# Romney "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 24, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504 "2012-08-24T17:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/1 "2012-08-24T17:03:24Z")
I see was mentioned in the Gaffe thread, but I think it deserves its own discussion: [‘I love Michigan’ joke or not, Romney appears to have progressed to open race-baiting.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/mitt-romney-birth-certificate_n_1828095.html) > [@Romney in Michigan](#): > > “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” This comes a few weeks after one of his advisers told a British newspaper “[The U.S. and U.K.] are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he [Romney] feels that the special relationship is special,” a second Romney adviser told the newspaper. “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.” I was undecided on whether or not the McCain campaign was ever deliberately racist in its attacks on Obama, but I think with Romney, the answer is clear at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/2 "2012-08-24T17:08:31Z")
There’s no racism in Romney’s statement whatsoever. The other statement you mention about Enlgand is indeed a foolish thing to say, but he didn’t say it. Someone else did. McCain bent over so far backwards in trying not to be racist that he didn’t even use the Reverend Wright sermons in his campaign. Yet you still call him a racist? This proves only that whatever republicans do the racist accusations will be made. There’s simply no avoiding it. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/3 "2012-08-24T17:13:17Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > There’s no racism in Romney’s statement whatsoever. The other statement you mention about Enlgand is indeed a foolish thing to say, but he didn’t say it. Someone else did. > > McCain bent over so far backwards in trying not to be racist that he didn’t even use the Reverend Wright sermons in his campaign. Yet you still call him a racist? This proves only that whatever republicans do the racist accusations will be made. There’s simply no avoiding it. If its not racist to say that, then what is he implying by saying that its ok to ask to see Obama’s birth certificate, but noone has asked to see his? What is it that he’s trying to say about Obama with this statement then? What difference is he trying to illustrate between him and Obama? Is it a policy difference, or something else? I’d love to hear your, most likely tortured, explanation of his intended meaning with this statement. ---
**Author:** ![csupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@csupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/csupp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/4 "2012-08-24T17:15:06Z")
Joke or not, it clearly makes the “birther” issue legitimate to Romney. And the birther movement is racist (I’m sure that has also been debated here). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/5 "2012-08-24T17:18:39Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > The other statement you mention about Enlgand is indeed a foolish thing to say, but he didn’t say it. Someone else did. And therefore it’s not linked to Romney’s campaign? > [@](#): > > McCain bent over so far backwards in trying not to be racist that he didn’t even use the Reverend Wright sermons in his campaign. Yet you still call him a racist? I didn’t call anybody a racist. I’m talking about Romney’s campaign and I said I was _undecided_ about the behavior of _the McCain campaign._ ([Here’s the thread I started when I was asking about it.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=487248)) But other than that, yes, “McCain is a racist” is exactly what I said. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/6 "2012-08-24T17:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=Romney in Michigan] “…They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” [/QUOTE] Also, isn’t it a little early to be using the royal “we”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/7 "2012-08-24T17:22:43Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Also, isn’t it a little early to be using the royal “we”? And I was thinking that it was a little late to get out of that habit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/8 "2012-08-24T17:23:31Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I see was mentioned in the Gaffe thread, but I think it deserves its own discussion: [‘I love Michigan’ joke or not, Romney appears to have progressed to open race-baiting.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/mitt-romney-birth-certificate_n_1828095.html) > > This comes a few weeks after one of his advisers told a British newspaper “[The U.S. and U.K.] are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he [Romney] feels that the special relationship is special,” a second Romney adviser told the newspaper. “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.” I was undecided on whether or not the McCain campaign was ever deliberately racist in its attacks on Obama, but I think with Romney, the answer is clear at this point. This is a great way for Romney to turn the subject back to the economy where he wants it. That man is a brilliant campaigner and strategist! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/9 "2012-08-24T17:26:52Z")
More race-baiting by Romney. Case 1: After getting booed by the NAACP, Romney tells another crowd that day that “if you want free stuff from the government, vote for the other guy”. Case 2: The whole “Obama took the work requirements off of welfare” lie. Shades of Saint Ronnie and his Welfare Queen schtick. Translation for the dog-whistle impaired: “Obama wants to give the niggers all of your hard-earned white boy tax money”. Case 3: “I’m a good old white boy, I don’t need to show no steeenkin’ birth certificate.” I’m sure the Jeremiah Wright ads will be forthcoming. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/10 "2012-08-24T17:28:19Z")
As far as the “we” thing goes: Ann Romney was also born in Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/11 "2012-08-24T17:40:54Z")
Well, if you can draw those conclusions from that, then it’s fair for conservative to conclude that Obama hates small business. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/12 "2012-08-24T17:49:58Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, if you can draw those conclusions from that, then it’s fair for conservative to conclude that Obama hates small business. Not again. My apologies for moderating my own thread, but I am going to formally instruct you to stay on topic for once. There are plenty of threads where you can discuss Obama and small business. This is about race and the campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/13 "2012-08-24T17:52:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, if you can draw those conclusions from that, then it’s fair for conservative to conclude that Obama hates small business. Please demonstrate what you mean. [ETA: On second thought, per Marley’s instruction, don’t.] Here’s how Romney’s line is offensive and appeals to the good ol’ boy rednecks, in case you really don’t understand: “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate [as opposed to my black opponent with the Kenyan name who has had his birth certificate demanded of him for the past four years despite overwhelming proof that he was, in fact, born in Hawaii.]” That’s what you call, as I said in the other thread, a dog whistle everyone can hear. And it’s funny how everyone admits to hearing it but the dogs. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/14 "2012-08-24T17:54:51Z")
When Obama makes fun of Romney’s underwear we can call equivalence. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/15 "2012-08-24T17:57:47Z")
Well, now that he’s brought it up … let’s go ahead and ask to see his birth certificate. Why are we supposed to know he’s American just from his looks? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/16 "2012-08-24T18:01:14Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Well, now that he’s brought it up … let’s go ahead and ask to see his birth certificate. Why are we supposed to know he’s American just from his looks? His father was a Mexican, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/17 "2012-08-24T18:01:41Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Well, now that he’s brought it up … let’s go ahead and ask to see his birth certificate. Why are we supposed to know he’s American just from his looks? Oh come on-- the skin tone, the hair, the wealth, the name…he’s straight out of central casting! He’s almost a cliche. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/18 "2012-08-24T18:02:50Z")
[Romey did release his own birth certificate.](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/29/us-usa-campaign-romney-birth-certificate-idUSBRE84S1GF20120529) Because Romney isn’t a birther, you see. He just hangs around with them accepts their endorsements and jokes that everyone knows where _he_ was born. ---
**Author:** ![csupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@csupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/csupp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/19 "2012-08-24T18:05:10Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > That’s what you call, as I said in the other thread, a dog whistle everyone can hear. And it’s funny how everyone admits to hearing it but the dogs. Love this statement. And thus, I will be stealing it. Mahalo. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/20 "2012-08-24T18:06:15Z")
The Romney campaign desperately needs every single vote it can get. If this means they must pander to insane birthers and racists, so be it. I don’t think Romney is racist _per se_. But he’ll certainly pander to racists if he can get their votes. Romney knows he can’t just come out and say “Vote for me, because I’m the white candidate”. So he’ll use (slightly) more subtle ways. This particular way is not very subtle. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504.md?page=2)