Sorry birthers, McMorris Rodgers thinks Obama’s a citizen
Bad news for “birthers”, those people who think Barack Obama
isn’t legally president because he wasn’t born in the
Birthers may have briefly harbored hope – and people who think the whole idea is crazy as bat spit may have arched an eyebrow – about two weeks ago when the Eastern Washington Republican gave a wishy-washy answer to a question about Obama’s legal qualifications to a blogger from the Huffington Post while hurrying up the Capitol steps.
Asked if she thought Obama was a natural-born citizen, constitutionally permitted to be president, she replied: “We’re all going to find out.”
Asked what she believed personally, she said: “Oh, I’d like to see the documents.”
The video was up on YouTube, and many other Web sites, including the one for this column. It features other House Republicans giving ambiguous answers to questions of Obama’s citizenship qualifications, too, but McMorris Rodgers is second in the clip.
The birther issue came to the Inland Northwest last spring, when
Chief Justice John Roberts was asked about a court case regarding Obama’s birth
certificate during a visit to the
Some people in the movement regard Taitz as a cross between Paul Revere and Joan of Arc. Some outside the movement regard her as bonkers. Spin Control will only say that she can talk very fast, long and passionately about the whole thing, so don’t call her if you’re pressed for time.
The controversy thrived for months on the Internet, but most news
outlets ignored it until recently, apparently operating on the theory a claim Obama
was born in
With Congress out for August recess, McMorris Rodgers is back in
the district. Her first public events included meetings Wednesday in
Spin Control: Do you have any doubts that Barack Obama is a citizen
of the
McMorris Rodgers: I have looked into it further. There’s a reality that it’s been in the courts, the courts have ruled that he is indeed a legal citizen, born in the country and I think it’s a non-issue.
SC: Should Congress take up the issue?
McM R: No. Absolutely not. The people elected him president, the courts have looked at the issue. It’s settled. We need to move on.
When she told the Huffington Post “we’re going to find out,” she added, she meant she was trying to get some information herself, not that Congress needed to look into it. She hasn’t seen the pictures of Obama’s certification of live birth on the Internet – which birthers say doesn’t prove anything, anyway – but she does know his birth was reported in the Honolulu newspapers back in 1961 and thinks it’s legitimate.
And she’s received “quite a bit” of blowback from constituents over her appearance on the Huffington Post video.
She isn’t signing on to what some have called the “birther bill” which requires all presidential candidates to produce a birth certificate to prove they are natural-born citizens.
H.R. 1503, drafted by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., isn’t going anywhere, anyway, being as it has 10 Republican co-sponsors in a Democrat controlled House. Because, after all, the fix is in and Democrats don’t want their president knocked out of office by anything that could, you know, expose the truth.
If you're dying to read more about the birth certificate controversy, or see what other readers have to say, here's some of Spin Control's previous coverage:
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2009/mar/22/lots-interest-birth-certificate/#c25194
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2009/jul/22/weds-video-matthews-obama-birth-certificate/
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2009/jul/23/thurs-fun-video-stewart-birth-cert-story/
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2009/jul/23/hedley-tweets-birthers/