This is a bit of a crisis for this blog. With Ted Cruz officially out of the race for president, the tangential issue of what constitutes a natural born citizen drops out of the news and while the frontrunner Donald Trump is a birther, it hardly seems likely we’ll see it much about it in the news.
The Melendres v. Arpaio lawsuit isn’t generating any news right now. The last birther joke (unless Trump gets elected) has been told at at White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
I was talking to Foggy yesterday, and he said that interest in birthers at The Fogbow had waned and that they are now more interested in sovereign citizens.
I may have to get a life.
Trump on CNN today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDBZsICJMU
Also repeated the Hillary the first birther nonsense.
I’m curious what birthers are going to do now that they don’t have Ted Cruz to kick around any more. They’ll cheerlead for Trump, surely. But what else?
Relax for the first time in 8 years. *lol*
There are reports of record sales in guns and it ain’t over, I’m sure. But, today was a good day. Keep your powder dry, folks.
Trump2016!
This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again
For this is the end
I’ve drowned and dreamt this moment
So overdue I owe them
Swept away, I’m stolen
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At Skyfall
At Skyfall
I never understood the point of that claim. Does it somehow give it credibility?
Birther Report will migrate to sovereign citizen stuff as will the Post and E-Mail.
Apuzzo will continue to post comments to the thread that will never die at WFP.
Mike Volin will announce he has a new plan for Congress to start investigating President Obama.
Carl Gallups will simply never mention the birth certificate investigation again even when interviewing Mike Zullo.
And of course they will all celebrate when they finally drive President Obama from office in 2017.
And Mike Volin will announce he has a new plan for Congress to investigate former-President Obama.
Over at Birfoon Report the hard core, whilst indulging in an onanistc orgy of self congratulations about being the tip of the spear that drove Cruz our, are now starting to get real worries that Donny Combover may as his pick for VP select what they regard as a non NBC.
Right now the transition is how Drumpf will somehow become prez then act as judge jury and executioner over Obama or how wicked and evil HITLERY is…..
Same old same old, just rinse and repeat with their ever flexible cast of characters
Hi Bovril!
I think it would be fair to say the withdrawal of Cruz from the race is one of, if not the, biggest victory the birthers have ever had (not that they had anything to do with it). Which is pretty pathetic.
At this point, the only question is how much more irrelevant can the birthers become? Barring a non-birther friendly Veep candidate, it would seem that the presidential contest, for all it’s many faults, won’t have any birthers—even if it gets brought up, Trump certainly isn’t going to pander to the birfistani.
Among primitive groups like the neandercons, “Billy started it” and “Johnny did it too (especially if he did it first)” are considered valid defenses for bad behavior.
In this particular case, though, they also think it helps deflect criticism that birtherism is based on, or used as a cover for, racism. Although they miss the irony that a lot of the people who use it also accuse Clinton of being racist in her 2008 campaign. Ah, well: if they were smart, they wouldn’t be birfoons…
My local rag here in the South of France (which I refer to as “the paper that not even the fish want to be wrapped in”) devoted 3/4 of its front page this morning to “explaining” Trump to the average French Monsieur (& Madame). If it really wasn’t so sad, there were several hilarious bits, as the one where they compared the Orange One to the wrestlers who made the fortune of his casinos–once. (The writer was unaware of Jesse Ventura as a proto-Trump.)
The article actually mentioned “birthers” (in English) to explain how Trump was initially able to carve himself a niche in the right-wing political universe with the knowing wink-wink of the more established republicans, who have since regretted it. I think this is the first time that I actually read the word “birthers in a French paper, although no doubt they must have been mentioned before somewhere.
Drawing a line from the birthers’ lunatic credos to Trump’s victory is arguably correct; the writer of the article seems to feel that the voters are not really taken in — again, an analogy with wrestling which everybody knows is fixed, but everyone goes along with the charade — but go along, in this case to get their revenge at the political class which they feel have been pissing on them. All in all, not a bad analysis.
Finally, the article points out that if Trump seduced half of the GOP, that still leaves 75% of the country against him; so they don’t seem to take his chances very seriously.
Last night, I put on Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC and saw him do a whole bit about Trump and Birtherism. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KvA7r3w1zQ
Not so fast, Doc. First, Trumpolini has to show a real birth certificate, not that pdf that he posted. Second, he has to show proof that his Scottish-born mother actually naturalized before he was born. And third, there is the issue of whether he has a claim on UK citizenship.
Your work is not done until you have well and truly birfed the birther-in chief.
I don’t think the French should have that much difficulty understanding Trump. There are many parallels with Berlusconi and he was in a neighboring country. Perhaps, he was excusable, given that expectations for politics in Italy are so low that nothing could be beneath them.
Meanwhile, in France (I was just there last week), Hollande’s approval is at 18%, a level even Bush never managed and I could easily imagine le Pen making the second round next year and doing considerably better`than her father did, as she is a much better candidate.
So now we get to keep worrying about that fascist asshole Trump being president for another 6 months?
Over on MoJo, a commenter pointed out that Cruz quit right after Trump started playing up the Cruz senior/Oswald connection. Sorry, birthers, you’ve been beaten to the punch again! The crazy, crazy, crazy punch.
True, although one needs to take into account that the previous candidates for “greatest birther victory” were things like David Farrar’s “little to no probative value is better than none” and Mario’s success showing cause that he shouldn’t be sanctioned for his frivolous litigation.
Then there was Sam Sewell’s steady drip of “We are winning, this we know,” because…?
It was because we were making fun of them, if I remember correctly.
There’s still time for them to set a lower bar to clear. Maybe “kept 0’Bummer from usurping a 3rd term”, or “drove the grasshoppers out of Finland.”
Where’s Sheriff Joe when I need him?
He still keeps that dog-dung blog on life support?
What a loser.
It’s the end for the birthers, too. At least as far as birfering goes.
At least for 4 years or so. Maybe then we’ll have a new (or repeat) “foreigner” for them to get their panties in a wad over.
Hey, if you’re getting flak, you must be right over the target.
On the other hand, maybe it’s because you’re the enemy of all that is decent and sane.
Digging a hidden tunnel out of Cell 78.
A local gun dealer commented that Obama was his best salesman.
BTW, this site passed 4,000 articles a while back.
It’s not quite that simple. Although the two major parties are about equal in affiliation, they’re both at about 30% of the population (slightly more for the Ds, slightly less for the Rs).
About 40% call themselves “independents” or “no party affiliation”. That group passed the major parties several years ago. There’s also some tiny percentage in the “fringe” parties (Libertarians, Greens, etc).
So Trump’s “half of the GOP” is only about 14% of the electorate. But he picks up about another 10% of it who have a “favorable” view of him from the other groups. The “unfavorable” is usually about 65-70%.
And some of that latter group will vote for him because their view of Clinton is even more unfavorable. So the race is much closer than it would be with a better candidate.
Close enough that one of the pundits pointed out recently that a major domestic terrorist attack could panic enough people to swing it to Trump. And the 6-month-long trend of his alienating more people every time he opens his mouth has flattened recently. Having watched the national nervous breakdown we had after 9/11, the future looks a little “iffy” right now.
Probably because he’s exhausted the list of people to alienate. He pretty much covered everyone except white Christian men.
It’s already been more than a year ago that many folks at Gerbil Report have settled for “we can’t do anything until he’s out of office”, so probably that is their “last stand” – the belief that it will somehow be easier to “prove” he was ineligible when he’s no longer President and therefore no longer so powerful.
Oh I don’t know, Obama should still be good for Birther Headlines for all time:
PROUD DUAL CITIZEN OBAMA LEADS FORBES- Great ExPatriotization Movement makes 12.6 Million Dollars from fleeing people- [ Obama has joked about his birth certificate, but accidental American status is no joke. Many end up in untenable financial situations, and hiking the fee to renounce by 422% didn’t help.] #Democrats #DemDebate #Election2016 #Clinton2016 #Sanders2016 #CRJ2016 #SCOTUS
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/05/06/many-americans-renounce-citizenship-even-before-president-trump/#42e66c0d2b66
Oh yeah.., it’s a lot easier when you are not closeting the Attorney General or talking to the SCOTUS in Private after clubbing the OATH twice with Freudian Slips.
I have this bad habit of reading comments without noting the author first. “Hmm, this is turning out to be total gibberish.” [looks up at top of post] “Oh. Oh, right.”
That was great! Lol “those wink-winks” spent like 75 million in 64,000 television adds all for their “wink-wink” and it did them not-a-wink of good.
I was surprised to see ❤Hillary spent the MOST. .a cool 5.3 Million against Trump. [ Details http://codyjudy.blogspot.com/2016/05/breaking-special-report-donald-trump.html?m=1 ]
You know for all the “fringe” this and the “isolation” that’s thrown at ” Birthers” isn’t it remarkable the only Republican Candidate saying anything considered Pro- Birther is riding such a big Wave?
Holy Toledo, if I had only been the star of the Apprentice? Perhaps that’s what I lacked? Lol I think the French probably understand “birtherism” better than many Americans?
théoricien du complot qui croit que Barack Obama n’est pas éligible pour la présidence des États-Unis (théorie basée sur un nombre de plaintes en rapport avec son lieu de naissance [né au Kenya et non à Hawaï] et sur le fait que son acte de naissance serait un faux)
Wasn’t that esteemed Emerich de Vattel’s work first published in “French”?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Law_of_Nations
The work influencing greatly and as Benjamin Franklin put it, “coming to us I am much obliged by the kind present you have made us of your edition of (1775 Law of Nations)Vattel. It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising state make it necessary frequently to consult the law of nations. Accordingly that copy, which I kept, (after depositing one in our own public library here, and sending the other to the College of Massachusetts Bay, as you directed,) has been continually in the hands of the members of our Congress, now sitting, who are much pleased with your notes and preface, and have entertained a high and just esteem for their author. Your manuscript “Idee sur le Gouvernement et la Royaute” is also well relished, and may, in time, have its effect. I thank you, likewise, for the other smaller pieces, which accompanied Vattel.]
Fear not, for I have an idea (Help, help, everybody run, Comrade Fogovich has an idea!)
The Founding Fathers/Framers obviously never thought a woman would be eligible for the presidency, They weren’t even allowed to vote! The clear meaning of “natural born citizen,” at the time the Constitution was written, was “natural born MALE citizen”.
The Nineteenth Amendment gave them the right to vote, but it said nothing about making them eligible for the presidency. Thus, the original meaning of the Constitution remains intact and must be held sacrosanct and stuff.
So Hillary Clinton is ineligible. Problem solved, PLUS this gives the birthers a chance to continue racking up losses in court in an unbroken streak of constant failure. NOW how much would you pay?
Well, I don’t know, Mr. Friendly Stranger! I’m all for misogyny, of course, but it feels so simple and maybe even a bit old-fashioned. Isn’t there anything crazier you can throw in, too? Maybe something in a UN conspiracy?
Maybe a Pan American Union conspiracy?
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/intam02.asp
Whole lot of furriners in on that one.
While there are indeed many similarities, Silvio was a master politician. In order to win the March 1994 general election that brought him to power, he formed two separate electoral alliances: Polo delle Libertà with the Lega Nord in northern Italian districts, and another, Polo del Buon Governo, with the Alleanza Nazionale (Socialists) in the central and southern regions. As a result, Forza Italia was allied with two parties that were not allied with each other. Does this sound like Trump?
The French are notorious whingers and fairweather friends when it comes to polls. While it is true that Hollande’s 13% favorable is a historic low now, he was riding high in the polls after the terrorist attacks; and even Mitterand at his peak of good news (October 1985) got only 35% of favorables. So I wouldn’t put much trucking in those polls.
That said, it is true that Marine Le Pen stands an excellent chance of coming in second, possibly even first (due to political fractures on both right and left) in the first round of balloting, which would virtually insure her opponent’s victory (as in the Chirac/Le Pen match of 2002).
This article in English gives a good picture of the FN’s platform; most of which won’t come as a surprise, but some of it might:
http://www.france24.com/en/20140528-france-national-front-policy-eu