# Birther removes his mask. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 24, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870 "2012-02-24T20:10:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/21 "2012-02-25T00:11:30Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > As crazy as the Birthers are, this example of one being deranged whacko racist crazy is not evidence that all of “these people” are racist. And we need no additional evidence to be able to call them deranged whacko crazy. > > Sure the racists will often be Birthers, but you really can be a deranged whacko without being a racist as well. Certainly. Donald Trump, for example, has always had a “[great relationship with the Blacks.](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/04/donald-trump-blacks-2012-presidential-race-/1)” ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/22 "2012-02-25T00:28:11Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Plus, Ohio and New Jersey passed the amendment, then tried to rescind their ratifications. They both rescinded their rescindments in 2003. 🙂 The amendment has been ratified by all 37 states that were states at the times. Not counting Ohio and New Jersey, the last was Kentucky in 1976. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/23 "2012-02-25T00:30:11Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Who’s John Cain? 😉 Yippy-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/24 "2012-02-25T00:46:34Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I like that it mentions the “purported” ratification of the fourteenth amendment. Does he detail why it was only purportedly ratified? I thought those kinds of arguments were usually reserved for the sixteenth amendment. I think there are some who reject the validity of the 13th (slavery abolished), 14th and 15th (right to vote regardless of race, etc.), the Civil War Amendments or Reconstruction Amendments, not sure on what grounds, perhaps that they were ratified by the Northern states only (the Southern being under military occupation). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/25 "2012-02-25T00:47:46Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Those states were required by the Reconstruction Acts to (among other things) ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to resume full representation in Congress. Some do not view the Reconstruction Acts as constitutional. Ah. Should’ve read that first. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/26 "2012-02-25T01:04:13Z")
I read the Complaint – I notice that the point quoted in the OP, that the 14th Amendment confers “civil” but not “political” rights (therefore Negroes still can’t hold public office) is not argued or discussed any further, nor is case authority cited, he then just goes straight into the born-on-soil stuff. As if that were a fact known to all and not worth further comment. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/27 "2012-02-25T01:24:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Before the [purported] ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of “Negro” or “Mulatto” had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution. > > Sad part is, dude’s probably right about that. If there had been no Civil War amendments, and the _Dred Scott_ decision had been allowed to stand . . . Insofar as it held that no State could act to make a “Negro” a citizen of the United States _Dred Scott_ was sheer judicial activism. Prior to the Reconstruction Amendments, the Constitution says nothing about the issue one way or the other, meaning that it would have properly been a matter for states to decide who their citizens were, and (again notwithstanding what Chief Justice Taney may have pulled out of his ass), there is nothing in the pre-Reconstruction Constitution one way or the other to indicate the existence of any hypothetical class of persons (discernible by Chief Justice Taney) who were citizens of a state without being citizens of the United States. Note that Massachusetts had, by its own laws, abolished slavery six years before the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. If Massachusetts said that its former slaves were now citizens, then there wasn’t a damned thing South Carolina _et al._ could do about it. It’s also worth pointing out that _Dred Scott_ specifically held that it was “persons only whose ancestors were negroes of the African race, and imported into this country, and sold and held as slaves” who could not be made into citizens of the United States. This of course does not apply to President Obama, since although his father was undoubtedly a “negro of the African race”, President Obama’s ancestors had not been “imported into this country, and sold and held as slaves”. Thus, even if we (for some bizarre reason) uphold _Dred Scott_ and discard the Fourteenth Amendment, the laws of the State of Hawaii would still govern whether or not President Obama was a citizen at birth. ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/28 "2012-02-25T01:27:34Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Does he mention anything about a gold fringe? Perhaps not but he is one of them thar _Sovereign Citizens_, [domaintools.com](http://domaintools.com) tells us that [usa-the-republic.com](http://usa-the-republic.com/index.html) is one of Gordon’s websites. All the “sovereign” lunacy you can ask for with a healthy dose of tax denier rhetoric all topped off with heaping helpings of conspiracy theories. People this twisted in the head I find more to pitty about them than anything else, as long as they don’t go full on “Jerry Kane” about their beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/29 "2012-02-25T01:41:26Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Note that Massachusetts had, by its own laws, abolished slavery six years before the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Blacks (assuming they met the other qualifications (property, religion, etc.)) could vote in Massachusetts and a few other (but not all) Northern states. A benefit that few note is that the Reconstruction Amendments affected the North as well as the South. The Fifteenth was extremely difficult to ratify due to opposition for different excuses from all parts of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/30 "2012-02-25T01:55:46Z")
“Mulatto”… I just had to explain to a white southern male friend and co-worker or mine that if he were to call anyone this to his face it would probably get punch in… Since when has “Mulatto” suddenly re-entered to vogue of sane civil conversation?? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/31 "2012-02-25T01:59:53Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > “Mulatto”.. I just had to explain to a white southern male friend and co-worker or mine that if he were to call anyone this to his face it would probably get punch in.. Since when has “Mulatto” suddenly re-entered to vogue of sane civil conversation?? I think your question kind of contains a false assumption there. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/32 "2012-02-25T05:28:29Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > “Mulatto”.. I just had to explain to a white southern male friend and co-worker or mine that if he were to call anyone this to his face it would probably get punch in.. Since when has “Mulatto” suddenly re-entered to vogue of sane civil conversation?? Who says that it has? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/33 "2012-02-25T05:34:06Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > “Mulatto”.. I just had to explain to a white southern male friend and co-worker or mine that if he were to call anyone this to his face it would probably get punch in.. Since when has “Mulatto” suddenly re-entered to vogue of sane civil conversation?? [It’s been on the tip of everyone’s tongue since 1991 and is said thousands of times a day](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg&ob=av3e). Nobody to my knowledge has ever been punched in the face for it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/34 "2012-02-25T07:17:25Z")
Amazing. Here’s a guy that’s an embarrassment to the Birthers. That’s got to be like getting kicked out of NAMBLA. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/35 "2012-02-25T15:14:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Lightbringer? why not just say Lucifer, and be done with it? Oh no, it’s gotta be sooper sekrit or teh hollow earth reptilian gummint ajints will be on to him. > [@suranyi](#): > > Does he mention anything about a gold fringe? I had to google “gold fringe” and I am now stoopiderer. Thanks a lot. 🙂 I only read a few pages of his earth-shattering report before I skipped to the end. He probably doesn’t get into the gold fringe thing cuz, you know, proper names in all caps is too important to let his mind get sidetracked. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/36 "2012-02-25T15:35:14Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Seriously, how can these people be for real? “Mulatto race”? Seriously? You freaked out when I said “Quadroon”. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/37 "2012-02-25T16:51:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You freaked out when I said “Quadroon”. I did? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/38 "2012-02-25T18:19:04Z")
That Halle Berry, she is one hot mulattress. (No, I didn’t make up that word.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/39 "2012-02-25T18:22:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Amazing. Here’s a guy that’s an embarrassment to the Birthers. > > That’s got to be like getting kicked out of NAMBLA. :mad: “[Puppies? Seriously?! **Puppies?!**](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KickTheDog) Don’t come to the meetings no more.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870/40 "2012-02-25T18:26:17Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You freaked out when I said “Quadroon”. Is she a [Yellow Rose of Texas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Rose_of_Texas)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birther-removes-his-mask/613870.md?page=3)