Questions Over Obama's Birthplace Go Mainstream

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Left Furious Over Suggestion Obama Was Born Overseas




*** MORE ON OBAMA - KENYA BIRTH STORY ***
*** ARRESTED BOSTON HOST: I'M FINISHED ***


A question that has lurked in the fringes for months has finally gone mainstream: was Barack Obama born in the United States? Though he could have resolved lingering questions long ago, Obama himself has kept the issue alive, partly by ducking the issue.

Until now, this matter didn't seem likely to break out beyond distant corners of the Internet, but Obama's refusal to allow the media to inspect an original copy of his birth certificate has allowed it to move to the front burner.

And after dismissing the issue for some time, talk hosts across the country have openly begun to discuss the controversy, enraging Obama's supporters on the far left.

Especially interesting is how talkers ordinarily at odds with one another like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and G Gordon Liddy have all raised the subject this week.


Moving the issue to the forefront is Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J Berg, who has fought an uphill legal battle seeking answers regarding Obama's true place of birth. From WorldNetDaily:

Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, who filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof of his American citizenship, now says that by failing to respond Obama has legally "admitted" to the lawsuit's accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya.


As WND reported, Berg filed suit in U.S. District Court in August, alleging Obama is not a natural-born citizen and is thus ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Though Obama has posted an image of a Hawaii birth certificate online, Berg demands that the court verify the original document, which the Obama campaign has not provided.


Now Berg cites Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that unless the accused party provides written answer or objection to charges within 30 days, the accused legally admits the matter.


Since Obama has only filed motions to dismiss and has not actually answered the charges in the lawsuit, Berg claims, according to Rule 36, Obama has legally admitted he is not a natural-born citizen.

On yesterday's show, Rush Limbaugh outlined one potential theory:

RUSH: "Barack Obama says he doesn't want to make the same mistake with his grandmother that he made with his dying mother," so today he's jetting off to Hawaii to make sure that doesn't happen. He was on The Early Show this morning with Harry Smith, and Smith said, "Lincoln said, 'All I ever hoped to be, I owe to her,' in speaking about his mother. Your grandmother, very much like a mother to you, how important is this trip?"


OBAMA: It's very important to me. My grandmother is the last one left, uh, she has really been the rock of the family and the foundation of the family, uh, whatever strength, discipline, uh, that I have, uh, it comes from her.


SMITH: You said in the past that you regretted your own mother's illness and her death came so quickly, you didn't have time to get back to --


RUSH: Stop the tape here a minute. Stop, recue this. Harry Smith is doing everything here but crying, everything but crying here. This is an embarrassment. You people in the media, you don't even care how embarrassing this is, you do not even care. Here it is again from the top.


OBAMA: It's very important to me. My grandmother's the last one left, uh --


RUSH: Right.


OBAMA: She has really been the rock of the family.


RUSH: I know.


OBAMA: And the foundation of the family, uh--


RUSH: Absolutely right.


OBAMA: Whatever the strength, discipline, uh --


RUSH: Hawaii all these years.


OBAMA: -- that I have, uh, it comes from her.


SMITH: You've said in the past that you regretted your own mother's illness and her death came so quickly, you didn't have time to get back to see her.


OBAMA: Got there too late. We knew she wasn't doing well, um, but the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time and we didn't, so I want to make sure that I don't, uh, I don't make, uh, the same mistake twice.


RUSH: Now, Harry Smith is very, very worried, ladies and gentlemen, that this could hurt Obama's campaign.


SMITH: Some people say there's risk involved in this, with so little time left.


OBAMA: Yeah. Well, the, uh, I think most people understand, uh, that if you're not, um, caring for your family, uh, then you're probably not, uh, the kind of person who's going to be caring for other people.


RUSH: Yeah, right. Okay. Now, I have some questions here, ladies and gentlemen. If Obama has this election in the bag, if he has this election in the bag, which they're all saying, I mean, he's building the stage. They're already putting together this massive little stage out there in Grant Park in Chicago. They're making all these postelection plans. They're working on the transition team. If it's in the bag, Obama, please, stop spending money on TV and radio spots. Stop raising more money. You already have tons of it. Stop campaigning all over the country. You're wasting fuel. You're emitting carbon dioxide along the way. If it's over, then behave like it's over. By the way, I'd like to be a little bit more inquisitive than the average reporter out there and observe that we've been hearing and reading for at least three days now that Obama's grandmother is deathly ill and that he's going to rush to her side in Hawaii.


Now, if he's already won the presidency, why hasn't he already gone to Hawaii? Why is he not already there? What's he waiting for? "If she's deathly ill," I'm pretending to be a reporter here. You know they'd ask McCain these questions. "If Obama's grandmother is deathly ill, why has this been announced days ago and he's only going now," or tomorrow, or whenever it is. Now, I understand, folks, Snerdley's got his head buried in his hands. I understand this, my friends, anything said about Obama is going to be turned into an unfair racist attack on the man. Am I not asking obvious questions? Who announces days in advance they're rushing to the side of a loved one who is deathly ill but keeps campaigning in a race that's said to be over, only to go to the loved one's side days later? See, I think this is about something else. You know what's really percolating out there? I've been laying low on this because it hasn't met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program.


This birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Philip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate and he still hasn't replied. You've got a deathly ill grandmother, you are going to rush to her side a few days from now, when you first announced this, you're going to rush, you're going to hurry, you're going to make tracks, you're going to get over there because you don't want your grandmother to die before you got there like your mother did, but somehow you keep campaigning, you take three days to get over there, if he's left yet, and this birth certificate business, I'm just wondering if something's up. I have no clue, and folks, I'm telling you, this has not reached the threshold until now, and it's popping up all over the place. There are a lot of people now that are starting to speculate and be curious about this.


I don't know, let's say for example that somebody does come up with proof that something's screwy with his birth certificate and something's screwy about the fact that he's allegedly a natural citizen, American citizen, but may not be, dual citizenship, born in Kenya, who knows, there's all kinds of stuff out -- so what? What's going to happen this late in the campaign? Do you think if it's proven that they're going to dump him? That's not going to happen.


But still, these are just questions that I have. And, look, both of my parents have died. When I was told the end was near, bam, I got there, fast as I could. I didn't announce to the audience, "I just got word my father is said to be passing away and in four or five days I'm going to go to Missouri. In the meantime, I will not leave you here on this radio program." These are just natural questions. I think any inquisitive reporter -- I know the risk I'm running here by raising all this. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that.

But that has the far-left Media Matters crowd in a tizzy. Here, they attack several hosts by name, sidestepping the fact that Obama has still refused to provide an original copy of his birth certificate for examination by the media:

Conservative radio hosts Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh and Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi -- who appeared as a guest on G. Gordon Liddy's radio show -- suggested or asserted that the true purpose of Sen. Barack Obama's current trip to Hawaii is not to visit his ailing grandmother, as Obama claims, but rather to address rumors -- widely debunked -- that Obama has failed to produce a valid U.S. birth certificate.


However, as Media Matters for America has documented, the Obama campaign posted a copy of Obama's birth certificate on its "Fight the Smears" website and reportedly provided the original document to FactCheck.org, whose staff concluded in an August 21 post that it "meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship." A Hawaiian Health Department official also reportedly confirmed to PolitiFact.com that Obama's birth certificate is valid, and even Corsi's employer, the right-wing website WorldNetDaily, reported in an August 23 article that a "WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic."

The bottom line: Media Matters doesn't want this issue even discussed on the air, period. They want to control the debate, but talk radio isn't playing by their rules.

Here, Comedy Central tries to spoof talk radio's questions, but it comes across like something written by an intern at Air America.

The real issue is how Obama's cult-like followers fully expect their Dear Leader to be coronated a week from Tuesday and aren't going to tolerate unpleasant questions in the meantime. It's up to talk radio and the blogosphere to keep up the fight.


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