Citizenship

h/t Right Wing Watch.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is not exactly known as a towering intellect, although he's a panderer to wingnuts par excellence. Just days *after* he assured an FDL crew that he knew that Obama was born in Hawaii, he told a town hall audience that he wanted to file a lawsuit demanding that Obama produce his long-form birth certificate. It would appear Franks has calculated that there are votes in them thar wingnuts, because his statement at the Take Back America conference over the weekend is clearly tapping into that angry, violent undercurrent:

Obama's first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers' money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries...there's almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn't be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can't do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity.

You stay classy there, Trent. Remember when the GOP lost their minds because one of the Dixie Chicks said only that she was ashamed of being from the same state as the president? How in the world can they justify such over-the-top nastiness now? If the majority party wasn't so gutless, I'd think a formal censure in the House would be considered.

John Amato:

Calling Obama an enemy of the people puts a big fat target on his back. These elected officials are acting like militia members who fly to DC in black helicopters and are helping to plan a violent act against him. It's dangerous and disrespectful and he should be called out publicly for his behavior.



You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!
DOWNLOADS: (115)
Download WMV Download Quicktime
PLAYS: (2880)
Play WMV Play Quicktime

Rep. Mike Castle faced an angry constituent who wanted to know why he wasn't doing more about expose President Barack Obama's true Kenyan citizenship. To the lawmakers credit, he attempted to knock down that rumor.

The episode bares some resemblance to a McCain supporter that insisted Obama was an Arab. Saturday Night Live famously mocked the incident.

Dave Weigel has more details here.


SCOTUS rejects case questioning Obama's eligibility

DOWNLOAD (30)
WMV QuickTime
PLAY (68)
WMV QuickTime

That sound you hear is wingnuts weeping across the country.

AP:

The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.

The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election. Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth _ his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject _ he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

I'm with Anonymous Liberal: What, exactly, is the endgame here? If someone proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that President-elect Obama wasn't born in Hawaii, where do we go form there? It's pretty clear that the people who are doing the questioning have no clue.