To the majority of the Tea Party faithful, the issue is a radical, socialist takeover of the United States government, and that’s all. However, it appears the Obama Administration (in concert with the MSM) will try to marginalize the Tea Party by calling them ‘birthers’. But by calling attention to the controversy, will they indeed make the movement a pariah or call undesired attention to the very topic they wish to ridicule?
The administration, in tandem with the MSM and the Left, is attempting “birtherize” the tea party movement in order to discredit it from the mainstream. They turn to the MSM to execute the classic Alinsky Rule 13 to pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it and Alinsky Rule 5 to use ridicule man’s most potent weapon. In addition, to “birtherize” something is to relentlessly pursue a movement to the point of shame if you become a part of it.
The one thing the left hasn’t learned is that when they ridicule the Tea Party, they only fuel their resolve.
h/t Sher Z
Birthers actually started on the Left with the questioning the birthplace of John McCain and him qualifying as a natural born citizen. This article outlines the press coverage of the McCain birther issue quite well. The Senate even passed a resolution affirming McCain was a natural born citizen. But, there was no branding of the Left’s inquiries as being loony, unprecedented, crazy, and delusional. They had legitimate concerns, which the Senate dealt with.
Even though Obama did publish an electronic copy of a short form certificate, he still did not release the long-form certificate like McCain did. The double standard led to the conspiracy theories that continue to morph and smolder. And Obama sealing all of his personal information further fanned the flames of these theories.
There are many people who aren’t fully up on the whole ‘birther’ issue, but they are steadfast in their belief in the Tea Party.
By attempting to label the Tea Party as birthers, the media will have to explain the controversy. They, as usual, will be selective in the information they present, thus their coverage will be scrutinized, more information will be sought, and the double standard will be magnified.
While arrogant, this administration isn’t very smart. Resurrecting an issue they effectively put to bed isn’t wise, but their fear of the Tea Party (and a potential Armageddon called the 2010 Midterm Election) seems to be driving them to irrational action… again.
Ignoring Birtherism also deprives the Left of one of its tools for ridiculing the movement.
I think pinning our hopes on the long form birth certificate turning up and being a magic Undo button for The Won’s administration are foolish. If for the simple fact that for the concept to succeed, you’d have to get the document, while preserving a legitimate chain of custody, from a staunch and probably well loaded up with promises ally, the records department in Hawaii.
In other words, your only hope for victory is in the hands of the enemy. And you can’t even guarantee the outcome because it’s never happened before. You might get him out of office but everything that happened before the revelation might be Deemed legit.
Far better to defeat him within the Constitution by kicking the Democrats out of office in November. Paralyze him and make him that much more pathetic and powerless.
I decided a while ago to accept the Annenberg copy as legit, and to not worry about it, and just work to defeat him by conventional means.
… however, we do know that he is an alien: he doesn’t think like an American, he doesn’t lover America, and he doesn’t particularly like Americans. Or our allies.
And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We just don’t know whether he is or is not a natural born citizen, and thus we just don’t know whether he is or is not legally the President or whether he is an usurper.
It is well known that Obama’s Mother was a 60′s free spirit & sacked down with whoever she pleased, so his father could probably be any number of males. That said, I doubt Obama Sr, a Muslim, would allow another name to be placed on Obama’s birth certificate as the Father. At the time of conception, his Mom & O Sr. were not married. They were married just before he was born or slightly after (marriage license wasn’t conclusive on that fact). If he was born in Hawaii he is probably a Citizen, but since his Father was a British Citizen, Barack would have dual Citizenship. Since his parents were not both US Citizens, according to almost all Constitutional Scholars, he would be ineligible for the POTUS on either or both facts. He would have US & British Citizenship but would not be a Natural Born Citizen due to the fact that both parents were not US Citizens. Obama has even admitted that he had British & US Citizenship when born. It will eventually be necessary for him to prove eligibility, which he can’t & may resign rather than admit he is a usurper. In his book he made the comment similar to – if the Political winds blow in an unfavorable direction, I will go with the Muslims. That remark tells me he is not a Christian, probably never was & that he will exit if things don’t go his way.
Uncle Rick,
While it seems most plausible the Obama is hiding his records because they’d show him to not be a natural born US citizen, there are other plausible reasons. For instance, perhaps he *is* a natural born US citizen … because Obama, Sr is not really his sire.
Anyone who is not a “birther” proves thereby that he does not really care about the US Constitution. Anyone who mocks or disparages the “birthers” proves therby that he despises the US Constitution … abd the citizens of the US.
The Tea party movement members and the many millions of Americans that identify and sympathize with them are just typical citizens of the nation. It is easy for the left to marginalize them in their mind, but who the hell cares what Anderson Cooper and Keith Olberman think? You cannot marginalize main-street USA. There is an obvious falseness to the effort that ultimately undermines the critic making the suggestion, causing them to be less influential and less effective… a political jumping of the shark, if the Fonz (Ehhh!) will forgive me.
And as far as cool goes, The Fonz had it way over Anderson Cooper…and Keith Olberman?
Forget about it.
I can’t wait until the documents actually emerge, as they must at some point. The smart money says that they’ll show Obama to be ineligible by reason of not being a natural born citizen. Why else would he hide those documents?
I’m not really one for “I told you so” moments, but Matthews, Schultz, Olberman, etc. have set themselves up for it, and it wouldn’t be right to deny it to them.
some of us haven’t forgotten the breach of simplistic constitutional law that occured on January 20th, 2009. should we start taking virtual bets on it becoming an issue of investigation, as some congressional reps know about BO’s bogus papers, should we take Congress in November? Also, Bob, I love how you’re using stronger language here, calling the potential for our taking Congress “Armageddon”. For me personally, that’s a hell of a confidence boost. hopefully things will continue to look up. fingers crossed
Modesty wouldn’t seem to be the reason Obama has sealed every scrap of information about his records. It’s his math grades I’d like to see. “Healthcare costs will go down 3000%”. Say what?