NPR: On Point: The Fury of the Birthers

[Adelante]

This is a terrific discussion if you get a chance to listen to it.

http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/07/the-fury-of-the-bir...

Guests:

Ben Smith, senior political writer for Politico. He first reported on the Birthers movement back in March.

Orly Taitz, a lawyer and activist demanding that President Obama prove his eligibility for the Office of President of the United States.

Heidi Beirich, co-director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which tracks extremist groups across the country.

Michael Medved, host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Michael Medved Show.

[gratuitous]

1. Oh noes! Not teh furie!

Did any of them sound any more coherent than a standard issue Bob Boudelang column? Arrest my case!

[Adelante]

2. All of them did

Except one

[Aviation Pro]

3. Bob! Good lord I miss that column....

....

[rurallib]

4. It was so funny to hear Medved try to distance himself from the birthers

and claim that birthers are fringe. Hey the great and mighty drugRush and Lou(I hate immigrants) Dobbs are two of their heroes and they are out front of the birthers.

[CatWoman]

6. he's saying that the Birther movement was started by Dems

[rurallib]

8. sort of true. One of the guys that pushed it hard used to identify

himself as a Dem, IIRC. Sort of in the Zell Miller vein. Sort of like today's repug party ties to Lincoln.
But since then it has been near all repug, and many of their elected folk are bellying up to the bar for some birfer votes.

[Adelante]

10. There were Dems in on it early on

I remember some posts here during the primaries, I think. But it's grown into a full-fledged responsibility of the Republican Party. I love it.

[Stephanie]

5. Crazy Eileen posts at Politico, in Ben Smith's comments

Why doesn't he arrange for an interview?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Brusselscov]

7. US code qualifies Obama regardless of birth certificate looniness

This is all that anyone needs to know.

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"
• Anyone born inside the United States *
• Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
• Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
• Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
• Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
• A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.
* There is an exception in the law — the person must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.
Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

[Adelante]

9. Welcome to DU

[LynneSin]

11. SPLC should tract them as extremists - the Holocaust shooter was a birther