Pirate's Cove

I know, I know, everyone likes to dismiss the birther movement as comprised solely of wackos, and, quite frankly, most of the leaders are true wackos, digging into this and that, feeding off each others conspiracy theories. But, even Camp McCain investigated, and found them lacking. Why? (via Just One Minute)

“To the extent that we could, we looked into the substantive side of these allegations,” said Potter. “We never saw any evidence that then-Senator Obama had been born outside of the United States. We saw rumors, but nothing that could be sourced to evidence. There were no statements and no documents that suggested he was born somewhere else. On the other side, there was proof that he was born in Hawaii. There was a certificate issued by the state’s Department of Health, and the responsible official in the state saying that he had personally seen the original certificate. There was a birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, which would be very difficult to invent or plant 47 years in advance.”

Look, I’ve written, and said, time and time again that, IMO, Obama is a natural born citizen till proven otherwise by concrete evidence.

On the flip side, a birth announcement from back then is not proof of birth. Anyone could have place it, and, who at a paper would check it? That Certificate of Live Birth that was printed in 2006 and first showed up on the Daily Kos? Real, IMO. However, just 40+ years ago, it would have been easy to claim a birth, as people did not always have them at a hospital. So, as Tom Maguire writes

My point, then and recently – Barack’s mom and maternal grandparents had a strong incentive to create a paper trail documenting Obama as a US citizen back in 1961 and it had nothing to do with assuring his future viability as a Presidential candidate.  Alll they needed to do was imagine a day when the white Ms. Dunham would be engaged in a custody fight in a Kenyan court contesting the fate of a black Kenyan baby sought by the black Kenyan father and his African family, and their course would have been clear.

Would someone have lied about where a baby was born in order to make sure they had full American citizenship? Sure. People have been coming to the US legally and illegally for quite some time. You didn’t, and don’t, see them streaming to Russia and China, do you? And, yeah, I know it is a stretch. And I will continue to say that Obama is a natural born citizen till I see concrete proof. But, it does get me wondering why it is so tough for Obama to pony up $10 and go “here. A real copy of my birth certificate.” I’ll give him $10. Instead, he and the Democrats are fighting off lawsuit after lawsuit, spending lots of money. Why? Granted, most of the suits are wackadoodle. But, it gets me wondering. Not much, but, a tiny tiny bit.

It also gets me wondering about journalistic curiosity. Most of them poo poo the idea, but, said almost nothing about the 9/11 Twoofer idiocy. Imagine it was McCain who was president, and people were going off with their “McCain was born in Panama, he can’t be considered natural born!!!” foolishness, which showed up not only on the DU and lefty sites, but, the New York Times in February 2008 (shortly after it appeared on the DU.) Then again in July, 2008.

One thing to consider, though, is that the Left can marginalize much of the Right by allowing them to continue going full bore on this issue. Yes, it would be nice to see the full document. But, do not overdo it, folks. There are bigger fights out there. On the flip side, I once asked Captain Ed, back when he was still doing it solo on Captains Quarters, why he argued with the Twoofers. He said that it is important to knock the conspiracies down. Might it also be important to investigate the claims of the birthers? Some. Not all, of course. Some are way to wacky. But, we knocked down the Twoofer stuff with facts. Why wouldn’t we do the same here?