House of Eratosthenes

And she speaks for me. Using parentheses like a girl, but I can deal with that since it’s within tolerance levels. She certainly isn’t abusing the parens quite as badly as I abuse the commas:

On the nirthers and the press

You’ll notice I haven’t weighed in yet on the subject of Obama’s birth certificate. That’s because I consider it a non-issue at this point, except as it’s being used to discredit perceptions of Republicans and people on the Right as crazies.

I also believe–along with several commenters on this thread, that the consequences of a finding that he’s not a natural born citizen would be chaotic, and his replacement would hardly be better than he is.

But as far as the merits of the case go, I believe that it is highly likely that Obama was born in Hawaii, just as he’s claimed. That said, I also think it is very odd that he has refused so far to release the long form of his birth certificate (if those who say that Obama and only Obama could obtain a copy from the state of Hawaii, and that the long form is different from and more complete than the certificate of live birth that he has already offered of us, are correct).

This furtiveness on Obama’s part ties into his secrecy about other aspects of his life. I’m referring most particularly to his school records, from Occidental and Columbia and Harvard Law. These, we know he could release. This failure of his leads inexorably to the perception that the man is hiding something, although we don’t know exactly what or exactly why. But our guesses fill the void, and it’s not with innocent explanations.

I agree with it all, except for these fears about chaos ensuing if & when it’s discovered our Holy iPresident Replacement Jesus was born outside the U.S. That very well may be true, but as a general rule it is bad to form legal precedent out of fear of consequences. Rules is rules, and if the Constitution says Obama isn’t supposed to be in there then He shouldn’t be in there. And I’d say the same thing about any Republican, Libertarian, Federalist or Whig.

The bee up my butt on this thing, is this — it is physically impossible for Obama to have been born in both places. And let us not engage in any silliness that this “short form” has been used to legally prove anything. This matter is being resolved through social stigma, through the “you’re an idiot if you believe otherwise” method. Now if you’re an overly-zealous Obama supporter, you’ve probably spent your lifetime deciding everything that way and you see nothing wrong with it.

But it is wrong, make no mistake about it.

And a President Freeberg would have presented all forms of the birth certificate a very long time ago. President Freeberg would have been forced to. Not because his skin is white, but because he’s a mere mortal as opposed to some rock star Replacement Jesus guy…which is exactly what all our Presidents are supposed to be. Mere mortals who are held to the same laws as the rest of us, albeit entrusted with some state powers and authorities as part of the office they inhabit for four years at a time.

Eleven percent, give-or-take, of the population believes that Obama was born in Kenya. That seems somewhat odd, but when you think about it for awhile it really isn’t because we’re talking eleven percent. Eleven percent of us probably drink their own urine. What’s really odd is this: One hundred percent of our current President, wants to bellyache about the eleven percent still running around out there, without releasing this long form — choosing to hide behind the “aw, if I did, they won’t believe that either” excuse.

That’s freakin’ bizarre. It defies any rational explanation. Except for the cynical, political motivation NN has identified in her first two sentences, and I think she’s got that sucker nailed.

Hypothetical question:

Had McCain won the election, what percent of the electorate would believe he would be ineligible due to his birth outside of the U.S.?

(It is a different case…there is no doubt he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and I do not doubt that he is eligible to serve…see here, especially this one.)

Likewise, what would the percentages be if there had been any confusion about the location of the birthplace of our previous President?

These thoughts don’t really answer any questions, but they do poke at the magnitude of that 11%, and ask whether or not it is worrisome.
- karrde | 08/02/2009 @ 14:47

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Neo Neocon Opines on the Birth CertificateSunday, August 2nd, 2009

Neo Neocon Opines on the Birth Certificate
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009