What, no love for The Donald?

[Scooter]

When you conceal something that one normally exposes, YOU CREATE THE SUSPICION that you have something to hide.

Except that the notion that Obama was concealing anything was a fiction conjured up by the birther movement. He released a birth certificate years ago that would be accepted for any legal purpose as evidence of his date and place of birth. Why it wasn't acceptable to the birthers (and anyone who continues even now to defend them) is perfectly clear.

[Sue U]

When you conceal something that one normally exposes,

Normally exposes? When was the last presidential election campaign where ANY candidate was required to show his/her birth certificate? Where was the hue and cry over John McCain's birth certificate -- which clearly shows he was NOT born in the United States, and which doesn't have any signiatures or official attestations AT ALL on it?

And like it or not, the Donald has raised legitimate questions about Barry's academic bona fides. Were both he and his wife Affirmative Action Barbie's?

"Affirmative Action" applies only to public institutions with a history of discrimination. Private schools (Princeton, Columbia, Harvard) are not subject to any affirmative action mandates. Did you actually go to law school?

[Crackpot]

With the arguments dgs comes up with I'm starting to wonder if he's a far left disinformation agent.

[dgs49]

Is someone here seriously suggesting that private colleges and universities (e.g., Columbia, Harvard) do not have Affirmative Action programs? Call it what you want, it's the same thing.

Good lord.

EVERY Presidential candidate in recent memory has every aspect of his personal life examined under a microscope, particularly when there is something unusual. Barry Goldwater born in Arizona before it was a state. Clinton's "draft" record and medical records. Bush43's academics. EVERY ONE OF THEM.

Maybe where you come from itinerant Africans impregnate white American teenagers all the time, and young mothers take their kids to live in Indonesia, but for most of America, this is pretty bizarre stuff. If there is nothing to hide, then nothing should be hidden.

This clown has been masquerading as an "African American" for his whole adult life, but he has even less in common with most African Americans than Teresa Heinz Kerry (who is also "African American").

[Sue U]

Says it all.

[The Hen]

dgs, If Obama is not African-American, then what IS he?

He father was African and he was born in America. that's an African-American to me.

[@meric@nwom@n]

dgs, If Obama is not African-American, then what IS he?

He father was African and he was born in America. that's an African-American to me.

Hen, just because he has African roots does not make him an African-American culturally. African-American culture and African culture really don't have a whole lot in common per my experience.

In any case, Obama was raised by his white mother and Grandparents and probably did not get an African-American upbringing.

[Mr. Duality]

Henceforth anyone continuing to carp about Obama's birth certificate or any other documentation of his from 20 or more years ago shall be known as an afterbirther.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[The Hen]

Hen, just because he has African roots does not make him an African-American culturally. African-American culture and African culture really don't have a whole lot in common per my experience.

In any case, Obama was raised by his white mother and Grandparents and probably did not get an African-American upbringing.

So he isn't an African-American, he is simply a black American.

I can see why so many people are trying to get rid of him then.

[quaddriver]

dgs, If Obama is not African-American, then what IS he?

He father was African and he was born in America. that's an African-American to me.

Hen, just because he has African roots does not make him an African-American culturally. African-American culture and African culture really don't have a whole lot in common per my experience.

In any case, Obama was raised by his white mother and Grandparents and probably did not get an African-American upbringing.

One thing that has struck me as odd: IMO it is clear that a lot of the challenges he faces by birthers and any of the goofier 'critics' is simply because he is in fact 'black' in their eyes. But at the same time, HIS own camp, realizing that he grew up in the nations farm basket and was a minority among minorities, they set him up with photo shoots and situations because they dont feel he is black enuf. the dems spent so much time to erase from recent memory that he is in fact biracial and the other race is white - to curry hardcore black support.

wtf? both sides of the fence are guilty and need to do a bit of growing up.

[The Hen]

Not to be an arse about this, but why is it so bloody Important that the President is born on American soil?

(Yes, I do realize it is a legislative requirement.). But surely the whole point should be to elect the very, very BEST person for the job.

Is it really THAT important.

The Prime Minister of here is Welsh after all.

[rubato]

Ta-Nehisi Coates and James Fallows call out the racist-to-the-bone Republican base:


______________________
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... es/237991/

Your Lying Eyes
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Apr 28 2011, 9:30 AM ET 325
I'm going to concur with Jeff and say that it's always cool when Fallows gets angry:

This alone disproves Donald Trump's crock-of-shit* insulting and preposterous assertions that Obama was an affirmative action or charity admittee to the Ivy Leagues who couldn't really cut it on his own IQ or test scores, as if there weren't already evidence enough: It is his use at time 0:50 of the word "bemusement" in its proper sense (puzzlement, confusion) rather than what most people think it means (mild amusement). I would like to have someone ask Trump what he thinks the word means. Maybe some variant on "easement"? [*

Update: OK, it's a sign of defeat to resort to profanity. My exasperation is a sign of how I feel about this line of slurs. First, whatever is wrong with Obama, no sane person thinks he's stupid. Second, I wonder how many people think Donald Trump is in a position to judge Obama's smarts. Third, there is no avoiding the racist connotation of saying that a successful black person got there -- wink wink -- through special treatment. "Of course the black guy ended up as editor of the Law Review. What do you expect?" So I should just have said that rather than "crock of shit." On the other hand, a crock of shit is what this is.]


I don't agree on the profanity point. I think cursing was quite appropriate.

But beyond that, it is impossible to miss the racism at work here. This is not Vince Foster. This is not Swiftboating. This is the dude who passed health care reform as "the biggest Affirmative Action in history." This is the whitey tape. This you are an "Indonesian welfare thug." This is the host of "Celebrity Apprentice," questioning the intellect of the past editor of the Harvard Law Review. This is the scion of inherited money as populist, and the scion of a teen single-mother as elitist. This is, if you were white, you and the black dude who came before wouldn't be here. This is we don't believe you.

In other words, this is a racism of the bone.

My ire is not so much for those who see their interests in that frame, but for the Very Serious People, who see nothing in the fact that those who are sorry that this country wasn't cleaved in half by Genosha, and those who believe the first black president is a Muslim sleeper agent, are all at the same party. Who with a straight face chalk it up to the inexplicable vagaries of the human mind, or mere chance.

My ire is for those who claim to know better, but do not.

______________________________

yrs,
rubato

[@meric@nwom@n]

Not to be an arse about this, but why is it so bloody Important that the President is born on American soil?

(Yes, I do realize it is a legislative requirement.). But surely the whole point should be to elect the very, very BEST person for the job.

Is it really THAT important.

The Prime Minister of here is Welsh after all.

I think the original intent was to prevent some royalist Brit from getting their bloody fingers on the office.

I may be wrong perhaps someone will step in and correct me.

I am sure Arnold Schwarzenegger would agree with you that it should not matter.

[Grim Reaper]

wtf? both sides of the fence are guilty and need to do a bit of growing up.

Saying "both sides are guilty" is some nice garbage that makes it sound like both sides are doing equally bad things.

The birthers are some hardcore stupid people who want President Obama gone by means of any straws they can grasp at. They shouldn't be anywhere near as publicized as they are, and comparing them to some nebulous photoshoots is just pure insanity.

Henceforth anyone continuing to carp about Obama's birth certificate or any other documentation of his from 20 or more years ago shall be known as an afterbirther.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Afterbirthers Demand To See Obama's Placenta.

Maybe where you come from itinerant Africans impregnate white American teenagers all the time, and young mothers take their kids to live in Indonesia, but for most of America, this is pretty bizarre stuff. If there is nothing to hide, then nothing should be hidden.

How exactly is it bizarre? Is it really bizarre to be a product of an interracial relationship? Is it bizarre to spend any time outside of the United States? Being uncommon is not the same as bizarre.

And nothing was hidden. It's not like the long form certificate suddenly revealed he wasn't born in Hawaii. It didn't reveal a grand conspiracy to elect a secret Muslim sleeper agent to destroy this country.

[dgs49]

To anyone seriously interested in the issue, there has never been any question that Barry was born in Hawaii. If there were any substance to a claim otherwise, HRC's people would have gotten to the bottom of it very early in the primaries of 2008.

The question is, why all the deviousness? Why release a meaningless printout when the actual, signed document is available? What did he have to hide?

It is outrageous to me that Barry's supporters are so reflexive to conclude that any questioning of Barry's bona fides must be based on racism. Is it possible that these people just slept through 8+ years of Bush43? His every act, omission, motivation, credential, facial expression, and body cavity was explored with minute precision. He was continuously accused of "lying" when he was saying the same things that every responsible Democrat, British, French, Israeli, and Canadian official were saying. He was accused of sacrificing American servicemens' lives for some nebulous benefit having to do with oil. And all of this was OK an in perfect good faith.

But when any question is raised about Barry's competence, motivation, or bona fides is raised, IT SIMPLY MUST BE RACISM!

Barry is, to put it mildly, a person with an unusual history. He is not even close to our cultural definition of "African American." (1) He is not descended from black African slaves. (2) He never experienced racial discrimination when he was growing up (far from it, in fact). (3) He never lived in the "ghetto" until he chose to do so. (4) If he speaks with any semblance of Black patois, it is only because he chooses to do so. (5) His career/life plan was straight out of the communist playbook (he aspired to be a "community organizer"). In sum, there is nothing in his background that is "normal," except possibly working at McDonald's (or wherever) while he was in college.

His actions as President have been, to put it mildly, unprecedented. While railing about his predecessor's deficits (normal political nonsense), he led and propagandized for a totally unprecedented public spending spree that even he now admits will bankrupt America if not dramatically rolled back. He has NEVER vigorously defended the American role in the World, accepting our position only grudgingly like a teenager who finally recognizes economic reality when he has to start paying his own bills (e.g., Gitmo, Iraq). While emphatically stating our need to gain "energy independence," he has thwarted every effort and initiative that might actually propel us in that direction. Indeed he encourages the adolescents at EPA in their illlegal and reactionary obstructive activities w/r/t drilling, oil exploration, etc.

He has been - and promises to continue being - a bad, bad President. Economically clueless (not surprising for someone who has never had a job), internationally out of his depth, and determined to bring this country to European-style socialism that only a small minority of us wants, he is very simply an electoral mistake.

And that ain't racism. It's unfortunate fact.

[Grim Reaper]

The question is, why all the deviousness? Why release a meaningless printout when the actual, signed document is available? What did he have to hide?

He released what he was required to release. The long form certificate was not required. The long form document didn't prove anything different from the certificate he had already released.

But when any question is raised about Barry's competence, motivation, or bona fides is raised, IT SIMPLY MUST BE RACISM!

This is, quite simply, untrue. It's the context and motivation of the questioner that determines if they're racist or not.

He is not even close to our cultural definition of "African American."

He meets the legal definition.

While emphatically stating our need to gain "energy independence," he has thwarted every effort and initiative that might actually propel us in that direction. Indeed he encourages the adolescents at EPA in their illlegal and reactionary obstructive activities w/r/t drilling, oil exploration, etc.

Drilling someplace else is a short term solution.

And that ain't racism. It's unfortunate fact.

No. That's your opinion.

[Crackpot]

dgs you an Idiot or an Operative. There are no two ways about it anymore.

What he supplied was the LEGAL DOCUMENT not some "printout" THe handwriten stuf goes in state records what citizens get is the in the very least typed certificate. I find it hard to believe that you don't infact know this. Citizens sdon't have ready acces to thier "original" birth certifiacates under nomal circumstances because the typed one is a LEGAL DOCUMENT declaring your birth (and citizinship) Asking for anything else is questionable at best.

[dgs49]

Crackpot, your nomme de guerre is apropos.

Our Beloved President was not "required" to provide the public with anything. Anyone challenging his eligibility to run for President would have had to do so long, long ago. Legally, the issue is closed.

But if he wanted to put the issue to rest for skeptics, the way to do so would have been to present some documentary evidence that goes beyond what any halfway-creative 16-year-old could produce at the neighborhook Kinko's. While he could have at any time released the State of Hawaii to make public his signed birth certificate - this "controversy" has been cooking for more than two years - he chose not to do so, and only released the real document when it became a significant distraction. In playing this game with the public and the "birthers," he is himself responsible for it as much as his most deranged detractor.

There is no "legal" definition of "African American." It is an invented term, created by poverty pimps (mainly, Jesse Jackson) to Balkanize the culture and make themselves seem more important. The previous term was "Black," before that, "Afro-American," preceded by "Negro," preceded by "colored." Whatever. Africa is not a country, and to figuratively claim "African" heritage is like claiming to be "European," which is just silly

Barry has family roots in Africa and he is a natural-born American citizen. No one can deny that he is both (if he wants to claim it) African (by heritage) and American (by birth). Literally, he is "African American."

Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of the inglorious Senator from the PRM, was born in Africa, and is a naturalized American citizen. Yet I dare say that if she referred to herself as "African American," she would be considered a liar. Same could be said of Gary Player the golfer, Gary Anderson the ex-football player, Nick Price, the golfer and many others. They are all African, and they are all American, yet they are not "African American." Black Jamaicans who come to live in the U.S. are not initially accepted in the "African American" community here even though they are also Black. They are not descended from American slaves, and don't share the African American heritage or culture. Can't play basketball. They are not, by cultural definition, African American.

In our culture "African American" means, the lineal decendant of at least one Black African slave. Barry don't qualify. And for those of you who think this is all just one Crazy White Man's opinion, I would point out that this very argument has been festering in the "Black" community since he first ran for office in Chicago: "Is he Black enough?"

In a word, no.

[Grim Reaper]

But if he wanted to put the issue to rest for skeptics

There's "skeptics" and then there's "crackpots who want somebody, anybody, else in the office and are looking for anything that might lead to that".

Whatever. Africa is not a country, and to figuratively claim "African" heritage is like claiming to be "European," which is just silly

The problem being that most children of slaves wouldn't have known where their parents are from. So the definition is purposefully vague.

There is no "legal" definition of "African American."

Uh, there kinda has to be. Especially for things like the census.

[Joe Guy]

In our culture "African American" means, the lineal decendant of at least one Black African slave

I'm guessing that you made this one up.

Either that or you accepted as fact something that someone else made up.

"African-American" is a term used by some people to describe black people in the United States.

Whether or not the term is technically correct is not important. It is a definition that is generally accepted by the majority.