# 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:** 4
**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, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/61 "2012-08-24T18:55:46Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > And that crowd was obviously a randomly-selected cross section of America. This is going to make him look like a first class douche in the eyes of a lot of people who had previously considered voting for him. At least much of the media will say so, and they will also say that his candidacy is reeling, and outrage towards him is building. And then when that doesn’t become the self-fulfilling prophecy the media hopes it will be, they’ll just go back to covering the President’s back. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/62 "2012-08-24T18:56:18Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Obama’s background of living outside the US and foreign father are the reason for the birthers. I actually think it’s his name, and his appearance. ---
**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, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/63 "2012-08-24T18:58:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Please don’t make me do this again. I feel so…so _clean_! Come on, folks. Even **'luce** gets it. [Racist redneck voice] This dog just won’t hunt. [/Racist redneck voice] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/64 "2012-08-24T19:01:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Who was Mitt Romney’s dad? Some Mexican dude. Romney’s half-Mexican. Does anyone know if he was born north of the border or south? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/65 "2012-08-24T19:02:32Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > It’s quite disturbing the degree to which some people view everything through this prism of racism. > > Romney’s joke had nothing to do with race. Period. Romney: He’ll keep us in stitches and not in chains. ---
**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, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/66 "2012-08-24T19:02:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Definitely not, once that fact was known. No, it never made sense. He was reported to be born in Hawaii and raised there for the first years of his life, and that always made more sense than any other theory. At no time did any evidence to the contrary emerge, so the speculation never made sense. The whole thing began with the release of his Hawaiian birth certificate. Then, of course, we started to hear the crap about a birth in Kenya and other things even though the birth certificate was already on his website and birth announcements turned up quickly. It was a moronic idea before it became obvious that it relied on the family going to Kenya when Ann was very pregnant. Why would you think it’s possible he was born in Kenya just because that’s where his father was born? That’s not logic, it’s just stupid. ---
**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, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/67 "2012-08-24T19:02:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > At least much of the media will say so, and they will also say that his candidacy is reeling, and outrage towards him is building. And then when that doesn’t become the self-fulfilling prophecy the media hopes it will be, they’ll just go back to covering the President’s back. You said “media” without prefacing it with “lamestream”. Sarah Palin’s going to stop sending you tweets from her bunker. He’ll get beaten up by the talking heads, and rightfully so. The media knows when the dog whistles get blown, and these days it’s more like train whistles. I’m sure FOX will provide its viewers with reassurance “there, there…it’s all right… nothing to see here… Obama is the anti-Christ…” ---
**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, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/68 "2012-08-24T19:05:44Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > You know what? You’re right. I’m convinced. > [/sarcasm] > > Let’s take another look at the statements of all the people speaking that day in MI. > > [Wash Post Story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-jokes-about-his-birth-certificate-obama-campaign-accuses-him-of-embracing-birtherism/2012/08/24/bda35810-ee14-11e1-b0eb-dac6b50187ad_story.html) > > Listen to all that racism! > > “Four years ago?” Forty years ago the country was still making negros sit in the back of the bus! Clearly he wants to return to that. > > “Deer hunter?” Everyone knows african americans don’t deer hunt! He’s bragging about how white he is. Unbelievable! > > “Grew up here?” Yes, back fifty years ago when racism was rampant! You want to return to those times? Disgusting. > > “Big W?” That’s a big “White” code-word you racist upper class wasp. Outrageous. > > “I got quite choked up?” Obvious reference to lynching. I’m surprised she didn’t incite the mob to string up a colored boy from the nearest tree with that sort of hate speech. > > * * * > > Wow, all this and we haven’t even gotten to Romney’s words yet. It must be exhausting to get this outraged over imagined racism constantly. > > 😃 Ok, At this point, given the length of this post you’ve written combined with the utter lack of acknowledging my questions to you multiple times, I’m going to just go ahead and assume that you cannot answer my questions, and I’ll also assume that this is a tacit admission that I am right and that you just don’t want to admit it. Of course you could easily show this to be an incorrect assumption by simply answering my questions. So its up to you. Ball’s in your court. At present I’ve won this particular exchange though unless you respond with something, anything at all really. So here we go, one more time just in case you change your mind: If he was not bringing anything up and it was a throwaway line, then why did he even bother saying it? What was his point? And why did the crowd cheer? How can you say with a straight face that this comment had no meaning. Both he and the crowd would have to disagree with you right? He must have had a purpose for saying it, and the crowd must have had a reason for reacting the way they did, right? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/69 "2012-08-24T19:06:57Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > No, I don’t think Romney was being intentionally racist. I don’t think he has the good sense that God gave a goose, but I don’t think he’s racist. Being raised in a openly racist religion during his formative youth and then his early adulthood, I am not so sure that this is true. He wouldn’t be the only 60+ year-old Mormon to cling to some pretty ugly beliefs about the various races, not by a long shot… ---
**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, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/70 "2012-08-24T19:10:32Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > And why did the crowd cheer? Michiganders are famous for their love of jokes about paperwork. ---
**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, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/71 "2012-08-24T19:12:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Michiganders are famous for their love of jokes about paperwork. Else it was relief at not being told our trees are the right height. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/72 "2012-08-24T19:13:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > of course _everybody knows Romney was born in Detroit_. Just a city boy. Born and raised in South Detroit. Way south. Think sombreros. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/73 "2012-08-24T19:14:53Z")
I can’t see any way this was racist. I also can’t see any way it was a joke, i.e., something intended to make people laugh. I mean, I do get that was the intention. But it was not funny at all. Plenty of people have created laughter out of the birth certificate thing. Romney can’t do it, and should stop trying. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/74 "2012-08-24T19:25:07Z")
Christ, I hope Romney and the republicans get bitchslapped to the dark ages come November. That said, I think people are reading waaaaaaay too much into the comments or are looking for offense where there was none. It could easily have been a marginally tasteless joke (I actually snickered even though the birthers are loons), intended as a wink to the birther base, poor word choice that wasn’t thought through, and IMHO you really have to project it as a blatant racist slap. YMMV ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/75 "2012-08-24T19:25:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [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. That’s clearly just a copy. He should show us the original. Unless he’s hiding something, of course. > [@adaher](#): > > Who was Mitt Romney’s dad? When Mitt Romney was born, what was his dad doing? Oh yeah, he was a big shot in the American auto industry, as well known in his time as Lee Iacocca. So no, no one would ever need to ask for his birth certificate. Might as well ask the Kennedys or Bushes for their birth certificates. Why the hell shouldn’t we ask to see their birth certificates? How else are we supposed to know that the women didn’t really get pregnant by some slimy foreigner while wintering in Monaco? ---
**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, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/76 "2012-08-24T19:35:11Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > That’s clearly just a copy. He should show us the original. Unless he’s hiding something, of course. What’s this? Are you making a joke about birth certificates? You racist! [Kidding, obviously] 😃 ---
**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, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/77 "2012-08-24T19:41:53Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > What’s this? Are you making a joke about birth certificates? You racist! > > [Kidding, obviously] > 😃 So you are going with admitting defeat then? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/78 "2012-08-24T19:50:45Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Does birtherism have nothing to do with race? Period? > > And was Romney not bringing up birtherism? Period? Birtherism is funny because _birthers are idiots_ and it’s fun to point and laugh. It has nothing to do with race except that probably most of the birthers were white (I don’t even know that, but I suspect). A joke bringing up birtherism is making fun of the birthers and their misconceptions. Also, that was not a joke. ---
**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, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/79 "2012-08-24T19:52:49Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I actually think it’s his name, and his appearance. Yeah, his name doesn’t help. Obama says it himself in his book. “Barack Smith?” That’s Ok. “Barry Obama?” That’s Ok. “Barack Obama?” Uh-oh. If his name was Joe Smith the birther thing might not exist, even with the father and time outside the country. But, that’s not racism, that’s just good ole fashioned ignorance and xenophobia! ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504/80 "2012-08-24T19:54:32Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Yeah, his name doesn’t help. Obama says it himself in his book. “Barack Smith?” That’s Ok. “Barry Obama?” That’s Ok. “Barack Obama?” Uh-oh. > > If his name was Joe Smith the birther thing might not exist, even with the father and time outside the country. But, that’s not racism, that’s just good ole fashioned ignorance and xenophobia! Generally when one admits defeat they then leave the thread, or at the very least show a little humility. On the other hand, my questions are still there whenever you want to try answering them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-to-see-my-birth-certificate/632504.md?page=5)