Chris Matthews joined those conservatives who would like to see President Barack Obama’s real birth certificate.
I wonder what that’s all about.
Here’s the link to the video of the show on December 27, 2010. Below is what the Wall Street Journal ran in a post by James Taranto.
Birther Turnabout?
Three partisan commentators are calling on the state of Hawaii to release President Obama’s archival birth certificate, Mediaite reports. What makes this worthy of note is that all three are liberal Democrats: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the Chicago Tribune’s Clarence Page and Mother Jones’s David Corn.
On “Hardball” yesterday, host Matthews noted the report that new governor Neil Abercrombie was looking to “end this nonsense” (we also noted it). Matthews asked his two guests:
“I don’t understand why the governor doesn’t just say, ‘Snap it up, who’s ever over there in the department of records, send me a copy right now’? And why doesn’t the president just say, ‘Send me a copy right now?’
Why doesn’t [press secretary Robert] Gibbs and [White Obama aide David] Axelrod say, ‘Let’s just get this crappy story dead’?”
They resisted at first, but eventually Matthews brought them around:
Matthews: I’m just asking the obvious question. Why not–will there be any harm done by releasing the original document?
Page: No.
Corn: I will take the brave position of saying that if they can find it, they should put it out there, and then we can make even more fun of the birthers.
Page: I’ll take the brave position of saying, yes, put it out there, and the birthers are still not going to believe it. They’re going to say, “Well, that governor is part of the conspiracy, too, because he’s a Democrat.”
So we now have three or four liberal Democrats–the “Hardball” trio and possibly the Aloha governor–taking what had been a birtherian position in favor of releasing the archival certificate.
When Sharon Meroni challenged Sally Wiggin’s candidacy for Circuit Court Judge, Wiggin’s produced her birth certificate and the issue went away.
It is so absurd that the issue even exists…..good gosh – there were birth announcements placed in Honolulu newspapers when he was born….are any of those birthers serious so insane and paranoid that they think this conspiracy has been in place for over 40 years???? really?
I agree with those who are not conservatives who at this time want the birth certificate released, simply to shut up the nutjobs. I know racism and ignorance and “fear of other” still exists, and there are simply people who cannot handle a minority president with a foreign-born father. It is too bad, but true. Heck – these same kind of morons supported locking up American Citizens during World War II, simply for their ethnicity too. Even more recently, some ignorant Americans supported Jim Crow laws.
there will always be hate and ignorance. so I’m starting to agree with those who say he should release his birth certificate, as pathetic as that is. To shut up the insanity.
then again, I doubt it will shut it up. Ignorance rarely changes. We’ve all seen the studies on how misinformed Fox News viewers are, for example. as in truly unable to identify facts (the most informed regarding facts are NPR and MSNBC viewers). When you have people watching Rupert Murdoch (who they are apparently comfortable with being foreign-born), you have to wonder if they know his history of moving to nations and deciding how to personally impact elections and his own beliefs by the media he owns.
Birthers are an embarassment in their ignorance, but I think at this point the President should provide his birth certificate.
oh Cal, what do you mean “I wonder what this is about”? It is about releasing it to shut up the insanity. You know perfectly well it doesn’t mean they believe the wingnut story that there has been a “plot” for over 40 years to have this man in office? right?
You love to talk about your advanced degrees, etc (and I have them as well). Tell me that YOU believe that 45 years ago, with Jim Crow laws still in place and blacks being lynched, that this plot was hatched? really?
Showing the original typed birth certificate would shut down the controversy, in my opinion.
if it would stop the paranoid lunatics (not so sure it will, they aren’t much into facts) then I’m all for releasing an original birth certificate. Sad to give into the racists, though. But what can you do? You have Glenn Beck implying that our president hates all white people, and there are people who actually treat Glenn Beck as news.
This story was NEVER based in fact. NEVER. Based in ignorance, racism, fear.
Pathetic and embarrassing. But I agree he might as well release it. although again I’m not so sure it would shut anyone up. There are a lot of hateful and stupid people out there, after all.
The thing is if Obama is NOT a citizen, then all of the bills he has signed become null
and void.
oh good gosh, Concerned…..you are one of them, eh?
keep dreaming, wingnut.
Can you provide one bit of evidence?
one?
does he skin scare you?
the name you might have trouble spelling?
Back to the topic –
Me? I rather wonder if there is something questionable on the LONG form official original certificate or omitted from same that is the real issue and which might lead to further questions. Perhaps information that was used later in life doesn’t match the info on the certificate.
Thinking outside the box probably makes sense here.
It would have been better dealt with before our current president’s.
Correction – added the final word to the sentence.
It would have been better dealt with before our current president’s election.
Oh of course Aileen is a birther! No surprise there. Why on earth should ANY President have to produce their birth certificate, Aileen? None have asked to before. There is zero evidence that this President’s mother traveled to Africa when pregnant
I understand it is easy for people like you to live huddled in fear of anyone different from you, but come on.
by “Thinking outside of the box” – you mean the racism and xenophobia that lead to the birther movement in the first place, right?
WHY did this EVER become an issue, other than the race of this President?
Of the SEVEN U.S. Presidents with at least one parent born outside of the US, why exactly is this one the target?
These are the same silly people who holler about governing only by why is directly in the Constitution, except when it comes to Medicare, Social Security and their bureaucrat’s pensions. so laughable, the lack of logic.
and now that we know we have a birther on the school board, thank goodness she won’t be remotely responsible for our children’s education soon.
Alex G –
Read what posters write and not what you think they said and what you
want others to believe they said.
A birther, per most online definitions, questions whether or not the current president is eligible to be president based on where the person was born, etc..
Wondering if there is something questionable or omitted on the document in question that might lead to OTHER issues has zip to do with where the person was born, etc. Hence, not a birther issue.
As to bringing race up again, the script is getting old. Many people voted for him and didn’t care about race. The public wasn’t screaming that it voted for him because of race. However, now that many people question the person’s performance, wisdom, agenda, etc. during the last two years, suddenly so much (including the certificate issue) is supposedly about race.
Heck, maybe people just changed their minds or are tired of his endless campaigning and rhetoric which worked pre election but not so much after the election. That doesn’t require a racial component either.
Believe what you choose.
um, Aileen you are missing the entire point – NO President has been asked to provide a full birth certificate before. none. none. none
So ramble on all you want, but there is racism at the root of this – who ever had the grand idea that he might have been born abroad – wtf?
And regarding “ramble” – I assume you need a roster of what has passed, despite Republican filibusters at a level never seen before? literally filibuster rate at about 500% times the historical rate? ah yes, the party of NO
The party who cares about laws only following exactly what is spelled out in the Constituion, until it comes down to their own Medicare coverage and pensions. Or The Patriot Act. Or that absurd Terri Schiavo law.
I just don’t get it. We have people born outside the United States jealously coveting a US birth certificate … just look at our borders or naturalization statistics.
Yet, our President is ashamed to produce his certificate, why? I’m sorry, maybe I am slow, I keep trying to make sense of his decision of withholding it, but I can’t … I just don’t get why withhold it, it seems unnatural to me.
Normal human nature is to be proud of your place of birth. As many on this forum know … I was born in Harvard, Illinois (where we celebrate Milk Days and have a life size figure of a dairy cow in the downtown) my friends from Massachusetts (where Harvard the University is located) make fun of me for my place of birth – I make fun of them because well they are from Massachusetts – normal human banter.
During the election I had no problem showing my certificate of birth. I didn’t really care about the underlying reasons that the people requesting it wanted to see it. To be honest, it seemed silly to fight about it – an expensive process distracting from more important issues. But then again, maybe it seemed silly to me because I have a certificate of birth. Maybe it’s a fight worth making and expense incurring, if you don’t have one.
President Obama chose to run for President … (a position that comes with some sacrifice if indeed he views disclosure of his certificate of birth a sacrifice) … I view the chance to disclose mine however an Honor.
Sharon Meroni is a total wacko nutjob. Who would know that better than the folks in McHenry county?
Hey, Alex G.
It seems thou protest too much. If you recall Obama’s election crew protested and DEMANDED proof that Mc Cain verify that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and questioned wheather that made him a citizen.
As far as your implication about his (Obama’s) skin color is concerned please remember he is 1/2 white but has a tad more melonin than I do.