Fox News consultant weighs in on Lakin trial

Lieutenant General Thomas G. McInerney (USAF Retired), military affairs analyst for Fox News Network, has filed an affidavit with the US Army in support of LTC Terry Lakin’s “civil disobedience” (my phrase) challenge  to Barack Obama’s disregard of birther demands to prove that he is really president. McInerney urges the Convening Authority to allow Lakin discovery into records related to Obama’s eligibility both to prove Lakin’s guilt or innocence, but also to reassure all others in the military about the legality of their orders.

McInerney says that what Lakin did, refusing to deploy with his unit, is exactly what ever officer is trained to do if he has the slightest doubt about the President’s paperwork (my words). McInerney is the highest-ranking officer to have questioned the eligibility of President Obama, describing questions about Obama’s eligibility as “legitimate”.

If you would like to hear it in McInerney’s words, keep reading below and and here for commentary from the Military Law and Justice blog.

Sorry, this document is no longer available at Scribd.

Learn More:

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
This entry was posted in Fox News, Terry Lakin and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

40 Responses to Fox News consultant weighs in on Lakin trial

  1. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    Do the idiots at Faux News take stupid pills or what? Is being stupid part of their job description? He’s the commander-in-chief unless and until the Congress says otherwise. It’s right there in black and white in the Constitution they are supposed to be defending. I find it rather odd that someone who was “defending the Constitution” doesn’t even know what’s in it.

  2. BigGuy says:

    You know, Fox News has been pretty careful to distance itself from the birthers. I wonder if this development is troubling to them.

  3. Rickey says:

    Patrick at Bad Fiction blog has the lowdown on General McInerney:

    http://badfiction.typepad.com/badfiction/2010/08/dispatches-from-birtherstan-for-1-september-2010.html#more

    The legal experts at CAAFLOG don’t think much of the affidavit.They point out that he wasn’t a military judge or attorney while he was in the Air Force.

    http://www.caaflog.com/2010/08/31/non-judge-advocate-retired-lt-general-submits-amicus-lakin-declaration/

  4. McInerney appears to be a pretty serious Islamaphobe.

    “We have to use profiling. And I mean be very serious and harsh about the profiling,” said retired Lt. General Tom McInerney of the U.S. Air Force, suggesting that the United States adopt the profiling guidelines of Israel in order to protect ourselves from an airline attack. “If you are an 18 to 28-year-old Muslim man then you should be strip searched,” he said. If we don’t do that, we’re going to lose an airliner, he explained.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/retired-air-force-general-suggests-strip-searching-all-young-muslim-men/

  5. jvn says:

    This is dangerous stuff. A general should know better. This kind of rhetoric could really spur the crazies – as if they weren’t already stirred up about this. This is reaching the point where rightwing nuts in the military might really start plotting a coup d’etat.

    For the first time, I think that the President should just call a Fox News guy into the White House and show him the damned COLB. Let the Fox News guy examine it on camera, and then look in to the camera and give his opinion on where the President was born.

    I believe the President has the right to keep his birth certificate to himself in general, but now we are getting in to dangerous territory – time to stop this nonsense.

    Fox should fire this nut’s ass too – but of course that would make him a birther martyr.

  6. Dave says:

    This is another opportunity to play my favorite game, Count the Birthers.

    McInerney joins Curry and Vallely for a grand total of 3 retired generals who are self-declared birthers. There are roughly 4700 retired generals. That is 0.06%. But we have small number statistics here, so we should say it’s in the range 0.04% to 0.1%. We also have the issue that retired generals are hardly a random sampling of the population, but let’s wave that aside and extrapolate to the whole population. That would mean about 100,000 – 300,000 birthers.

    I would have difficulty reconciling that with the fact that Taitz’s pay-my-sanction fund drive has apparently stalled below $7K. Either 100,000 – 300,000 is an overestimate, or Taitz is quite unpopular even among birthers.

  7. BigGuy says:

    @jvn: “For the first time, I think that the President should just call a Fox News guy into the White House and show him the damned COLB.”
    ___

    Uh, sorry, you’re a little late.

    “Safeguard our Constitution” has published the fact that “McInerney’s sworn affidavit was filed in Court-Martial in support of Lakin’s motions for subpoenas for all of the president’s school records…” So, no, despite what Lakin himself has said repeatedly in public, the goal posts have already been moved. The COLB is no longer sufficient.

    I’m terribly sorry, sir. Is there some other way I can help you?

  8. AnotherBird says:

    More hot air from another hot head. When did credential out weight the law? Thomas G. McInerney had a distinguished career in the Air Force and his expertise is on operations of the Air Force. It is shocking that a person who had become a Lieutenant General of the Air Force support Lakin. This is just another example of a person uses their expertise for justification to present their personal opinion on an issue without providing any proof to support that opinion.

    Why does McInerney believe that just because he served in the military that his word should be taken as fact?

  9. James says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TmTqvIhLig
    Maj.Gen. Jerry Curry : Obama’s Eligibility Issue Moving Toward Critical Mass.avi

  10. ellid says:

    James: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TmTqvIhLig
    Maj.Gen. Jerry Curry : Obama’s Eligibility Issue Moving Toward Critical Mass.avi

    Why should I trust someone named after a food product?

  11. Jerry Reed says:

    Let’s follow to a logical conclusion the birthers’ view that anyone in a war zone after noon Jan. 20 2009 was not obligated to follow military orders. This de facto would have instantaneously made US participation in Afghan and Iraqi wars illegal, since no one in the . war zone would have the authority to make any military decisions, even to evacuate. And since no orders would be legitimate, the troops would be stranded there without any direction or even any resources to pull out. Or at least, each lowly private would have had the right to take it on himself to decide whether to follow orders from his superiors.

    How crazy is that?

  12. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    Yeah, a critical mass of BS for the birthers. They’re starting to realize that after two years of this garbage, they aren’t being taken all that seriously anymore. The law and the facts just aren’t coming out they way they wanted them to. Just another sorry attempt to invigorate a lost cause.

  13. smrstrauss says:

    This is not directly related, although it is generally related. I wanted to recommend this article, which I found to be very powerful, well written and true (http://nochancepappy.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/conspiracy-theories-tim-mcveigh-and-fox/).

  14. Bovril says:

    It turns out as well as being Constitutionally Challenged, the good Mr McInerney (the title of General is purely a courtesy denoting PAST service) apparently has a serious hate on for ther current Adminstration for purely financial reasons.

    Since leaving the military he has supped deeply from the trough of lobbyist basing much of his payroll on being a :”heavyweight Insider”.

    Unfortunately the current adminstration took the axe to various military pork barrel products whose only apparent goal was to fatten corporate bottom lines, a significant number of Air Force ones being ones where McInerney was supposed to “deliver”.

    Googling his name is a fascinating instructional read on how sums of money that could comfortably fund “ObamaCare” are wasted on stuff with no actual value protected by lobbying from the likes of McInerney.

  15. Dave says:

    Jerry Reed: Let’s follow to a logical conclusion the birthers’ view that anyone in a war zone after noon Jan. 20 2009 was not obligated to follow military orders… How crazy is that?

    Actually, it’s crazier than that. Forget the date. The logical conclusion is that you don’t follow orders until you have satisfied yourself that every officer in your chain of command holds their position legitimately. From the top to the bottom. And the person who judges the legitimacy is the soldier.

    LTC Lakin’s position also implies that each soldier no only has the duty to be completely arbitrary in what he considers adequate proof of legitimacy, but also has the right to be completely arbitrary in picking and choosing which superior officers to question.

  16. Jerry Reed says:

    Dave:
    Jerry Reed: Let’s follow to a logical conclusion the birthers’ view that anyone in a war zone after noon Jan. 20 2009 was not obligated to follow military orders… How crazy is that?
    Actually, it’s crazier than that. Forget the date. The logical conclusion is that you don’t follow orders until you have satisfied yourself that every officer in your chain of command holds their position legitimately. From the top to the bottom. And the person who judges the legitimacy is the soldier.
    LTC Lakin’s position also implies that each soldier no only has the duty to be completely arbitrary in what he considers adequate proof of legitimacy, but also has the right to be completely arbitrary in picking and choosing which superior officers to question.

    Hey Dave,
    Thanks for pushing my “logical conclusion” to an even zanier level. Good post.

  17. HORUS says:

    jvn: For the first time, I think that the President should just call a Fox News guy into the White House and show him the damned COLB. Let the Fox News guy examine it on camera, and then look in to the camera and give his opinion on where the President was born.

    Where have you been?
    You should already know that they do NOT accept the COLB as valid proof, so it does not matter who is sent to see the COLB, they will not accept it if Dick Cheney was the one sent to verify it’s authenticity.

  18. AnotherBird says:

    HORUS:
    Where have you been?
    You should already know that they do NOT accept the COLB as valid proof, so it does not matter who is sent to see the COLB, they will not accept it if Dick Cheney was the one sent to verify it’s authenticity.

    Nor will they accept if they were sent in a time machine to the delivery room.

  19. Black Lion says:

    Some relevant articles….

    Army birther seeks Obama school records
    The Associated Press
    FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army doctor charged with disobeying a deployment order because he doubts President Barack Obama’s credentials as commander in chief is asking a military judge for access to the president’s school and college records.
    Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin also is requesting during a hearing Thursday at Fort Meade a subpoena to depose the custodian of Obama’s birth records with the state of Hawaii.
    Lakin is charged with five offenses for allegedly disobeying orders, including one to report to Fort Campbell, Ky., for deployment to Afghanistan last spring.
    Lakin said in a video posted on YouTube that he chose to disobey orders that he said were illegal. He says he wants to see Obama’s birth certificate as proof Obama is his commander in chief.

    Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/02/1417333/army-birther-seeks-obama-school.html#ixzz0yNeg5frH

    The Ultimate Legal Blog Comment?
    Orin Kerr August 31, 2010 12:06 am
    I found this gem in a comment thread at the blog of my collegue Jonathan Turley by commenter “Mick” at 4:42 am, May 22, 2010:
    How do you live with yourself? A supposed Constitutional expert that doesn’t know what a Natural Born Citizen is? I would say that you probably do. You know, and are obfuscating the fact that Obama is not an eligible Natural Born Citizen, NO Matter if born in the White House, in JFK’s lap. Obama Sr. was not a citizen when Obama 2 was born. You and Obama both know that makes him ineligible. Destroying the Constitution for the benefit of your Leftist agenda. Fraud!!!

    http://volokh.com/2010/08/31/the-ultimate-legal-blog-comment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+volokh/mainfeed+(The+Volokh+Conspiracy)

  20. Spike says:

    My general question: Since the UCMJ bascially requires the soldier to be able to show that an order is illegal at the time it was disobeyed why is the rest of this nonsense even being discussed?

    My comment is that it’s amazing to see someone like McInerney gladly disgrace the very institution they claim to be trying to protect. He would gladly put aside the very order and discipline the military needs to function to satisfy his own personal hatred of the President.

  21. Bovril says:

    Spike: My general question: Since the UCMJ bascially requires the soldier to be able to show that an order is illegal at the time it was disobeyed why is the rest of this nonsense even being discussed?

    Why….to be blunt, its because to him the President is a n**ger with a furrin name

  22. Daniel says:

    Why do birthers always hold up Military Officers as if they were all constitutional experts? During my career as an Army Officer, what I found is that most senior officers were good people and intelligent and socially competent with life skills. A few, while brilliant tacticians and military administrators, couldn’t find their butts if the map were printed on the toilet paper when it came to areas outside their expertise, same as any profession.

    In the pool of generals that numbers in the thousands, you will always find a couple who could win battles, but still insist that the Earth is flat, or that the Moon Landings were faked, or that Obama is a lizard planted by the Illuminati to control the government.

  23. Bovril says:

    Oh, for giggles, guess who “Mick” is…….

    I’ll give you a hint,

    He used to post extensively here
    He swears he’s not a Birfer
    He never directly answered any question posed
    He left in high dudgeon when he AND some others went into moderation
    He lurves his out of context copy ‘n paste legal accounts and extensively quote mines from dissenting opinions

  24. Majority Will says:

    Bovril: Oh, for giggles, guess who “Mick” is…….I’ll give you a hint,
    He used to post extensively here
    He swears he’s not a Birfer
    He never directly answered any question posed
    He left in high dudgeon when he AND some others went into moderation
    He lurves his out of context copy n paste legal accounts and extensively quote mines from dissenting opinions

    You just described most of them.

  25. Bovril says:

    Izzza YGUY….

    In other news L:akin has been DENIED

    http://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/Judge.weighs.Army.2.1892398.html

    Sep 2, 2010 2:52 pm US/Eastern Md. Judge Denies Request For Obama School RecordsFORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ― A military judge in Maryland has refused to order the release of school records that could include a copy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

    The documents were sought by an Army doctor, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, who is being court-martialed for disobeying a deployment order because he doubts Obama’s qualifications to serve as commander in chief.

    The judge ruled Thursday that those records and any other evidence or witnesses pertaining to Obama’s birth are not relevant to the case and will not be admitted. Prosecutors have argued that Obama’s birth certificate shouldn’t be part of the case, especially since the order for Lakin to deploy to Afghanistan didn’t come directly from the president.

    Lakin’s lawyer has argued that if Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen, any military order given under his administration is unlawful.

  26. Dr Kenneth Noisewater (Bob Ross) says:

    Bovril: Oh, for giggles, guess who “Mick” is…….I’ll give you a hint, He used to post extensively hereHe swears he’s not a BirferHe never directly answered any question posedHe left in high dudgeon when he AND some others went into moderationHe lurves his out of context copy n paste legal accounts and extensively quote mines from dissenting opinions

    ha yguy really? I saw it on caaflog again.

  27. Majority Will says:

    Bovril: Izzza YGUY….In other news L:akin has been DENIEDhttp://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/Judge.weighs.Army.2.1892398.htmlSep 2, 2010 2:52 pm US/Eastern Md. Judge Denies Request For Obama School RecordsFORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ― A military judge in Maryland has refused to order the release of school records that could include a copy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.The documents were sought by an Army doctor, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, who is being court-martialed for disobeying a deployment order because he doubts Obama’s qualifications to serve as commander in chief.The judge ruled Thursday that those records and any other evidence or witnesses pertaining to Obama’s birth are not relevant to the case and will not be admitted. Prosecutors have argued that Obama’s birth certificate shouldn’t be part of the case, especially since the order for Lakin to deploy to Afghanistan didn’t come directly from the president.Lakin’s lawyer has argued that if Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen, any military order given under his administration is unlawful.

    Yguy, the prima donna of Birferstan!

    I saw that he’s been haunting the threads at caaflog.com and getting his but kicked by people who know their stuff.

  28. Lawyerwitharealdegree says:

    OOOOPS. Looks like Lakin is going to be seeing the inside of Leavenworth. And of course his amiable attorney has done such a great job of working professionally with the prosecution that a plea bargain might be in the works. Not.

  29. Majority Will says:

    Lawyerwitharealdegree: OOOOPS.Looks like Lakin is going to be seeing the inside of Leavenworth.And of course his amiable attorney has done such a great job of working professionally with the prosecution that a plea bargain might be in the works.Not.

    It’s too bad Lakin wasn’t bitten by a dog. Then his “attorney” might have been useful.

  30. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    Daniel: Why do birthers always hold up Military Officers as if they were all constitutional experts?

    Probably because it’s one of the 14 characteristics of fascism.

    “Supremacy of the Military
    Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. ”

    http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

    It’s also why many of them believe that the military should move in and remove President Obama from office.

  31. Dr Kenneth Noisewater (Bob Ross) says:

    Majority Will: It’s too bad Lakin wasn’t bitten by a dog. Then his “attorney” might have been useful.

    Yes Wade Blasingame, dog lawyer successfully put down 1000s of dogs.

  32. Dr Kenneth Noisewater (Bob Ross) says:

    FUTTHESHUCKUP: Probably because it’s one of the 14 characteristics of fascism.“Supremacy of the MilitaryEven when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. ”http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.htmlIt’s also why many of them believe that the military should move in and remove President Obama from office.

    Wingnuts only use the military to suit their needs. Anytime the military doesn’t agree with them they’re first to call them traitors, etc

  33. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    Dr Kenneth Noisewater (Bob Ross):
    Wingnuts only use the military to suit their needs.Anytime the military doesn’t agree with them they’re first to call them traitors, etc

    Which happened for 8 years every time one of them said something negative about Bush

  34. Majority Will says:

    Dr Kenneth Noisewater (Bob Ross):
    Yes Wade Blasingame, dog lawyer successfully put down 1000s of dogs.

    Ah, yes. Back when Will Ferrell was funny!

    http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/wade-blasingame/229055/

    Did I personally inject a steak with poison and feed it to the dog? NO!

  35. Bovril says:

    Write up from Phil Cave at

    http://court-martial-ucmj.com/

    Possibly the most telling comment……….

    At this point it seems LTC Lakin will be left to wriggle while his fate is decided in the normal course of business. No doubt there will be some who will try to continue the political aspects of the case but for all intents and purposes LTC Lakin is dead meat. The real question will be sentencing.

  36. Black Lion says:

    Bovril: Write up from Phil Cave at http://court-martial-ucmj.com/Possibly the most telling comment……….At this point it seems LTC Lakin will be left to wriggle while his fate is decided in the normal course of business. No doubt there will be some who will try to continue the political aspects of the case but for all intents and purposes LTC Lakin is dead meat. The real question will be sentencing.

    Great write up….And of course Yguy posts his usual nonsense over there…He never seems to get it…

  37. Arthur says:

    Black Lion:
    Great write up….And of course Yguy posts his usual nonsense over there…He never seems to get it…

    You’re right, Black Lion. Yguy never seems to get it . . . and he probably never gets it either.

  38. misha says:

    Jensen should stick to dog bites. He’s in over his head.

    This would be a comedy sticom, if it weren’t real. SNL could get weeks of skits from this, if it weren’t so sad.

    I never thought Wade Blasingame would actually come to life.

  39. Bovril says:

    I see him more as Lionel Hutz from the Simpsons but without the intellectual depth……8-)

  40. AnotherBird says:

    The retired lieutenant general affidavit actually hurts Lakin as it is further proof that Lakin has disobey his order. To admit that Lakin has “voluntarily sought (a) court-martial” indicates that Lakin willingly broken his army rules.

    In the latest ruling …

    The judge ruled Thursday that the records and any other evidence or witnesses pertaining to Obama’s birth will not be admitted. Prosecutors have argued that Obama’s birth certificate shouldn’t be part of the case, especially since the order for Lakin to deploy to Afghanistan didn’t come directly from the president, The Associated Press reported.

    If Lakin listened to his commanding officers he would be in Afghanistan now, and would be enjoying his retirement from the military two years from now. Instead to years from now he might stilled be incarcerated in a military prison. …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.