 9/11 was an inside job,
to balance the commentary about Far Right Wingnut BIRTHERS ?
TheDeciderer
Yes these articles have been written. Go look at breitbart, or drudge.
indieinva
Read Matt Taibbi's book; The Great Derangement. It is a look at the growing conspiracy problems and extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, particularly the 9/11 Truthers on the left and Rev. Hagee's Texas megachurch and it's political influence on the right.
I think it's time for Taibbi to write a follow-up book. With all the crazies coming out of the woodwork since Obama's election, he has enough material for an encyclopedic set on this subject.
dreaday19
I think the birthers GREATLY outnumber the truthers, even though neither merit any consideration.
It says something when Lou Dobbs on CNN mentions that he's not sure where Obama was born. Crazy.
goffbum
Just what is truth and fact snooze....I mean mooze, that the left has failed miserably at their idiotic attemp at governing and running our country? They certainally have managed to damn near destroy America....luck has it that most of them will be retiring now that they have been exposed for what they are....like Dodd and so many more I cant think of their names....sadly you may have something about the right....religous nut's have no place anymore and political criminals should be charged on both side's for treason....which also reminds me of your bitch Pelozie who managed to squander millions on the big trip with all her bud's to Europe for the global warming bullshit....wonder where the main instigator Algore is hiding these day's....some place warm no doubt........
nortonclybourn
"Far Left?" I don't think so. Frustrated mediocrities who get through life by slinging mud and filing frivolous lawsuits, maybe. They're angry for the same reason all losers are angry--they are nobodies. Only a conspiracy at the highest level could account for the fact that their brilliance isn't recognized. It's pathetic that serial losers like Berg picture Dean and Obama all worried and conspiring at his antics. I doubt they could pick him out of a lineup.
LutfiUSMC
maybe the isreals supporter felt that Obama would not confirm to there narratives, and thought they should spread the rumors, its amazing of how much control a foreign government have on US policy domestic or foreign, if this roll was reversed they would be in arm against it.
misha1000
@LutfiUSMC: see my comment.
LutfiUSMC
I read and agree with you, for me I do have Jewish , and Israel's friends and we discus lots of issue, and we tend to agree on most of them, so we can speak and talk with one another and I believe this narrative that everyone have against President Obama is the talking point of AIPAC and its supporter in Congress, just look at the bill that was passed in the Senate ( condemning Iran ) with the speed of lighting and it was written by AIPAC for the Senate, that is why i think President Obama should bring leaders from both community of Jewish,Arab, and Muslim American to speak and to share Idea on how we can solve the ME problem, I think it should start here by us.
misha1000
@LutfiUSMC: see this column:
http://newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2009/10/jewish-pogrom.html
nortonclybourn
You should at least learn to spell "Israel" before peddling your conspiracy theories.
LutfiUSMC
I know how to spell Israel, but I gess we both have one thing in commons I did not do the spell check and you don't check your fact.
JohnConnughton
LuftUSMC, please start using spell check, you need it. Example, 'gess' is spelled 'guess.'
Better yet, don't try to write. Your grammar and punctuation stink, and your logic sucks. Not using spell check and not checking facts are significantly different concepts, and so cannot be a trait in common.
Snertly
When they're complaining about grammar and spelling, it usually means there's nothing to object to in the content.
This user is no longer registered.
Gkenyon
The Tea Baggers are merely the logical extension of the Birthers. People who would go out on Tax Day 2009 -- less than a month after Obama lowered taxes for 95% of the American people -- and protest Obama raising taxes (which, again, if you didn't get it -- HE NEVER DID) are clearly unmoored from any sense of reality. They are the lowest common denominator in American politics. It's funny to watch them bleating about things they know absolutely nothing about, besides whatever Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity spoonfed them the night before. The March of the Uninformed.
goffbum
You righties better lurn how to spell, you know how the left is.....there alway's right......uh oh....that don sound rite....Hmmmm...................
misha1000
Also, one of the first birfers is a Hilary supporter from suburban Philly, Phil Berg. He was instrumental in the 'Obama was born in Mombasa.' He has been sanctioned $10K, and he is getting louder. He is now planning a 'birth cert march on DC.'
Berg, Orly and their coterie are doing it because they think Obama is bad for Israel, and so they are trying to drive him from office. They are willing to make common cause with anti-semites, who will turn on them.
Obama got 78% of the Jewish vote, mine included. Hey birthers: Obama will be re-elected, and Cory Booker will follow. Better get used to it.
Ozone69
Obama re-elected? Really? Did you happen to catch the election results in Mass.? There is a growing population of angry voters (many with buyers remorse), who can't wait for this administration to be history. This is what happens when a very liberal junior senator with very little experience is elected POTUS. He is seen as weak to most of the world with his bowing and apologizing rhetoric. He is spending us into oblivion.
misha1000
"He is spending us into oblivion."
What was the deficit when Clinton left office, and what was the deficit when Bush left office? Don't leave me these openings. I'll get you started: Clinton left office with a surplus.
Oh, and where are the WMDs in Iraq? We are going to paying for Iraq for the next 50 years.
tumbleweed
Really?????? I have found most of this nonsense to be wishful thinking on your part and a few like you. Most of you hope he fails. I have never regretted voting for him he was the best candidate and still is. If McCain had won you folks would really have something to whine and belly-ache about. If there was a country left? It's doubtful there would be. Given half a chance by you lunatics Obama will succeed. That's more than I can say every time I have made the mistake of voting Republican. My guess is there are going to be a lot is Mass voters who regret having voted for another rabid Republican in sheep's clothing. No matter how good their candidate might look at the time, you can bet the minute he hits Washington it will be the same old tired Republican nasty 'trickle down' policies. But, I have no doubts there are a lot of ignorant people in this country who are easily fooled by Republican's. You are one of the biggest.
RawhideRex
Did you happen to watch the news lately? People are already having buyers remorse over Scott Brown... Pro Choice, Pro Gay Rights, anti far right social conservative.
People not liking the job Obama is doing (me included) does not mean they agree with the wingnut fringe of politics.Given the choice again...i would still vote for him over any ticket that included Palin on it. Lessor of two evils as they say.
And "HE" is not the only one "spending us into oblivion" There are THREE branches of gov. And alot of the spending going on happened before he took office.(You'll probobly say that was all Bill Clintons fault eh? )
What the real issue is people not taking any responsibilty for there OWN PARTY'S failures and mistakes. Dems and Repubs included.
JohnConnughton
Ozone69:
I am a 58 year old white male, registered independent over 30 years, who knocked on over 500 doors to get out the vote for Obama. If you ask me would I vote for him again, my answer would have to be, what are you offering instead? There are a couple Republicans (eg Romney) who deserve my attention, and somebody new might show up, but if the elections were today I would have to stick with Obama's obvious brains and cool demeanor. I am as anxious as anyone about about the world these days, but I think I know how much is Obama's doing and how much would have happened all by itself, and I predict the economy will show enough rebound by 2012 to make it clear he's done the right things.
herbie7
Ozone69: You are wrong about Obama being seen as weak to most of the world. I travel internationally frequently and I can tell you that the rest of the world admire and respect Obama. It just some people inside America who know little about the rest of the world who are whinging and whining about him because of their unbelievable impatience, disrespect and some racism. The whole world is suffering from the deep recession but American's think that Obama should settle America's in a year. IT TAKES YEARS. The rest of the world understands this and they view America's wingnuts and their impatience with negative amazement. Know what you are talking about for sure before making wild pronouncements. Our country needs to mature.
Ozone69
He has not been able to accomplish anything (except for winning the Nobel Peace prize while conducting two wars and lobbing missiles into Yemen and Pakistan). He has a huge majority in Congress and still can't get his initiatives through (thank goodness). His administration is making the Jimmy Carter years look good.
MrAntiRepublican
Previous to acknowledging America's mistakes our journalist and military captured by the enemy were frequently beheaded.
As a direct result of Obama's admissions of our mistakes American Citizens are safer.
Countries are now hopeful that America will return to the place of Liberty and Justice it was known for before Bush.
America has always been the bar and standard setting leader until we became worse than our enemies.
A civilian trial for the kid bomber has proven to the world we now get it and we set the standard for justice making us a world leader again.
Upon Obamas win the world danced in the streets across the globe. Republicans cant figure out why and never will.
I would love to see the REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP HELD BY THE TALIBAN WHILE WE SHOW VIDEOS OF WATERBOARDING AND TORTURE PHOTOS FROM OUR MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.
Maybe then REPUGS WOULD UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM in AMERICA. The importance of the world view of the American Way.
It would take a few Republican beheadings for Cantor, Boehner and the other pukes to understand what danger they put Americans in with their rhetoric and policies.
They would not get it until it was their own head on the chopping block and they will continue with their rhetoric knowing it has put Americans in harms way.
OZONE 69
If you think we are weak for respecting others customs and acknowledging our mistakes stand by your beliefs, fly to Afganistan and go 32 miles north of kabul to a small town Kabeekit.
The Taliban will surely come speak to you and while your there I'll send photos of us being strong with dogs and water boards to detainees.
I'll broadcast a photo of a Taliban sympathizer receiving" the old eveready treatment" with a flashlight. He was hit so hard it knocked his eyeball right out of the socket making Americans look very strong not weak like Obama makes us look.
Being a good Republican with such strong views Im sure you will stand up for your Republican image of strength and tell the Taliban the guy with the flashlight is your idol for showing that Taliban sympathizer real American Strength.
Yeah I bet your a Republican who believes all he hears from his party until the reality of your mistakes puts you and yours in jeopardy .
Global Warming is the next issue you are willing to put everyone on the chopping block over and dont care what you do to others.
Aranxa
I live in Mass and Brown's election had a lot to do with for a personal dislike of most of the state towards Coakley, his opponent. I didn't hear anyone say anything great about Brown. Only that they couldn't stand Coakley, so don't hang your hat on us. How she made it past the primary, everyone here is still trying to figure out.
pacifistgunslinger
If Bush the Stupid can be re-elected, Obama the Smarter should have no trouble.
sippewissett
Ah, another person who thinks the deficit was created in January 2009. Amazing. WHERE were you for the past 8 years? Are you in denial that George W. got us into 2 wars that were not in the annual budget (i.e., loans from China) and started a prescription drug plan with lobbyists that we cannot afford and de-regulated Wall Street?
Cut the cr@p about Obama. MANY economists distinguish between short-term debt we need to get the economy rolling again vs. the long-term debt we HAVE to work down.
liberaljesus
It was an off year election, and 100 bucks says hes wiped out when he has to run in 2012. And you liars deny the facts on the ground. Lets see...in your world 41 is greater than 59. In your world 95% of Americans getting a tax break means taxes went up because the wealthiest 5% didnt get one. You are not grounded in facts. And Scott Brown will lose in 2012. In Texas after Delay was ousted from office his district went to a democrat but we all knew it was short term anger and the chickens would come home to roost the following election....and they did. The democratic served out Delay's remaining term but was smoked in the following election Expect the same thing for Brown as he's already made it clear he will not be working with Obama and will continue the policy of "NO" Hes toast in 2012. Many with buyers remorse? Your funny...not funny as in haha but funny like a clown!
sippewissett
timbleweed -- Your point abou the economy had McCain been in office now is a good one, especially since he is famous for saying during the campaign that he doesn't know anything about economics (per the WSJ: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007600).
The conclusion of the interviewer was very damning: "I come away believing that if I'm ever in a knife fight or in a foxhole, there is no one I'd rather have next to me than John McCain. Whether he's someone who should be steering the rudders of the American economy is a different issue altogether."
njoy-d-ride
"MrAntiRepublican", I get it that your a rabid anti republican. I really don't care.
I want to remind everyone out there that the people "MrAntiRepublican" would love to see the Republican leadership held by are fighting a "jihad", a holy war. The difference between them and Teapartiers or any of the other groups you don't like is that they have guns and are "ordered" by their god to use them. On you. You have the one label that matters to them. "American".
BTW, they don't like POTUS Obama. If they could pick who they wanted to hold, they would likely start with him. But they really wouldn't care, hacking their way through both sides of the isle to kill every last American.
"MrAntiRepublican", we should "hold" our leadership responsible, no one else. Say what you like about the Teapartiers, but they are doing it in the prescribed way.
Snertly
I'm going to guess that Ozone69 is bald, because I don't think you can keep you head buried that deeply in the sand without having some negative effects.
sippewissett
Ozone, you are well named. The oxygen is too thin wherever you are. Obama has done nothing?
* Why, was he at his ranch clearing brush or at Camp David for a record # of days away from D.C.?
* Has he not put forth a number of national initiatives to get us out of a DEEP recession, including health care reform to alleviate the 63% of personal bankruptcies due to illness? (Harvard Med. School '09 study)
* Has he not cut taxes? (95% of the pop. benefited)
* Has he not made moves to extricate us from Iraq? (one down, one to go)
* Has he not given incentives to more education so we can be more competitive internationally?
Besides the fact that he's smart black man in the white house, what's your beef?
Ozone69
Presidents Bush and Obama share responsibility for the FY 2009 budget deficit that overlaps their administrations, before President Obama assumes full budgetary responsibility beginning in FY 2010. Overall, President Obama's budget would add twice as much debt as President Bush over the same number of years.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
goffbum
Bla bla bla....shut the f&%k up mr anti-republican.....nobody can understand your babblinnnnnnnnn
MrMommy
Ok lets see his college application with his place of birth? He either lied on his affirmative action college application ore he was born in Africa? well? How come he sealed his college records? I do love all the transparency. remember where there is smoke there is fire.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
misha1000
There should not be a gap between the c and a in certificate.
newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-kenyan-birth-certificate.htm l
JohnConnughton
Laugh it up, twits. You've got 7 years to go.
MrMommy
JohnConnughton Very funny, I don't know a Democrat that believes that
JohnConnughton
MrMommy!
Nice to hear from you.
You don't know any Democrats who believe that, or you don't know any Democrats period? Just joking, it doesn't matter.
I'm an independent. I might vote for someone better, but I don't seen anyone out there with half the brains and character Barak Obama has. We'll have to wait and see who's running, won't we.
By the way, aside from the fact he was born in Hawaii, don't you realize all that matters is that Obama's mother was a US citizen at the time of his birth, which automatically makes him a citizen even if he had been born on the moon? A US citizen by parentage can be President, period, without even mention of birthplace. Read the Constitution again-article II, section 1.
Then do yourself a favor and argue only about things that are arguable.
See you around.
Jagman
There is sure a lot of smoke. Why have millions been spent in legal fees to keep all these records sealed? There MUST be something to hide.
TheDeciderer
Hee hee, teabirthers are funny.
Uncommonsense
What a dope. Obama hasn't spent millions in legal fees. That's another lie perpetrated by World Nut Daily and believed by ignorant people who don't think for themselves.
herbie7
Mr. Mummy: Also where there is your fire there will be your smokescreen.
easton
Anybody who spells the word or "ore" is obviously mentally handicapped. The grammar is so subpar I simply can't get angry or annoyed with the content, I just feel sympathy at this person who fell through the cracks.
goffbum
really mommy....who give's a shit?????
pacifistgunslinger
Kiss off. Where were George Bush and Dick Cheney when I was in Vietnam?
misha1000
"Where were George Bush and Dick Cheney when I was in Vietnam?"
Hiding.
MrMommy
Hanging out with Bill Clinton?
SeaSection
Getting drunk and chasing Mexican teenagers.
Uncommonsense
Well we won't be asking for your college application because you obviously never applied. Have you stopped beating your wife by the way?
Magginkat
Linda Starr is one of the nuttiest of the nutty. She is also one of the biggest liars to ever hit the state of Texas and that's saying a lot considering the Bush, Tom Delay & other major league liars are from Tx. Yes, I believe that she produced the fake document that got Dan Rather fired. I asked Bill Burkett if she was the source for that & he denies that. His denial was not convincing. Why Burkett is protecting that nut case is anyone's guess. Considering some of the antics that I have observed from that Starr idiot, I do hope that the SS is keeping an eye on her. She is one of the racists who hates Obama with a passion.
misha1000
@Ozone69: Don't get me wrong. I believe in a balanced budget, and the prosperity it will bring. But federal bailouts were started by Nixon for Lockheed. Google it. And Reagan approved stiff tariffs on Japanese big bikes to help Harley.
It's not just liberals.
goffbum
finally....it's all the cockroaches....right micha?
eurydice9276
Sure, there was the S&L bailout under GWBush and the NYC bailout under Ford - but also the Chrysler bailout under Carter.
MrMommy
WOW nixon? that's a tad desperate.
RawhideRex
"Overall, President Obama's budget would add twice as much debt as President Bush over the same number of years"
Well that' a bunch of made up gibberish. (source please Ozone?)
Oboma's budget doesnt go far enough...thats for sure. But double the debt is a lie.
Repubicans dont lik that plan becuase it takes away the tax cuts for people making more than 250,000. It also doesnt cut SS, Medicade and Medicare....all three of which the GOP wants to cut in order that save.
thebigotbasher
Republican proposals are worse than that, they propose replacing Medicare and Medicaid with vouchers and selling off Social Security. Something the Democratic Party needs to remind voters of every single day between now and November.
The Republicans have not learnt a thing since their last mal-administration brought American and the rest of the world to the brink of destitution.
gator1
Far left? Far right? How about far ignorant or far stupid?
Aranxa
Bingo
Snertly
Hear! Hear!
MrAntiRepublican
OZONE 69
What would have been the Republicans reaction if Banks were allowed to fail.
If GM & Chrysler folded where would all the Employees be from the largest employer in the U.S ?
What should Repugnant , sitting on your hands ,arm chair ass wipe Republicans have done that you regret today ?
The destroy all issues until 2012 will be the end of Repugnants.
Mainstream Media is beginning to expose the 2012 strategy causing Americans to realize the REpugs will destroy the country for short sighted political gain, and are .
Watch Repugs respond to the President Of The United States in the next televised health care summit.
This is going to be great. They are all burning the midnight oil trying devise some strategy Americans will swallow.
Rather than be honest Repugs use strategist like Frank Luntz
to lie , get caught and now on National TV they will roll out their plan.
Take two tax breaks and call me in the morning.
Shakker
Mr AntiRepublican, the beauty of the Republican parties political strategy is that it has been exactly the same since at least Reagan. Exploit a problem that doesn't exist or that Republicans caused, blame it on the Democrats and as many other low power ethnic, philosophical, or religious groups as possible to create confusion, hate, and fear. Then if anyone makes any effort to fix the problem, sabotage any part that might work or if anything good for the people is in the bill kill it by having Lucy pull the ball away from the Charlie Brown Democratic party. Wait until people are once again confused, afraid, racist, Nazi or stupid enough to vote Republican. The more the Democrats adopt Republican policies the quicker the Republicans get back in power. As long as they think it will work don't change a thing, even the Republicans know their supporters are greedy cynical bastards, racists or morons and would never understand any intelligent change outside of their little BANKSTER KLAN CLUB.
TheDeciderer
FYI, WalMart is the country's largest employer. Sad isn't it?
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