Y'know I've always believed that Obama was born in the US like he and the State of Hawaii have said he was, and I still do, but I have to wonder why he has at this late date finally decided to release the original?

It seems to me that this just shows a lack of good judgment on his part.

He could have put this whole thing to bed years ago, long before it became entrenched. That would have been the smartest thing to do. But now having allowed so much time to pass it serves no purpose except to make people doubt it's authenticity.

Imagine if the Bush administration had released film footage it had been sitting on for three years which showed without a doubt that it was Flight 77, and not a missile, that plowed into the Pentagon on 9-11. Think any of those inside job conspiracy theorists would believe it? Think it's possible that a few on the fencers might become suspicious at the tardiness of it's release?

I do NOT doubt that Obama is qualified to be President but I now have a little less confidence in his ability to be a good President.

Reminds me of another article I read today. I don't completely buy into it, but it's an interesting thought experiment. Ezra Klein thinks that Obama is a early 1990s moderate Republican. The key part in that article is: I think that's what we're seeing. As the Democratic party drifts further right, you see these clowns like Bachman and Trump taking very extreme positions to differentiate themselves.

I like to read American Conservative magazine. It's got a smart right wing view that's not completely bugf-k insane like the mainstream neocon voices (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, et. al). Even they lament how the Republican party has turned into some unrecognizable extremist group.

Eventually the GOP is going to get so far right that they alienate all but their true believers, and the pendulum will swing back the other way.

He could have put it to bed years ago, but I think he probably hasn't worried about the truther issue nearly as much as he's been worried about everything he is tasked with. Man's got a job to do, why should he let something so personal get in his way? :)

Would have been the smart thing to do, but without a crystal ball, I doubt many would have seen that this issue would have been obsessed over for so long and then picked up and given new life by an attention addict like Trump. Just as on 9/11, I doubt many would have foreseen nutters espousing an inside job controlled demolition theory on the twin towers collapsing. You're dammed if you do, and damned if you don't with conspiracy theorists.

Last year, NASA released Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter pictures showing the old Apollo landing sites from lunar orbit. They were immediately dismissed by the Apollo deniers as Photoshop hoaxes. "NASA had forty years to make that crap up and the resolution is poor. They expect us to believe them now?"

Against some mindsets you can't win.

I thought the low point was reached in 2008 and the pendulum started swinging back last year.

:up:
I eagerly await the first presidential run of an anchor baby.

By some of your definitions of 'citizen' they'll be eligible because they were born on our side of some line on a map. Natural born by definition means born of 2 citizen parents.

I'm not feeling all that well right now, but i could swear you just contradicted yourself.

@TLAM
Not really, there is an aspect to it of that but it is wrong to call all birther fools racists. Ducmius was wrong to an extent as well because McCain had already had people challenging his elegibility and he doesn't look that dark.

I agree with Augusts words but disagree completely with their intent, releasing these documents does show a lack of judgement but for the opposite reason.
He should have left things as they were and left all the birthers ranting so he could gain political capital from their public idiocy and it would have provided more entertainment.

I think he should have left things as they were simply for leaving things as they should be left. :p2:

I'm always fascinated by the concept that if you show them a real conspiracy, proven beyond any doubt, they immediately lose interest.

I have to disagree, but for a different reason than the others. I've been seeing the same crap for years now. The loudest criers from either side will use any slightest excuse to trash anyone from the other side. Yes, there is racism involved, but it's a lot more than that. If the only difference was that he was white they'd still be all over it, just on the off chance that something might stick.

The more I observe politics and political discussions the more convinced I become that pretty much anyone who politicizes any issue is a narrow-and-shallow-minded child looking for attention.

I suggest you read the law involving citizenship requirements before you tell people what's what. One parent is sufficient if that parent lived in the United States for the required period of time.
http://travel.state.gov/law/citizens...ship_5199.html

The birther movement was a free gift for Obama and the democrats. The sheer looniness of them has tarnished the republicans as a whole.

What was it napoleon said? Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.

Furthermore it amounts to what in British politics is known as a Hefalump trap, after the whinny the pooh story. Which is an easily noticeable and with hindsight perfectly obvious trap intended to catch a blundering opponent.

That is, Trump should have seen this coming when he decided to so vocally join the birther bandwagon and simultaneously make a bid for president, and now the trap is sprung and Trump is standing with his pants down, so to speak.

Judge the effectiveness yourself. Would you say Trump's chance of getting nominated for presidential candidate (and then winning) is higher or lower than it was this time last week?

Yet apparently not enough to stop the GoP from regaining the House last year so i'm not too sure about that.

He never had a chance to get the nomination Joe. This didn't change anything one way or the other.

hah! well fair enough, specially the latter!

I will admit that the thought of "President Trump" scares the bejesus out of me!