# Would producing a birth certificate do any good? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 12, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117 "2011-02-12T09:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/341 "2011-02-14T23:02:53Z")
SA reminds me of those who say, “I’m not a Holocaust Denier, I’m just a Holocaust Agnostic.” If he thinks it’s wrong to label birthers morons, I hope he feels the same regarding truthers and Holocaust Deniers/Skeptics. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/342 "2011-02-14T23:08:22Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > \ > > You expect us to believe that that’s all ‘devil’s advocate’? \ Well yes, yes he does. You see, buddy \*\*SA \*\*doesn’t believe in messy things like citations. They get in the way of his free style pronouncements. And when he, on extremely rare occasion, actually offers a cite of his own, it invariably proves the opposite of whatever he was arguing. That’s why he will cheerfully ignore your citations of \*\*\*him \*\*\*as if they never happened. He’s always fun like that. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/343 "2011-02-14T23:28:46Z")
Here is an interesting bit of news: [Boehner says facts show Obama a Christian, citizen](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110213/ap_on_re_us/us_boehner_obama): > [@](#): > > Boehner continued: “Having said that, the state of Hawaii has said that he was born there. That’s good enough for me. The president says he’s a Christian. I accept him at his word.” He later called those “the facts” of Obama’s background. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/344 "2011-02-15T00:33:43Z")
The Boner has at least six sides of his mouth to talk out of. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/345 "2011-02-15T00:38:10Z")
> [@Champion-of-Truth](#): > > I have only ever said that: > > WE. DO. NOT. KNOW. WHERE. OBAMA. WAS. ACTUALLY. BORN. ONE. LAST. TIME. FOR. THE. RECORD. DUMBASS. TAKE. YOUR. PICK. California Texas New York Florida Illinois Pennsylvania Ohio Michigan Georgia North Carolina New Jersey Virginia Washington Massachusetts Indiana Arizona Tennessee Missouri Maryland Wisconsin Minnesota Colorado Alabama South Carolina Louisiana Kentucky Oregon Oklahoma Connecticut Iowa Mississippi Arkansas Kansas Utah Nevada New Mexico West Virginia Nebraska Idaho Hawaii Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island Montana Delaware South Dakota Alaska North Dakota Vermont Wyoming ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/346 "2011-02-15T00:42:18Z")
Dumbass has left the building! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/347 "2011-02-15T00:43:02Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Even if, hypothetically, Ann Dunham gave birth to Obama in Kenya, she’d lived her whole life in the US, so according to the wikicite in your post, he’d be a US citizen. > > That law, if accurate, would only be relevant if Ann Dunham were a naturalized citizen or had lived virtually her whole life outside the US. No no no no no no no … just to be clear, my nitpick had _nothing_ to do with the retardo-birther-retardation. Just that there’s more to citizenship than citizen parent. Not contradicting you either … just a different nitpick. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/348 "2011-02-15T00:51:47Z")
Incidentally, has anyone actually heard of the ‘Obama has the SSN of a man born in 1890’ thing before? What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/349 "2011-02-15T01:55:59Z")
I’ve read that somewhere before. I think it was the same crackpot (not, Orly, but a different nutjob) who had a theory that Barack Obama was really the son of Malcolm X. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/350 "2011-02-15T02:04:04Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’ve read that somewhere before. I think it was the same crackpot (not, Orly, but a different nutjob) who had a theory that Barack Obama was really the son of Malcolm X. Wow. Well, we all know all those wily negros are related, right? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/351 "2011-02-15T02:11:12Z")
There are some very rich and powerful Republicans. They can find out anything about anyone. If there was a thread of truth in the birthers, the big news organizations would run with the story night and day. It is the kind of fabrication that appeals to haters and really ,really stupid people. It has no basis in fact. Please stop doing it, you make yourself look ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/352 "2011-02-15T02:16:53Z")
[Quote=Meyer6] Incidentally, has anyone actually heard of the ‘Obama has the SSN of a man born in 1890’ thing before? What’s up with that? [/Quote] I did a bit of research on this earlier today. It’s all a bit garbled, but the story seems to date from a blog post of May 2010, claiming variously that a) Obama has multiple social security numbers (possibly up to 16), b) that his ‘official’ number has a prefix that indicates it was issued in Connecticut, a state in which he not known to have visted during the period in question; c) that the number apparently was recycled from that of a previous holder (the guy born in 1890), and d) that this number was issued 2 years after Obama’s first known employment (as a server in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop). Point d is easily dispensed with, as Obama was 13 or 14 at the time of his first employment, and probably worked under the table. Without going on at length, the other contentions either incorrectly describe the facts or have perfectly logical explanations that do not involve fraud, and there seems to be no particular reason why the Social Security Administration would willingly collude in such a fraud, which it would almost certainly have had to do if points a-c were factual. For a discussion of why this is so, see: [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2998472/obamas\_social\_security\_number\_likely.html](http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2998472/obamas_social_security_number_likely.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/353 "2011-02-15T02:31:11Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Point d is easily dispensed with, as Obama was 13 or 14 at the time of his first employment, and probably worked under the table. Gadzooks - _he’s a tax cheat!_ ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/354 "2011-02-15T04:02:16Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > Wow. Well, we all know all those wily negros are related, right? It would explain why they all look alike. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/355 "2011-02-15T04:50:57Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > … For a discussion of why this is so, see: > [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2998472/obamas\_social\_security\_number\_likely.html](http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2998472/obamas_social_security_number_likely.html) I clicked and almost the first thing I saw was > [@](#): > > Parcbench says Obama’s Social Security number was originally issued in 1890. The Social Security program did not exist in 1890. Did Parcbench ever say this? I strongly doubt it (though he may have edited his blog to eliminate the stupidest stupidisms); he said the number was for someone born in 1890. It’s annoying when “truth-speakers” resort to lies or laziness to fight lies. (But please be aware: I’m no Parcbench fan, indeed first heard of him 2 minutes ago). He seems to use _Roget’s Thesaurus_ a lot to help him with his blog: > [@](#): > > The reason being that the digits he covets are reserved for the state of Connecticut, a location he never hailed from. “Covets” ? I thought the devil-worshipping Islamists who smuggled him in from a moon of Jupiter would have been happy with any Social Security number; I didn’t realize there was numerology involved. What does **septimus** think of all this? I’m afraid the amazing mysteries of forged birth certificates interest me much less than the following questions: (1) There have been political systems for thousands of years. Can anyone point to another with the level of frenzied gibberish one sees in post-literate America? (2) With today’s Internet, a few clicks will bring you more “information” than the total of human knowledge at the time Galileo lived. Why, then, are Americans more ignorant than the savagest savages of the Stone Age? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/356 "2011-02-15T05:36:53Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > Incidentally, has anyone actually heard of the ‘Obama has the SSN of a man born in 1890’ thing before? What’s up with that? > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’ve read that somewhere before. I think it was the same crackpot (not, Orly, but a different nutjob) who had a theory that Barack Obama was really the son of Malcolm X. Orly has accused him of using something like 23 SSNs, and I imagine at least one belonged to a guy born around then. > [@Meyer6](#): > > Wow. Well, we all know all those wily negros are related, right? Only the uppity ones, though. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/357 "2011-02-15T05:45:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Orly has accused him of using something like 23 SSNs, and I imagine at least one belonged to a guy born around then. What a bizarre claim. What possible use could Obama have had for 23 SSNs? I mean, I get why the birthers wish that they could find some technicality that would oust him from the white house. It’s crazy and stupid and completely without merit, but at least I can see the outcome they’re going for. What could they possibly be getting at with this SSN stuff? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/358 "2011-02-15T05:59:41Z")
How would one even find out Obama’s SSN? I know when you run for office, you have to disclose a lot of personal information, but I wouldn’t think they’d make your SSN public. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/359 "2011-02-15T07:03:47Z")
In 2008 the Obama campaign made his birth certificate public. It ran in many newspapers and on line. The certificate states"this copy is prima faciie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceding". Three case have gone to the Supreme Court and been dismissed. Lower courts have rejected several cases brought by the stupid birthers. Some people just can not learn. I bet a lot of guys would love to get their hands on Obama’s SS no. Identity theft big time. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117/360 "2011-02-15T14:30:22Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > What a bizarre claim. What possible use could Obama have had for 23 SSNs? I mean, I get why the birthers wish that they could find some technicality that would oust him from the white house. It’s crazy and stupid and completely without merit, but at least I can see the outcome they’re going for. What could they possibly be getting at with this SSN stuff? It’s probably the least bizarre of Oily Taint’s claims. It’s pretty amazing how much time she has on her hands, considering she’s not just an attorney but also a dentist and real estate agent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-producing-a-birth-certificate-do-any-good/571117.md?page=19)