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  1. #1
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    Why All the Birther Attention Now?

    July 31, 2009

    Why All the Birther Attention Now?
    By David Paul Kuhn

    Am I the only one who finds it odd that the media is paying exponentially more attention to the "birther" issue today than during the campaign? There was reason to ignore conspiracy theories during the campaign. There were a great deal of lies flying around about Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008 (there were a few flying around about John McCain and Sarah Palin as well).

    But the treatment of the "birthers" is peculiar. I went on Nexis and did a search of the broad "news" category of the phrase: "birth certificate" and Obama. In the past month there were 564 pieces on the subject (302 in the past week alone!). That is more than half of all the pieces on the subject written before Election Day 2008, which totaled 1051. Major broadcast outlets from MSNBC to National Public Radio have devoted hours of coverage to the subject in the past week.

    I don't think the subject should have been covered more during the campaign. But it's hard to argue that the media should be covering it more now. One cannot overestimate how many activist conservative blogs were blowing up with this issue in 2008, and the media largely did not cover it.

    Some backstory. Before the birth certificate issue was substantially fact checked by a major media outlet, one of my editors and I noticed how much this issue was in the blogosphere. Being that I was the chief political writer for CBSnews.com during "Memogate" or "Rathergate"--when conservative bloggers correctly called out false memos critical of President George W. Bush and featured them on "60 Minutes"--I'd witnessed the costs of ignoring a blogosphere outcries the hard way. By 2008, I worked for Politico, and early on I went to the library to verify whether there was some birth announcement (it was there). So I explored the issue, and so did other reporters. Politico never did the story during the campaign because there was no story.

    Why, then, all the attention now? I've seen the footage of the congressman asked about the birth certificate during a town hall meeting. I've seen the footage of the other conservative representatives asked about it on the Hill. But I don't think that justifies the outsized coverage of late.

    Consider that health care reform, what is likely the signature piece of legislation of Barack Obama's presidency, is on the rocks. Secondly, we just had one of the most significant debates about race in American life in some time. Then there are those wars, the economy, spending bills, matters like that.

    Meanwhile, incidents like this (and I mean the outsized coverage) do seem to justify conservative charges of bias. Is there an unintentional effort, perhaps intentional in some corners of the partisan press, to portray Republicans and conservatives as a bunch of kooks? Well, one should never presume motives.

    But I do think it's fair to say that the result is drumming coverage that blends a conservative fringe group with conservatives and Republicans. It seems fair to say that, by consequence, much of the media is characterizing conservatives as a bit loony with this constant coverage of the "birthers."

    Both sides have their ideological fringe that will believe their passions despite the facts. The mainstream media did not, to the same degree, discuss the conspiracy theorists that believed Bush and Cheney were behind the 9/11 attacks, in order justify an invasion for oil, in the context of liberals or Democrats.

    Sure, many of the stories on the "birthers" carry the disclaimer. Chris Matthews, who I say does the best political TV despite his failings, called this group the "whacko wing of your party." In other words, he's saying the issue does not involve the entire Republican Party. But the disclaimers do not quite work. It's like doing a movie where black people are all the criminals and then adding the token good black cop to offset the stereotype.

    Conservatives often think of the liberal bias in the media in a top-down sense. But most of the time there isn't some big man calling down to reporters and broadcasters and telling them to do this or that story to nail conservatives (though that may happen on occasion). Instead, what happens could be more accurately described as a bottom up bias created by groupthink. Most reporters are cut from the same cloth--they live in cities or urbane inner-suburbs, are motivated by the same ideals, and like most professors most are not terribly well paid but are very well educated--and this can sometimes produce a collective bias. The outsized "birther" coverage feels like a case of that bias.

    David Paul Kuhn is the Chief Political Correspondent for RealClearPolitics and the author of The Neglected Voter. He can be reached at david@realclearpolitics.com and his writing followed via RSS

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl ... 97719.html
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  2. #2
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
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    For both McCain and Obama there was four years and the country would have been better off if each had be BORN ON AMERICAN SOIL and not naturalized. The people-in-charge are checking to see if "We the People" are still paying attention.

    Changing the Constitution of the United States seems to be easy for some groups of people.
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    Senior Member Ratbstard's Avatar
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    # There are two common forms of certified copies of birth certificates. The most common is the long form, a direct photocopy of the original birth record filed with the government with a certification seal from the county clerk's office. These are the forms usually required to be presented to obtain a driver's license, passport or a new Social Security card. Long-form copies can be obtained from the county clerk where they were originally filed or from the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

    Another form is the short form, which is really just a document that proves a certified birth record does exist on file. They are usually titled, "Certification of Birth" or "Certificate of Birth Registration." The short form contains a minimal amount of information, usually just the name, sex, date of birth and place of birth.

    Some hospitals in the United States give out souvenir birth certificates to parents. These certificates have all the information of a normal birth certificate, and some display the footprints of the newborn. Despite their official appearance, these birth certificates are not official documents and cannot be used as proof of identification

    http://www.ehow.com/about_4565991_birth ... cates.html
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  4. #4
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    The same thought has occurred to me--that this sudden and constant coverage of the birther issue is a way to blend all conservatives into one slightly nutty and hysterical bunch! Here's another thought on that. I just sent Glenn Beck a note that I have recently read that old book THE ART OF WAR. It's hard to trudge through, but you will see that "diversion" is one of the tactics to use on your enemy (and WE are Obama's enemies for sure!) Constant diversion. That's what Obama's group is making sure happens with this (as well as other) topics while they try to "get things done" behind closed doors. It's in the same category with the Michael Jackson media frenzy. When ANYTHING is the hot topic for newscasters, BEWARE. That's when the Obama team work the hardest!

  5. #5

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    Yes, it has been mentioned that this may be a diversion to HELP facilitate his takeover. Then, in a year, it will magicly be produced, making conservatives look like "conspiracy loons".

    There are copies of news papers with Obama's birth announcement.

    So this will help him catapult past all the other Obama issues, like what was he doing in Pakistan when there was a BAN on US citizens going to that country, where are his Occidental college records, where are his college papers etc...

    He has released NOTHING. And was in Pakistan when it was not allowed for US citizens.

    Making Birthers look like fools will close down this argument. But people are already talking about it.

  6. #6
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
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    So this will help him catapult past all the other Obama issues, like what was he doing in Pakistan when there was a BAN on US citizens going to that country, where are his Occidental college records, where are his college papers etc...
    Pakistan when?
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  7. #7
    Senior Member cayla99's Avatar
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    I believe the forgers, with the help of the Hawaiian department of Health, have finally come up with a fake cert that will pass muster.

    Thus, make a huge public stink now, produce the perfect forgery and make those asking legitimate questions go away. This will protect Obama from those pressing forward and getting another Supreme court opinion showing a Natural born Citizen must have two citizen parents. Numerous such opinions had been issued in the 19th century.
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