Given Obama's exotic last name and unorthodox upbringing, the whole "show me te birth certificate" controversy has dogged him since he initially threw his hat in the ring[2]. You'd think folks would have long since gotten over this nonsensical conspiracy theory, given the fact that, ohh, I dunno, the freakin' birth certificate issue has long since been resolved. But a colored man in the White House makes people do some strange things. A recent CBS/NYTimes poll found that 59% of Tea Partiers still either thought President Obama was born in another country, or "didn't know" what country he was born in.
But of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with race. Nah, no way.
Naturally, since ignorance is contagious, and ignorance can also be exploited for political and monetary gain, this "birther" conspiracy lives on. And on. And on.
The Arizona state House has voted in favor of a birther bill requiring presidential candidates to show their birth certificates in order to qualify on the state’s presidential ballot. The Republican-dominated legislature voted 31-22 to tack the requirement onto another bill, which still faces approval.Folks, for the 4,080th time, here is the birth certificate, as issued by Obama himself, on his own campaign website.
The legislation, aimed at President Barack Obama, has been criticized by Arizona’s secretary of state, who noted that the qualifications for the presidency are set forth in the U.S. Constitution and not subject to amendments by states.
Both Obama’s campaign and the state of Hawaii have provided documents showing that the president was born in the United States and therefore constitutionally qualified to serve as president.
The language requiring that candidate demonstrate that they are a “natural born citizen” was added by GOP state Rep. Judy Burges. If Arizona were to make the language law, it would be the first state to do so though legislators in other states – including Florida and Oklahoma – have tried to pass similar laws.
It is not clear how the state senate will vote on the provision and GOP Gov. Jan Brewer has not said whether she will sign the bill.
Got it? Good.
Of course, since people are entitled to both their own opinions and facts, I'm sure many will complain that they've yet to see a paper copy of the actual document. Of course, if you placed the actual, notarized copy in these same peoples hands, they'd swear it was a facsimile. You simply cannot win with some people.
Oddly, for a guy who faced his own questions about citizenship in 2000, Arizona Senator John McCain sure has been quiet about this one.
The silence is deafening.
Question: Should the White House bother addressing this pointless conspiracy theory yet again, and if so, what's the potential downside of legitimizing such nonsense? Should John McCain take a stand?
Arizona House pushes birther bill [Politico]
[1] Yes, they should. Absolutely.
[2] Don't forget: this was an issue during the Democratic primary also.
