Parting shots
As the days go by, birtherism recedes farther and farther into irrelevancy, and I was just a little surprised to see the topic revisited yet again by President Obama’s speech writers at the White House Correspondents’ Association Annual Dinner this year [video embedded at the end of the article]. I thoroughly enjoyed the speech, from the opening moment when the band played “Hail to the Ferns.” Birthers got skewered a couple of times.
After noting that an American won the Boston Marathon for the first time in 30 years, Obama said:
It’s only fair since a Kenyan has been president for the last six.
I think the second one the more interesting:
Let’s face it, Fox, you will miss me when I’m gone. It will be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.
I think the subtext of that joke was a commentary on just how crazy political opposition has become in the age of Internet blog-based conspiracism, and a foretaste of what a Hillary Clinton race for President might look like.
While I enjoyed Obama’s remarks, I hope that this is the last Correspondents’ Dinner with birther jokes. Birthers are yesterday’s news (except in our little niche).
A strategy that drags on too long becomes a drag.
— Saul Alinsky
Exit strategy
Over at Birther Report I get asked from time to time what my “exit strategy” is. I don’t know quite how to take the question, since I don’t think I need an exit strategy. I have no debts to pay off from running the blog. Birthers think (or claim to think since I find it hard to really believe them) that bloggers who make fun of them will be prosecuted for treason and sent to jail, but in fact such a thing is patently absurd.
A fellow made an injudicious comment here a few days back and became embroiled in a discussion he probably didn’t want to be in. I was going to share my exit strategy with him:
Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and look for a blue button labeled “Submit Comment.” Don’t push it.
Read more:
- Reactions at Birther Report
Continue to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner video…
The President jokes, the birthers choke:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/05/obama-mocks-ineligibility-kenyan-has.html#idc-cover
I think the birthers who were already struggling with “keeping the faith” feel completely demoralized after that dinner video, and the dyed-in-the-wool “true believers” like Falcon are off in corner somewhere stomping their feet at Obama’s “audacity”. It’s gonna be an entertaining week. 🙂
If a birther asked me what my “exit strategy” I would response with two questions of my own:
Why would I possibly need one?
What is yours? After all, you have been advocating the overthrow of the United States Government, which is a Federal Crime. You are the one who needs one, not me.
IMHO, the birther jokes are still relevant when 1/4 of Americans doubt the President was born here.
IMHO the birther jokes are still relevant because…they still get LAUGHS! They’ve been reduced to a punchline in the Obama Presidency. 😆
As if they were ever anything but.
Some of the opposition to Obama is so far-fetched and OTT that it does have some clownish value.
Apuzzo isn’t funny (IMHO) but Orly is virtually a character by Nicole Sullivan on MAD TV.
The president makes birther jokes every once in a while because The Birther Cult is “red meat” to his political base of supporters.
Who are the other Americans who constantly have their citizenship challenged? Why its Latino-Americans and Asian-Americans. President Obama received 73% of the Asian-American vote and 71% of the Latino-American vote.
Yes! She’s half-Vancome lady from Mad TV, and Half-Chicken Lady from “The Kinds in the Hall”.
Exactly!
Obama mocks them and they still don’t get it. Nobody ever said the birthers were an intellectual bunch.
From Rockstar at BR:
“This president just can’t seem to stop bringing up the fact that he’s Kenyan born, he must be really freaking out just below the surface of his thin skin.”
Freaking out? He is showing you that he ISN’T freaking out. He’s LAUGHING at you!
LOL
My “exit” strategy is to wave “bye”, as the birthers, heads drooping in defeat, shuffle slowly out the door.
A comment from the BR article:
“Reagans_Ghost 83p · 6 hours ago
The fact that Obots have been reduced to visiting this site just to post some lame birther jokes is PROOF POSITIVE that Hussein is FINISHED. Benghazi will SINK his “Presidency”, but Arpaio will DESTROY him. It’s going to get rough my friends: he will attempt to crash the economy, he may try a FALSE FLAG event, but stay strong and PRAY. I know the ending to this story: God WINS. For those of you who are Catholics, pray to St. John Paul II, because he once helped Reagan DEFEAT the COMMIES, he can help us once more!!”
Comedy gold. 🙂
LOL! Are you sure he isn’t one of ours?
At BR, comment by “Rockstar” in response to someone saying that the jokes were funny:
At this point I wonder, as I so often do, if this is an actual birther or a Fogbow parody.
At this point, it doesn’t matter. They’re all a parody, they’ve got nothing else.
I sure hope somebody writes a book about the Birther Movement. Just an overview of the characters (felons, con-men, forgers, grifters, lunatics, etc.) would be entertaining. Scathing but dignified put-downs from court decisions; the contradictory, impossible theories and assertions; and all those “You’ll be sorry” and Any day now” comments from the faithful like those above…. priceless. They really should be collected so we can continue to laugh at them in posterity.
In fairness, those plastic coffins for the mass graves are pretty sweet.
I like to add: and you’re doing so based on a story that’s so lame that, if your teenager used it to excuse missing curfew, you’d ground him for an extra week for making it up.
Obama hasn’t said anything about doing any of those things to me, but birthers have.
I find that the crazier the claim, the bigger the disconnect from reality. I mean look at Taitz. I’d say she’s firmly grounded in Twin Peaks.
Birtherism will not be over until the next president is sworn into office on that cold day. The next birther scare will be the fictitious notion of B.H.O halting elections or martial law or whatever other scheme there is to keep being the leader of the “Free” world, if it hasn’t started already.
That ones been in the works for years. It doesn’t get much attention anymore though. About 2010 it was a mainstay of half of all birther posts.
Why would it be over then? Birthers will still not accept the US ever had a black President, and will probably start suing encyclopedia publishers for fraud because they have “Barack Hussein Obama II.” listed as the 44th President of the United States, “and I didn’t pay $$$ for a lying book”.
Or they will picket the Presidential library (though I doubt they’ll ever set foot outside their basements for the most part).
Yeah, makes about as much sense as vegans boycotting a butcher shop.
You forget the regurgitation cycle that will start when his term is near the end.
My exit strategy is simple, a large bottle of my favorite alcoholic beverage and multiple toasts to Doc, Foggy, RC, and all for an entertaining 8+ years of debunking, making jokes about, and laughing at birther impotence.
Hear, hear.
Karl Gall Oops!: “Today a special, SPECIAL show here on Free Dumb Friday, to reassure and revitalize our listeners about the imminent Obama-ruining Zoo Low Our Pie Hole Universe Shattering evidence release press conference. But first, an inspirational, uplifting Keynote statement by an early casualty of the Birther movement, professional poker-playing former attorney, Lee Oh Donna FreeHole!”
Lee Oh Donna FreeHole:”We live under a Karma-licious God! Peace everybody! Peace. My fellow patriots, like most of you, my ancestors came here to escape religious persecution – not to have to listen to some Godless Black Protestant lesbian whine about a real woman’s right to choose. Now if I’ve been right about Obama being an usurper, this nation is doomed in a matter of years – finished! But if he’s the Constitutionally eligible, and twice legally elected POTUS, then with Peace and Love, I hope everybody dies tomorrow. Peace everybody.
Karl Gall Oops!:”You have not lost it, Lee Oh! Next on the program is Share Odd RoundOh, who is the Delivery Girl, the photographer, the Publisher and the Editor-in-chief of a news-sheet-like publication called the “Dumb-As-A-Post & E-mail. She’s here to describe the extensive press coverage – I call it MAJOR MEDIA that is already lined up – and it’s LOCKED IN – to cover the Universe-shattering Our Pie Hole and Zoo Low NEW EVIDENCE news presser that’s been so close – so VERY close to happening for, well –so VERY FEW really – years. Now Share Odd, introduce us to the extensive staff of your publication which has EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE RIGHTS for that upcoming press conference!”
Share Odd RoundOh: Well Karl, our columnists and reporters are, in no particular order, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and finally, not to be left out, in a watch dog role over the rest of the staff, ME writing under the pen name ‘Major Media! How’s that for fair and balanced?
Karl Gall Oops!: “Fair enough, Share Odd ! Next Listeners, we’d like to play an audio trailer of Mike Zoo Low’s performance on the Birther Jeopardy segment we taped for next week’s Free Dumb Friday program, and Listeners – if you didn’t think Cold Case Poosie lead investigator Milke Zoo Low knew THE LAW, just listen to this! (Tape begins.)
Karl Gall Oops!: “ Mike Zoo Low, in the category of ‘Degrees of Evidence’ I’m going to reel off example of evidence types you’ve been gathering, and for $25 each, you provide us with the technical name of each stated as a question. Here we go. Examples of this 1st type might be animus-driven conclusory allegations of high crimes and speculative criminal guilt based on imaginary or assumed facts about Obama”
Mike Zoo Low:”What is irrefutable evidence?” (Bing!)
Karl Gall Oops!:”Correct, and next, an example of another type of evidence might be a publicly confirmed state signed and certified official birth record, establishing with the full faith and credit of the U.S. the vital facts of Obama’s birth.”
Mike Zoo Low:”What is inadmissible and non-probative evidence?” (Bing!)
Karl Gall Oops!:”Correct, and a third type of evidence might be a forged document, doctored photograph, or false statement accusing Obama of murder or other impeachable crimes.”
Mike Zoo Low:”What is HARD evidence?” (Bing!)
Karl Gall Oops!:”Correct, and the fourth type of evidence might be general hatred of Obama, or some damning rumor about Obama which, ala Tim Adams, it is claimed, represented horrendous criminality the certainty of which, even with no supporting evidence, EVERYBODY KNEW!”
Mike Zoo Low:”What is absolute PROOF?” (Bing!)
(Tape ends)
Karl Gall Oops!” BUT, SURPRISE, Listeners! Here’s Mike Zoo Low on the phone right now – he and I just privately shared a hollow laugh, but he’s here to update us on the TIMING of the release – the TIMING – the TIMING! It matters – I KNOW it MATTERS to some folks, and you’ve been patient with us, and I promise you – today you’re going to get something you can count on – we can finally give you a time and date to hold on to and – HERE! – I’ll say it – HOLD US to! Take a deep breath and give us that update Mike!”
Mike Zoo Low:”Okay, Karl, okay! Now, like I say, I can’t go into all the details but we’re close enough to ‘done’ now for me to say, without reservation, if you’ve got your calendars out, AND keeping it REAL, we can finally narrow the presser time frame down to this, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really can’t say.”
Karl Gall Oops!:”WOW! Circle your entire calendar, people! And here’s breaking average Birther reaction from frequent BR commenter Foul Con, go ahead, Foul!”
Foul Con:” It’s clear now that the Obot Saul Alinsky strategy has succumbed to the Birther Barnum and Bailey strategy! I like the CCP’s approach of letting Obama’s worst crime in the history of our nation continue through a second complete Presidential term because I’m pretty sure that tactic scares the Obots, and I’m even more sure that I have no friends.”
Karl Gall Oops!:”What an uplifting show this has been! Let’s recap what we learned today that was new! The Obama ineligibility and criminal forgery investigations are going hot and heavy, hot and heavy, both are beaut’s, we’ve got a bevy! Hey! And starting today, every dollar you donate here gets you a vote for what month and day we release the Universe-shattering evidence, and, I promise you, all Mike Zoo Low and I will do will be to use our experience in law-enforcement, to pick the perfect decade for that release. And finally, and this is ALL NEW, what I CAN tell you about that release date is this: Sooner or later, it will be sooner than later.”