By the way, who is making all these claims that the mainstream media isn’t covering the natural born citizenship issue? Baloney.
CNN Senior Legal Analyst, Jeff Toobin, stated during a broadcast of CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer:
BLITZER: What do the founding fathers mean when they inserted “naturally born” as a qualification to be president?
TOOBIN: Well, what they — what they wanted was not someone who had been born in England. They wanted someone born within, at that point, the 13 colonies. And usually it’s a pretty straightforward issue of whether someone was born in this country or not.
Addressing this in more detail on the Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull program:
BROWN:Now let’s go back to the story that had a loft us in the newsroom scratching our heads today, the accusation that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen and therefore cannot be president of the United States. Well, frankly, it sounds like another of the crackpot rumors that dogged Obama throughout the campaign, the kind of thing you would hear from people wearing tinfoil hats, frankly. But this one won’t go away. It won’t die. Lawsuits have been filed in several states now. And the — or at the Supreme Court, the justices met today. They could decide at any moment whether they will actually hear arguments on the case.
And Jeffrey Toobin is here to put the whole thing to our NO BULL test.
Hi, Jeff.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Hello, Campbell.
BROWN: So, before we get into the I guess how on earth this ended up potentially going before the Supreme Court, just explain the merits of the case, if there are any in your view. Is there any evidence at all to support this?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, I’m a lawyer. So, I have got to be a little cautious in responding to this. So, this much I will say. This is a joke. This is ridiculous.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: OK.
TOOBIN: This is absurd.
BROWN: Don’t hold back.
TOOBIN: This is a whack-job project. And the reason there are lots of lawsuits is, they all keep losing appropriately and they are now winding up before the Supreme Court.
Look, there are two — let’s look at two documents. One is his birth certificate, which shows that he was born in Hawaii, in the United States.
BROWN: OK. Right. Which we have all known, right.
TOOBIN: And end of story. That’s it. He is eligible to be president.
And if you are not convinced by that, there is a newspaper announcement of his birth in — there it is — in Hawaii on — in August 1961. There is no merit to this lawsuit at all.
BROWN: So, if it’s total bull, which is what you are saying…
TOOBIN: Total bull.
BROWN: … why is it even being discussed as a possible case before the Supreme Court? TOOBIN: Well, because the losers in this lawsuit, the people who keep filing this nonsense, keep appealing. And now they have made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Interestingly, this is kind of right-wing nonsense. There has been left-wing nonsense about this lawsuit, which is criticism of Clarence Thomas for the way he handled it.
BROWN: Because he’s the one who said, we are going to — I’m at least going to put this before the other justices, right?
TOOBIN: Correct. And what — the way it worked was…
BROWN: And people see, oh, he’s not an Obama fan, so…
TOOBIN: Exactly. That’s the claim, because, first, it went to David Souter, who just rejected it. Then it went to Clarence Thomas, who referred it to the full court.
The reason Thomas did that is that, when it looks like a claimant in the court is going to go to every single justice, the second person in line says, look, I want to stop that. Let’s just refer it to the whole court, let the court deal with it, so we don’t have to do these one at a time.
Thomas acted completely appropriately. There is nothing wrong with what he did. I’m sure he doesn’t like Barack Obama, given his politics.
BROWN: Right.
TOOBIN: But his action here didn’t — there was nothing wrong with what he did.
BROWN: OK. So, how is this likely to play out now, based on what you know?
TOOBIN: Monday, the court will announce the results of its conference that was held today.
I will bet you my vast fortune, which I know is not that vast, but I will bet anything that they will decline to hear the case. It will go away to the obscurity and absurdity it deserves.
BROWN: Has the Obama camp said anything about this at all or have they basically ignored it?
TOOBIN: Well, this rumor was around. And they had a Web site during the campaign that he wasn’t born in the United States. And they posted the birth certificate. This particular lawsuit, they haven’t dignified with a response. And, frankly, I can’t blame them.
BROWN: All right, Jeff Toobin tonight.
Fascinating, though, that it would stay out there and alive this long and it would end up all the way at the Supreme Court.
TOOBIN: Lawyers with too much time on their hands.
BROWN: OK, apparently, Jeffrey Toobin for us tonight.
And again on the American Morning program:
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: There’s some people out there who wish to believe that there’s something illegal about his candidacy and now his presidency.
ARENA: The latest effort to rewrite the election of 2008, an accusation that Barack Obama is not a legitimate natural born American, and so can’t be sworn in.
SCHNEIDER: There was always that charge hanging out there there’s something that’s not really American about him. And there’s a small group of people who just want to keep that discussion going.
ARENA: The argument which is being taken all the way to the Supreme court goes like this.
When Barack Obama was born in 1961, Kenya was still a British colony. Obama’s father was from Kenya and, therefore, a British citizen. That British citizenship automatically passed on to his son, and that means that Obama who was born in the U.S. was born with dual citizenship. But is that enough to disqualify him from being president?
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, SUPREME COURT LEGAL ANALYST: The law was always been understood to be that if you are born here you are a natural born citizen and that is particularly the case when you have a U.S. citizen parent like Barack Obama’s mother.
ARENA: The Obama campaign says the proof of his U.S. citizenship is right on his birth certificate. Case closed. What’s more his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired when he turned 21. Legal experts do not expect the Supreme Court to take the case, even though it has never really defined what it means to be a natural born citizen.
GOLDSTEIN: This is one of those terms that’s probably going to stay ambiguous in the law because the courts don’t like to step in when what they’d be doing is overruling the will of the voters. It’s a so-called political question.
ARENA (on camera): This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of lawsuits nationwide trying to overturn the election results all centered around the same theme that Barack Obama was not eligible to run for president.
Goldstein’s comment was rebroadcast in this story on the crackpot lawsuits; coverage of Donofrio v. Wells and here.
And yet, the nuts just keep going and going and…
Good find, Dr C.
I sometimes fall into the same nObama misinformation trap as everyone else. They keep crying out that the mainstream media ignores them and I believed it, but when I decided to examine that idea for myself voila, there they were.
http://defendourfreedoms.us/2009/02/26/we-havent-seen-any-birth-certificate-open-letter-to-senator-richard-shelby-ral.aspx
WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANY BIRTH CERTIFICATE” (OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL)
This article also attacks CNN
I commented on this article (awaiting moderation). It’s the usual stuff: suspicion over the “hospital record”, huge attorney fees to keep it secret, logical fallacy on Perkins v. Elg, etc. The writing (at a glance) seemed smooth and it looked not to be cut and pasted from somewhere else (not that I have read all of the 100,000 pages on the subject).
Thanks. The CNN Video is pure gold.
Fool’s gold!
Come on, Heavy. Say something substantive beyond the knee-jerk negative remark.
Substantive? You mean like CNN?
Doc, why do you think he won’t release any records? Seriously, what does he have to hide. I’m at a loss to understand the motive(s).
Heavy, its because you’re not thinking like a politician. Think like one & you’ll see his reasons. He hasnt been hurt in any way not releasing so why should he ???
He may not have been hurt (Have you seen the polls?) but the country sure has been! And he’s just getting started.
The conservative historical revisionists would have us believe everything was fine until January, when the economy tanked and two wars started.
Here is the motive.
A bit delayed, but no the economy may not have been in great shape, but what is Obama’s math theory, Negative TIMEs Negative = Positive? We’re in debt a few hundred Billion, so lets Quadruple that and THEN some, and Things will be better. As long as we include a few thousand ear marks to ensure all my homies are happy and will help me get elected again next time.
MR. TELEPROMPTER!
The State Farm Teleprompter….
You can’t tell a good lie without one, never leave home without it.
He’s movimg at such a fast pace because he and his handlers know his gig will be up shortly. He will be exposed for the fraud he is and be removed.
His puppeteers are trying to inflict as much damage on the American people as quickly as they can. They will not succeed. Even their own minions are catching on quickly. This sham is so obvious that only most weak willed
refuse torefuse to acknowledge it.Those who betrayed this country and voted for THE ONE are starting to get a severe case of buyer’s remorse.
I am the author and legal researcher for the linked site, paralegalnm.
If anyone wishes to annoint me with a tinfoil crown, please . . . have at it.
You’re not a conspiracy theorist, you’re just wrong.
Wow, Doc. A little testy this morning?
Yes, I am a little testy this morning. But Mr. paralegal and I have a “history” with him editing comments I made on his blog so as to remove the main points, and excusing himself because I was an idiot (or whatever the insults of the day were).
Aaah, a little history. That explains it. Well, I’ll give you credit for one thing. I’ve not seen you edit or omit anyone’s comments here.
It’s a good thing to get your Irish up a bit now and then.
I suppose this is neither here nor there, but I will be traveling abroad shortly and as such had to get a passport. One of the requirements for a passport is of course my birth certificate (I was born in PA). I’d never actually seen it before (I had my folks send it to me). As it turns out, the information on there is exactly what is on Obama’s Hawaii COLB (DOB, date filed, city of birth, county, my name and gender). It is even a ‘certification’ as opposed to ‘certificate’. I wonder why I didn’t have any trouble getting a passport…
I don’t know where you did your “research” but it’s not true. But let’s go along with your premise, according to Article 2 what citizenship did the first seven Presidents hold? All of them had parents who were British citizens.
Richard Shelby is still fighting the Civil War.
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The preceding is a “traceback”, an automatic post that happens when certain other blogs post messages that link here. The toobin comments linked to are here:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2009/01/cnn-declares-obama-natural-born/
I replied over there:
You know Heavy you always say that it will be soon, that’s why he is doing such and such. Now you made this comment in March. Now it is October. How many times since then have you made a similar comment?
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