There’s no evidence it was started by her campaign. We also know she never questioned his birth and always dismissed the (evidence-free) conspiracy theory entirely.
But Trump didn’t – Trump either accepted these evidence-free lies because he’s a colossal idiot, or because he knew they were untrue but thought they would get him attention.
Hence his base.
I think all the talk about who started it is a little misguided. It almost certainly wasn’t the Clinton campaign, but it may have been started by Clinton supporters. However, it was a legit question in spring of 2008. There was a point where it was no longer a legit question. In my mind the absolute drop dead date for me to consider someone arguing birtherism is October 31, 2008 when Dr. Fukino at the request of Governor Lingle stated unequivocally that she had personally seen proof that Obama was born in Hawaii. Maybe you put that drop dead date in 2011. Here’s some Trump statements way beyond the point where this was a legit question…
“He didn’t know he was running for president, so he told the truth. The literary agent wrote down what he said … He said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia … Now they’re saying it was a mistake. Just like his Kenyan grandmother said he was born in Kenya, and she pointed down the road to the hospital, and after people started screaming at her, she said, ‘Oh, I mean Hawaii.’ Give me a break.” May 2012
“A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. … Many people do not think it was authentic. His mother was not in the hospital. There are many other things that came out. And frankly if you would report it accurately I think you’d probably get better ratings than you’re getting.” May 2012
“An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.” August 2012
“Was it a birth certificate? You tell me. Some people say that was not his birth certificate. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I’m saying I don’t know. Nobody knows.” August 2013
“How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama’s ‘birth certificate’ died in plane crash today. All others lived.” December 2013
“Well, I don’t know – did he do it? … Well, a lot of people don’t agree with you and a lot of people feel it wasn’t a proper certificate.” May 2014
“There are three things that could happen. And one of them did happen. He was perhaps born in Kenya. Very simple, OK? He was perhaps born in this country. But said he was born in Kenya because if you say you were born in Kenya, you got aid and you got into colleges. People were doing that. So perhaps he was born in this country, and that has a very big chance. Or, you know, who knows?” May 2014
“Who knows about Obama? … Who knows, who knows? Who cares right now?.. I have my own theory on Obama. Someday I will write a book, I will do another book, and it will do very successfully.” January 2016
I’m sure I could find more. Birtherism in spring 2008 is vastly different from birtherism in 2016.
I know this game from you – no standard of proof is ever high enough. It’s not a game I feel like playing. Thanks! Feel free to put me on ignore or something.
doorhinge, can you clear something up for me? You quoted a statement made by Dr. Fukino and you said you took a statement made by Dr. Fukino at face value. Is the statement you quoted the one you took at face value or was it some other statement? If it was a different statement can you quote that statement? If you didn’t take the 2009 statement at face value what did you find it lacking and why did you quote it?
Thanks in advance for your thoughtful response.
Hey doorhinge I see that you’re actively posting today. Can I trouble you to take a moment and answer my questions in my previous post?
How does one inactively post? 
I apologize for the late reply. I wasn’t ignoring you. I was in Texas.
There were two are-they-qualified questions in 2008. U.S. Senator’s Obama and McCain. Same issue but handled very differently. McCain handled the question quickly.
In April 2008 the Senate approved a non-binding resolution declaring John McCain eligible to be president, one which stated that “There is no evidence of the intention of the framers or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to Americans serving in the military nor to prevent those children from serving as their country’s president.”
Obama bumbled around the issue for several years. Many “claims” were being made by all sides. For years. There were even claims that Obama should NOT release his BC. (How DARE people question Obama about anything! :rolleyes: )
The issue finally came down to when would Obama officially request that the director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, not the governor, release Obama’s BC.
In 2011, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, allowed the release of Obama’s BC, and vouched for Obama as having been born in Hawaii. As far as I was concern, the Obama question had finally been put to rest. In 2011.
The McCain issue had been resolved in 2008.
Dr. Chiyome Fukino vouched for Obama as having been born in Hawaii in 2008.
Dr. Chiyome Fukino also vouched for Obama as having been born in Hawaii in 2009. You quoted this statement in this thread.
I do not believe Dr. Chiyome Fukino vouched for Obama as having been born in Hawaii in 2011. I have seen no such statement. Can you link to such a statement? What did you find the 2008 and 2009 statements lacking?
By bumbled around I assume you mean “released his birth certificate.” In 2008.
You are incorrect – a mountain of proof, including his birth certificate, was released in 2008. And there was zero evidence he was born anywhere else.
It turns out Loretta Jean Fuddy was the director of the Hawaii Department of Health in 2011 when Obama’s long form birth certificate was made public. Not Chiyome Fukino. What statement made by Chiyome Fukino did you take at face value? Can you quote it?
So in your book, presenting a non-binding Senate resolution that has no legal force or standing is superior to producing a legal document that is legally conclusive, that is, a birth certificate?
U.S. Senator McCain’s solution settled the issue quickly. U.S. Senator/President Obama’s non-solution failed to resolve the issue for years.
The release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate, in 2011, settled the issue as far as I was concerned. I assumed Dr. Chiyome Fukino’s had also made an affirming statement in 2011. Mea Culpa.
In response to the conspiracy theories, the White House released copies of the President’s long-form birth certificate on April 27, 2011, and posted an image of it to the White House website,[3] reaffirming that he was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
So there was no statement made by Dr. Chiyome Fukino that you took at face value. Why didn’t you take the 2009 statement at face value? Why did you quote that statement if you didn’t take it at face value? What about the 2008 statement made at the request of the Republican Governor of Hawaii who was campaigning for McCain?
All that aside. If the birther issue was settled in 2011, is there anything wrong with pushing birther conspiracies in 2012? 2013? Up to and including 2016?
Then-Senator Obama resolved the issue with a mountain of proof in 2008, including his birth certificate and statements by Hawaii officials. There was no evidence he was born anywhere else. Anyone still challenging his birthplace after that (like Trump, who continued to do so until this summer) was doing so with zero evidence.
The key difference isn’t that one had a Senate resolution and one didn’t. The key difference is that one of those people is black, and one is not.
The birther attacks on Obama are about his race, not documentation.
It’s all politics. I misremember the date of Fukino’s statement. The “birther issue” was settled for me in 2011 with the release of the long form. U.S. Senator McCain’s solution settled the issue quickly. U.S. Senator/President Obama’s non-solution failed to resolve the issue for years.
This issue once again became main stream news because Hillary needed a boost in the polls. SSDD.
It should have been settled for you and anyone with a brain after the mountain of proof, including his birth certificate, released in 08. There was zero evidence he was born anywhere else.
OMG! :eek: Are you claiming that the U.S. Senate is racist? That would include the Democrats, and the black caucus, wouldn’t it? Maybe there is some Senate rule that doesn’t permit a 2nd sitting U.S. Senator from using the same tactic as another sitting U.S. Senator?