# People who still don't believe Obama is a citizen...Especially elected officials
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 16, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105 "2009-02-16T15:50:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/1 "2009-02-16T15:50:39Z")
Apparently 4 Republican members of the Tennessee House (state level) are joining a civil suit to force Obama to hand over his “birth certificate, immigration records, passports and other vital records” to prove his eligibility for the office of President.
[http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090212/NEWS02/90212065](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090212/NEWS02/90212065)
Sigh…
There is hatefully wrong…and then there is just stupid. This is just stupid. Why would any public official lend their name to this crap?
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### Author:  [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/2 "2009-02-16T15:54:33Z")
I tend to assume that they don’t genuinely doubt Obama’s citizenship. They’re just stirring shit among the ignorant and playing to the fantasies of the lowest common denominator among their constituency.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/3 "2009-02-16T16:12:47Z")
> [@Tenar](#):
>
> I tend to assume that they don’t genuinely doubt Obama’s citizenship. They’re just stirring shit among the ignorant and playing to the fantasies of the lowest common denominator among their constituency.
Yep. Even when it doesn’t go anywhere, they can still say “Hey, we tried.”
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/4 "2009-02-16T17:15:09Z")
Glad to see all the serious business of the Tennesee legislature has been dealt with, so that these guys can focus on this issue.
People can file suit over whatever silly shit they want to. The question here is whether this one will actually end up even being heard in court, much less ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor. Given that the US Supreme Court has already declined to address the issue (not to mention, one presumes the Chief Justice would not have agreed to swear Mr. Obama in if he had any doubt of the man’s citizenship), unless the plaintiffs have come up with some really compelling new info to justify the case, the whole thing is a complete waste of time.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/5 "2009-02-16T17:31:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Glad to see all the serious business of the Tennesee legislature has been dealt with, so that these guys can focus on this issue…the whole thing is a complete waste of time.
No, as others have said, these legislators are completely focused on working towards their goal - which is getting re-elected. And they know stupid votes count just as much as smart votes and are a lot easier to earn.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/6 "2009-02-16T17:48:14Z")
I think the Tennessee Republicans should have to produce brain scans to prove their brains are not dead.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/7 "2009-02-16T17:52:56Z")
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> I think the Tennessee Republicans should have to produce brain scans to prove their brains are not dead.
No!!! You know it’ll ruin the machines when they try and scan through tinfoil!
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/8 "2009-02-16T18:03:37Z")
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> I think the Tennessee Republicans should have to produce brain scans to prove their brains are not dead.
Might not be a bad idea to put the same requirement on voters.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/9 "2009-02-16T18:16:06Z")
[Slate](http://www.slate.com/id/2206033/) has a good recap on this whole flap:
> [@](#):
>
> How did the citizenship rumor get started? Ironically, it began when the Obama campaign tried to debunk some other conspiracies. After Obama locked up the nomination in early June, low-level talk radio and blog chatter peddled rumors that Obama’s real middle name was Muhammad, that his father was not really Barack Obama, and that he was not really born in Hawaii. The campaign released a facsimile of Obama’s certificate of live birth. Requested from the state in 2007, the certificate reported that Obama was, indeed, born in Honolulu at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961.
>
> The certificate was a bullet that didn’t put down the horse. Why, skeptics asked, release a new form from Hawaii instead of the original paper that Obama’s parents got in 1961—the one that Obama found in a box of his dad’s knickknacks in Dreams From My Father? They quickly came up with an explanation: The certificate was forged. Anonymous digital image experts with handles like Techdude and Polarik sprung from the woodwork to prove (shades of Rathergate!) that pixels, spacing, and indentation on the form indicated that the Obama campaign had created the certificate with Adobe Photoshop. The state of Hawaii’s official statement that the certificate was legitimate didn’t make a dent—after all, who is Registrar of Vital Statistics Alvin Onaka to argue with Techdude?
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### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/10 "2009-02-16T19:04:53Z")
He is a citizen. It has already been proven.
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/11 "2009-02-16T19:09:13Z")
> [@Slate](#):
>
> The state of Hawaii’s official statement that the certificate was legitimate didn’t make a dent—after all, who is Registrar of Vital Statistics Alvin Onaka to argue with Techdude?
Heh.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/12 "2009-02-16T19:16:01Z")
Immaterial. Obama’s been sworn in on a Bible, and everything, which is _de facto_ and \*de juris \*no backsies!
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/13 "2009-02-16T19:32:48Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Immaterial. Obama’s been sworn in on a Bible, and everything, which is _de facto_ and \*de juris \*no backsies!
Swearing on a Bible doesn’t count when the person swearing is a Muslim.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/14 "2009-02-16T19:39:08Z")
Ah…but the re-swear was done _without_ a Bible. HUSSEIN OSAMA screwed up the first oath on PURPOSE, so he could be secretly sworn in later on a KORAN. He’s the MAHDI, after all.
Scripture has prophesied all of this.
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/15 "2009-02-16T19:43:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> No, as others have said, these legislators are completely focused on working towards their goal - which is getting re-elected. And they know stupid votes count just as much as smart votes and are a lot easier to earn.
My hometown is in Tennessee, and I resent your implication. Even though it’s true. Oh, God, it is so true. Undereducated poor rural white people keep voting for the people who have been screwing them their whole lives, as long as the right buttons are pushed (bigotry and Jesus are a couple of favorites).
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/16 "2009-02-16T19:51:24Z")
To avert mass suicide, please don’t tell them He was a Jew.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/17 "2009-02-16T20:44:08Z")
I like this Tennessean columnist’s take on the situation:
[Lawmakers look dumb for reviving Obama hoax](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090215/COLUMNIST0101/902150378)
> [@](#):
>
> In the Handy Guide for Newspaper Opinion Columnists, this is called shooting fish in a barrel. Or hitting a slow-pitched softball.
>
> Four Tennessee state representatives, all Republicans, have signed up to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, aimed at forcing him to prove he is a United States citizen by coughing up his birth certificate.
>
> Let me just say what all the world is now thinking, including their fellow Republicans on the Hill: This is dumber than a box of rocks.
>
> Tennessee Reps. Eric Swafford, Stacey Campfield, Glen Casada and Frank Nicely now have a giant “G” on their foreheads for “Gullible.” The four were so willing to drink the craziest flavor of Kool-Aid, they’ve gotten themselves caught up in a national urban legend that has been thoroughly debunked.
>
> What’s next? A resolution honoring the Easter Bunny for doing such a great job with the annual colored egg delivery system? **A proposed law asking these four to prove they have a brain?**
>
> …
Brains (and patriotism) are in short supply among birthers. This will never end. There are many many many more lawsuits coming down the pike from these jokers besides the one in the OP. The last bit of that Slate article says it all.
> [@](#):
>
> And if every vote certification goes off without a hitch and Obama is inaugurated on Jan. 20? Gary Kreep is ready for that.
>
> “When Obama starts signing executive orders and legislation,” Kreep says, “I’ll be filing lawsuits unless and until he proves he’s an American citizen. Some judge, someday, is going to want this proved on the merits. You can run, but you can’t hide.”
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/18 "2009-02-16T20:50:42Z")
And this is why we need strict penalties for frivolous lawsuits, up to and including a lifetime ban on the filing of any further civil suits (which would make one an “outlaw” in the old-fashioned sense of “outside the protection of the law” – have fun trying to get work done on your house when word gets around among contractors that you can’t do jack if they cut corners and screw up…).
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/19 "2009-02-16T21:15:17Z")
Of course he is an American citizen. He is the President of the United States, and a person cannot be the President of the United States unless that person is a citizen. Ergo, he is a citizen. My argument is a perfect circle.
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-still-dont-believe-obama-is-a-citizen-especially-elected-officials/486105/20 "2009-02-16T21:22:47Z")
Same buncha muck-stirring monkeys that were gabbing on about the “_Oh, he bobbled the oath, he’s not_ actually _President_” bullshit.
Feh.
I don’t like or trust Obama, but I’m not going to stoop to that level of butt-crack-sniffing petty stupidity. The man _ **is** _ a natural-born citizen, he _ **is** _ President, and he _ **did** _win fairly. I don’t have to _like_ it, but I’m sure as hell not going to deny it. Hell, I’ll even give the man a fair chance to find his feet before I criticize too sharply. But the butt-crack smniffers? They’ve already used up all their fair chances, and then some. To the outer darkness with them, and may they never again be taken seriously.
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