New revelation: Obama finds his birth certificate

A new book Double Down: Game Change 2012 by authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann provides previously unpublished details of the release of Barack Obama’s long-form birth certificate in 2011. The authors of say that in April of 2011, the “most persistent distraction Obama was facing” was not Osama Bin Laden, or the face-off with Republicans over the debt ceiling, but Donald Trump and his “crackpot conspiracy theory.”

Photo of Kapi'olani Keepsake birth certificate

The book explains the mystery of exactly what Obama body man Reggie Love was talking about (reported here last August) when he said that President Obama found his birth certificate among some old papers:

imageDunham had died seven years earlier, but Obama hadn’t sorted through all her things. Now, alone in his old house for just the third night since he’d become president, he started rummaging through the boxes, digging, digging, until suddenly he found it: a small, four-paneled paper booklet the world had never seen before. On the front was an ink drawing of Kapi‘olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, in Honolulu. On the back was a picture of a Hawaiian queen. On one inside page were his name, his mother’s name, and his date of birth; on the other were his infant footprints.

The book tells us that Obama, after finding the hospital souvenir booklet, was motivated to release some documentation, and showed the booklet to his chief legal advisor, Robert Bauer. “White House Counsel Bob Bauer took one look at the booklet in Obama’s hand and knew it wasn’t the birth certificate. It was just a commemorative keepsake.” The book details the internal debate over releasing more birth documentation leading to an approach to the State of Hawaii for a copy of his original certificate. Nine days later, Bauer had the official certificate from Hawaii in his hand at the April 27 press conference.

The book has considerable background information, not published before about Obama’s following the right-wing echo chamber.  It also has some inside bits about what Donald Trump was thinking. Fascinating stuff.

One of the first reports of the birther content of this new book was on the NBC Today show. Orly Taitz is demanding equal time:

The public is asked to contact NBC and demand equal time, demand to invite Attorney Orly Taitz to “Today” show, which aired this piece and provide documents and evidence showing that not only Obama does not have a valid birth certificate, he does not have any valid IDs and he stole the US presidency by virtue of fraud and with fabricated IDs.

Read more:

About Dr. Conspiracy

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105 Responses to New revelation: Obama finds his birth certificate

  1. gorefan says:

    Pity they didn’t release that at the time of the LFBC release.

  2. Slartibartfast says:

    Does this mean that David Farrar (who, as I recall, considers the hospital “certificate” the gold standard for proof of birth) will accept that President Obama was born in Hawai’i?

  3. Steve says:

    Slartibartfast:
    Does this mean that David Farrar (who, as I recall, considers the hospital “certificate” the gold standard for proof of birth) will accept that President Obama was born in Hawai’i?

    Oh, I’m sure he’ll think of something else that will be his new “gold standard”

  4. richCares says:

    lets hope it was reproduced in the book

  5. Jim says:

    Wait, are we sure there wasn’t a Kenyan BC in there also? hmmmmmmmmm 😀

  6. CarlOrcas says:

    So……who will be the first in line demanding a footprint check?

  7. JPotter says:

    So the forger was working in Obama’s own house, in an upstairs room? That’s pretty ballsy!

  8. justlw says:

    This does indeed help explain the Reggie Love thing, which, although not totally inexplicable, did seem kind of out of left field.

  9. Lani says:

    But that’s just the souvenir given to a parent. It’s not a birth certificate. I can imagine how much it must have touched him to find a memento of his birth after his mother’s death. After my mother died, my dad showed me the same sort of thing from my birth in WDC. It deeply touched me to realize how much my birth meant to them.

    He wasn’t ready to let go of it. Unfortunately, by the time he died more than a decade later, it was lost. Fortunately, my official birth certificate is what matters.

    When my son was born in Kapiolani, those mementos were no longer offered. We only had the option of buying photos. No footprints, no fancy certificates. Short form certificates arrived in the mail about 10 days later.

  10. Thinker says:

    Ugh. Does that excerpt really say that an event that happened in 2011 was 7 years after Ann Dunham died? Sloppy.

    Beyond that, here’s what I think the birfers will make out of this. I think that they will connect the revelation to current events in the birfersphere–Doug Vogt’s crazy litigation. I think that they will say that this is the White House’s way of introducing a new long-form birth certificate into the mix. I think they will say that, since Vogt so completely decimated the little credibility the long-form had, Obama now has to distance himself from it. So he will say that the LFBC on the White House web site is a fake, although he was led to believe it was real.

    Vogt’s complaint has a lengthy section on one of the conspiracy theorists’ favorite tools to explain motivation: plausible deniability. They will say that this is precisely why Obama didn’t touch the LFBC during the press conference. It was to allow him to claim another birth certificate in the future. But, now he has found the actual birth certificate, which is the document listed in the Double Down book.

    Obama knows that birfers are sharp and will see through this right away, but that’s OK. It will take a long time for the momentum to build to get a real birth certificate investigation after this new development. He’ll be free and clear and campaigning for Sasha to be Senior class president at her high school by the time Mike Zullo catches up with him.

  11. Curious George says:

    Speaking of Private First Class Zullo, here’s a quote from Zullo in a recent fund raising blitz…..

    “Mr. Obama has in fact not offered any verifiable authoritative document of any legal significance or possessing any evidentiary value as to the origins of his purported birth narrative or location of the birth event.”

    How about the short form BC, the long form BC, the Verification of Birth from the state of Hawaii and now, the souvenir BC with footprints. Birthers are truly delusional.

  12. charo says:

    “I remember when he finally found his birth certificate,” he said with a grin. -Reggie Love

    The piece quoted in the above post places the time of the finding of the birth certificate seven years after the death of his mother, if I am reading it correctly. That would be 2002, long before the controversy.

  13. Obama found his hospital booklet in April of 2011, so Dunham would have died almost 16 years before. It’s just a fact-checker’s mistake.

    charo: The piece quoted in the above post places the time of the finding of the birth certificate seven years after the death of his mother, if I am reading it correctly. That would be 2002, long before the controversy.

  14. The book is available now, and it contains considerable additional details about the internal debate on releasing more documentation. It also gives some new insights into Obama’s thinking and his feelings about birtherism.

  15. charo says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    It would seem that the “seven years” is the most likely mistake.

    So both Reggie Love and Marty Nesbitt were present? Was Reggie Love even around the third day into Obama’s presidency?

    Dunham had died seven years earlier, but Obama hadn’t sorted through all her things. Now, alone in his old house for just the third night since he’d become president, he started rummaging through the boxes, digging, digging, until suddenly he found it: a small, four-paneled paper booklet the world had never seen before. On the front was an ink drawing of Kapi‘olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, in Honolulu. On the back was a picture of a Hawaiian queen. On one inside page were his name, his mother’s name, and his date of birth; on the other were his infant footprints.

    The next morning, Marty Nesbitt came over to have breakfast with Obama. The CEO of an airport parking-lot company, Nesbitt was part of a tiny circle of Chicago friends on whom the president relied to keep him anchored in a reality outside the Washington funhouse. The two men had bonded playing pickup basketball two decades earlier; their relationship was still firmly rooted in sports, talking smack, and all around regular-guyness. After chatting for a while at the kitchen table, Obama went upstairs and came back down, wearing a cat-who-ate-a-whole-flock-of-canaries grin, waving the booklet in the air, and then placing it in front of Nesbitt.

    “Now, that’s some funny s__t,” Nesbitt said, and burst out laughing.

  16. Northland10 says:

    Slartibartfast:
    Does this mean that David Farrar (who, as I recall, considers the hospital “certificate” the gold standard for proof of birth) will accept that President Obama was born in Hawai’i?

    Right after the Cubs win the World Series.

  17. charo says:

    As I recall, Reggie Love told the story as right after finding the birth certificate, President Obama wanted to slam that baby down on the podium. None of his story jibes with the Double Down excerpt, or vice-versa, however you want to view it.

  18. charo says:

    What is interesting is that both men were close to President Obama, Nesbitt as a long time friend, Reggie Love as a newer one, but certainly close during the time he served as personal assistant. This isn’t a case of quadruple hearsay.

  19. G says:

    Agreed. Although birthers have never been able to grasp such distinctions.

    Lani: But that’s just the souvenir given to a parent. It’s not a birth certificate.

  20. gorefan says:

    charo: As I recall, Reggie Love told the story as right after finding the birth certificate, President Obama wanted to slam that baby down on the podium. None of his story jibes with the Double Down excerpt, or vice-versa, however you want to view it.

    Here is the Reggie Love interview:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=B32sYF91KyM

    The BC stuff starts at 7:40

    From the editing it is impossible to know the timeframe when the hospital BC was found. So it could jibe with Halperin’s book.

  21. charo says:

    Dr. Conspiracy,

    You know there is a problem here with two revelations by the two friends. Maybe you need time to ponder it. I hope to see a post with reasonable speculation or your confirmation bias is so deep that you have lost the ability to be objective. The two stories do not negate any other evidence, but there is certainly a question as to why two stories have been circulated. Would you allow a birther to ignore such a discrepancy? Theses are the only speculative answers I have:

    1) The author’s version is true. Nesbitt has the true story; therefore, the birth certificate was not found in 2011. Reggie Love fabricated. (This proposition leads me to ask some questions).

    2) The author wrote a fabrication, either intentionally or had bad information. In either case, the credibility of the whole book is called into question.

    3) Neither story is true. (This proposition leads me to ask some questions).

    4) Reggie Love’s story is true, and Nesbitt is fabricating.

    5) Someone was taking hallucinogenic drugs?

    I am open to suggestions.

  22. charo says:

    gorefan: Here is the Reggie Love interview:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=B32sYF91KyM

    The BC stuff starts at 7:40

    From the editing it is impossible to know the timeframe when the hospital BC was found.So it could jibe with Halperin’s book.

    It is not Halperin’s book. Reggie Love said he was there when the birth certificate was found. Nesbitt said he was present when the birth certificate was found on the third day of Obama’s presidency. Love was not hired until I believe 2007.

    Let me know what you think. I know you are objective.

  23. gorefan says:

    charo: None of his story jibes with the Double Down excerpt, or vice-versa, however you want to view it.

    OK here is more from the Halperin book:

    “Now, that’s some funny s__t,” Nesbitt said, and burst out laughing.

    Clambering into his heavily armored SUV, Obama headed back north to the InterContinental hotel, where he had an interview scheduled with the Associated Press. He pulled aside his senior adviser David Plouffe and press secretary Jay Carney, and eagerly showed them his discovery.

    Plouffe studied the thing, befuddled and wary: Is that the birth certificate? he thought.

    Carney was bewildered, too, but excited: This is the birth certificate? Awesome.

    Obama didn’t know what to think, but he flew back to Washington hoping that maybe, just maybe, he now had a stake to drive through the heart of birtherism, killing it once and for all—and slaying Trump in the bargain. Striding into a meeting with his senior advisers in the Oval Office the next Monday morning, he reached into his suit pocket and whipped out the booklet, infinitely pleased with himself.

    “Hey,” Obama announced, “look what I found when I was out there!”

    http://www.today.com/books/double-down-how-obama-beat-birthers-2012-8C11511690

    So according to the book three days after becoming President, he finds the hospital BC, takes it downstairs to show Nesbitt and then in the SUV shows it to press secretary Carney and senior adviser David Plouffe.

    Except Carney didn’t become press secretary until 2011.

    It looks to me like Halperin has combined several stories into one to create a cohesive narrative about the birthers, Trump and the found BC.

  24. charo says:

    I don’t believe the discrepancies prove a Kenyan birth. I don’t believe there was a Kenyan birth. I view this as potentially a Dan Rather like situation, helping a story along.

  25. gorefan says:

    charo: Love was not hired until I believe 2007.

    charo: Reggie Love said he was there when the birth certificate was found.

    I don’t think that is quite right. He says “I remember when he found, he finally found his birth certificate.” You cannot infer that Reggie was there.

    So here is the problem – did President Obama find the hospital certificate 7 years after his mother died? Three days after becoming President? Or several months before he released the Hawaiian long form BC?

  26. Rickey says:

    charo: It is not Halperin’s book.Reggie Love said he was there when the birth certificate was found.

    Having watched the interview with Reggie Love, I fail to see where he says that “he was there” when the birth certificate was found. This is what he actually says:

    “I remember when he found, he finally found his birth certificate.”

    He doesn’t say that he was there, and he doesn’t say when this occurred.

  27. Rickey says:

    Nobody should take at face value anything that Mark Halperin says.

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/06/30/msnbc-holds-halperin-accountable-for-inexcusabl/180999

  28. charo says:

    Rickey: Having watched the interview with Reggie Love, I fail to see where he says that “he was there” when the birth certificate was found. This is what he actually says:

    “I remember when he found, he finally found his birth certificate.”

    He doesn’t say that he was there, and he doesn’t say when this occurred.

    How would Reggie Love have known this Nesbitt story?

    It sounds to me at this point that the book is crap. I have an open mind.

  29. gorefan says:

    charo: How would Reggie Love have known this Nesbitt story?

    When does Reggie Love mention the Nesbitt story? Or is it possible the President told him about it?

    BTW, here is the interview that President Obama gave to the AP on April 15, 2011

    http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2011/04/qa_president_obamas_interview_with_the_ap.html

    There is this from one of the questions:

    “And in your political fundraiser here in Chicago last night,”

    So is this the AP interview at the Intercontinental Hotel that President Obama climbed into the armored SUV to attend?

    So it looks to me like the story takes place in April, 2011 and the parts about 7 years after her death and three days after becoming President is just Halperin taking artistic license with the narrative.

  30. W. Kevin Vicklund says:

    gorefan:
    So here is the problem – did President Obama find the hospital certificate7 years after his mother died?Three days after becoming President? Or several months before he released the Hawaiian long form BC?

    I think the “third night since becoming President” is referring to it being just the third time that he had been alone at the house at night, not that it was the third night after the inauguration. The seven years? Not sure, maybe it was supposed to be seventeen, or maybe it was supposed to be seven years since he had moved the boxes or last looked at them and it got garbled.

    Then again, this is Mark Halperin, so who knows?

    I’m skeptical of anything in this book.

  31. charo says:

    gorefan: When does Reggie Love mention the Nesbitt story?Or is it possible the President told him about it?

    BTW, here is the interview that President Obama gave to the AP on April 15, 2011

    http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2011/04/qa_president_obamas_interview_with_the_ap.html

    There is this from one of the questions:

    “And in your political fundraiser here in Chicago last night,”

    So is this the AP interview at the Intercontinental Hotel that President Obama climbed into the armored SUV to attend?

    So it looks to me like the story takes place in April, 2011 and the parts about 7 years after her death and three days after becoming President is just Halperin taking artistic license with the narrative.

    Obama found his birth certificate only once, correct? Nesbitt was supposedly there when it was found. Love makes it appear as if he were there, giving details that he remembers how Obama wanted to get right to that podium. But the birth certificate as described is not even the one that was circulated at the press conference, but the souvenir one. The one at the press conference was the one the Dept. of Health issued with the chain of custody documented. The interview is edited so who knows what else he said. Just put the hospital copy in the presidential library in the future.

  32. W. Kevin Vicklund says:

    Hmm, house bought in 2005, which is six years before the events of the book and 10 years after the death. Some sort of fact-checking error.

  33. gorefan says:

    charo: Love makes it appear as if he were there, giving details that he remembers how Obama wanted to get right to that podium.

    I disagree. Where in the Nesbitt story is there any mention of a podium?

    Read the Halperin narrative again

    http://www.today.com/books/double-down-how-obama-beat-birthers-2012-8C11511690

    The story goes like this (skipping for a moment the 7year thingy)

    The President is in Chicago, finds the hospital BC.

    Next morning shows it to Nesbitt.

    Goes to the Intercontinental Hotel and shows it to Carney and Plouffe.

    Goes back to Washington and shows it to senior advisers.

    I could certainly see the podium statements to having occurred after he returned to Washington.

  34. No, in neither story were either Love or Nesbit present when Obama found the certificate. In fact, Love’s story and this new book are in perfect agreement. Out of respect for copyright, I’m dumping the entire section from “Double Down,” but the general idea is that Obama found his keepsake hospital booklet at his home in Chicago. He carried it around showing it to people including Nesbit, thinking that it was his birth original certificate. His attorney realized it wasn’t a legal document, but it had started the ball rolling to get the real legal copy that was subsequently released.

    Perhaps some day the booklet will make into the Presidential Library.

    charo: Obama found his birth certificate only once, correct? Nesbitt was supposedly there when it was found. Love makes it appear as if he were there, giving details that he remembers how Obama wanted to get right to that podium

  35. gorefan says:

    W. Kevin Vicklund: Hmm, house bought in 2005, which is six years before the events of the book and 10 years after the death. Some sort of fact-checking error.

    I see what you mean by the third time since becoming President. I agree that’s what Halperin meant. Although Halperin’s narrative takes place in 2011 and I would have thought the President has been back in the Chicago house more times than that.

  36. charo says:

    gorefan: I disagree.Where in the Nesbitt story is there any mention of a podium?

    Read the Halperin narrative again

    http://www.today.com/books/double-down-how-obama-beat-birthers-2012-8C11511690

    The story goes like this (skipping for a moment the 7year thingy)

    The President is in Chicago, finds the hospital BC.

    Next morning shows it to Nesbitt.

    Goes to the Intercontinental Hotel and shows it to Carney and Plouffe.

    Goes back to Washington and shows it to senior advisers.

    I could certainly see the podium statements to having occurred after he returned to Washington.

    The Love interview-

    I have a shortened clip so I can’t give you the exact spot. You’ll hear it if you listen again.

  37. gorefan says:

    charo: The Love interview-
    I have a shortened clip so I can’t give you the exact spot. You’ll hear it if you listen again.

    Link?

  38. gorefan says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: His attorney realized it wasn’t a legal document

    Trump had already made a fool of himself with that mistake.

  39. charo says:

    gorefan: Link?

    I thought you had the link above. The websites that still carry it are going to be objectionable sources. I’ll just choose one, knowing that it is content and not site that matters.

    http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/will-reggie-loves-loose-lips-sink-obamas-ship/

    8:03 on.

  40. OllieOxenFree says:

    Slartibartfast:
    Does this mean that David Farrar (who, as I recall, considers the hospital “certificate” the gold standard for proof of birth) will accept that President Obama was born in Hawai’i?

    David Farrar has already commented on this at ORYR…

    “While there are other mistakes, such as: “…officials in Obama’s home state were legally prohibited from releasing it (Obama’s state-issued birth certificate) on their own”… but Obama could have ordered both his state-issued birth certificate and his ‘all-important’ hospital birth certificate on his own published and ended the matter in April, 2011…but let’s be clear: Mark Halperin and John Heilemann didn’t say Obama found his state-issued Hawaiian birth certificate, but that he had found his HOSPITAL birth certificate, with his foot print stamped on it.

    My first thought is: how did the FBI take a stamped foot print of Obama done, circa 2010, and make it look like a baby’s foot print to create this forgery?

    ex animo
    davidfarrar”

    Goal posts officially moved.

  41. Rickey says:

    charo: .Love makes it appear as if he were there, giving details that he remembers how Obama wanted to get right to that podium.

    Love doesn’t even say that he was in Chicago when the birth certificate was found. In fact, he says specifically that Obama wanted to give the “impromptu press conference” in the White House – “He wanted to…just walk into the press briefing room in the White House and just like put it, the birth certificate, down on the podium.”

  42. charo says:

    Okay, got an error when I tried the link. I cut and pasted the link in my browser to get it to work. You can probably find it on your own.

  43. charo says:

    Rickey: Love doesn’t even say that he was in Chicago when the birth certificate was found. In fact, he says specifically that Obama wanted to give the “impromptu press conference” in the White House – “He wanted to…just walk into the press briefing room in the White House and just like put it, the birth certificate, down on the podium.”

    Love began working as his personal assistant in 2007 or 2009, according to Wiki. I saw two different references. He was his personal aide through most of 2011.

  44. gorefan says:

    charo: I thought you had the link above

    Sorry, I thought you were referring to a different video that had more of the interview.

    Here is rough transcript:

    “I remember when he found, he finally found his birth certificate. Hey, you know you come from … your parents don’t live together, you travel all over the world documents get lost there. And so he wanted to just like have an impromptu press conferences, to just walk in to the press briefing room in the White House and just like put the birth certificate down on the podium. And everyone was like that is a really bad idea. But he was like very gung-ho about doing it. Because he was so irritated about it.”

    I don’t see any inconsistency. Are you saying that on the morning that the President showed Nesbit the hospital there was podium talk?

    Reggie’s talk about the podium sounds like it happened after the President returned to Washington.

    What I’m saying is – I don’t see anything in the Reggie comment that could be taken to mean he was there when the BC was found or the next morning with Nesbitt or even that Reggie was aware of the Nesbitt story.

  45. Rickey says:

    charo: Love began working as his personal assistant in 2007 or 2009, according to Wiki.I saw two different references.He was his personal aide through most of 2011.

    And how does that establish that he was with Obama when the hospital birth certificate was discovered in Chicago? It’s quite clear from Love’s comments that he was referring to a podium in the White House, not to one in Chicago.

  46. Rickey says:

    I’m not sure if the book covers this, but I researched the President’s travel schedule and he was in Chicago on April 14, 2011 and returned to Washington on April 15.

    http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/04/president_obama_official_sched_585.html

    It’s clear that Obama found his hospital birth certificate in the evening on April 14 or early in the morning on April 15. Jay Carney was in fact his press secretary at that time.

  47. charo says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: No, in neither story were either Love or Nesbit present when Obama found the certificate.

    The story relates that Nesbitt came over the next morning after President Obama found the certificate. Love strongly intimates that he remembers how Obama felt when he found the certificate. “I remember” is different than stating “I remember when I heard…”

  48. Not really. You’re reading the text far too literally. The narrative says that Obama’s glee over finding the document persisted for days. Love could have remembered how the President felt based on what the President said a few hours later. These narratives are not written to be picked apart word for word. They are intended for normal people to read like normal people listen to narratives.

    charo: Love strongly intimates that he remembers how Obama felt when he found the certificate. “I remember” is different than stating “I remember when I heard…”

  49. charo says:

    gorefan: What I’m saying is – I don’t see anything in the Reggie comment that could be taken to mean he was there when the BC was found or the next morning with Nesbitt or even that Reggie was aware of the Nesbitt story.
    avatar

    Thanks, I think I have a better understanding of the connection now. The whole story threw me off by the seven years since the death of his mother, and Reggie’s tenor of comments that he was in the thick of all the events around the finding of the certificate as well as Nesbitt stating Obama showed him the certificate (the next day).

  50. The Nesbitt story says the booklet was found in 2011. Obama finds the certificate (almost certainly on April 14), returns from Chicago to Washington, talks to Bauer within a day or so, and 9 days after talking to Bauer, the press conference is held announcing the birth certificate on April 27. T

    charo: 1) The author’s version is true. Nesbitt has the true story; therefore, the birth certificate was not found in 2011.

  51. A metaphorical podium.

    Rickey: It’s quite clear from Love’s comments that he was referring to a podium in the White House, not to one in Chicago.

  52. By the way, I was right in my speculation as to what Obama found, when I wrote about the Reggie Love story. I said:

    There is a much more benign and plausible explanation of the statement of Reggie Love, the “two certificate hypothesis.” It goes this way: Obama indeed did find his birth certificate, possibly the very one he mentioned in his book Dreams from My Father (page 26), sometime after becoming President. So why not show this certificate rather than get a fresh one from the State of Hawaii. I can think of two reasonable alternatives:

    1) The found certificate was not an official state certificate, but a souvenir from the hospital. Hospitals give out such things, but they are not official.

    2) Obama’s attorney advised publishing a certificate with a chain of custody–issued by the State of Hawaii, personally delivered to Obama’s attorney, and hand carried from Hawaii back to Washington.

  53. Slartibartfast says:

    Charo,

    Thanks for planting a big fat piece of birther misinformation in this thread: The story says President Obama found the “footie” BC on the third night SPENT AT HIS CHICAGO HOME AFTER THE ELECTION, not his third night as President. Sorry, but your confirmation bias is showing… If one assumes that “seven years” really should have been “seventeen years”, then there are no other discrepancies in the story.

  54. Rickey says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    By the way, I was right in my speculation as to what Obama found, when I wrote about the Reggie Love story. I said:

    There is a much more benign and plausible explanation of the statement of Reggie Love, the “two certificate hypothesis.” It goes this way: Obama indeed did find his birth certificate, possibly the very one he mentioned in his book Dreams from My Father (page 26), sometime after becoming President. So why not show this certificate rather than get a fresh one from the State of Hawaii. I can think of two reasonable alternatives:

    1) The found certificate was not an official state certificate, but a souvenir from the hospital. Hospitals give out such things, but they are not official.

    2) Obama’s attorney advised publishing a certificate with a chain of custody–issued by the State of Hawaii, personally delivered to Obama’s attorney, and hand carriedfrom Hawaii back to Washington.

    That is a very plausible scenario.

    If Obama had released the souvenir hospital birth certificate there would have been cries of “no seal” and “forgery.” Plus the birthers would have demanded that Obama produce his footprints to compare with the ones on the hospital document.

  55. Rickey says:

    charo: .“I remember” is different than stating “I remember when I heard…”

    I remember when JFK was shot, but I wasn’t in Dallas. I wasn’t even in Texas.

  56. charo says:

    Slartibartfast:
    Charo,

    Thanks for planting a big fat piece of birther misinformation in this thread:The story says President Obama found the “footie” BC on the third night SPENT AT HIS CHICAGO HOME AFTER THE ELECTION, not his third night as President.Sorry, but your confirmation bias is showing…If one assumes that “seven years” really should have been “seventeen years”, then there are no other discrepancies in the story.

    I welcomed comments. I am thankful for them. Another commenter found another discrepancy. I don’t believe Obama was born in Kenya.

    A question:

    “On the back was a picture of a Hawaiian queen. On one inside page were his name, his mother’s name, and his date of birth; on the other were his infant footprints.”

    Do you notice an item missing from the inside souvenir booklet information related? It may not be missing on the actual document, but the bit of information is not listed in the book excerpt.

  57. CarlOrcas says:

    Rickey: If Obama had released the souvenir hospital birth certificate there would have been cries of “no seal” and “forgery.” Plus the birthers would have demanded that Obama produce his footprints to compare with the ones on the hospital document.

    The birther rabbit hole is never ending.

  58. charo says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    A metaphorical podium.

    I assumed the podium was the White House one.

  59. gorefan says:

    Slartibartfast: SPENT AT HIS CHICAGO HOME AFTER THE ELECTION

    In fairness to Charo, I misread it too.

  60. CarlOrcas says:

    charo: Do you notice an item missing from the inside souvenir booklet information related? It may not be missing on the actual document, but the bit of information is not listed in the book excerpt.

    “Missing” or not mentioned? And…….either way……so?

  61. Slartibartfast says:

    Charo,

    I was merely pointing out your hypocrisy—you accused Doc of bias while making factual errors which suggest that you considered the story only through your birther “rose-colored glasses”, so to speak. You may not believe that President Obama was born in Kenya, but you are no more “fair and balanced” than Fox news.

    As for “what’s missing” in a brief description of 50-year-old document? Are you serious? I’m sure that there are many details regarding the document that the authors didn’t know or didn’t feel to be necessary to the story.

    The fact is that, to any rational person, this story is devastating to the birther theories as it is another piece of evidence which fits flawlessly (well, except for the “seven years” bit…) into the narrative President Obama has presented while requiring birthers (like David Farrar who has been stating that this type of certificate is the only form of independent proof he would accept) to come up with even more ridiculous theories like the FBI forged this unofficial document which was never released.

    The fact is that the obots have scientific (i.e. falsifiable) theories as to how everything happened that are completely consistent with the extant evidence while the birthers keep adding epicycles to the epicycles on their baseless theories.

    charo: I welcomed comments.I am thankful for them.Another commenter found another discrepancy.I don’t believe Obama was born in Kenya.

    A question:

    “On the back was a picture of a Hawaiian queen. On one inside page were his name, his mother’s name, and his date of birth; on the other were his infant footprints.”

    Do you notice an item missing from the inside souvenir booklet information related?It may not be missing on the actual document, but the bit of information is not listed in the book excerpt.

  62. charo says:

    gorefan: In fairness to Charo, I misread it too.

    Actually, Gorefan, I never said anything about the three days issue; that was you. When I correct someone like Slarti, Dr. Conspiracy bullhorns that I am playing the victim.

    In any case, can you answer my question about the omission on the souvenir? I am curious as to how obvious it is. Thanks.

  63. charo says:

    Slartibartfast: As for “what’s missing” in a brief description of 50-year-old document? Are you serious? I’m sure that there are many details regarding the document that the authors didn’t know or didn’t feel to be necessary to the story.

    Interesting answer when you know what was omitted.

    I doubt that I am always fair and balanced. Are you?

  64. gorefan says:

    charo: I am curious as to how obvious it is. Thanks.

    No mention of his father?

  65. CarlOrcas says:

    charo: Interesting answer when you know what was omitted.

    What was omitted……and how do you know?

  66. charo says:

    gorefan: No mention of his father?

    Bingo. I looked at a hospital souvenir from Fogbow, and both parents were listed. I wanted to see what a hospital souvenir looked like. Mine had my father’s name, but I don’t know what would be true of all states. Anyways, when I googled, the Fogbow image came up.

  67. Thomas Brown says:

    Ooooh, tell us… what was omitted? Describe this one more tiny, inconceivably trivial inconsistency; add it to the pile of clipping masks, halos, kerning, rubber stamps vs. metal, African instead of Negro, wrong birth date of father, wrong hospital name, race codes in pencil, certificate numbers out of order, smiley faces, etc. etc. etc. that have all been shown to be utterly unremarkable and not signs of forgery at all.

    Oh, pray do.

    Because eventually (as in any day now) one of them will turn into pay dirt, and the frog-marching can surely begin.

  68. charo says:

    Gorefan,

    Addendum to my answer (If you catch up G, I know you and I laugh at some of the same references).

    Here you go; I like to laugh at my own jokes, sign of the crazy 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMRo5XCKddQ

  69. Thomas Brown says:

    OMG! Alert Congress!

    All hospital birth souvernirs are apparently standardized, and MUST include the name of the father or they’re fake.

    By George, you’ve done it. Proof positive! Order the frogs!

  70. charo says:

    Thomas Brown:
    Ooooh, tell us… what was omitted?Describe this one more tiny, inconceivably trivial inconsistency; add it to the pile of clipping masks, halos, kerning, rubber stamps vs. metal, African instead of Negro, wrong birth date of father, wrong hospital name, race codes in pencil, certificate numbers out of order, smiley faces, etc. etc. etc. that have all been shown to be utterly unremarkable and not signs of forgery at all.

    Oh, pray do.

    Because eventually (as in any day now) one of them will turn into pay dirt, and the frog-marching can surely begin.

    It was omitted in the book description discussing the hospital souvenir. You can take the view that the authors felt the information unimportant or that the souvenir for some reason did not put it in the booklet.

  71. gorefan says:

    charo: Bingo

    That doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Or how it is written on the document (Trumps reads “Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Trump”). It could mean that whoever related the story to Halpern left it off or maybe Halpern left it off. Or maybe that the father was never present at the hospital. We don’t know and we won’t know until we see the document.

    Looking at other non-Obama hospital certificates (especially if not from Kapiolani Hospital) does not answer the question.

  72. charo says:

    charo: Do you notice an item missing from the inside souvenir booklet information related? It may not be missing on the actual document, but the bit of information is not listed in the book excerpt.

    See my comment above, Thomas Brown.

  73. charo says:

    gorefan: That doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Or how it is written on the document (Trumps reads “Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Trump”). It could mean that whoever related the story to Halpern left it off or maybe Halpern left it off.Or maybe that the father was never present at the hospital. We don’t know and we won’t know until we see the document.

    Wouldn’t you rather see the issue discussed here? I believe I have addressed your points in a couple of comments. I herein incorporate any omissions on my part.

  74. CarlOrcas says:

    charo: Bingo. I looked at a hospital souvenir from Fogbow, and both parents were listed.

    Uh…..the souvenir birth certificate I found on Fogbow is from The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC…..from 1952.

    Have you seen a souvenir certificate from Kapiolani from 1961?

  75. CarlOrcas says:

    charo: Wouldn’t you rather see the issue discussed here?

    What “issue”? Please explain what “issue” you see and what you think it means.

  76. Rickey says:

    charo: It was omitted in the book description discussing the hospital souvenir.You can take the view that the authors felt the information unimportant or that the souvenir for some reason did not put it in the booklet.

    How do you know that the authors have even seen the hospital souvenir?

    If they had written that they saw it and it doesn’t contain the name of Obama’s father, that would be one thing. But they didn’t say that, did they?

    Is Dr. Sinclair’s name missing as well? They don’t mention Dr. Sinclair, so do we therefore jump to conclusion that his name is not on the souvenir?

  77. charo says:

    Rickey: How do you know that the authors have even seen the hospital souvenir?

    If they had written that they saw it and it doesn’t contain the name of Obama’s father, that would be one thing. But they didn’t say that, did they?

    Is Dr. Sinclair’s name missing as well? They don’t mention Dr. Sinclair, so do we therefore jump to conclusion that his name is not on the souvenir?

    Of course you’re correct. The father is not relevant for a keepsake. Technically, a father does not have to even be on the legal certificate. Such an omission is completely irrelevant to the birther issue they wrote about. Why would they have even thought to pursue it?

  78. Slartibartfast says:

    charo,

    I’d rather see people like you admit the obvious lack of merit and integrity in every single birther argument. By raising your “concerns”, you imply a false equivalence (the idea that the birther position is in any way reasonable) which I find to be very disingenuous. You may not explicitly support birther positions, but I think you bend over backwards to make them seem plausible, which makes you an enabler. Just my $0.02.

    charo: Wouldn’t you rather see the issue discussed here?

  79. Bob says:

    No Ukelele?

  80. CarlOrcas says:

    Bob:
    No Ukelele?

    Or smiley face? Very suspicious.

  81. I failed to pick up on the conspiracy angle of the story. One of the more obscure turns in the birther maze is the theory that Ann Dunham did not die on November 7, 1995, but lived after that (based on birther public records dumpster diving). The statement in the book that 2011 was 7 years after her death has added to that theory. Orly Taitz has a press release touting the new detail: “Press release: new book “Double Down unwittingly confirms data by Investigator Sankey showing Stanley Ann Dunham either being alive after 1995 or someone using her Social Security number past 1995.”

  82. sactosintolerant says:

    I know its unnecessary, but to add my two cents of anecdata… I’ve had two family members give me wildly incorrect years of death for their parents. The death certificates and gravestones say otherwise, and I’d bet the chances of incorrectness grow exponentially when the dates are heard second or third hand.

    But I’m pretty sure this makes his mom the forger… and Happersett anyway!

  83. G says:

    ROTFL! Yep, we do laugh at a lot of the same references! Always got a kick out of those movies…great clip! 🙂

    charo:
    Gorefan,

    Addendum to my answer (If you catch up G, I know you and I laugh at some of the same references).

    Here you go; I like to laugh at my own jokes, sign of the crazy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMRo5XCKddQ

  84. G says:

    I’m with you. I’ve always considered Mark Halperin to be a pompous hack, often with his own personal ego-driven agenda and I’m skeptical of anything he says or writes, supposedly sourced or not.

    W. Kevin Vicklund: Then again, this is Mark Halperin, so who knows?

    I’m skeptical of anything in this book.

  85. Goal Poster says:

    Why didn’t they post a pdf of it?!
    How come the alleged witnesses never mentioned it?

    plus now some chick is buttressing the Larry Sinclair homo crack allegations:

    http://www.birtherreport.com/2013/11/obama-acquaintance-obama-was-foreign-student.html

    Those Christians sure do witness!!!

  86. Orly Taitz demands equal time:

    “The public is asked to contact NBC and demand equal time, demand to invite Attorney Orly Taitz to “Today” show, which aired this piece and provide documents and evidence showing that not only Obama does not have a valid birth certificate, he does not have any valid IDs and he stole the US presidency by virtue of fraud and with fabricated IDs.”

  87. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: Orly Taitz demands equal time:

    “You are in a position to demand nothing. I, on the other hand, am in a position to grant nothing.”, Khan Noonien Singh

  88. Jim says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:Orly Taitz demands equal time:

    I think they may have already filled their “Crackpot Quota” for the month. Try again next month Orly.

  89. Rickey says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    I failed to pick up on the conspiracy angle of the story. One of the more obscure turns in the birther maze is the theory that Ann Dunham did not die on November 7, 1995, but lived after that (based on birther public records dumpster diving). The statement in the book that 2011 was 7 years after her death has added to that theory. Orly Taitz has a press release touting the new detail: “Press release: new book “Double Down unwittingly confirms data by Investigator Sankey showing Stanley Ann Dunham either being alive after 1995 or someone using her Social Security number past 1995.”

    Another manifest example of Orly’s ignorance.

    I just reviewed a LexisNexis report on a man whose credit history has him living at an address in Elmhurst, N.Y. from 1983 up to and including last month. However, the man died in 2004. This sort of thing happens all the time.

    Nobody was “using” Stanley Ann Dunham’s SSN after she died in 1995.

  90. BillTheCat says:

    Concerned Charo is concerned.

  91. bob says:

    I wish birthers would decide if the story is false (a fortification of the born-in-Hawaii “story”) or true (and therefore indirection confirmation there’s something on the souvenir certificate that Obama is hiding).

  92. CarlOrcas says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Please note photo added to this article.

    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/image15.png

    This is not the back of Obama’s hospital birth certificate, right?

  93. Well, err. That’s an interesting question. What do you think?

    One of the following is the correct answer.

    1. Savannah Guthrie sent this to me. She said that Obama showed it to her privately on April 27, 2011 after his formal TV announcement and she snapped a picture. That’s her thumb holding it. She said “he looked like the cat that swallowed the canary.” Guthrie sent it to me for all the effort I made defending her honor on the Internet.

    2. Brooks Jackson, executive director of FactCheck.org, was investigating the Reggie Love story and one of their staffers went to the White House and photographed the Obama souvenir birth certificate. There was not enough interest in the story at the time to publish it, but they are working on a major piece now. Jackson sent it to me in advance as a reward for helping keep the birthers off his neck.

    3. I just happened to be watching a movie today, not looking for a birth certificate, and up popped this anonymous Kapi’olani keepsake birth certificate. What an amazing coincidence! I grabbed a photo. My ex used to say that all I had to do was open my mouth and a roast chicken would fly into it.

    4. President Obama is afraid one of the birther lawsuits could force him to disclose some of his birth documents, so he let’s me keep all of them in my bank safe deposit box so he can deny that he has them, or delay the process until he can get a subpoena quashed. Obama is a big fan of this blog, and he posts here from time to time under a pseudonym. The whitehouse.gov email address gives it away.

    CarlOrcas: This is not the back of Obama’s hospital birth certificate, right?

  94. CarlOrcas says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: One of the following is the correct answer.

    If I was capable of thinking like a birther I would really like #4.

    #2 sounds plausible but, as I recall, Brooks retired a couple years ago but I believe he’s still involved with FactCheck.org so this one makes sense given the quality of the image.

    #1 is a little too kinky.

    #3 is possible but the finger visible in the lower right hand corner might be a problem.

    So…..all things considered I’ll go with #2.

  95. So Alison, what’s behind Door Number 2 for CarlOrcas?

    CarlOrcas: So…..all things considered I’ll go with #2.

  96. CarlOrcas says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: So Alison, what’s behind Door Number 2 for CarlOrcas?

    LOL!!

    Okay…..I give up.

  97. Crustacean says:

    Really leaning toward #3 here, though I have to admit I didn’t know roasted chickens could fly…

    Dr. Conspiracy: One of the following is the correct answer.

  98. Yes, it’s number 3. I was watching this:

    http://vimeo.com/58641733

    And there it was. It first I thought it was a Nordyke certificate, but carefully looking at the smudged writing upper right, I think it is a hospital room number and a name that starts with “M” and definitely isn’t “Nordyke.”

    Crustacean: Really leaning toward #3 here, though I have to admit I didn’t know roasted chickens could fly…

  99. Daniel says:

    Ok folks, when Doc speaks, it’s forks up, BBQ sauce at the ready, heads on a swivel.

    Them roast chickens don’t stand a chance.

  100. nbc says:

    McCarrister or McCorrister

  101. CarlOrcas says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Yes, it’s number 3. I was watching this:

    http://vimeo.com/58641733

    And there it was. It first I thought it was a Nordyke certificate, but carefully looking at the smudged writing upper right, I think it is a hospital room number and a name that starts with “M” and definitely isn’t “Nordyke.”

    Ah……when you said “watching a movie” I thought you meant something like Casablanca or Plan 9 From Outer Space, or some such.

    I was getting scared that it was #1.

  102. There are some McCorristers in Hawaii. William McCorrister was president of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 1988.

    nbc: McCarrister or McCorrister

  103. nbc says:

    Yes, that’s how far I have gotten. The newspaper announcements for Obama’s birth do not have a McCorrister mentioned afaict

  104. G says:

    ROTFL! That and the ZONK! image… LOL… ah, sometimes I come here just for the humor… 😉

    CarlOrcas: Ah……when you said “watching a movie” I thought you meant something like Casablanca or Plan 9 From Outer Space, or some such.

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