First Thoughts: Feeding the beast vs. starving it

On feeding the internet beast vs. starving it… Obama’s decision to release his long-form birth certificate was a personal one… President unveils his new national security team at 3:10 pm ET… On the Fed, the Ryan budget, and those Medicare town halls… Death and destruction in the South… Will Mitch Daniels sign anti-Planned Parenthood legislation into law, or will he veto it?... And Santorum, in DC, talks foreign policy.

From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Feeding the beast vs. starving it: Back in 2008, the Obama campaign created a “Fight the Smears” page on its Web site to combat the internet suspicions about Barack Obama’s race, his name, and his upbringing. The rationale: It needed to feed the Google beast to knock down the rumors and conspiracy theories. But in their two-plus years in the White House, Team Obama -- perhaps due to everything else on their plate -- tended to ignore the beast, hoping it would starve. That is, until yesterday. President Obama’s extraordinary release of his long-form birth certificate won’t satisfy the conspiracy theorists. As Joel Achenbach writes in the Washington Post, “the nature of a conspiracy theory that all information must pass through a very discerning, yet simple, filter. Information that is confirmational is accepted; that which is contradictory is rejected.” But release of the birth certificate and the president’s remarks about it weren’t intended for those people. Rather, they were aimed at everyone else and the news media.

*** A personal decision: It’s important to note that the decision to release the long-form birth certificate didn’t come from his staff or advisers. Per our reporting, Obama himself made the decision; it was personal to him. (After all, the politics of this week or the moment etc., would not have dictated a need to do this now.) By the way, he did his best to joke about the entire episode at a fundraiser last night in New York City. "My name is Barack Obama. I was born in Hawaii," he said to applause. "The 50th state of the United States of America. No one checked my ID on the way in." And in a taping on "Oprah Winfrey," which will air next week, Obama said, “Can I just say: I was there. So I knew I was born. I remembered it.” 

*** The new national security team: Birth Certificate Day, of course, overshadowed a bigger story that will actually impact U.S. lives: the news of Obama’s new national security team, which includes a lot of familiar faces; it's more of a "staff shuffle" than "shakeup." At 3:10 pm ET, the president will make a personnel announcement, at which he’s expected to name CIA Director Leon Panetta as the new Defense secretary replacing Robert Gates (who is retiring); Gen. David Petraeus as the new CIA director replacing Panetta; Gen. John Allen as the commander in Afghanistan replacing Petraeus; and Ryan Crocker as the new ambassador to Afghanistan. Per NBC’s Courtney Kube, Gates is leaving his Defense secretary post on June 30, and assuming he’s confirmed, Panetta will take over on July 1. Petraeus, meanwhile, will retire from the U.S. Army after nearly 37 years as an officer, giving Allen several months to prepare. And it means Petraeus will lead the CIA as a civilian.

*** Opting for continuity: On a conference call yesterday previewing the national security announcement, a senior administration official said, “The president has put in place here those nominees that provide the strongest possible team to execute our strategies and policies. I stress the word ‘team.’” As the Washington Post puts it, Obama "opted for continuity in a major reshuffle of his national security team, choosing familiar names to help him complete the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, define the endgame in Afghanistan and give the Pentagon its fair share of budget cuts." 

*** On the Fed, the Ryan budget, and those town halls: So what other stories did Birth Certificate Day overshadow yesterday? Well, there was Bernanke’s first press conference and the announcement that the Fed’s $600 billion bond purchase will end in June and that interest rates will remain low for a while longer. There was the news that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to hold a Senate vote on the House budget plan (which means that Dean Heller will have to vote for it again). And there was the story about some rowdy GOP town halls, especially in senior-rich Florida. In fact, Obama releasing his birth certificate squashed that town hall story, about which a lot of Democrats were giddy -- because they felt as if they were finally hitting critical mass on the issue.  

*** Death and destruction in the South: Of course, the biggest story today is the tornadoes that ripped through much of the South yesterday. Per the latest numbers, the storms killed 172 people, including 128 in Alabama. Folks, these are death tolls that FAR surpass most hurricanes. Some might wonder if President Obama heads to Alabama to inspect the damage. Immediately after something like that -- due to the wreckage and clean up -- the last thing residents and emergency officials want is for the president and his entourage to show up. But if the logistics are doable and it wouldn't get in the way of the cleanup, would it be a surprise if Obama makes a stop there on his way to or from Florida tomorrow?

*** What will Mitch do? As National Journal says this morning, we’re about to find out how Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels defines his “truce” and how serious is he about running for president. The Indianapolis Star: “A bill cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood of Indiana is headed to the governor's desk after the House approved it 66-32 on Wednesday. House Bill 1210 would take away about $2 million of the $3 million Planned Parenthood receives annually in government funds and make Indiana the first state to prohibit the use of Medicaid at Planned Parenthood centers. Supporters of the bill say they do not want their tax dollars going to an organization that provides abortions.” More: “Daniels has not said whether he will sign the bill into law. But on a radio show earlier this year, he described his administration as ‘the most pro-life’ in Indiana history.” But the fiscal hawk in Daniels may dictate him to veto it, since the bill would cost the state MORE money to implement.

*** On the 2012 trail: Santorum delivers a speech on foreign policy at the National Press Club in DC at 1:30 pm ET… Donald Trump’s in Las Vegas… And Ron Paul is in Reno, NV.

Countdown to NY-26 special election: 26 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 106 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 194 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 284 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.

Discuss this post

Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 ... 7
Comment author avatarUS Navy Disabled Veteran - RetiredExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

What a week ender yesterday. “Our President” releases his long form Birth Certificate making Donald Trump and the rest of the “Birther” movement look like the idiots that they are. Now that this lie has been exposed and Birther’s are attacking his educational record with what is basically a “racist” slur (agenda). We can no longer ignore the fact that the hate for President Obama is being driven by the fact that he is a black man and he is doing a good job considering that he has no support at all from the “Obstructionist Party”. The GOP/TP has tried every dirty trick in the book to stop him and make him a failure as Boehner and McConnell (and others) have vowed to do, but he has still been able to improve the economy and create jobs like he said he would. He pulled this country away from pending Bankruptcy that was engineered by the previous administration. Can you imagine just how much farther along the path to total recovery we would be if the GOP/TP just stopped the race based hate of this man and worked instead to help the country?

This is the by product of a party that has nothing to run on come 2012. They have no plans to create jobs, to stimulate the economy, improve education or even a viable plan to address the escalating deficits and debt. It is all “bait and switch”. So what is left? Exactly what you see above. That is all the GOP/TP has left. Race based personal attacks, lies and deceit.

This repugnant ideology of some of our elected officials has to stop. It is dragging this country into a “fascist/oligarchy” state that is becoming more evident every day as we watch the DRACONIAN Spending Cuts to Middle Class programs where those so called savings are really used to fund huge tax cuts to corporations and the rich. This is “Class Warfare” and the record setting redistribution of wealth and power from the middle class to the top 2%.

GOP/TP controlled States are re-writing voter registration Laws designed to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters from their constitutional right to vote. These laws are an assault on the low income, people of color, students, elderly, sick, disabled etc. These are people that traditional vote democrat. See a pattern here. They cannot run on any ideas to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and improve education etc; they have used those slogans in the last election process and still have not delivered on even one of them. The people will not buy this scam again. So what is left for them to campaign on?? What is their agenda?? Who benefits from their agenda?? Who gets hurt from their agenda?? How does their agenda move this country forward?? Does it improve the quality of life for all Americans or just a few??

We better start asking these questions above and more of every politician that walks up to a podium and starts their rhetoric.

The new GOP/TP Party is becoming a political entity that supports the restriction or outright denial of the following rights/programs to the citizens of the U.S.A.

The Right to vote in an open and fair electoral process free from outside interference (Citizens United decision)

Women’s reproductive rights and their right to equal pay for equal work, stop calling single mothers druggies and whores

Gay Rights to marriage, adoption

The Freedom of Religion to live in a country free from McCarthy style religious intolerant hearings

The opportunity to a quality education for all children that only serves to make this country stronger, education should not be just for those that can afford it.

The opportunity for quality and affordable Health Care, again it should not be based on those that can pay and screw everybody else

The right to form a union

The right to safe highways, food and product safety

Accountability of our elected officials. Somewhere along the line we have allowed politicians to basically get away with murder, this needs to be stopped and we are seeing how important this really is in the ongoing rallies and recall procedures being exercised by our citizens today across this country, This in part is also part of our Constitutional Right to vote the bums out.

This is just a abbreviated list of some of the more repugnant ideology being proposed by our politicians (mostly from the GOP/TP).

The “Sleeper” has awaken!!!

  • 82 votes
#1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:05 AM EDT

Wasn’t it just the other day that the TeaPublicans around here, were boasting about how popular 'Ryan’s Road to Ruination' plan was becoming?

Now who would I rather believe? The right wing posters who play fast & loose with the truth? Or, what I observe with my very own eyes & ears?

Last night, during a town hall meeting posted on YouTube, in Kenosha, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the architect of the GOP plan to end Medicare, came face-to-face with this movement once again. At one point during the meeting, a man who identified himself as a long-time resident outraged about big corporations outsourcing jobs asked why Ryan doesn’t want to tax these companies, getting huge applause from the audience.

Ryan responded by saying that first we should deal with some tax shelters, and the crowd began to shout “Do it first!” Then Ryan started to say that we’re taxing corporations too much, which set off a spree of booing and shouts of “Liar!” Ryan responded by saying that those who are yelling should leave:

CONSTITUENT: I’ve been around this area for quite a long time but once all the factories moved out and there’s no work for our grandchildren or children to get jobs. And if they did have have jobs and those factories were open if you applied a tariff on companies that left, they would come back, or our government could take the money they have and reinvest in the factories that are still here and get apprenticeship programs for people like electricians, pipefitters, plumbers, sheet metal men and put it back to work. You would have the money you need to balance all that. [referring to the budget] (applause from the audience)

RYAN: I agree with the first — I totally agree with that sentiment. First of all the tax system we have is a corrupt system it doesn’t work. It benefits a handful of people and businesses at the expense of everybody else. What I would say is let’s get rid of the tax shelters that let’s some pay get away with paying no taxes

CONSTITUENT: Do it first! (cheers from audience)

RYAN: Come on, it’s not worth the peanut gallery. Let’s clean up the tax code and lower our tax rates. The reason why I say, the president’s commission said the same thing, we’re taxing our businesses our employers, a lot more than our competitors are taxing theirs

(Audience boos, hisses)

CONSTITUENT: LIAR!

CONSTITUENT: He’s lying!

RYAN: If you’re yelling I just want to ask you to leave. It’s just not polite

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/27/town-hall-ryan-corporate/

I t looks like the WI voters have woken up to the Snake Oil 'potion' they were sold last November & they’re MAD as hell!

  • 59 votes
#1.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:07 AM EDT

“You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-04/61200470.jpg

A copy of President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate after its release by the White House.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that President Obama was born outside the United States our beloved country has reduced to this foolhardiness. The President of the greatest country on earth has been complaint in the inanity of a segment of our society that clings to racist notions. They will not growup or overcome their pure racism. This so outrageous that I Iliken it to an having an embossed birth certificate around his neck for all to see or citizenship papers in a paperbag.

In fact, it is a new Jim Crow behavior comparable to Blacks arriving at the voting booth being asked to recite the constutiyion forwards and backwards or any impossible feat. All this is done because this racist have superiority complexes. The reality is the people in this segment of our USA are very diminutive. They lack common sense and are narrow-minded as well as ardent racists.

You’d think with the President complaint to their inane wishes that should end it all so President Obama can carry on the serious business of our nation. But no

Donald Trump’s Birther & Zee Transcipts Circus has taken on a new side show and another new low.

They, these racist paranoid idiotic losers, along with the THAT PRES. OBAMA IS COMMITTING SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD BY USING A FALSE Social Security Numbe. Worse these idiots have slandered his mother. They say-- The public has no idea who Barry’s real birth father We don’t need just more black voices rising up to expose the media’s reluntunce tio expose how sick these birthers, but all reasonable voices.

How can anyone be so paranoid and that stupid?

For the record, any anyone who wishes to call me a racist I say take a flying leap which is a polite way of saying kiss my---and it is black or giving you the finger. See for yourselves, I’m serious. I don’t care what you think.-

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2810984/2/istockphoto_2810984-middle-finger.jpg

Don't pay attention to these carnival barkers. They are an insane clown posse.

  • 38 votes
#1.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:10 AM EDT
Comment author avatarJoe in AlbanyExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

MSDNC’s Shemp Mathews Wiffleball show was really FUNNY last night. His birtherism obsession has finally caused him to go off the deep end. His entire show was on birtherism, except for a 30 second moment of lucidity when he announced some actual news about Panetta and Petreus. No discussion, no analysis, just an announcement.

You really have to wonder what caused Barry to take this action after stonewalling it for so long. Could the WH have been afraid Trump’s investigators were about to find something? Say, for example, highly classified DOD files from 1961 with credible reports on alien spacecraft sightings near Honolulu in early August 1961? Including sightings of tall, thin, dark-skinned, alien beings with big ears in the vicinity of Kapiolani Hospital? Could it be that Barry was not even born on this planet, and space aliens swapped the real Barack Obama born to Stanley Ann Dunham for an alien clone? This could start a whole new conspiracy theory among “Earthers”.

BTW, this would also explain the look-alike hieroglyphic Barry discovered in Egypt in June 2009.

From MSDNC 06/04/09:

GIZA, Egypt -- The pyramids outside of Cairo boast tombs, camels and relics thousands of years old.

What about an image reminiscent of the 44th president?

The great pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and during a brief stop here Thursday after delivering a major speech aimed at Muslims around the world, President Obama spotted another notable sight: a hieroglyphic that showed the face of a man with big ears.

Obama entered the tomb and saw it right away.

"That looks like me!" he said. "Look at those ears!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 21 votes
#1.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:11 AM EDT

In fact, it is a new Jim Crow behavior comparable to Blacks arriving at the voting booth being asked to recite the Constitution forwards and backwards or any impossible feat. All this is done because this racist have superiority complexes. The reality is the people in this segment of our USA are very diminutive. They lack common sense and are narrow-minded as well as ardent racists.

  • 30 votes
#1.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:18 AM EDT
Comment author avatarno joe, no bo, njExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Obama released the long form birth certificate yesterday as a distraction from his failures- on the economy, on domestic oil production, ( anybody want to explain why it is evil to get dirt out of the ground in this country, but noble to do so in Brazil?), and foreign policy- just how is that kinetic military action going in Libya, by the way?

Then, there is this

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/04/gallup-seniors.php

So, his "deficit reduction non plan" is also headed to the toilet.

In any event, now that he has sufficiently distracted the press, (and, believe me, it is only the press), with this action, telling them he has much more important things to focus on, (he had to go tape an Oprah Show! Geez, people, can't you see how important that is?), what will he do for his next trick?

Juggle? Go on the flying trapeze? Tame a lion?

It's a lead pipe cinch he cannot successfully address any of the crises facing this nation. Not on a bet.

  • 24 votes
#1.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:18 AM EDT

We saw all we needed to see yesterday when the reporter asked Donald Chump if he wanted to see the long form. He said NO, why? Because he already knew what it said. He knew the truth going into this stupid farce. This makes him and people that approve/support him very dangerous. The reason being is that it shows an ideology that the end justifies the means. This is a very dangerous platform to be on as this type of thinking often times causes disastrous results.

  • 55 votes
#1.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:19 AM EDT
Comment author avatarFeisty Redhead Roselle, ILExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

BIG round of applause for Lawrence O'Donnell pulling the PLUG on Orly 'Birther Queen' Tatiz (sp?) last night!

I have heard enough out of the Baggers & Birthers to last me a life time!

They Republican Party must be SO proud of these nitwits!

  • 50 votes
#1.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:20 AM EDT

Joe in Albany

You really have to wonder what caused Barry to take this action after stonewalling it for so long. Could the WH have been afraid Trump’s investigators were about to find something?

See post #1.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:10 AM EDT

  • 18 votes
#1.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:21 AM EDT

I liked the townhall meeting in Wisconsin. I thought Rep Ryan was asked fair questions. I do not think the Ryan plan is perfect. No cuts at DOD for example. However, I feel its on the right track and it appears I'm not alone.

www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gallup-poll-deficit-20110428,0,1219970.story

  • 17 votes
#1.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:23 AM EDT

Some of you might want to google Chester A. Arthur. Seems there was quite a bit of conjecture that he was born in Canada- including that he changed the year on his birth certificate.

Maybe that is where Axelrod got the idea in the first place.

  • 12 votes
#1.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:23 AM EDT

Excellent post, US Navy. The silent majority is paying attention and they are not happy. I am so enjoying the grass roots constituents telling Ryan, Duffy, West and friends--they are not buying what the republicans are selling.

  • 40 votes
#1.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:24 AM EDT

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

BIG round of applause for Lawrence O'Donnell pulling the PLUG on Orly 'Birther Queen' Tatiz (sp?) last night!

Indeed, indisputably, without a doubt, she is like the nightmare that won’t go away.

I was so happy to see Lawrence ignore her insane agenda.

I suggest the next time she come on MSNBC they put her under sodium pentothal.

That would be hilarious.

  • 28 votes
#1.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:25 AM EDT

I suppose Phil Griffin and Tom Brokaw aren't happy with Lawrence O'Donnell now. It's just a guess on my part. Isn't it a shame that Lawrence had to do the job supposed tv professional journalists wouldn't do? It's not enough for journalists to come out and say yesterday that Donald Trump was always off his rocker. These are journalists. They are supposed to report this fact. Not just say it behind the scenes until it's safe to come out and say it.

My generation didn't grow up on cable. We weren't that far removed from the legacy of Edward R. Murrow. We grew up on Cronkite. We grew up on 60 Minutes. We were confident that we were getting the best this country had to offer as far as giving us the news, giving us information.

They would never have given the time of day to someone like Trump, other than to expose him. It was called integrity back then. It was called being responsible. It was called thinking of how much they cared about America and its future and caring about the information they were giving us. It was called being a grown up. It wasn't considered entertainment.

Lawrence reports on air what very few will report. You knew it's what he was going to do when he took this job. He makes excuses for no one. I get the feeling if NBC gets tired of his reporting, Lawrence won't care. That's integrity.

Our tv is being over-run by people who can't seem to resist the latest screwball to come along. And they are more often than not too late to the party when it comes to honest reporting. They waste weeks listening to the other side, who have no side except hate. When did this become acceptable?

This was a moment to show who had character and who didn't. We will long remember who did and who didn't. It's always the same people. Always.

And when I see Al Sharpton on tv, I just feel so bad that he has to still confront this crap here in America.

  • 44 votes
#1.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:26 AM EDT

First of all, I'd like to say my thoughts and prayers are with the folks who've suffered loss in the Deep South overnight. The human toll can't be replaced, it will always leave a hole in the hearts of those left behind. As for the property damage, well, those are just things and can be replaced. We're all Americans and gladly reach a hand out to assist in that.

  • 27 votes
#1.14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:26 AM EDT

I see the hateful right winger(s) are out early this morning. "Our President" kept this country from going into bankruptcy thanks to the failed agenda of the previous administration. The DOW is up, he has been creating jobs, albeit slowly, which is to be expected when you have the people across the aisle trying to stop every bill that creates jobs and improves the economy. Manufacturing is up and the economy is still in positive growth mode.

Gas prices and bad storms have impacted some of the numbers this week. President Obama (or any President) has very limited impact on gas prices. What we should be looking at is the speculators that are driving up the costs of commodities. Also, part of the Ryan Bill guts the very institution that is empowered to oversee the commodities markets. See a pattern here.

Same old crap from the same old people who just refuse to be part of the solution and only want to be the problem. No ideas just more hate speech. Well the Donald pretty much told us where this is coming from.

  • 45 votes
#1.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:28 AM EDT
Comment author avatarJob1Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Hi Beverly,

I agree with you. Why should the President have to do anything other than produce the short form, in which he did before he was elected? The Racist are the ones that kept bringing this issue up, and they aren’t stopping.

As far as I concerned, these Republican Racist can go to hell.

  • 40 votes
#1.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:29 AM EDT

Yesterday, Mixed Bag asked the obvious question: why now?

Here is your answer, MB

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/28/news/economy/1q_gdp_report/?section=money_latest

Somehow, I do not think it is going to work. Not at all.

  • 14 votes
#1.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:29 AM EDT
Comment author avatarJoAnnaSmith1Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Alan NJ: I liked the townhall meeting in Wisconsin. I thought Rep Ryan was asked fair questions.

And that is how it should be. Ryan's plan should be questioned and criticized, it will strengthen it as it moves through the legislative process.

The Obama/Democrats plan has yet to be produced. Sure, Obama gave a big speech on his "plan" which was nothing more than platitudes and abstractions without any details. Obama's speech was even more about being critical of the Ryan plan, and yet, Obama has nothing that can be considered any kind of a plan. This comes from the fact that Obama is into campaign mode, and not into solving problems mode.

Ryan is having an open and honest debate on his plan. The same can't be said for Obama and the Democrats.

  • 22 votes
#1.18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:33 AM EDT

Hey Joe, you know how sometimes anticipating something is almost as good as the actual thing? Well thats what Obama has done. He knew when he released the long form it would finally make all these birthers look like the half-wits they are. Worked didn't it? He just enjoyed the anticipation for a while.

And seriously, does it make you feel like a man to make fun of Obamas ears? A real man would make fun of his own faults, you just look like a child doing it.

  • 41 votes
#1.19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:33 AM EDT

US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired

Navy


This is such an excellent and substantive post I just had to repeat it. The GOP/T-BAGGERS lack depth and compassion.

We better start asking these questions above and more of every politician that walks up to a podium and starts their rhetoric.

The new GOP/TP Party is becoming a political entity that supports the restriction or outright denial of the following rights/programs to the citizens of the U.S.A.

The Right to vote in an open and fair electoral process free from outside interference (Citizens United decision)

Women's reproductive rights and their right to equal pay for equal work, stop calling single mothers druggies and whores

Gay Rights to marriage, adoption

The Freedom of Religion to live in a country free from McCarthy style religious intolerant hearings

The opportunity to a quality education for all children that only serves to make this country stronger, education should not be just for those that can afford it.

The opportunity for quality and affordable Health Care, again it should not be based on those that can pay and screw everybody else

The right to form a union

The right to safe highways, food and product safety

Keep up the good work. Navy Your passionate, rationale, appeal is paying off.

  • 27 votes
#1.20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:35 AM EDT

Lawrence reports on air what very few will report. You knew it's what he was going to do when he took this job. He makes excuses for no one. I get the feeling if NBC gets tired of his reporting, Lawrence won't care. That's integrity.

I said the same thing to my husband last night! ;o)

I don't know if you remember Pat, he was never a big fan of Larry's, the good news is that has all changed the last couple of months!

He now thinks he's one of the best journalists out there...

Not to mention how much fun it is telling him, I TOLD you so! lol

  • 23 votes
#1.21 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:36 AM EDT

I hope the Senate does vote on the Ryan Plan. That way we can get the Republican Senators on the record.

  • 25 votes
#1.22 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:38 AM EDT
Comment author avatarJoAnnaSmith1Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

It's good that Obama was able to find the time to declare Alabama a disaster area. Someone on his staff must have been able to slip the information of those storms to Obama between his appearance on Oprah, and all of his campaigning and fundraisers in New York.

Nice job Mr. President.

  • 20 votes
#1.23 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:39 AM EDT

As far as I concerned, these Republican Racist can go to hell.

This 'joint' was positively crawling with them yesterday!

Still waiting for one to tell me WHY President Obama is being held to a different set of standards other than the FACT he's black!

Kudos - to the MSNBC line up last night for not shying away from the issue!

  • 30 votes
#1.24 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:39 AM EDT

I live in a state of ignorance. On a map of the United States, it is identified as Kansas. It is not uncommon to find a lifelong resident of this state who has no birth certificate. Some don't even have Social Security numbers. They were born on a farm and died on that same farm.

This can be a bit messy. So, some of the old-timers step up and swear they knew John. They knew his parents. They went to school with him. Hell, he lived here all his life. That's good enough for the State of Kansas.

On the other hand, the grandson of a white veteran and his wife who hail from Kansas might not be a citizen. The son of their daughter, a white woman with a Ph. D. who was born in Wichita, Kansas, might not be a citizen. That grandson, that son, grew up to be the President of the United States, and even after proffering reams of proof of his citizenship.........Well, he might not be a citizen.

I speak for no one but myself. I am not going to tolerate any further protestations that the hatred for Obama is about anything more than the color of his skin. Sure, there are some who genuinely disagree with his political views. However, in the main, this is about the fact that he just isn't "white". "Constitutional Conservatives" hold up the red herring of Islam, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Constitution - when it was written - specifically forbade any religious test being applied to those who hold federal office. The birthers are liars. They will find any reason - however ridiculous and unsupportable - to "justify" their hatred.

The birther snake will not die. Willful ignorance cannot be eradicated. No amount of persuasion, no amount of fact will penetrate the armor of a bigot. Time enough has been wasted on these hopeless bigots. The media fixation must end, and if the media haven't the sense to turn away from this nonsense, we must turn away from the media. Time enough has been lavished on the snake-in-chief, Donald Trump, a vacuous, insipid clown, who is the essence of the argument supporting an inheritance tax. If the media will not ignore this vile egoist, we must turn away from the media.

It is now time to turn to forsaken Republicans. The birther faction of the G.O.P. most assuredly does not mirror the values of a TRUE Republican. This insane faction does not reflect the values of TRUE conservatives. Unfortunately, too many true "Republicans" are loyal to a fault. They will vote for any candidate with an "R" after their name.

Those of us who know our country faces genuine issues - bigotry among them - must reach out to those Republicans. This is the right time. The Ryan Budget is a joke, and frankly the Obama Budget isn't much better. Both promise years of continuing red ink budgets. There are alternatives. There are superior options already on the table, and we have yet to hear the specifics from the Gang of Six.

No one who panders to ignorance, stupidity, and/or bigotry is fit to serve in ANY political office.

  • 37 votes
#1.25 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:46 AM EDT

Huge backpedaling on the Ryan budget now that GOPTP congressional members are being booed at their own town hall meetings. The most common evasion goes something like "this is just a draft, everyone knows legislation changes as it progresses."

Yes, that's true as far as it goes. The Republican House of Representatives already passed their budget. This is FINAL as far as they're concerned. It's up to Democrats in the Senate to prevent the draconian cuts favored by Conservatives.

  • 31 votes
#1.26 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:47 AM EDT

The most common evasion goes something like "this is just a draft, everyone knows legislation changes as it progresses."

I've noticed the same thing! lol

Right along with the birthers being a Democratic conspiracy!

  • 19 votes
#1.27 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:49 AM EDT

The only issue MSNBC is shying away from is the curtailing of bargaining rights of the public sector unions in Massachusetts.

There appears to be a blackout on coverage of this story...I can't figure it out myself.

For weeks we had non-stop coverage of the oppression of the public sector unions in Wisconsin and Ohio here at First Read.

Massachusetts?

Virtually nothing.

But, I do feel completely up-to-date on the "birther" story, though...

  • 14 votes
#1.28 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:50 AM EDT
Comment author avatarSteve-505729Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

OH. Yes. .

Look at all the RACIST Liberals out today. all you Liberals have is to scream about the Color of Obamas Skin Its all you See is the color of his Skin Everything you do is to compare the Color of his Skin to that of other Presidents It is you that are thinking about the Color of his Skin We are not Scared of your RACISM anymore We will not be Intimidated by you SCREAMING racism Anymore Your sick Screams of RACISM is at everything you see is why we dont take you Serious, Your live in your pathetic world because your community has taught you to Scream RACISM if you dont get your WAY..

If you are not given a Job. RACISM if you dont pass a Test RACISM If you dont get into College RACISM If you get pulled over by the Police RACISM if someone Disagrees with you RACISM .. we are tried of your RACIST RANTS.

What a Terrible bunch you are. When you dont get your Way SCREAM RACISM Pathetic.....

  • 24 votes
#1.29 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:54 AM EDT

Feisty, MSNBC was unbelievable last night. Lawrence especially though. He went right after NBC Entertainment. Tom Brokaw I'm sure wasn't happy. He didn't like Keith's reporting either.

I don't know. There is such an empty suit quality to these people nowadays. It's unreal really.

But I'm glad your husband likes Lawrence. He was the talk of the internet last night. We're getting there. Keith. Rachel. Lawrence. MediaMatters. ThinkProgress. DailyKos President Obama supporters.

We have Eugene Robinson. Jonathan Alter and tons of smart journalists. We just need to hear more from them. They steadfastly refuse to take a backseat to this BS. Wait until the 2012 campaign. Democrats are livid at Trump, at the media, at NBC.

Livid.

America. 21st Century. This is the moment to embrace progress. This very moment.

  • 22 votes
#1.30 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:56 AM EDT

I've often wondered how some of the people posting on here can relate the birther issue with racism. I found out by watching the idiots on MSNBC TV last night. Calling everyone who you disagree with a racist is going to backfire on all of you far lefties. The birther issue was started by democrats. It was originally started by a Philip J. Berg, a Hillary supporter. He filed a lawsuit to stop Obama from running for President. Got that? It was a democrat issue! You racists on the left are sick.

  • 17 votes
#1.31 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:57 AM EDT

Job1

Hi Beverly,

I agree with you. Why should the President have to do anything other than produce the short form, in which he did before he was elected? The Racist are the ones that kept bringing this issue up, and they aren’t stopping.

As far as I concerned, these Republican Racist can go to hell.

good morning Job1

These Republican Racists are already in hell!!!

I agree the Senate should vote on the Ryan's" path to destruction". When people start dying and becoming more ill the world we blame the Republican/ T-baggers; not President Obama.

Ditto the debt ceiling in the eyes of the world about this phony obstinate group of t-bagging republivans. Very, very bad things would happen if Washington lets politics stand in the way of practicality;not raising the debt ceiling isn't an option in the eyes of the global market. .

5 Reasons the Market Wants the Debt Ceiling Raised

Foreign Investors Dump Treasuries

U.S. Debt Downgrade

Money Market Funds "Break the Buck"

Another Credit Crunch

A Double Dip

What's odd, however, is that Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) addresses its letter to Geithner -- not Congress. This is a strange choice, because Geithner has no power to raise the debt ceiling. Indeed, he has already urged Congress to take action immediately. Perhaps SIFMA would be better served to send the letter to high ranking members of Congress, like House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/04/5-reasons-the-market-wants-the-debt-ceiling-raised/237942/


  • 12 votes
#1.32 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

It was originally started by a Philip J. Berg, a Hillary supporter.

Care to share what Democrats are currently embracing this lunacy?

If I'm not mistaken, his birth certificate was released in 2008 and he was fairly & legally elected POTUS!

All I see, is a BUNCH of WHITE men & women fanning the flames of hatred...

Why else are they screaming: I want MY country back? Where the hell did it go?

Bithers to the left of me...Baggers to the right...

  • 24 votes
#1.33 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:06 AM EDT

Steve, Nice spin sorry but I have to say it STFU!

I hope the Senate does vote on the Ryan Plan. That way we can get the Republican Senators on the record.

Job1, Don't worry the GOTP will probablyjust filibuster it! (That was a joke for all of you thin skinned Neonuts). Actually I can't wait to hear their defense of that piece of crap!

  • 13 votes
#1.34 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:08 AM EDT

Why is Birtherism a barely disguised form of racism? Simple;

Was John McCain asked for his birth certificate? Sarah Palin? Joe Biden?

How about GW Bush, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, or Walter Mondale?

Conservatives only insist that ONE person produce his birth certificate--the black man with the unusual name.

Trying to destroy the term "racist" by insisting any and all discussion of race is "racist" is the rankest, foulest of Orwellian Newspeak and Doublespeak. It doesn't hold water. It doesn't work.

Birtherism is racism...there is no more.

  • 29 votes
#1.35 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:14 AM EDT

Lawrence O was outstanding last evening!

Calling out NBC for tolerating the racist undertones of Trump and his quest for being the untimate media ho!! How can a seemingly reliable network tolerate the likes of Trump defies logic....but money is the driving force.......

As for Orley Taitz, her citizenship, if she is a citizen, should be voided. She should be returned to Russia or wherever she came from!....Taitz is the untimate rabble rouser/racist! Glad that Lawrence O cut her off air!

  • 16 votes
#1.36 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:15 AM EDT

David Walker: Wonderful post. I guess it's why I love Manhattan. People there embrace life. They are progressive; they go to the theater, they go to art shows, they love music. They love sports. They love to read. They believe in equality for all. No judging. They are always protesting. Their many many different neighborhoods have their own history. A rich history. The list is endless of the great Americans who came out of Manhattan and Brooklyn; people who played a major role in America's culture. They are proud of their city and do what they can to keep progress going in our country. It's in their blood. My hat is off to Jerry Seinfeld and Robert DeNiro.

These places in the heartland have a different culture. I just wish they would just embrace life, love it with all its differences. It's what defines America.

  • 14 votes
#1.37 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM EDT
Comment author avatarCalifornia TomExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Joe in Albany -

You are a racist Pig.

  • 9 votes
#1.38 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM EDT

MB: But, I do feel completely up-to-date on the "birther" story, though...

The middle-class are certainly heartened by the President releasing his birth-certificate. I'm sure they sing a happy tune about it while they are filling up their gas tank with $4+ gasoline. I'm sure they smile that the President is indeed a natural born citizen as the checkout person at the grocery scans their $4/gallon milk, their $3.50 loaf of white bread, and the 10 boxes of the generic brand of mac&cheese they'll be serving over the coming week to their family. And those in the middle-class are just ecstatic knowing that there is a car that the President recommends to everyone that will get them 40+ miles to a gallon, if only they can pony up the $40K to buy one - and I'm sure the middle-class dream that maybe they can add another part-time job for themselves so they can some day buy a used one.

The times, they certainly are'a changing for the middle-class.

  • 15 votes
#1.39 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:18 AM EDT

Steve,

You are incorrect. Liberal-Progressives aren’t Racist. Conservatives and Red Necks make up the large portion of the Racist in our country.

  • 17 votes
#1.40 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:19 AM EDT

no joe, no bo, nj

Obama released the long form birth certificate yesterday as a distraction from his failures- on the economy, on domestic oil production,

Oha No Jo you never cease to amaze me with your gobbled anti American message, the reason why he did it was to show so many how truly stupid this all was, now trump has moved on to his school years, I'm sure the CIA and FBI has looked in to that but until he gives them his transcripts like his birthcertificate that will be another chance for you to once again say he is not giving his transcripts to distract.

Only if his mother were alive they she would have told all you brithers how long she was in labor, or long it took her to get back on her feet, what room she was in at the hospital in Hawaii, and how she sent her son to the best school, sacrificed time and time to give her son and daughter the best she had, the best downs when he did not do his extra work she made him do everyday, he could graduate law school with high honors. she would tell us how proud she was that he was the FIRST president of the harvard law review. she would ask Donald what years he went to harvard.

but since she died of cancer far too young, i guess people will continue to question her son, question never asked of any president since our founding, i know one thing if she were here, Donald would have gotten a ear full and she would have asked him, why the hell were you a bully in grade school that forced your parents to send you to military school, she would tell him Donald you were a naughty Boy.

She would have answer all the question with the same answer,

GO to Hell !!!!

  • 18 votes
#1.41 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:19 AM EDT

Has my state gone made?

Boston.com

Governor Deval Patrick chided labor leaders yesterday for comparing the House plan to curb collective bargaining rights to a tougher law passed recently in Wisconsin.

“It’s very important that we dial down the rhetoric,’’ he said. “This is not Wisconsin. That’s not what the House did. I’m not going to sign a Wisconsin-type bill in the end.’’

The governor was speaking hours after House lawmakers approved a bill that would limit the ability of municipal employees to bargain over their health care plans, in an effort to save cities and towns $100 million.

The bill has touched off a fierce debate between labor leaders, who call it an assault on workers, and local officials and who say it will help prevent layoffs and cuts in services. The battle has driven a wedge between unions and their traditional allies in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Patrick, who has sought to find a middle ground on the issue, applauded the House for its “very important vote’’ Tuesday night. He said it demonstrated that House leaders are serious about easing the burden of rising health care costs for communities.

But he refused to discuss the specifics of the bill or to say whether it satisfied his demand that labor retain a “meaningful role’’ in health care negotiations.

“There is room for debate,’’ he said when pressed on the details. “The bill is not final.’’

Senate President Therese Murray, who has also stated that unions must have a voice in health plan negotiations, said the House had “moved the needle’’ on the issue. She would not say whether she supports the measure.

Murray pointed out that the Senate approved bills in 2009 and 2010 that also sought to cut local health care costs. Those measures, if they were to pass the Senate again this year, would give unions more of a voice than they would have under the House legislation. “They have taken it up, and we will be addressing it in the next month,’’ Murray said.

______________________________________________________

I hope Gov. Patrick does the right thing here. I really do. It's going to be real ugly I'm afraid.

  • 8 votes
#1.42 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:27 AM EDT
Comment author avatarSteve-505729Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Keep up the Good work my Conservative Friends. Do not allow these RACIST LIBERALS on this Page to intimdate you with their SCREAMS OF RACISM. dont let them scare you into being Queit. Dont allow them to use the COLOR of the presidents SKIN to keep you from posting on these boards. they continue to Scream RACISM on a Daily BASIS.... its all they have. They can see the Writing on the wall they see they have been supporting a FAILED president that the Majority of the American Voting Public no longer Support him. When he is Voted out in 2012 they will be SCREAMING RACISM some of them WILL PROBABLY FILE SUIT saying that it was a RACIST VOTE saying that Obama needs to be PUT BACK in because it was RACISM that made people VOTE AGAINST HIM.

Dont sit by and be intimidated. Dont allow them to control the Conversation with there SCREAMS OF RACISM..

  • 10 votes
#1.43 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:30 AM EDT

JoAnnaSmith1

The times, they certainly are'a changing for the middle-class.

where the hell you been, times have already changed for the middle class, we are like a in dangered species our numbers keep going down!!!

the republicans must stop hunting and killing the middle class, or the only place we will be seen is in the history book

  • 11 votes
#1.44 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:34 AM EDT

Well, it looks like the only effect that releasing Obama's birth certificate has served was to split the birther conspiracists into three separate camps promoting new conspiracy theories:

The first group is promoting the notion that the long-form certificate could be fake (I saw that one coming from a mile away). The time it took for Obama to release it was suspicious to these people, who ignore the fact that by Hawaiian law NO ONE gets to photocopy a long form birth certificate and an exception was made because Obama happens to be President of the United States.

The second group is saying "Forget the birth certificate,what about those college transcripts!" This group, including circus clown Donald Trump, is pandering to racists who don't want to believe a black man could excel at places like Harvard.

And the third group is claiming that President Obama himself secretly promoted the birther movement because it made Republicans look like idiots. But as they've shown repeatedly, Republicans are quite capable of making themselves look like idiots without any help from anyone else.

  • 20 votes
#1.45 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:43 AM EDT

JoAnna - Ryan's plan will not move through the legislative process.....it's DOA. It's going nowhere. And that's as it should be. His plan would hurt middle class Americans at the same time it would be giving more tax breaks to people who don't need them. Imagine cutting people's Medicare to give yet another tax break to the undeserving few.

  • 16 votes
#1.46 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:44 AM EDT

Jeff - Are there no Republicans in the "middle class"? You are a joke!

  • 3 votes
#1.47 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:46 AM EDT

Steve,

Do you still wear a white hood, or is that not in fashion this year?

  • 6 votes
#1.48 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:47 AM EDT

Do not allow these RACIST LIBERALS on this Page to intimdate you with their SCREAMS OF RACISM.

It's the same Leftwing nut jobs that were screaming about the Rights political rhetoric causing the Congresswoman Giffords shootings in Arizona back in January. Many of the loonie left are on the pages of this very blog even today screaming the racism rant about Obama/Trump. Their credibility was zero back in January, and is still zero today. And these people are the same ones that were indignant when the Tea Party was accused by the likes of Congress James Clyburn that he had racial taunts directed his way when he walked through a Tea Party rally in Washington DC. That didn't stop these Leftie-loons, many of them here today, of calling the Tea Party racists, even though no evidence existed.

The racism lies coming from the Left just will never die. It's really all they have, because they can't win on the merits of any of the problems facing the country today.

  • 12 votes
#1.49 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:48 AM EDT

Job1

is that the best you got. Those Democrats that wore White Hoods would kill me because of the Color of my Skin... ...

  • 3 votes
#1.50 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:50 AM EDT

@Pat, Boston

As I keep saying Pat, this is not a partisan issue. The money is no longer there. No one has shown how we can have a sustainable system where cops and firemen retire after 20 - 25 years and receive a pension.

Same with Medicare. If the average recipient is putting in an average of 150K and taking out 450K someone else has to make up the difference. It's just not economically possible. You can scream all you want that Republicans are cold-hearted and want to throw old people into the street, but the Democrats position of whistling past the graveyard is not practical. The President should stop implying that a small increase in "rich peoples" taxes will allow Medicare to remain as it is.

I don't know if a voucher system is practical but I do know an open-ended entitlement system is not, and that aspect of Medicare will have to change.

  • 9 votes
#1.51 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:50 AM EDT

Like I said: the antecedents to racism is ignorance. Just read this post from JS1. (#1.49)

  • 7 votes
#1.52 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:51 AM EDT

Steve-505729

Dont sit by and be intimidated. Dont allow them to control the Conversation with there SCREAMS OF RACISM..

Steve a word of Advice,

If you know your going to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Put a wall up on that side.

Where did the RACISM stuff come from? what, you had a deams last Night that you were a slave and wanted to escape?

  • 5 votes
#1.53 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:52 AM EDT

Steve-505729

we dont take you Serious, Your live in your pathetic world because your community has taught you to Scream RACISM if you dont get your WAY..

TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY, Steve-o

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2810984/2/istockphoto_2810984-middle-finger.jpg


  • 6 votes
#1.54 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:52 AM EDT

JH-479998

Jeff - Are there no Republicans in the "middle class"? You are a joke!

I'm sure there are middle class republicans, its not my fault that they keep send Middle class killers to washington.

  • 6 votes
#1.55 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:54 AM EDT

So do you think the middle-class will be voting for Obama and the Democrats next year? Do you think they'll feel better off than they did 4 years ago when the middle-class voted solidly Democratic? What will Obama promise them for another 4 years? More unemployment? $5/gallon gas? More and more unemployment benefits? Two wars that somehow progressed to be three wars? Trillion dollar deficits that their children will have to pay for?

Do you think the middle class will have liked the "Change"?

  • 9 votes
#1.56 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:59 AM EDT

I see the Libbys are back to the race card again as the talking point dictated to them by their caucus. They tried Draconian for a while. That didn't work so they went back to the race card. Draco? really? Then the caucus came up with robber barons and that didn't gain any traction since you would have to be 90 years old to remember who the robber barons were so it was back to the race card. Then they came up with the Koch brothers as the new bogeyman before realizing no one knows who they were and went back to the race card. Then the caucus trotted out destroy the middle calls before they realized that half of the middle class is republican so it was back to the race card again. This week the caucus introduced Ayn Rand but realized not many people remember her or ever heard of her before. So here we are back to the race card again. You libbys are so predictable. Once a caucos directed talking ppoint fails it is back to the race card. A race card here, a race card there. Here a race card, there a race card, everywhere a race card. Ol' Barack Obarker had a race card. e i e i o

  • 12 votes
#1.57 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:01 AM EDT

chilled, I was just in the kitchen and a co-worker walked in and asked me if I have seen Lawrence last night. He reminded me that Lawrence's father was a very famous civil rights attorney here in Boston. A highly respected civil rights attorney.

So what Lawrence is reporting is not an act. It's real. And it's honest.

  • 10 votes
#1.59 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:06 AM EDT

What is with Lawrence O's big head segment? You know the segment where the camera is showing him at his desk and then closes in so that Lawrence O's entire face fills the screen? Pretty scary. Is it his attempt to make him appear serious or is there a count the pores contest I haven't heard about?

  • 1 vote
#1.60 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:14 AM EDT

Wow! The loony left feels "vindicated" by the birth certificate. Amazing! For your information, it was never about the birth certificate. What's that quote about someone dreaming about the day that people will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? By all accounts, Obama failed that test miserably. Just imagine the backlash Bush would have faced if he'd played such a childish game.

Oh, and if you can't see the idiocy and childishness with which Obama "handled" this, then that speaks volumes about the content (or lack thereof) of your own character.

  • 6 votes
#1.61 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:17 AM EDT

The middle-class are certainly heartened by the President releasing his birth-certificate. I'm sure they sing a happy tune about it while they are filling up their gas tank with $4+ gasoline. I'm sure they smile that the President is indeed a natural born citizen as the checkout person at the grocery scans their $4/gallon milk, their $3.50 loaf of white bread, and the 10 boxes of the generic brand of mac&cheese they'll be serving over the coming week to their family. And those in the middle-class are just ecstatic knowing that there is a car that the President recommends to everyone that will get them 40+ miles to a gallon, if only they can pony up the $40K to buy one - and I'm sure the middle-class dream that maybe they can add another part-time job for themselves so they can some day buy a used one.

JoAnnaSmith1: Most people never even questioned President Obama's citizenship and were not worried about it. The republicans have been enacting policies that are killing the middle class for thirty years. The Paul Ryan budget is the beginning of the end for the middle class and has exposed the republicans for what they are and what they intend to do. The birther fanatics, 52% of republicans, brought it up and pursued it as an issue with the head Carnival Barker Trump making the biggest fool out of himself. And now that they've seen the birth certificate, they're sticking with it and adding a few new shameful accusations that will only do what the birther issue has done, alienate more and more voting groups, especially independents, you know, the individuals needed to win elections. The republicans got nothing and their middle class killing plan is exposed for all to see. All you have now are distractions and attacks, which brings me to your post.

FYI: President Obama can't do anything about gas prices since the Wall Street speculators are driving the cost of oil up by gambling on future prices. Get it now? This is also driving up the cost of food and other commodities. This gambling is legal and there is nothing anyone can do about it, just like the derivitives trading on sub-prime mortgages was legal which led to the economic collapse followed by the worst recession in 65 years and there was nothing anyone scould do about that, oh wait, except GW Bush and Hank Paulson gave the banks that were gambling trillions of taxpayer dollars (we did not have) to bail them out. But I digress. Now, the president also has no control on the pricing of automobiles. He is encouraging individuals to purchase a more efficient car that uses less or no fuel but he does not mean everyone shoudl buy one. He is encouraging it. Okay? if you can't afford one, don't buy one. There are plenty of other alternatives in the gasoline fueled auto market. You can get a decent gas fuel car, with pretty decent mileage, for about $18,000. What is wrong with you anyway? Just like anything else when technology is newly mass produced, prices on alternative fuel vehicles will decrease. And remember, the president can't tell anyone how to price their products.

Now that we've cleared that up, it occurred to me that perhaps you really don't get what is happening here. Your posts seem to grasping at straws and I can understand that with the republicans on a political suicide mission since they gained the majority in the house and in several states. There is anger, and many voters' are attending republican town hall meetings to rightly question their elected officials who blatantly lied to get elected.

The fact is that since republicans gained the majority in the house and many states, the republican draconian extreme radical middle class killing agenda has exposed for all to see, an agenda that includes everything except governing, job creation and economic repair.

An agenda that includes cutting taxes an additional 10% for the wealthiest 2%; eliminating Medicare and Medicaid while eliminating all consumer protections in the ACA by repealing the ACA; limiting or eliminating woman's reproductive rights; witch hunts against Muslims; busting unions; cutting programs that benefit women, the middle class, working class and the poor; defunding public broadcasting; defunding Planned Parenthood; repealing laws about light bulbs; defending DOMA; declaring English as America's official language; measures to reaffirm "In God We Trust" as the national motto; attacking AARP; cutting Social Security; cutting education; eliminating equal marriage rights for same-sex couples via a constitutional amendment; declaring financial martial law on cities and townships and taking over the elected government; rolling back child labor laws.

We're just not that stupid.

  • 14 votes
#1.62 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:18 AM EDT

The document was assembled on a computer by someone. It was NOT a scan of his original long form Birth Certificate. Check this link  and watch the report on how the document was decidely a creation not a scan of the original.

    #1.63 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:21 AM EDT

    Rocco: I see the Libbys are back to the race card again as the talking point dictated to them by their caucus.

    Yup. And it's the same crew that went after the GOP/Right back in January, they said the shooter/killer in Arizona was influenced by "Right wing hate, Right wing rhetoric". No proof. No evidence. But they were convinced. They "knew". Now they are not only critical of Trump for doing the same thing they did, no, that's not good enough. Now they once again have to do their petty smear attacks on all of the Right. No evidence. No proof. But they "know". They did the same with the Tea Party rallies in DC, the Left claimed that racial epithets were hurled their way as they walked through the crowds. No evidence. No proof. But they "knew", so it must be true. But they were all lies.

    The Left's minds are totally warped, and they get more out of touch with reality with every single new day.

    • 4 votes
    #1.64 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:21 AM EDT

    JoAnnaSmith1

    So do you think the middle-class will be voting for Obama and the Democrats next year? Do you think they'll feel better off than they did 4 years ago when the middle-class voted solidly Democratic? What will Obama promise them for another 4 years? More unemployment? $5/gallon gas? More and more unemployment benefits? Two wars that somehow progressed to be three wars? Trillion dollar deficits that their children will have to pay for?

    Do you think the middle class will have liked the "Change"?

    Lets see, when obama came into office we, the middle class were loosing job as a 600k clip a month, we were loosing our homes(some should have not bought), he HELPED us throught the real bad times with extra unemployment so we could feed our children until we found work again,(you know Joanna we were working steady from 94 till 08). he Signed a VA bill the republicans said cost too much, they are always ready to send our boys into battle, but when they get home and need health care and education its cost too much.

    The change from Bush, Cheney, haliburton, Scotter libby, rumpsfield, Iraq war based upon a vendetta between hussian and Bush senior that cost over 4000 lived, yes we are happy

    • 14 votes
    #1.65 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:25 AM EDT

    I've often wondered how some of the people posting on here can relate the birther issue with racism.

    This issue has NEVER come up in the last hundred years (and more) with any other president. He HAD released his LEGAL birth certificate from Hawaii over 2 years ago. Still you have the bull@!$%# from the birthers. Now he got a special dispensation to get a certified copy of the original that is not normally released and now the birthers are moving on to other imagined issues like school records and such, Trump is already intimating affirmative action might be in play. The right is trying to delegitimize Obama every way they can, and race is most definitely part of it whether you know it or admit it, it is obvious to most of us. And it is disgusting.

    • 9 votes
    #1.66 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:25 AM EDT

    Steve,

    How does it feel to be a racist? Do you feel like a big man?

    • 7 votes
    #1.67 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:26 AM EDT

    Where's the OUTRAGE?

    Only Navy & Indy Lib have come out against the taking away of collective bargaining of public employee unions in Massachusetts. Where are the rest of you?

    Pat, are you really going to sit there and believe a politician? Once you lose a right, you never get it back. We need to be at the capitol building, chanting, doing liberal things. We don't want another group to lose their entitlement rights. Please everyone join me and others at the Massachusetts Capitol building this afternoon at 2 pm. We need teachers to leave their jobs to protest. We need the policemen to let the criminals walk the streets while we protest. We need fires to burn while we protest. This is an American liberty that is being taken from us.

    Comrades who will join us in our fight to preserve our entitlements and right to collectively bargain?

    • 5 votes
    #1.68 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:27 AM EDT

    John in Iowa,

    They did ask for John McCain's birth certificate, because many believed he was not able to run for President because he was born in Panama. He went through the same stuff--but since he never became President, it didn't last.

    But shouldn't anyone running for the Presidency of the United States have to follow the qualifications of the Constitution, or do we just need to throw those out the window also?

    • 5 votes
    #1.69 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:32 AM EDT

    On opinion piece, written by a black law professor from Maryland, is posted on the "other" news site. It make a cogent explanation about the character of the 'birther" movement and its obvious racist roots.

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/28/ifill.birthers/index.html?hpt=C2

    Editor's note: Sherrilyn Ifill is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

    Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) -- I will not click on the link to view the long form of President Obama's birth certificate. I will not participate in this final humiliation -- in the president's reluctant acquiescence in this ongoing smear.

    The release of the president's long-form certificate proving his birth in Hawaii will not stop the attempts to discredit his leadership. The so-called "birther" movement veils a much more basic challenge to Obama's legitimacy. And yes, that challenge has a great deal to do with his race.

    This is not new. Black leaders always have had to prove their "legitimacy" and their allegiance to America. The way to smear the NAACP in the '40s, and leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King in the '60s, was to suggest that they were Communists working against America.

    Thurgood Marshall spent a good portion of his confirmation hearing for a position on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals refuting charges that he was a Communist. Frederick Douglass pushed President Lincoln to allow blacks to serve in the Union Army as a way of proving to whites that blacks were worthy of citizenship.

    President Obama's race is indeed the issue for the "birthers" and many Tea Party members. But it's also their chosen symbol for a far greater fear - the steady reduction of a white, Protestant (for the most part) majority to that of a plurality among many other racial and ethnic groups. (It is utterly incorrect to consider the Latino population a solid bloc, but that's for another discussion). "We want out country back!" is code language for this issue.

    And the apologists of the Right posting here shirily crying that making the statement about racism is racist itself are literally using inside-out thinking. Well, some might call it "thinking" - I personally think it's closer to spitting frantically on their keyboards and monitors.

    • 6 votes
    #1.70 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:36 AM EDT

    babina: Paul Ryan and the House Republicans have passed legislation for FY 2012 budget that puts the country back on track for fiscal sanity. It puts a stop to the massive deficit spending Obama and the Democrats have done for the last several years.

    What is the Democrat/Obama plan for reducing the deficits? Please refer me to a bill in Congress when pointing out that plan, not some idle rhetoric in some speech someone gave. But don't try too hard, because there is none. That's all we have today from the Democrats is the FY 2012 budget that Obama submitted several months ago, the one that plans to have $1.65 trillion in deficit spending for the year. The spending Obama wants to do today, that will have to paid for by our children when they become taxpayers tomorrow. Do you condone the stealing of childrens futures with all the deficit spending Obama and the Democrats propose?

    babina: We're just not that stupid.

    Many would dispute that.

    • 6 votes
    #1.71 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:36 AM EDT

    Job1

    Steve,

    How does it feel to be a racist? Do you feel like a big man?

    He probably wishes he was a racist, a racist like the lawmakers in the south 50 years ago used there racism to control a segment of society, Steve on the other hand is Archie Bunker, the only thing he can control is his blatter.

    • 5 votes
    #1.72 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:36 AM EDT

    BigBear, thanks for the pep talk. {smile}

    Actually, this is an interesting development. I spoke with a liberal attorney this morning about this and he believes there is an actual silver lining at the end of the rainbow with this move. This in no way resembles what's going on in Wisconsin.

    But we will watch as it develops in the coming weeks. We have faith in Governor Patrick. But we'll see.

    • 2 votes
    #1.73 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:38 AM EDT

    BigBear62

    John in Iowa,

    They did ask for John McCain's birth certificate, because many believed he was not able to run for President because he was born in Panama. He went through the same stuff--but since he never became President, it didn't last.

    But shouldn't anyone running for the Presidency of the United States have to follow the qualifications of the Constitution, or do we just need to throw those out the window also?

    Bigbear, i agree with you, but don't you think the CIA and FBI checked this already?

    i mean really, this is why i think this is all silly. do you really think with the high tech intellegency we have, its the best in the world, would miss if the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES were not born here.

    COME ON, ITS SILLY SEASON.

    • 6 votes
    #1.74 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:39 AM EDT

    The President is a citizen...great!

    Moving right along;

    Have my conservative friends not noticed the eerie similarity between the town hall meetings going on right now in republican districts on the Ryan plan, and the meetings in democratic districts during the HCR debate?

    I am sure that just like the democrats and their signature issue of 2 years ago, the republicans have found a real winner that is bound to do for them what HCR did for their loyal opposition.

    • 6 votes
    #1.75 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:45 AM EDT

    BREAKING NEWS: EXXON MOBIL REPORTS PROFITS UP 69% .....

    http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/28/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

    Time to entirely end the subsidies and tax breaks. This rapacious company has a long history of exploiting the American nation!

    • 5 votes
    #1.76 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:46 AM EDT

    Pat, Boston, MA

    Pat just because democrats fall in line with unions does not mean we have to go with everything they want, Governor Deval Patrick is only going after the healthcare to control cost, Not to give it to rich folks in the form of tax cuts. this is Not Wisconson

    As a democrat this bothers me about unions, they at times go over board when hard decision have to be made. the unions in chicago were not happy with soon to be Former mayor Daley for his work to control cost but they got over it, and now they are worried about rahn because he will not be a nice as Mayor Daley was. Rahm target now is the chicago teachers union, the state just passed new reforms for firing bad teachers, mayor daley was a bit soft with them, but not rahm

    if those union leaders their were smart they would shut up and thank god there not in Wisconson, Indiana, or Ohio.

    • 1 vote
    #1.77 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:57 AM EDT

    The short term memory of some of these hardcore republicans is rather amazing. I remember a several month stretch of $4+ a gallon gas during Bush's time in office too.

    I think you guys severely overestimate the power the president actually has over gas prices. He could only maybe try to influence the federal taxes which would only reduce prices by 18.4 cents per gallon if they were all eliminated tomorrow... He has absolutely no control over the state taxes which are usually much higher. He also has absolutely no influence over OPEC or the commodity speculators who end up governing the supply end price. A release of the strategic reserves would lower the price by a few pennies for a day maybe....

    He could tell people to stop driving and produce a lower price through reduced demand I guess.... I don't know how much that would accomplish though....

    • 1 vote
    #1.78 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:14 PM EDT

    Keep up the Good work my Conservative Friends. Do not allow these RACIST LIBERALS on this Page to intimdate you with their SCREAMS OF RACISM. dont let them scare you into being Queit. Dont allow them to use the COLOR of the presidents SKIN to keep you from posting on these boards. they continue to Scream RACISM on a Daily BASIS.... its all they have. They can see the Writing on the wall they see they have been supporting a FAILED president that the Majority of the American Voting Public no longer Support him. When he is Voted out in 2012 they will be SCREAMING RACISM some of them WILL PROBABLY FILE SUIT saying that it was a RACIST VOTE saying that Obama needs to be PUT BACK in because it was RACISM that made people VOTE AGAINST HIM.

    Dont sit by and be intimidated. Dont allow them to control the Conversation with there SCREAMS OF RACISM..

    • 3 votes
    #1.79 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:16 PM EDT

    First Read missed another big story. The White House tried to put a thumb on Donald Trump by releasing Obama's original birth certificate, thinking that would shut 'The Donald' up, but Trump 'doubled down' by questioning Obama's qualifications to even be admitted to Harvard, claiming that Obama got in only because of 'Affirmative Action' quotas, and didn't have the ability to make it on his own, and calling on Obama to release his SAT scores to prove his point.

    The debate on Obama's qualifications continues unabated.

    • 4 votes
    #1.80 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:16 PM EDT

    'Slander' is the unique word that describes the offensive the birther movement launched and to which the TP, GOP, Swift-Boaters and Trump latched their party barges. Besides being patently disgusting, immoral and possibly illegal this movement was and is just plain stupid. And as the birthers go down in flames the rest of the flotilla desperately paddle for shore. I think Obama won this round and I can barely contain my chortle.

    • 5 votes
    #1.81 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:16 PM EDT

    US Navy Disabled Veteran - Dishonorable - GOP/TP controlled States are re-writing voter registration Laws designed to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters from their constitutional right to vote. These laws are an assault on the low income, people of color, students, elderly, sick, disabled etc. These are people that traditional vote democrat. See a pattern here.

    The only pattern is that you are a despicable LIAR!

    The voter registration laws are to ensure that only LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS vote in elections! There is NOTHING in the bill that limits citizens of ANY color, age, background, religion, occupation or income from voting. If it happens that illegals or non-citizens comprise a large block of Democrat voters, that says all that needs to be said of the Democrats' and their agenda!

    The DEMOCRATS cannot run on any ideas to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and improve education etc; they have used those slogans in the last election process and still have not delivered on even one of them.

    The people will not buy this scam again.

    Q: So what is left for Democrats to campaign on??
    A: Class warfare propaganda.

    Q: What is their agenda??
    A: Use the Cloward-Piven strategy to overload the welfare and entitlement system to collapse the economic system, drive people into poverty and desperation, convince them that capitalism is to blame for it, and finally to bring about Marxist reforms with a totalitarian style global government.

    Q:Who benefits from their agenda??
    A: The Democrats themselves, their constituents and the POWER ELITE.

    Q:Who gets hurt from their agenda??
    A:All of the "regular" citizens and the middle class.

    Q:How does their agenda move this country forward??
    A: It doesn't. It moves us toward tyranny.

    Q: Does it improve the quality of life for all Americans or just a few??
    A: The few Democrats themselves, their constituents and the POWER ELITE.

    • 6 votes
    #1.82 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:19 PM EDT

    OH. Yes. .

    Look at all the RACIST Liberals out today. all you Liberals have is to scream about the Color of Obamas Skin Its all you See is the color of his Skin Everything you do is to compare the Color of his Skin to that of other Presidents It is you that are thinking about the Color of his Skin We are not Scared of your RACISM anymore We will not be Intimidated by you SCREAMING racism Anymore Your sick Screams of RACISM is at everything you see is why we dont take you Serious, Your live in your pathetic world because your community has taught you to Scream RACISM if you dont get your WAY..

    If you are not given a Job. RACISM if you dont pass a Test RACISM If you dont get into College RACISM If you get pulled over by the Police RACISM if someone Disagrees with you RACISM .. we are tried of your RACIST RANTS.

    What a Terrible bunch you are. When you dont get your Way SCREAM RACISM Pathetic.....

    • 5 votes
    #1.83 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:19 PM EDT

    Oh. look. Another non-story about this birther nonsense to feed the controversy and take up another spot on the front page of MSNBC so they don't have to report the bad things our terrible president is doing. Huge surprise. It's business as usual for the last week here at MSNBC. Keep filling the pages with nonsense stories about a fringe faction of the counry, insist it's a majority, then overlook Obama's illegal war, or the fact that the Democrat controlled congress' anto-government news station they were running in Syria with people with ties to major terrorist groups has blown up in their faces, and is costing civilians their lives.

    Pay no attention to the man behind he curtain.......

    Right out ofthe Obama/MSM playbook.

    PS - If all you liberal nutjobs keep crying wolf with this racism thing, it's going to fall on deaf ears when it really needs to matter.

    • 6 votes
    #1.84 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:22 PM EDT

    Joe in Albany -

    You are a racist Pig.

    ___________________________________

    Tom, don't you mean: You are a "spacist" pig??

    • 3 votes
    #1.85 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:28 PM EDT

    Steve..... I don't know that every liberal shouts "racism" when something doesn't go their way. Both major political parties are probably 90%+ white. It isn't like all the brown people are democrats or something. It isn't like racism doesn't exist. I'm no democrat, but it doesn't take much to see the racism of a great many birthers out there.

    You can't tell me the guys who sit there and call him things like "King Obumbo" or "Obammy" or love to invoke his middle name in a clearly derogatory fashion aren't the slightest bit racist....

    • 2 votes
    #1.86 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:31 PM EDT

    The Racist Liberals are Collapsing posts again because they dont like it when someone calles them out on There Brand of RACISM they are the most Hateful people on this planet, they are not taken seriously the dont want a NON WHITE person to call them out on there form of HATRED. if someone speaks out about the RACISM they spew on these Boards on a Daily BASIS they will get together and Collaspe Post..

    YES Those RACIST LIBERALS are at it again. Pathetic excuses for HUMANS.

    Everytime they Accuse you of being Racist because you dont agree with them or the President Call these RACIST BIGOTS OUT. Stand up to them Dont let them Silence you. Until such time as we stand up to there FORM of RACISM they will continue to USE the COLOR of there skin as an EXCUSE..

    • 3 votes
    #1.87 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:38 PM EDT

    As Liberals many of us are intolerant of bigotry. It's a cross we have to bear.

    • 1 vote
    #1.88 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:40 PM EDT

    Eric,

    So when these Black people were Calling Bush everything BUT white . Was that Racist. was it RACISM when thye called him SHRUB Was it RACIST when they were Calling him STUPID

    You see you can't have it both Ways. You cant in one Sentence call One President Shrub or Dumb or stupid. yet call another OBUMMER.. and thats RACISM. and because someone use his MIDDLE NAME.. because infact his middle name is HUSSIEN .. thats not RACISM thats just his Middle Name

    • 2 votes
    #1.89 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:42 PM EDT

    @Machinehead....

    Really? Crazy Glenn Beck conspiracies?

    Think about this logically for about five seconds...

    Roughly half the country are registered Democrats. I sicerely doubt 1/2 of the country is part of a secret elitist conspiracy to destroy our country.

    Elitist? Well.... The elite are split pretty evenly between political parties and they already control everything. What would be the point of establishing a totalitarian regime when you already control everything?

    The top at both ends profit immensly from our capitalist system. A socialist regime wouldn't really profit anyone at the top. Hell, the so called "socialist" health plan was the biggest pander to special insurance and healthcare interests i've ever seen. The enitre thing was set up to profit the insurance companies and providers at the expense of everyone else. We need to eliminate the entire insurance system and move to a market driven, pay as you go, system in order to rein in these out of control healthcare costs. You can't charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to individuals for simple healthcare and remain in business without the insurance teet.

      #1.90 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:42 PM EDT

      There are very few things in this world that I am sure of:

      1) If Al Sharpton is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      2) If Jesse Jackson is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      3) If the ACLU is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      4) If France is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      5) When in doubt liberals will always call names and attempt intimidation rather than deal with the issues.

      I do not care one bit about the "birther" distraction and if Obama has better things to do than deal with it, I would have preferred his better things being something other than Oprah and a fundraiser. I'm surprised he didn't throw in a round of golf. He better get to work on the problems facing this country's economic issues or nothing else matters. You will have Republicans running on a platform of "Hope and change."

      • 3 votes
      #1.91 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:42 PM EDT

      JoAnna Smith 1--

      See you're off the meds again! May I suggest that you rejoin the conversation when you are more lucid and have something to say other than Republicans = Right; Democrats = wrong! I am 48yrs old and I remember growing up in a time when Republicans were synonymous with, yes, conservatism, but also sound of mind, learned and represented the educational elite. You and your Bagga ilk are anything but that. Instead, you are the embodiment of the sheer idiocy and lunacy that passes for sanity in the modern-day Republican party. There is no place in modern political discourse for a bunch of rabidly biased, ignoramuses hell bent on taking this country back to the neanderthal age.

      • 3 votes
      #1.92 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:46 PM EDT

      3) If the ACLU is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      So now bashing on nonbelievers are you? Why don't you stop clinging to your little evangelical fantasy and open your eyes tot he discrimination going around.

      4) If France is on your side, you are probably wrong.

      No doubt you were one of the people who supported the change to "Freedom fries".

      5) When in doubt liberals will always call names and attempt intimidation rather than deal with the issues.

      How so? You don't see liberals attacking conservatives for stupid things like "you weren't born in the United States".

      • 1 vote
      #1.93 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:47 PM EDT

      I laugh at(and feel sorry for) those who don't believe that bigotry(racism) hasn't played a huge part in the ridiculous attacks/accusations against Obama.

      I'm willing to bet that at least 50%(and I'm low balling the percentile) of those who believe Obama wasn't born here or eligible to be POTUS, are bigots(even if only on a subconscious level).

      How else would those bigots ignore the fact that Obama was vetted as a candidate, by federal agencies and those in charge of the electoral process. Do you really think Hilary, McCain and the Reps. didn't have Obama investigated? You can be sure they did, in hopes of bringing him down before the elections started.

      If you readily believe Obama is: Muslim(which shouldn't matter), not a citizen, anti-American, pals around with terrorists, isn't patriotic enough, Marxist/Communist, and/or the anti-Christ....................................

      the probability is very high that you are a bigot. Especially if you refuse to believe the facts, when they are presented to you(BC).

      Too many BIGOTS will rush to believe ANYTHING negative about Obama, without ANY evidence to back it up.

      I didn't vote for Obama(nor McCain), but I'd rather have him in the WH than McCain/Palin or any other candidate who was on the Rep ticket(and even Hilary).

      Some of you say Obama hasn't created jobs, some of you say he has(slowly).

      It's not the POTUS's responsibility to create jobs. That will be determined by the larger(and smaller) companies and corporations. It's the owners/shareholders/CEO's who outsource everything offshore/overseas, all in hopes of raising their own profits.

      I'm no communist, but wouldn't it be more fair(and moral) to hire Americans to do the work(even if you don't get to keep as much profit)? If you enjoy the protections of the US, you should pay your fair share in corporate taxes for that right.

      • 1 vote
      #1.94 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:51 PM EDT

      No... Nothing wrong at all with calling Obama an idiot. You can call him ineffective, stupid, inexperienced etc... I just think the terms like King Obumbo and sitting there calling him Hussein in a derogatory fashion are clearly used with bigoted intent. Unless you've been alseep the past 20 years, Hussein hasn't exactly been a name with positive associations....

      I certainly don't think he is stupid or ineffective and I didn't think Bush was either. Both are incredibly intelligent and brutally effective at serving the interest of those closely connected to them. Anyone who thinks a president actually works for the American people is either stupid or naiive.

      Like I said, certainly not a democrat (Libertarian actually), but i'm not going to pretend that some of these guys aren't a bit racist.

        #1.95 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:52 PM EDT

        Steve,

        As I said before, you are incorrect. Liberal-Progressives aren’t Racist. Conservatives and Red Necks make up the large portion of the Racist in our country.

          #1.96 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:03 PM EDT

          Jeff, you would be surprised how many democrats here in Boston agree with you. There isn't a whole lot of unhappiness from what I'm hearing. And these are very political folks I'm talking to. They think Gov. Patrick is doing the responsible thing here.

            #1.97 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:37 PM EDT

            Job1

            Hi Beverly,

            I agree with you. Why should the President have to do anything other than produce the short form, in which he did before he was elected? The Racist are the ones that kept bringing this issue up, and they aren’t stopping.

            As far as I concerned, these Republican Racist can go to hell.

            • 2 votes
            #1.98 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:56 PM EDT

            Where's the OUTRAGE?

            I am over here in Boston, Massachusetts, protesting in the halls of the capitol for public workers to have collective bargaining. As the police, from the police state, move towards me, I look around waiting for my friends and comrades to come to my aid. I do not see Feisty, Bev, Navy, or Pat. I look these monsters in the face, knowing that I alone am standing up for the working man in Massachusetts.

            I have called upon my brotherin to help. But my voice cannot be heard over the sounds of dogs and stomping police boots. Please my liberal friends, come to my aid, they are about to grasp my hands & arms, leading me out of the building. Saying we don't allow people like you in here. I ask, is it because I am male, they say "no". I ask, is it because I am white, they say "no". I ask, why then am I being treated this way,--Sir, it is because you are conservative. I bow my head and "say a little prayer for me".

            I will report soon from my cell block, if they allow me to make my 1 phone call.

            • 3 votes
            #1.99 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:30 PM EDT

            Beverly in Chicago
            "You Can't Make This Stuff Up"

            http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-04/61200470.jpg

            A copy of President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate after its release by the White House.

            Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that President Obama was born outside the United States our beloved country has reduced to this foolhardiness. The President of the greatest country on earth has been complaint in the inanity of a segment of our society that clings to racist notions. They will not growup or overcome their pure racism. This so outrageous that I Iliken it to an having an embossed birth certificate around his neck for all to see or citizenship papers in a paperbag.

            In fact, it is a new Jim Crow behavior comparable to Blacks arriving at the voting booth being asked to recite the constutiyion forwards and backwards or any impossible feat. All this is done because this racist have superiority complexes. The reality is the people in this segment of our USA are very diminutive. They lack common sense and are narrow-minded as well as ardent racists.

            You'd think with the President complaint to their inane wishes that should end it all so President Obama can carry on the serious business of our nation. But no

            Donald Trump's Birther & Zee Transcipts Circus has taken on a new side show and another new low.

            They, these racist paranoid idiotic losers, along with the THAT PRES. OBAMA IS COMMITTING SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD BY USING A FALSE Social Security Numbe. Worse these idiots have slandered his mother. They say-- The public has no idea who Barry's real birth father We don't need just more black voices rising up to expose the media's reluntunce tio expose how sick these birthers, but all reasonable voices.

            How can anyone be so paranoid and that stupid?

            For the record, any anyone who wishes to call me a racist I say take a flying leap which is a polite way of saying kiss my---and it is black or giving you the finger. See for yourselves, I'm serious. I don't care what you think.-

            http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2810984/2/istockphoto_2810984-middle-finger.jpg

            Don't pay attention to these carnival barkers. They are an insane clown posse.

              #1.100 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:04 PM EDT

              The Birther conspiracy is a xenophobic hybrid of bigotry (Archie Bunker), first about the President's name (remember the lady telling McCain he was an Arab?), then about the President's race (to Orly "T'aint" his father was African, that's why "African" is used in the certificate, and not "black"), and last but not least the Red Scare McCarthyism that the President is so liberal as to be a socialist or even a communist.

              We ALL know (even the teabaggers in their dark little hearts--if they have one) that this would never happen if the President had a Western name, was white, and was Republican. While the Birther conspiracy is bigotry far beyond just racist, these folks are also racists. Come on people, the KKK, neo-Nazis, and Skinheads are NOT progressives. These racists are a part of the GOTP tent, so conservatives, just friggin' own up to the bigotry.

              From Pat: Isn't it a shame that Lawrence had to do the job supposed tv professional journalists wouldn't do?

              This isn't the first time or last time we will see "Lamestream Media" more concerned about ratings and the all mighty dollar than doing their Free Press role in our democracy to educate voters and to be a watchdog. I will never forget how pitiful it was after 9-11 in the rush to invade Iraq. No Middle East experts, no historians, no analysts--nothing on the air except opinion editorials and anchors debating each other--like we care what most of these idiots think?

              Speaking of which, you should look up Lawrence O'Donnell's bio -- very impressive. I have always asked conservatives why they listen to commentators like Glenn Beck (look at his bio, eek) who has no merit or expertise. People are only as smart as the source of their information, so this explains a lot about the right-wing ignorance (FOX/Hate Radio/Viral E-mails/Fake Websites). These people think Glann Beck is so smart, and President Obama is dumb--WTF?

              And likewise with the new attacks on the President's educational background...Not only is President Obama's education and life's achievements to date extremely impressive, it will only bring comparison to Dubya, which will not help their case. I believe Pat Buchanan is the one saying the President used Affirmative Action to get into Harvard. Then one must ask how GWB got into Harvard--with the silver spoon in his mouth (family name and connections)? And while President Obama graduated magna cum laude (WOW), Dubya had a "C' average. My advise to Donald Chump, et al...Don't go there.

              Let's face it, conservatives stoop to these idiotic tactics because they have nothing else. Certainly no merit of their own.

                #1.101 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:31 PM EDT

                Holy smoke! Another 100 plus saber rattling waste of space thread! Whos a racist, whos an idiot. I have seen so many one man/woman back patting know it all rhetorical howlers and not a single discussion to the validity of the documents used to keep Obama in the Whitehouse. Canned insults and partisan political billboarding is not answering the questions people have found out about his so called definitive special treatment end it all paste up fakery. Stop playing the team game of my side is right and look at the reality. Both sides! I am getting the feeling this whole first act is exactly that, an act you purpetrate on every blog you can find. Armchair quarterbacking has nothing on this little hobby. Go google the long form and see the scams for yourselves. He is conning us as you fill reams of internet space with pundit palaver. I would ask for directions to the side that ACTUALLY wants to finish this before the next election, but I surmise none of you know about getting it done. 11 more pages???? I think I'll skip to the last chapter, I bet it reads about the same as 1.0 to 1.101

                See what you are worked up about, the birth certificates or your indignation.

                  #1.102 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:26 PM EDT
                  Reply

                  From a report dated April 8, 2011 on CBPP Website on the Actual Deficits in the Ryan Bill – Go look at the total report.

                  “What’s the difference between what Chairman Ryan claims and what his plan really does? The chairman claims that his plan generates $5.8 trillion in spending cuts over ten years, relative to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline. But that number falls by $1.5 trillion to $4.3 trillion — once one corrects for two things”:

                  [1] ” $1.3 trillion in “savings” from the official CBO baseline that comes merely from the fact that the Ryan plan reflects the costs of current policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. The CBO baseline contains a large anomaly related to the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Following the rules governing budget baselines, CBO’s baseline mechanically assumes that current levels of U.S. operations and costs in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue forever rather than phasing down in accordance with current policy. The CBO baseline figures are thus much higher than the costs of current policy. Ryan himself said earlier this year on National Public Radio in attacking President Obama’s 2012 budget proposal for not doing enough to reduce deficits — that simply showing the costs of current policy in Iraq and Afghanistan produces “phantom savings” from an anomalous baseline, not real deficit reduction”.

                  [2] “$200 billion in lower interest savings due to an error by Chairman Ryan’s staff in calculating interest savings”.

                  The bottom line is this proposed bill only cuts the deficit by 150 Billion of the next decade AND adds another 5.5 Trillion in deficit increase over the next decade. This is “Fiscal Responsibility”. A Budget Bill that claims 4.3 Trillion Dollars in deficit reduction but adds 4.2 Trillion Dollars in tax cuts for the richest 2%, which basically wipes out the deficit reduction. Just look at what the hidden costs are, namely;

                  [1] 700,000 Jobs will be lost which will increase unemployment, claims for UI, food stamps and Medicaid. It will reduce revenues to a new record low when we can least afford it. It will slow down if not stall the economy which will have a disastrous effect on small businesses since fewer people will be able to buy their products and services which compounds the problem.

                  [2] The repeal of Medicare and Medicaid as we know it throwing tens of millions of people out into the street to fend for themselves and rewarding the Insurance Companies with Billions of Dollars in new revenue. It also repeals some of the HCR benefits as well making it worse.

                  [3] The planned destruction of Social Programs like education, medical research, national security, food and product safety, clean energy, environment protections, and about 50 other programs that primarily improve the lives of the middle class.

                  • 20 votes
                  #2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:05 AM EDT

                  @Navy

                  The planned destruction of Social Programs like education, medical research, national security, food and product safety, clean energy, environment protections, and about 50 other programs that primarily improve the lives of the middle class.

                  You really should read what you are pasting. When did national security become a Social Program?

                  As I keep asking Navy, we know that you are against this plan. Fair enough. What are you for?

                  • 15 votes
                  #2.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:18 AM EDT

                  Alan, you are correct on National Security it is not a Social Program at least you know it is under attack.

                  As for what I am for I have written my position many times and you know it. Nice try to get off topic.

                  • 21 votes
                  #2.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:34 AM EDT

                  Hi Navy,

                  Right on message. Thanks

                  • 11 votes
                  #2.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:40 AM EDT

                  USN, thanks for pointing out that Ryan speaks out of both sides of his mouth. He has one set of budget assumptions for the President, a different and wildly fictitious set for himself.

                  Meanwhile Conservatives are salivating over what they can get out of the upcoming vote to raise the debt ceiling. That only shows the depths of their hypocrisy. They've already voted to increase the debt by $5.5T over the next 10 years, $62T before they hypothetically bring the budget into balance. Whining about it now is only lying about what they've already approved.

                  • 18 votes
                  #2.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:51 AM EDT

                  John B:

                  Very true. I heard that Bernie Sanders said that Sen. Reid will schedule the vote for the Ryan Bill. This should be good, lets see how the vote goes and how those that vote for it defend their positions come 2012.

                  President Obama in 2012.

                  • 14 votes
                  #2.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM EDT

                  US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired

                  Alan, you are correct on National Security it is not a Social Program at least you know it is under attack.

                  As for what I am for I have written my position many times and you know it. Nice try to get off topic.

                  But I am for cuts at the DOD so I actually agree that National Security should be "attacked" if possible. Are you against cuts at the DOD? You say that you have written your position many times, this is also true of your current attacks on the Ryan plan. Why do you feel you have to re-iterate your opposition when you do not give the same consideration to what you propose? I feel this is right on topic.

                  • 10 votes
                  #2.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:28 AM EDT

                  Let's see !! What did BO suggest to reduce the deficit? Can anyone state anything he has said that would reduce it atall? Or does the statements he made only extend the recession we are in and raise the overall cost of living.

                  • 9 votes
                  #2.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:12 AM EDT

                  @Navy

                  We can no longer ignore the fact that the hate for President Obama is being driven by the fact that he is a black man and he is doing a good job considering that he has no support at all from the “Obstructionist Party”.

                  This statement is ludicrous. Over 70% of the population believe that the Obama policies are the wrong approach for this country to take. This isn't due to the color of the man's skin, but the position he is taking the county. Race isn't the issue you and other libbies on the site want to take it. Or, is this just the latest talking points from the Progressive think tanks? Blame it on race to take away the fact that the Obama administration isn't approaching our issues for the American population?

                  As for this "birther" issue, I am happy to see it put to bed.....never should have been an issue from the get-go, and I wonder why Obama didn't end it in the beginning. Reports about dollars spent to keep this information from the public? Why, if the document was so easy to finally produce? Was this just another ploy to devert from policy issues to before the election period?

                  @Bev,

                  Thank you for confirming you are a racist.

                  @Feisty,

                  Just another day for you to show your ass. Nothing of substance, just verbal attacks on the opposition.

                  • 9 votes
                  #2.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:50 PM EDT

                  Thank you righties for collapsing my post. It just tells me I am on the right path and you impotent little snobs can not handle the truth.

                  What a week ender yesterday. “Our President” releases his long form Birth Certificate making Donald Trump and the rest of the “Birther” movement look like the idiots that they are. Now that this lie has been exposed and Birther’s are attacking his educational record with what is basically a “racist” slur (agenda). We can no longer ignore the fact that the hate for President Obama is being driven by the fact that he is a black man and he is doing a good job considering that he has no support at all from the “Obstructionist Party”. The GOP/TP has tried every dirty trick in the book to stop him and make him a failure as Boehner and McConnell (and others) have vowed to do, but he has still been able to improve the economy and create jobs like he said he would. He pulled this country away from pending Bankruptcy that was engineered by the previous administration. Can you imagine just how much farther along the path to total recovery we would be if the GOP/TP just stopped the race based hate of this man and worked instead to help the country?

                  This is the by product of a party that has nothing to run on come 2012. They have no plans to create jobs, to stimulate the economy, improve education or even a viable plan to address the escalating deficits and debt. It is all “bait and switch”. So what is left? Exactly what you see above. That is all the GOP/TP has left. Race based personal attacks, lies and deceit.

                  This repugnant ideology of some of our elected officials has to stop. It is dragging this country into a “fascist/oligarchy” state that is becoming more evident every day as we watch the DRACONIAN Spending Cuts to Middle Class programs where those so called savings are really used to fund huge tax cuts to corporations and the rich. This is “Class Warfare” and the record setting redistribution of wealth and power from the middle class to the top 2%.

                  GOP/TP controlled States are re-writing voter registration Laws designed to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters from their constitutional right to vote. These laws are an assault on the low income, people of color, students, elderly, sick, disabled etc. These are people that traditional vote democrat. See a pattern here. They cannot run on any ideas to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and improve education etc; they have used those slogans in the last election process and still have not delivered on even one of them. The people will not buy this scam again. So what is left for them to campaign on?? What is their agenda?? Who benefits from their agenda?? Who gets hurt from their agenda?? How does their agenda move this country forward?? Does it improve the quality of life for all Americans or just a few??

                  We better start asking these questions above and more of every politician that walks up to a podium and starts their rhetoric.

                  The new GOP/TP Party is becoming a political entity that supports the restriction or outright denial of the following rights/programs to the citizens of the U.S.A.

                  The Right to vote in an open and fair electoral process free from outside interference (Citizens United decision)

                  Women’s reproductive rights and their right to equal pay for equal work, stop calling single mothers druggies and whores

                  Gay Rights to marriage, adoption

                  The Freedom of Religion to live in a country free from McCarthy style religious intolerant hearings

                  The opportunity to a quality education for all children that only serves to make this country stronger, education should not be just for those that can afford it.

                  The opportunity for quality and affordable Health Care, again it should not be based on those that can pay and screw everybody else

                  The right to form a union

                  The right to safe highways, food and product safety

                  Accountability of our elected officials. Somewhere along the line we have allowed politicians to basically get away with murder, this needs to be stopped and we are seeing how important this really is in the ongoing rallies and recall procedures being exercised by our citizens today across this country, This in part is also part of our Constitutional Right to vote the bums out.

                  This is just a abbreviated list of some of the more repugnant ideology being proposed by our politicians (mostly from the GOP/TP).

                  The “Sleeper” has awaken!!!

                  • 7 votes
                  #2.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:32 PM EDT

                  Watch for the coming media blitz from the right paid for by anonymous donors that will show the Ryan budget as the best thing since sugar and that it "saves" medicare! We will have to all do our part to come out against these ads which will be pure fantasy!

                  • 3 votes
                  #2.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:35 PM EDT

                  RAW -

                  Let's see !! What did BO suggest to reduce the deficit? Can anyone state anything he has said that would reduce it atall?

                  He mentioned cutting the billions we give in oil subsidizes, pointing out that those companies are posting huge profits and do not need the money.

                  He said we need to cut the DOD spending on equipment we DO NOT need. Did you know that the different branches of the military are TOLD to buy equipment they do not need? I know someone very high up in the air force. He mentioned that they are routinely told to buy air craft that they do not need. So why are the wasting money on equipment they do not need? Lobbyists . . . plain and simple. Obama mentioned cutting the budget that goes to this type of activity.

                  I answered your question, now you can answer mine

                  The GOP claims that we ONLY need to cut spending, and NOT increase revenue to pay off our debt. However, cutting spending will put many more public sectors employees out of work.

                  So how will increasing unemployment help our current economic situation?

                  How will we make up for the lost tax revenue from these unemployed public sector?

                  Do you believe we should cut MORE programs, and put MORE people out of work, to make up for that lost tax revenue?

                  What happens to private sector jobs when unemployment rises and less people are buying goods, thus reducing demand?

                  How high are you willing to let unemployment go by cutting public jobs?

                  I eagerly await your answers.

                  • 2 votes
                  #2.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:42 PM EDT

                  To Ira Lapan - this has been the plan since Reagan - Grover Norquist solicits and gets all most all Republicans to sign a statement that they will not allow ANY tax increases and that this includes doing away with any current incentives that will raise taxes. It will interesting to see how this shakes out in the Ryan Budget because he claims that by lowering the tax rate on the wealthy to 25% that they will pay MORE taxes because of reforming the tax codes and eliminating loopholes and incentives that lower their tax rates. Of course, they say one thing and do the opposite.

                  Also, Vermont has voted to start a single payer system, needs only signature of the Governor and they have to get a waiver from the Affordable Healthcare Act. Now that the Republicans are threatened by a single payer system in one of the states, they are now going to try to disallow states from opting out - This is hilarious since so many States are adopting legislation to opt out !

                  • 4 votes
                  #2.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:46 PM EDT

                  Hey RAW, you lazy astard-bay. If you don't know how to go out and get the information you need to answer your dumb a$$ question, don't expect for us to. If you'd watch a station that gives the facts, then you'd be in the know.

                  However, if you think that watching Fox is going to give you facts.... well, that is why you do NOT know the answer to your own question.

                  Sorry.......................

                  • 6 votes
                  #2.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:51 PM EDT

                  Where's the OUTRAGE?

                  I am over here in Boston, Massachusetts, protesting in the halls of the capitol for public workers to have collective bargaining. As the police, from the police state, move towards me, I look around waiting for my friends and comrades to come to my aid. I do not see Feisty, Bev, Navy, or Pat. I look these monsters in the face, knowing that I alone am standing up for the working man in Massachusetts.

                  I have called upon my brotherin to help. But my voice cannot be heard over the sounds of dogs and stomping police boots. Please my liberal friends, come to my aid, they are about to grasp my hands & arms, leading me out of the building. Saying we don't allow people like you in here. I ask, is it because I am male, they say "no". I ask, is it because I am white, they say "no". I ask, why then am I being treated this way,--Sir, it is because you are conservative. I bow my head and "say a little prayer for me".

                  I will report soon from my cell block, if they allow me to make my 1 phone call.

                  • 2 votes
                  #2.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:38 PM EDT

                  My Governor (Vermont) was on the afternoon news and he is going to sign the "Single Payor" Bill. There was a report in the local newspaper that the majority of Physicians think this is about time. They all feel this will cut their costs by limiting the amount of paperwork, stabilizing what they get paid and allowing them to do what they do best. Provide quality care to the people in Vermont.

                  I think most of these kind on programs are going to take root in the smaller states first as it is just easier, less crap to deal with to get things done.

                  President Obama made us a promise and we took him up on it. It will be a few years before it all gets settled in real proper like but it is going to happen.

                  • 4 votes
                  #2.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:58 PM EDT

                  Alan NJ:

                  We have something we agree upon. I think there is a lot of waste, fraud, redundnacy and crappy programsin the DOD that should be eliminated. You willo get no arguement from me on going after the DOD. I am not so sure about Boarder Patrol though and the US Coast Guard. I consider these all part of National Defense regardless of the actual department they may be under, like the Coast Guard I beleive is Homeland security. I do not thik those need to be touched at this point.

                  I think our misunderstanding is in how I define National Security. I include those that report to the Pentagon (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines), the Coast Guard and the Boarder Patrol. I am not in favor of going after the Boarder Patrol or the Coast Guard but the Pentagon - yes I agree with you.

                  Also I think the same is true about Medicare and Medicaid. There is a lot of fraud, waste, redundantcy and programs whose shelf life has expired that can also be removed with no loss of benefits.

                  I am for tax reform as well.

                  Does this answer your question(s).

                  • 1 vote
                  #2.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:11 PM EDT
                  Reply

                  Never been big on popcorn but I sure have acquired a taste for it latley.

                  • 7 votes
                  Reply#3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:12 AM EDT

                  The Poison that is Donald Trump.

                  Wednesday, we watched an American President who was elected by a large majority of the people being forced once again to prove his citizenship, to produce "his identification" because of the purposeful intent of hateful, race-based lies. What a sad day for America, 150 years after the start of the Civil War, 36 years after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law and the first bi-racial President of the United States is still subject to the remnants of Jim Crow, subject to the prejudices of those who must find an acceptable justification to doubt that Barack Obama could possibly be President of these United States. For over two and a half years, our President has been asked for his birth certificate despite having provided Hawaii's legal document during the 2008 campaign and repeatedly since then. Courts have thrown out the dozens of legal challenges as having insufficient evidence yet these racists continue their efforts to de-legitimize an American President who just happens to be half African American.

                  Not all conservatives are racists, there are racist democrats as well but the truth is most of the racism is coming from the right where it has been since LBJ signed the Civil Rights laws and the parties changed sides. Conservatives like Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, Trump and republican legislators like Steve King, Bachmann, Gohmert, and at least a dozen others beat the drums of covert-racist hatred for over two years. Legislators like Boehner, Cantor, DeMint, McConnell and their fellow republicans stood back for two years and never once denounced the birther nonsense for what it was: a factless lie perpetrated by hate mongers and covert racists. By the very fact that politicians and former politicians allowed the lies to continue, they embraced the lies as their own; they embraced the covert racism as their own.

                  Racism is like pornography, one knows it when one sees it. Donald Trump has taken a few other steps into the conscious form of race baiting and hate mongering. He pushes the lie that Bill Ayers wrote President Obama's books. That is a two-fer for Trump if one keeps score. A black person could not possibly write such eloquent prose; therefore, a former "terrorist"must have written the books. Trump questions our President's academic record, his ability to achieve excellent grades and prestigious honors by simply asking how Obama could possibly have been accepted at Columbia and Harvard. According to Trump our President's grades were not good (another bold-faced lie) and for those reasons, it must have been because he is black. That's it, that is Trump's answer, a black person cannot possibly be intelligent or earn Magna Cum Laude at Harvard, become the first African American President of the Harvard Law Review; Obama could not possibly be smarter than Donald Trump.

                  Trump and his hateful, lying tactics is poisoning politics. It is bringing the fringe into the mainstream. What must other African America parents, grandparents, children think when they once again hear the modern-day version of Jim Crow, the modern day version of blacks stepping off the sidewalks to allow whites to pass, of blacks riding in the back of the bus, the modern day version of separate drinking fountains.

                  Donald Trump, an ego maniac loser, represents the poison simmering beneath the republican party and further proves the GOP is morally bankrupt of ideas, bankrupt of fair and honest politics. Trump has successfully played the race-baiting card to those desperate to hear it. Shame on the media hosts who interviewed Trump and never said to him "you are lying and you know you are lying" and then added that the interview was over, turned off the cameras and left the room.

                  Trump has raised the racist right-wing flag high for all to see. This is what Trump and others like him have done for the GOP because republicans simply never denounced the crazy fringe within its base. Every republican candidate for president must now pander to the crazy fringe which has become mainstream. Every candidate must be one of the "carnival barkers", the bigots, the prejudiced within their party; and every time they do, they poison the water with hate, racism and fear and those candidates own it; those candidates become as shallow and bigoted as the fringe.

                  • 27 votes
                  #4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:15 AM EDT

                  Trump has successfully played the race-baiting card to those desperate to hear it.

                  Just like the Obama campaign called Bill Clinton racist in SC when they had to.

                  • 11 votes
                  #4.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:29 AM EDT

                  Racism is wrong no matter what party does it. The issue here is that the Donald is guilty of being a racist at least in some of his rhetoric. Is he a racist at heart? Only he knows but where there is smoke there is typically a fire.

                  • 19 votes
                  #4.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:40 AM EDT

                  It is what is it Alan. BTW, it was not the Obama campaign who made that claim about Clinton, it was others and the media.

                  • 11 votes
                  #4.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:40 AM EDT

                  Pride.

                  Donald Trump is just full of it - pride, I mean.

                  And what is he so proud of? Well, when he talks about himself (and does he ever talk about anything else?) it's not his pride at what a good husband and father he is, or what he's done for his country or his community - it's about how much money he has. Well, whatever floats your boat. Err.....yacht.

                  He's proud of putting up a lot of great big ostentatious buildings all over the place and then putting his own name in great big ostentatious lights and signs all over them. Well, that's actually more hubris than pride, but I doubt he knows the difference.

                  He's proud of hosting a third-rate reality show that was dropping like a rock in the ratings until he (or someone else) came up with the idea of replacing the "real" people on it with a bunch of D-list celebrities who he proudly makes jump through hoops and stab each other in the back, all for the chance to grovel before him for a chance to win his approval. He's proud of his "entrances", his block-long limos, and the way he's managed to convince everyone in the room to address him as "Mister Trump" or risk his wrath.

                  He's proud of the good relationship he has with "the blacks".

                  He's proud of thinking that just because people follow him around with microphones, it means they think he has anything of value to say. His ego is so enormous that he doesn't have a clue that to most Americans he's just the latest in a long line of national jokes (see Palin, Sarah or Sheen, Charlie). I guess that's more ignorance than pride, actually, but they do say ignorance is bliss.

                  And yesterday he was ever so proud of the impact he personally had on the President of the United States "proving" what every sane person in the world has known for years, that surprise, surprise - Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. I'll bet he's really proud of the conversation our President may have had to have with his young daughters last night, trying to explain to them just why it is that people like Trump seem to feel compelled to go out of their way to hate and try and humiliate their father just because of his race. He doesn't seem to care what his own wife (wives) and children think, unless it's to be obedient little sycophants who aren't allowed to speak for themselves, so why would he possibly care how the Obama girls feel? So what if they're confused and hurt? Donald Trump is proud! Really, really proud.

                  Pride.....one of the seven deadly sins.

                  Pride.....and prejudice?

                  Pride.....it goeth before a fall. Have a nice trip, MISTER Trump.

                  • 22 votes
                  #4.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:03 AM EDT

                  Certainly, some members of both parties have, and will continue, to exhibit racism. (By the way, as I recall, it was not the Obama campaign that issued comments about President Clinton's racism. Rev. Sharpton stated that a comment about serving coffee may have been racist.) Additionally, disagreeing with President Obama's policies does not make one a racist. Calling President Obama names, such as Odumbo and Obozo, while juvenile, does not make one a racist. (Some liberals call President Bush names, such as "Dubya.") Comparing President Obama to Hitler and Stalin does not make one a racist. (Members of Code Pink called President Bush Hitler.) However, racism is certainly at the center of the birth certificate issue. I can think of no other reason, as so much evidence proves that President Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. Moreover, blaming President Obama for this controversy is outrageous. He released and posted the legal document produced by Hawaii to verify birth in 2008. Contrary to Mr. Trump's and other's statements that a "Certificate of Live Birth" is meaningless is nothing more than a lie. I have used my "Certificate of Live Birth" to enroll in school, sports, and apply and receive my passport.

                  I believe that Orly Taitz added more evidence to suggest that this controversy is fueled by racism by stating the President Obama's nationality should not be Kenyan, but "Negro." I did not know that "Negro" was a nationality.

                  • 14 votes
                  #4.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:05 AM EDT
                  Comment author avatarSteve-505729Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

                  Navy it is YOU that is the RACIST .. You think you can intimidate Donald Trump with your SCREAMS of RACISM. i think not. the Very fact that you even try to use it Shows that it is you. that is the RACIST

                  • 8 votes
                  #4.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:05 AM EDT

                  Dear Jody,

                  This is the most eloquent piece of prose written in denouncing the scourge of racism and bigotry. Congratulations.

                  You have highlighted the flaws in today's Republican party. Yes, there are no doubt, bigots and racists who are Democrats, however, they are a very small minority in a very big tent. Not so for the opposition, as I have stated several times before, not one single member of the leadership in the Republican party has ever taken the lead and said enough of this nonsense, no one from a grassroots position, has stood up and said enough and above all, no one else in the media has the testicular fortitude to do what Laurence O'Donnell did last night and unplug and kick off Orly Taitz from his interview, for her nonsensical claims.

                  Yesterday, was a watershed moment for me, I have always maintain a sense of optimism and hope that one's better angels will prevail, however, following the events of the past few weeks, I am now left feeling more than discourage that our best days have come and gone. One could say I am sickened by the loss of the Ameican Spirit that has achieved so much and will now be replaced pettiness, cynicism and hatefulness.

                  • 17 votes
                  #4.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:14 AM EDT

                  Steve, do you honestly think that if the President's father was "Brendan O'Malley", a white man from Ireland, and not "Barrack Obama", a black man from Kenya, this would even be an issue?

                  • 16 votes
                  #4.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:14 AM EDT

                  An open letter to Chris Matthews: Dear Chris: Thank you for putting the pressure on the two nutjobs you had on your show last night. The Teabagger Nation dude and the State Senator from Arizona. The only way we defeat this sort of bigotry is to make those who engage in it SO uncomfortable, that they slither back into the dark recesses where they belong. Racism is ignorance, and unfortunately, there are some people that you simply cannot educate. You tried, your outrage was palpable and equal to mine, and that you did not succeed in moving these two is no fault of yours. We, as a nation, have been far too tolerant and far too forgiving of the "teabaggers" and their attempt to hide what they really are. It is long past time for all of us to quit using polite words and call them what they are. BIGOTS! The thing that was most clear to me is that the "teabaggers" will now make up more lies, to try to cover the lies that they have already told. My dear friend Beverly, in her excellent post talks about the hoops that minorities had to jump through to exercise their right to vote. This nonsense with our President's education is code for those days. Some of you, and SHAME ON YOU, would have us to believe that our President could not POSSIBLY be eligible for IVY without affirmative action. Let me educate you on that, since I have a daughter that competes for spots at that level. YOU MUST HAVE THE REQUISITE CREDENTIALS TO GET INTO IVY! If you don't, legacy status (affirmative action for rich whites), NOTHING will help you to get in! Some of you need to join the rest of us in the current century and rejoice with us that this man defines "American Dream" and makes it a real, living and breathing thing for ALL of our children. If you can't, it says much about YOU. None of it good.

                  Chris, you made a start on demanding that people think about their motives. Thank you for that. Love, newdayDAWNING.

                  • 22 votes
                  #4.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:21 AM EDT

                  DaNoid:

                  Stevie gets his diaper in a bunch because the GOP/TP has been exposed for what they really are. He can't defend this repugnant ideology so he does what Karl Rove did. Accuse the other people of the same thing that you are guilty of and hope the ill informed will pick up on it. Donald Trump is a racist and as far as I am concern anybody who supports him is guilty of the same. Just because they facts are there and we point them out the very people that are the guilty party immediately accuses the other of the same.

                  Sorry many of us do not buy that. Little Stevie boy, you are the real racist here and you prove it when you open your mouth every day.

                  It is like a Judge reading the complaint against a thief in court and then the thief calls the judge a crook for reading the complaint trying to dodge his own guilt.

                  The GOP/TP likes blame the victims, it is never the culprits fault.

                  • 12 votes
                  #4.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:32 AM EDT

                  Da Noid

                  Steve, do you honestly think that if the President's father was "Brendan O'Malley", a white man from Ireland, and not "Barrack Obama", a black man from Kenya, this would even be an issue?

                  If Barak Obama claimed his father was from Ireland I would definitely demand to see his birth certificate. I know more Irish illegals than any other group.

                  • 7 votes
                  #4.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:32 AM EDT
                  Comment author avatarSteve-505729Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

                  Da Noid,

                  its always a Black Vs White thing with you liberals Isnt it.

                  And Navy... You are a Victim. a Victim of your own Community trying to Convince you that you are a Victim . Your RACISM is your problem in life . you walk thru it thinking EVERY white person is Against you. what a terrible walk you are taking. Pathetic.. they have put you in that position..

                  • 3 votes
                  #4.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:38 AM EDT

                  Thank you, Gingerbread Mamma, US Navy.

                  If you want to attack someone, Steve numbers, attack me. I am the one who wrote the post about Trump, not US Navy. Why are you attacking him?

                  • 8 votes
                  #4.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:42 AM EDT

                  Beautifully written Jody!

                  @ NDD - the entire MSNBC line up was on FIRE last night! Did you happen to catch Lawrence O'Donnell pulling th plug of the bither queen?

                  PRICELESS! ;o)

                  • 9 votes
                  #4.14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:46 AM EDT

                  Didn't see it, Feisty, was at school with Sey.

                  • 4 votes
                  #4.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:49 AM EDT

                  newday,

                  I agree with you, Chris did a good job showing up those two fools on his show last night. Now can we stop talking about the buffoon(I refuse to say his name) and the birthers. Enough is enough. I am ready to say NO MORE BIRTHER TALK.

                  • 7 votes
                  #4.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:55 AM EDT

                  Feisty - I watched Lawrence O'Donnell last evening. I was actually more impressed with his commentary about NBC. Lawrence O'Donnell is usually the only show I watch on MSNBC. He has great guests, asks pertinent questions, and usually, I think that his commentary is is logical and on point.

                  • 5 votes
                  #4.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:57 AM EDT
                  • 5 votes
                  #4.18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:02 AM EDT

                  Steve-505729

                  Navy it is YOU that is the RACIST .. You think you can intimidate Donald Trump with your SCREAMS of RACISM. i think not. the Very fact that you even try to use it Shows that it is you. that is the RACIST

                  Stevie (O)

                  THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF YOU AND YOUR CAT CALLS FROM YOUR WET WHISTLE

                  http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2810984/2/istockphoto_2810984-middle-finger.jpg

                  • 5 votes
                  #4.19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:03 AM EDT

                  dottielou: I don't think the "birther" talk will end. They are already coming up with reasons why the birth certificate is forged. I think WE have to confront them head on about who and what they really are.

                  • 8 votes
                  #4.20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:05 AM EDT

                  Isn't it strange GOP/t-Baggers/ BIRTHERS would rather keep the fire going on the President, slander his mother. and stupidly call his Kenyan father's race Negro than discuss the economic devastation this country inherited from them?

                  No it's not. They are cowards and cannot admit their guilt.

                  I'm so glad and proud we have a real Black man in the Oval Office who will admit when he is wrong and will not LIE to the people.

                  It takes courage and a spine of stele to do take; something the right does not have.

                  Thanks Mr President. you are the adult inOval Office

                  • 10 votes
                  #4.21 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:09 AM EDT

                  Mary, newdayDawning, JoAnne PA--also thanks to you for adding excellent thoughts to the conversation.

                  • 6 votes
                  #4.22 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:09 AM EDT

                  Wooooohooooooo Lawrence! That was AMAZING Feisty! Absolutely fun to watch. Now, when is a judge going to nail her for frivolous action?

                  • 5 votes
                  #4.23 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:11 AM EDT

                  Jody, your post should be required reading.

                  • 5 votes
                  #4.24 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:11 AM EDT

                  Isn't it strange GOP/t-Baggers/ BIRTHERS would rather keep the fire going on the President, slander his mother. and stupidly call his Kenyan father's race Negro than discuss the economic devastation this country inherited from them?

                  No it's not. They are cowards and cannot admit their guilt.

                  I'm so glad and proud we have a real Black man in the Oval Office who will admit when he is wrong and will not LIE to the people.


                  It takes courage and a spine of steel to do that; something the right does not have.

                  Thanks Mr President; you are the adult in the Oval Office

                  @newdayDAWNING10

                  Jody, your post should be required reading.

                  I agree newday. Like the truth intellect and mother she is everyday she gives a good dose of common sense.


                  • 7 votes
                  #4.25 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:17 AM EDT

                  Would anyone consider the 90% approval rating Obama gets from the black community racist? Maybe he's just doing that good of job and the rest of us just don't know it... :)~

                  • 3 votes
                  #4.26 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:40 AM EDT

                  Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

                  You have GOT to watch this NDD!

                  Make sure you have some popcorn handy! lol


                  After watching this again I just fell out laughing. Last night I got mad.

                  What cracked me up was when she can --"I get a close up"?

                  Immediately, I thought, ummm yea, how about a MRI for those chemical imbalances in your brain. All those times she got kicked out of court for frivolity she's got to be crazy

                  Then when Lawrence said--"Get Her Out Of Here"--I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, I'm cracking up now. I replayed it 3 times already. It's soooo funny.

                  I thought about the slapstick comedy days when someone comes from behind stage and pulls them off with a long hooked stick.

                  I'd look to see that over at the comedy channel aka Fox Noise with Glenn Beck.

                  Roger Ailes also needs the parameds for back up when they pull Glenn off

                  • 8 votes
                  #4.27 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:41 AM EDT

                  And you do too, Beverly!

                  • 6 votes
                  #4.28 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:44 AM EDT

                  Good Morning kids

                  It's been raining here on the prairie for the last several days so we've got a pretty good crop of mud for the slinging. I will try to resist temptation.

                  As many of you know I am an state certified Civil Rights investigator with a dozen years of experience. I'm also a fraud investigator and have worked under cover for the FBI on a big bribery case a few years back. Ok, so much for my bona fides.

                  Sorry Joanna, Nojo and the rest of you. But what we have here is we call in the business a prima facia case of racism and if the President were say, a state employee, who filed a complaint of discrimination based on his race and EEOC investigator like myself would be assigned to the case.

                  That determination is a very simple one: Is Barack H. Obama, an African American, being treated differently than comparable individuals of a different race. The answer is obviously YES. That's part one. That is the prima facia case for discrimination which would require further investigation.

                  Under the Civil Rights act of 1964 Barack Obama is a member of a "protected" class. He is black. So he is guaranteed the protections of the act. He is being treated differently than any other candidate or President before him who are of a different race. Yes. No American President or candidate has ever had to endure these types of slanderous attacks and they were all White. The case gets stronger.

                  John McCain was not born in the United States. He was born in Panama. He is white. No one ever questioned his eligibility to run for office. Why? The answer is fairly simple, he is white and has a fairly common anglo-saxon name.

                  The conclusion is fairly obvious to anyone willing to open their mind and see.

                  Barack Hussein Obama is being held to a higher standard because of his race. He is being discriminated against, actually receiving "disparate treatment" because of his race when compared to a comparable class of individuals of a different race.

                  The deciding factor is the case of John McCain. Born in Panama, neither a part of the United States nor a US Protectorat or Territory. But no one questioned his elibibility to run for President or hold office in the very same election cycle where Obama was named President. Why? Clearly it is because he is white and Obama is black.

                  There is discrimination. Those who perpetuated this discrimination can legally be termed "racist" by their actions.

                  Sorry kiddies, but you are racists. We are all bigots of one kind or another, each and every one of us. The measure of a man or woman is what they do to overcome their natural prejudices. When they do nothing. When they allow themselves to wallow in their predjuces they are overtly bigots and if their prejudice is race based, they are racists.

                  The title is yours. It's up to you to do something about it. The obvious first step is to admit you were wrong and stop talking about it.

                  Case closed.

                  • 15 votes
                  #4.29 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:51 AM EDT

                  newdayDAWNING10

                  And you do too, Beverly!

                  Thanks newday,

                  Can I get a close up? Ha haa

                  That video was hilarious in retrospective. That woman is nuts. At about 2:59 when Lawrence yells "Get Her Out Of Here" Orly Taitz starts laughing like a hyena. Truly, that characterizes an idiot.

                  That woman laughing like a hyena at her failures is nuts.

                  • 4 votes
                  #4.30 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:02 PM EDT

                  Sorry for all the typos, as I was proof-reading I ran out of time and it locked it down as is.

                  One last point.

                  Barack Obama was born to Ann Stanley of Wichita, Kansas which is in the United States. She was a US citizen. Even if Obama had been born in Kenya he would still be eligible to run for President. He might hold dual citizenship (he might anyway because he father was Kenyan) but he would still be a US citizen and eligible to run for the highest office in the United States.

                  Just like John McCain.

                  One last, last word. The "foreign born" provision of the Constitution refers to George III and his predecessors who were German princes who became English Royalty by an accident of inter-marriage. The colonists hatred of the former "foreign king" caused them to add the provision. George the III and his father were German and much despised by the colonists for bringing German mercenaries to fight against the colonists in the Revolutionary War.

                  That is what it refers to and that is all.

                  • 7 votes
                  #4.31 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:06 PM EDT

                  Skip, I was wondering what you thought about this. Thanks for telling me in a most eloquent way.

                  Beverly, how is it that Taitz is not confined in a secure hospital?

                  • 6 votes
                  #4.32 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:16 PM EDT

                  Jody:

                  OUTSTANDING. Some of your best work.

                  • 1 vote
                  #4.33 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:20 PM EDT
                  HiheelsDeleted

                  I would like to give a big shout out to President Obamas white mother and Harvard University education for him being able to pronounce his Rs when he gives speaches..Now if he would just talk with any substance in his WTF pep talks I might actually listen to him:)

                  • 2 votes
                  #4.35 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:41 PM EDT

                  Skip:

                  Excellent analysis from a man who knows the rules. Glad you could make an appearance today OUTSTANDING JOB.

                  • 2 votes
                  #4.36 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:42 PM EDT

                  Jody, Navy, JoAnne, Newday, Bev, Skip and Feisty.

                  Thanks for some great posts. Enjoyed reading them.

                  • 5 votes
                  #4.37 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:23 PM EDT

                  Well put, Skip. To add to your post, I'd like to quote the always-eloquent and to-the-point Jon Stewart as to what he'd like to say to the birthers who will STILL hold on, white-knuckled, to their "convictions" about Obama not being eligible to be in the White House: "His mother is American, you f@$%wads!!!" 'Nuff said.

                  Frankly I'm beyond embarassed to know that not just in this country, but in ANY country, in the 21st century, this kind of blatant bigotry, ignorance, hypocrisy and just plain time, money and effort wasting is not only tolerated, but clearly it's fostered and perpetuated ad infinitum. I think the next time I hear the words "birth certificate" and "Obama" in the same sentence, I might just tear my ears right off.

                  • 3 votes
                  #4.38 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:48 PM EDT

                  Thanks everyone for your kind words. And a great big shout out to SCOLE for proving my point so eloquently.

                  If SCOLE worked here he/she would be in DIVERSITY training so fast it would his/her head swim.

                  Thanks SCOLE, you da man or woman (as the case may be).

                  OH PLEASE....."WHITE-knuckled"....I laughed out loud. Kudos to you as well and thanks for the shout out.

                  • 1 vote
                  #4.39 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:00 PM EDT

                  skip - looking at getting an amendment to the constitution based on this...

                  That is what it refers to and that is all.

                  I think our founding fathers looked a little further down the road than just king george lll and the germans. Congressional members need not have been born in the United states, but are reguired to have been a US citizen for a given number of years.

                  Interesting thing about discrimination suits, with all things being equal, except race, a white will find it more difficult to sue for discriminatory practices than another race would.

                    #4.40 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:14 PM EDT

                    Great comments Skip. It hadn't even crossed my mind to consider how employment law speaks very effectively to this situation. In the workplace Barack Obama would have a very strong discrimination case. The Birthers have violated every piece of appropriate workplace behavior I've been taught.

                    • 2 votes
                    #4.41 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:05 PM EDT

                    You're right John B. and thanks

                    American, Sorry amigo, but being a white male (I assume) you are not protected under the Civil Rights Act. The act protects against discrimination based on race, gender, religion or national origin. Later amendments to the act added gender and age.

                    As white males, you and I are not covered nor should we be.

                    Now you can file a reverse discrimination complaint and allege that you have been discriminated against because you are WHITE, but true, reverse discrimination is very rare.

                    Remember the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules and white America is still making the rules so reverse discrimination is as rare as hen's teeth.

                    • 3 votes
                    #4.42 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:49 PM EDT

                    American,

                    Again you are wrong. The founding fathers are specifically referring to King George and his German heritage, that's why the provision is in the constitution and it refers to someone like Arnold Swartzenagger (sp?). Born and raised in Austria, of Austrian parents. He can never become President of the United States although he can run for any other office he chooses and he has.

                    Barack Obama is not subject to that preclusion under any scenario you or the birthers might imagine. His mother was a US Citizen, therefore he was born a US citizen as well. Just like John McCain, born in Panama of American parents.

                    • 1 vote
                    #4.43 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:55 PM EDT

                    UAW Pleeeeeeeease
                    Would anyone consider the 90% approval rating Obama gets from the black community racist? Maybe he's just doing that good of job and the rest of us just don't know it... :)~

                    I wouldn't becase President Obama is not name calling the black community, asking for the black community to be in the crosshairs of a target; or decreeing they carry citizenship papers and any other racist attack etc. etc. etc.. You get the picture?

                    • 2 votes
                    #4.44 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:12 PM EDT

                    The Birther conspiracy is definitely bigotry (due to the President's name and mixed race), but there's also some McCarthyism Red Scare in this. Even the Clintons were not called socialists or communists the way President Obama is. Aside from all this, the KKK, neo-Nazis, and Skinheads are not progressives--they are fringe groups in the GOP tent. So conservatives, just own up and stop with it.

                    As for the new allegations about President Obama writing his books, or questioning his education--seriously?! President Obama is a writer, and in part why he became an editor of the Harvard Law Review. You don't become an editor unless you have excellent writing skills yourself. President Obama graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum lauda--an honor added to a degree for work considered higher-quality then average. This is particularly impressive when at a graduate level (Juris Doctorate) and from an Ivy league university. Enough!

                    About the "Lamestream Media" and failure to do their Free Press job in our democracy (though Donald Chump would just talk loudly over the news person trying to interject), this is not the first time nor the last for disappointment from the media. This same thing happened after 9-11 during the rush to invade Iraq. There were no Middle East experts, historians, or analysts on the news. Ratings and the all-mighty dollar rules everything.

                    In regard to Lawrence O'Donnell, his bio is impressive too (unlike Glenn Beck, for example--eek). People are only as smart as the source of their information, which explains the ignorance in the right-wing. Case in point, they are as unfamiliar with our laws as they are the Constitution/Bill of Rights--or how to Google FactCheck, Snopes, or PolitiFact.

                    • 3 votes
                    #4.45 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:29 AM EDT

                    I love how people delude themselves into thinking they know what an entire group is thinking or why they're thinking it. How very egotistical of you TruePatriot!

                    Keep screaming racism, and when racism is actually presented, people will roll their eyes and think "It's just another liberal race baiting.". You're doing more damage to the fight against racism then the Klan and Skinheads put together.

                      #4.46 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 3:12 AM EDT

                      Nope, it's racism.

                      Why is it only the black man with the unfamiliar name has been subjected to all this nonsense?

                      TP, you're right about the McCarthyite tendencies as well.

                      • 2 votes
                      #4.47 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:48 AM EDT

                      Never realized Chester A Arthur was a black man with an odd name. He, too, was challenged on his citizenship. But I'm sure you'll dismiss this, as it completely blows your insipid racism claim out of the water.

                        #4.48 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:47 PM EDT

                        Comparing an abortive, short-lived campaign smear that exists only as a footnote from history over 120 years ago doesn't compare to a broad-based, incessantly destructive agenda pushed by most of the Conservative Movement of today.

                        Someone tried it briefly over a century ago, then it was dropped. President Obama continues to be hounded by an organized, well-funded campaign to destroy his legitimacy even though he's provided more evidence of his origins than any other President, Vice President, or candidate for either of those offices...ever.

                        Sorry, your exception that proves the rule is a weak and fallacious argument, and an attempted deflection from the facts of the current case as well.

                        Birtherism is barely disguised racism.

                        • 2 votes
                        #4.49 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 6:01 PM EDT

                        LOL whatever makes you feel better about backing a terrilbe president. Does it make you feel better thinking you have the moral high ground?

                          #4.50 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:30 PM EDT

                          No, backing a really good president who (unlike the GOPTP) isn't out to destroy the middle class makes me feel better.

                          Calling out bigotry where I see it is just part of my duty as a decent person.

                          • 3 votes
                          #4.51 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:53 PM EDT
                          Reply

                          If you are a person who still doubts that our president was born in this country, then you are probably a racist. Or would that make you an after-birther?

                          • 15 votes
                          Reply#5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:19 AM EDT

                          Republican mantra for 2012......."I'd rather be white than President."

                          • 8 votes
                          #5.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:02 AM EDT

                          check this report at the bottom of the page. The document was NOT a scan of his original lobg form birth certificate it was assembled on a computer by someone but was not and is not a scan of his long form.

                            #5.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:33 AM EDT

                            Yeppers, see what I mean? If ignorance is bliss, bullet must be a very happy fellow. Herein lies the problem...for racists, nothing matters except for creating a situation in which our President is the "other". He cannot be one of us, he must be different than people like bullet. I rather imagine that the President does not want to be like bullet, and neither do I!

                            • 6 votes
                            #5.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:48 AM EDT

                            bullet your village is calling!

                            • 4 votes
                            #5.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:26 PM EDT
                            Reply

                            What's really interesting about the birther thing was how doubts were seeping into the mainstream. Since the beginning, this issue resonated primarily on the fringes with folks who didn't believe Obama no matter what he said. But then Trump comes on the scene and stirs the birther pot bigtime. And suddenly, polls were showing that more and more regular folks were having doubts. That forced Obama's hand and he chose to settle the issue once and for all by releasing his birth certificate – an action which he could have (should have?) taken at any time over the last two years.

                            But leaving the birther thing out there was politically advantageous to Obama because it marginalized folks (mostly Republicans) who bought into it. So Obama could sit back while the MSM took birthers to task every now and then to explain how their views could be held by only the looniest of toons.

                            Enter Trump. A bombastic guy to be sure, but not exactly the stereotypical fringe looney. Trump gave the story more legs than all the birthers combined over the past few years and arguably, was instrumental in causing more and more just plain folks to question the president's origins. In other words, his sharp attacks on the president (which include many other issues besides the birther thing) were appealing to a broader swath of the public. And that's what smoked Obama out. That's what forced the President of the United States to respond to a "carnival barker."

                            The conventional spin from the left and their MSM partners is that Trump comes off looking like a jerk while the president is seen as the voice of reason and personification of nobility. Not so fast. The way this episode played out actually shows how deeply vulnerable this president is. When more and more regular folks are swayed to reconsider a birther issue that has been debunked numerous times, what does that say about their views of this president? It says their support for this president is somewhere between tenuous and non-existent.

                            And the campaign has barely begun. Obama did the Republicans a big favor by finally taking the birther issue off the table, a favor that Trump enabled. Now they can focus more sharply on the Obama record and not be distracted by the need to respond to questions about their views on the birther issue. And of course, the professional left has one less stink bomb to toss at the evil right.

                            So say what you will about Trump, he has a take no prisoners approach that not only gets attention but that also stirs the gut of more and more folks. Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty among others can only dream about how deftly Trump uses the political stiletto. And no matter who ultimately wins the Republican nomination, the path towards highlighting the striking contrasts between Obama and just about any Republican candidate is clearer now than it was a few weeks ago.

                            And all of this because a "carnival barker" helped show just how weak this president really is.

                            • 15 votes
                            #6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:20 AM EDT

                            Great post Bill. One of the most remarkable things about the birther movement is that it was actually started by a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter in 2008. Not much mention of that, though. And if this supposedly put the issue to bed, why are all the Obama sycophants still talking about it?

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:47 AM EDT

                            Nice spin Bill. Just more of your usual hog wash.

                            • 11 votes
                            #6.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:49 AM EDT

                            I see we're working overtime to now marginalize something that's been nurtured by the entire Conservative Movement for 2 years. Republican leaders have repeatedly refused to denounce the Birthers. Multiple Republican presidential candidates have given it life. Fox News has covered it ceaselessly. Virtually the entire galaxy of Conservative talk show hosts have fanned the flames.

                            Now the GOPTP says "never mind." No, the party and movement have worked hard on this. They've earned the fruits of those labors.

                            • 13 votes
                            #6.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:55 AM EDT

                            Bill, it's curious that nowhere in your post did you call Trump what he is. A BIGOT. Finally, this whole sordid episode also says a lot about the American people's susceptibility to race baiting. Your analysis is bit like blaming women because they can't break thee glass ceiling. If you are being honest, you would admit that many voters are looking for a reason not to vote for a Black man with a Muslim sounding name.

                            • 16 votes
                            #6.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:02 AM EDT

                            BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            • 3 votes
                            #6.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM EDT

                            If more and more people can be influenced by somthing that got debuncked a long time ago, it tells me that there more and more people out there that can't think for themselves. Saying something over and over again does not make it true if it is false to begin with. Those people swayed by this are the people that scare me the most when it comes to elections. They obviously do not use facts to make and informed decision on who to follow. It confirms to me that the people on these vines are correct in labeling some people as sheep.

                            • 10 votes
                            #6.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:19 AM EDT

                            Thanks for you post, Ed in Columbus.

                            • 5 votes
                            #6.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:23 AM EDT

                            Bill and company can take their seats in the front of the bus. I know where they are coming from and it isn't pretty.

                            • 5 votes
                            #6.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:31 AM EDT

                            Bill, you have really stepped over the line with this one. Although I'm sure you probably don't get it I will attempt to point out to you what was extremely sad about yesterday's release by the President of his long-form birth certificate.

                            Although President Obama had complied with every legal requirement pertaining to his eligibility for the highest office in American, and by extension the world at large, he was repeatedly hounded, smeared, accused and generally denigrated by those on the fringe who just could not and I dare say will never accept him as the duly elected President of the United States. The only reason that exists for their disbelief is one that they can, because of their 1st Amendment rights, but will not, because of their cowardice, espouse. That being that Barrack Hussein Obama is a man of color with a non Anglo-Saxon sounding name. To put it bluntly he's a Black man in the White House.

                            But why was yesterday so sad for America you may ask? Because yesterday we saw the return of White America's Papers Please era. Yesterday the first black president was reduced to the level of my ancestors as they walked the streets of this country in circa 1890; the days when any White person could ask a Black person to prove their identity simply because the White person demanded it. The days when a Black person had to pass a literacy test in order to cast a vote as a citizen of these United States, even though that same White person couldn't pass the test they administered to the Black person themselves. You see Bill, yesterday was the epitome of what Black Americans have been saying about the Birther's and the "Let's Take Our Country Back" crowd from day one. Our question is and has always been "Take our country back from whom and to when?" Well the answer to that question was substantiated yesterday. It is clear that the answers are "The Black Man in the White House" and "To the Paper's Please Era".

                            You see Bill, the fact of the matter is this issue was never about the President's place of birth. It has always been, and will continue to be about the color of his skin. Yesterday was a day of shame for America and the values that it stands for. I firmly believe that future historians will agree that America took a huge step backwards yesterday from the principles and beliefs of this great nation. Your praise for the actions of Donald Trump and those like him is despicable, in my opinion. What you deem as a political stiletto is nothing more than the New Jim Crow era in the eyes of many fair minded Americans. While you praise Trumps rhetoric, while at the same time admitting he is bombastic, only speaks to the denigration of civility that passes for intelligent discourse in today's political arena.

                            Now I'm sure you and those who believe like you will disagree with my conclusions. I wouldn't expect anything less. So I will ask you this one question and one question only, "Has there ever been a White man elected to the Office of the President of the United States who had to show documentation, over and above what is legally accepted, that he a legally born citizen of this country?"

                            Disagree with his politics, that is perfectly acceptable. Disagree with his views, that is your America right under our Constitution. Disagree with hip political affiliation, again that is your Constitutionally protected right too. But don't come on here and praise the actions of a man like Trump and seek to justify what he and people like him are attempting to do to our duly elected President of the United States.

                            Shame on you, and all those like you.

                            • 15 votes
                            #6.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:35 AM EDT

                            nurtured by the entire Conservative Movement...Fox News has covered it ceaselessly

                            So John, not only are you an idiot but you're a liar as well. Care to offer any proof of the sweeping defammatory assertions you're so fond of making? Care to acknowledge that Bill O'Reilly -- lead ratings dog on Fox -- debunked the birther thing two years ago? Care to document how the "entire Conservative movement" bought into the birther story?

                            You got no game, none.

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:36 AM EDT

                            SayitaintSo-628660

                            Here we go again, racist garbage. Anyone who doesn't like your man is by defintition a racist. Obama could have nipped all this in the bud years ago, but chose not to because it was to his political advantage. And as others have pointed out, the hot rumor is all this started in the Hillary Clinton campaign -- so are those folks racist too?

                            Sorry pal, it's shame on you. Start using your head for something besides a hat rack.

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:41 AM EDT

                            Job1:

                            Simple statement but right on the mark. THe GOP/TP has been exposed for once and for all that they are the party of Wall Street not Main Street, the support Big Business not Small Business and they worship the Millionaires and Billionaires. They been been exposed for being against many Constitutional Rights, like voting, freedom of religion, women's reproductive rights, etc, etc, etc. They have been exposed that they think Laws apply only to everybody else and not them. They will only obey the Laws they like and prosecute everybody else if they try and do the same. Their egos and self righteousness is documented by people like "King" Snyder Rep. Kingand a bevy of others.

                            Now one of their so called "presidential wannabees" got called out for what he really is, a racist and documented by his own words. Nobody made them out, he said them.

                            • 7 votes
                            #6.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:41 AM EDT

                            Bill in Fairfax,

                            I heard a rumor that the reason Mitch Daniels is taking so long to get into the race is because he has a felony conviction on his record. How did he get through the vetting to become governor? Why, the RNC pulled a few strings and got the felony expunged. I hear George Soros is paying investigators to track down people who know what this felony is. I bet Mitch Daniels will be asked about this felony conviction in many town halls, if he runs for President. After all, we don't want a felon in the White House, do we?

                            FYI: I totally made this rumor up. I don't want Mitch Daniels to be President so I decided to smear him. THat's OK, isn't it? I mean, I have doubts about the man. That justifys my slandering his good name.

                            Doesn't it? Doesn't it?

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:45 AM EDT

                            Sayitaintso: Beautifully written and to the point exactly.

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:47 AM EDT

                            Hannity On Obama's Birth Certificate: "Can't They Just Produce It, And We Move On?" On the March 23 edition of his show, Hannity asked, "What do you think about this birth certificate issue? I mean, it has not been my main issue, but it kind of does get a little odd here after a while. Can't they just produce it and we move on?" [Fox News, Hannity, 3/23/11]

                            Hannity Asked, "Why Can't They Just Release The Birth Certificate?" On the March 25 edition of his show, Hannity stated, "Donald Trump brought up the issue of the birth certificate, and it's getting huge buzz around the country," and later asked, "Why can't they just release the birth certificate, you know, and just move on?" [Fox News, Hannity, 3/25/11]

                            Hannity Said It's "Not True" That Obama Has Shown His Birth Certificate. Later on the March 25 edition of his show, Hannity stated: "Do I think he was [born in America]? Yes. Do I think this is odd that they won't produce the birth certificate? It's beginning to get odd to me." Hannity later stated that it's "not true" that Obama has shown his birth certificate. [Fox News, Hannity, 3/25/11]

                            Hannity Says Obama Was Born In The U.S. But Demands That He "Show The Stupid Birth Certificate." On the April 5 edition of his show, Hannity said that Obama was born in the United States but demanded that he "show the stupid birth certificate and move on." [Fox News, Hannity, 4/5/11]

                            Hannity Claimed The "Strongest Case" For Obama Being A Citizen Is Printed Birth Announcement. On the April 14 edition of his show, Hannity stated that the "strongest case" for Obama being born in Hawaii was "the announcement that was in one of the newspapers eight days after" he was born. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/14/11]

                            Hannity Defends Birthers: "Why Are They Crucified And Beaten Up And Smeared And Besmirched?" Interviewing WorldNetDaily editor and CEO Joseph Farah on the March 24 edition of his radio show, Hannity said that Farah has "been beaten up so badly in the press" for pursuing the birther issue and that birthers have been "crucified and beaten up and smeared and besmirched":

                            HANNITY: All right. Now, Joseph, you've done the most work of anybody that I know here on the issue, and we heard Donald Trump -- if you ask the question, "All right, well, why not just show us the certificate?" "Ah, you're a birther! You're a birther, that's what you are." It's not been my number-one issue, but I've been following it, and I've been saying, why are all these people that just ask to see it, why are they crucified and beaten up and smeared and besmirched the way they are? [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/24/11]

                            Hannity Wondered Why Trump's Birtherism Is "So Toxic," Asks Panel For Their Birth Certificates. On the April 18 edition of Hannity, during a discussion about Trump's birther claims, Hannity asked why it's "so toxic to bring up" the birth certificate issue. He then asked his panelists for their birth certificates. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/18/11]

                            Hannity Provided Birther Platform For Trump In Interview. During the April 15 edition of his show, Hannity aired an interview in which he provided a platform for Trump's birther theories, including asking Trump what his investigators in Hawaii have found regarding Obama's birth. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/15/11]

                            Hannity Promotes Trump: His "Popularity" Is Due To Taking On "Controversial Issues," Is A "Lesson" For Republicans. On the April 15 edition of his show, Hannity claimed that Trump's "popularity" provides "a lesson, here, for Republican candidates: Fight, fight -- take on controversial issues, don't back down, and battle." [Fox News, Hannity, 4/15/11]

                            Hannity Jumped Aboard "Trump 2012" -- Birtherism And All. During the April 15 edition of his show, Hannity helped to promote Trump's birther claims, later airing a graphic promoting a "Trump 2012" presidential run. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/15/11]

                            http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmediamatters.org%2Fresearch%2F201104200008&rct=j&q=fox%20news%20new%20interest%20in%20birther%20cons&ei=KX65TbevBY-C0QGLkfD8Dw&usg=AFQjCNHse1vQzJXxE4AukO3JEse8XT5P_w

                            Kinda shoots your Democratic conspiracy theory in the foot now doesn't it Mr Bill?

                            • 13 votes
                            #6.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:52 AM EDT

                            No Feisty One, I never said it was a Democratic conspiracy theory, just pointed out that's where this all started.

                            Also never said anything about Hannity, but pointed out the FACT that O'Reilly debunked the birther thing years ago -- and has expressed that position to his vast audience numerous times since then.

                            • 5 votes
                            #6.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:59 AM EDT

                            Bill, obviously reading comprehension is not fundamental with you. I suggest you go back and re-read my post. I dare you to point out, using quotes from my post, where I stated or implied, "Anyone who doesn't like your man is by definition a racist." Quite the contrary. I don't care if you dislike the Presidents policies, party affiliation, views, etc. As I said in my post and will repeat again, "It is your Constitutionally protected right."

                            Where there is smoke, there is fire. Bill you're smoking!

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:02 AM EDT

                            I'm sorry Mr. Bill - you called JohnB a liar when he mentioned Fox News:

                            nurtured by the entire Conservative Movement...Fox News has covered it ceaselessly

                            So John, not only are you an idiot but you're a liar as well.

                            Now Mr. Bill - would you please tell us what 'news' network Hannity works for? lol

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:07 AM EDT

                            Wow, Feisty, that list really lays out the Republican strategy of encouraging the birther rumors. (FOX NEWS=RNC.)

                            I remember the Democratic primaries of '07 very well. The Clintons did raise the race issue. But it wasn't an attack on Obama, it was a question of whether he could be elected. I remember fears over whether Obama was "black enough" for the Black community, who were making noises about his "differentness." (After all President Obama does not have roots in American Black history, although his wife does.) On the whole, the Democratic primary was a debate over whether enough votes could be won for the first Black American to be elected President. I am proud to say I was a part of that debate. I am proud to say the Democratic Party took that risk. And I will defend our choice, to any birther, or FOX host, or tepid little Republican politician, out there.

                            • 8 votes
                            #6.19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:16 AM EDT

                            SayitaintSo. Perfectly and beautifully said.

                            • 5 votes
                            #6.20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:20 AM EDT

                            Feisty -- would you please tell me what network O'Reilly works for? lol.

                            • 6 votes
                            #6.21 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:52 AM EDT

                            Barrack Hussein Obama is a man of color with a non Anglo-Saxon sounding name. To put it bluntly he's a Black man in the White House....yesterday we saw the return of White America's Papers Please era.

                            Say -- If that's not playing the race card, then I don't know what is. Go back and reread my post: start using your head for something besides a hat rack. And lay off the racist kool aid, it might help to clear your head.

                            • 6 votes
                            #6.22 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:00 PM EDT

                            Feisty -- would you please tell me what network O'Reilly works for

                            Why Mr Bill - wouldn't that be the same one as Hannity?

                            Twist & Spin it however you like, it doesn't change the fact that JohnB referenced Fox News, NOT Bill O'Reilly and anyone reading the above exchange is capable of figuring that out!

                            I do believe you owe JohnB an apologize for calling him a liar.

                            Although, I won't hold my breath... it's not in your genetic make up to admit when you're wrong!

                            • 2 votes
                            #6.23 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:13 PM EDT

                            So say what you will about Trump, he has a take no prisoners approach that not only gets attention but that also stirs the gut of more and more folks. Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty among others can only dream about how deftly Trump uses the political stiletto. And no matter who ultimately wins the Republican nomination, the path towards highlighting the striking contrasts between Obama and just about any Republican candidate is clearer now than it was a few weeks ago.

                            And all of this because a "carnival barker" helped show just how weak this president really is.

                            As usual, Bill is drawing the WRONG conclusion(s) from an event that was STUPID to begin with.

                            Just because the President showed his birth certificate does NOT mean that he is weak. On the contrary. I will grant you that this was timed to quell the incredible noise that Donald Trump was making, and because Donald went on record saying that 'there is no birth certificate', the President produced it, showing Donald Trump to be full of hot air. There is no doubt that there will be some backlash to what Donald Trump did, and 'The Donald' will definitely feel it. What is even more interesting - and puzzling - is that we have 'The Donald' - and other 'prominent' people - on RECORD calling the President of the United States a LIAR.

                            Did you think that the President would NOT push back?

                            Do you think that now that we have seen the Birth Certificate, we can focus on the real problems we have in this country?

                            Do you think that NOW the 'prominent' liars and thieves that are perpetuating this LIE will get their just dessets from the American electorate?

                            No, Bill, your conclusion is that the President is weak and that some mythical Republican candidate will have enough political fortitude to try and 'exploit' that weakness.

                            I'll take the President's weakness over the truth of a birther - and those that support the birthers - ANYTIME.

                            I guess a lot of 'promiment' people are looking abject fools right now. The word 'IDIOT' is too kind to describe the hate and vitroil that some of these people are STILL projecting.

                            And here we see a post from you, Bill, CELEBRATING the abject hatred and misery that these people are trying to heap on the President.

                            Now THAT'S what WEAK looks like, Bill.

                            • 4 votes
                            #6.25 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:19 PM EDT

                            Anytime JohnB! ;o)

                              #6.26 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:26 PM EDT

                              No, Amy, he has a misdemeanor dating back to his days as a Princeton undergraduate on his record.

                              No big whoop.

                              And, you all should google Chester A, Arthur- the 21st president. Took over after Garfield died? Ring any bells?

                              He changed the date on his birth certificate to make himself a year younger. Seems it was suspected that he was born in Ireland- since his father was an Irish immigrant, (his mother descended from Revolutionary War combatants).

                              In any event, there is some serious speculation that he was, in fact, born in North America- Canada, in fact- thus was ineligible to run for vice president or to assume the presidency.

                              He was white, by the way, in case you were wondering.

                              I guess with the economy getting set to double dip, inflation roaring, a foreign policy seemingly designed by a bunch of 12 year olds with a great idea but no actual clue, the right really needed a "birther" controversy to make Obama look bad.

                              Yeah. Right.

                              • 2 votes
                              #6.27 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:11 PM EDT

                              Amy, he has a misdemeanor dating back to his days as a Princeton undergraduate on his record.

                              Oh my God! I was totally making that up to a prove a point! You mean Daniels actually was convicted of A MISDEMEANOR.? What was it for? Do tell !

                              • 1 vote
                              #6.28 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:16 PM EDT

                              And here we see a post from you, Bill, CELEBRATING the abject hatred and misery that these people are trying to heap on the President.

                              Umm, what I actually said was this:

                              Since the beginning, this issue resonated primarily on the fringes…

                              And this:

                              But leaving the birther thing out there was politically advantageous to Obama because it marginalized folks (mostly Republicans) who bought into it. So Obama could sit back while the MSM took birthers to task every now and then to explain how their views could be held by only the looniest of toons.

                              So explain to me again how I'm "celebrating" hatred and misery?

                              As for the president's weakness, I see it clearly and you don't. Here's a president who is presiding over $4 gasoline, high unemployment, rising food prices and the spending of staggering amounts of money we don't have to jumpstart an economy that continues to sputter. He's also shutting down offshore oil production in the U.S. and instead supporting Brazil in their drilling. And let's not forget his not quite fulfilled promises to close Gitmo and try KSM in New York. Weakness is actually a kind word, abject incompetence would be better.

                              No matter who the Republican nominee is, getting rid of the birther non-issue allows that nominee to better focus on these and other matters as I also stated in my post. And no matter who the Republican nominee is, that person goes into the race with one HUGE advantage: he/she is not Obama.

                              BTW for the slow learners, Bill O'Reilly has repeatedly and consistently taken the position that the birther issue is nonsense. He also happens to have one of the most prominent if not THE most prominent platform on Fox. So the crapola loons who just luv painting that network with the broad brush of hatred and bigotry have no game. Period.

                              • 3 votes
                              #6.29 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:31 PM EDT

                              ed in columbus - bill called it correctly saying that trump stirred the pot to bring the issue to the fore. Does it really matter what you personally think trump is and that bill or anyone else should think the same? My own view of trump is that he should get rid of the goofy rug and remain in the private sector. Neither he or palin are worthy of my vote in 2012.

                              sayitaintso - rather interesting that you say this....

                              but will not, because of their cowardice, espouse. That being that Barrack Hussein Obama is a man of color with a non Anglo-Saxon sounding name. To put it bluntly he's a Black man in the White House.

                              it must be gratifying that you have the ability to read minds and to render everything as black vs white. Doesn't he put on pants just like you and I? One leg at a time?

                               

                              Because yesterday we saw the return of White America's Papers Please era. Yesterday the first black president was reduced to the level of my ancestors as they walked the streets of this country in circa 1890;

                              Based on surveys since the release of obamas "long form" your argument of "papers please" is hardly relevent as it being just a racist white vs black issue. The CT's on either side will believe what they believe, but those wavering on obamas legitamacy should have had their doubts answered. 

                              You see Bill, the fact of the matter is this issue was never about the President's place of birth. It has always been, and will continue to be about the color of his skin....

                              Really - so if obama gets re-elected in 2012 it will only be because of his race?

                              Your praise for the actions of Donald Trump and those like him is despicable,

                              Hardly despicable considering that the issue has come to a head and has been resolved for many and will forever more have an undisputable link to the truth. Except for the radicals of course. You unfortunatly fail to understand bills comments and what came out of trumps rhetoric. A career politician wouldn't have pushed the issue to a conclusion, but left it simmering in the background to be brought up later as a campaign point by either side.

                              "Has there ever been a White man elected to the Office of the President of the United States who had to show documentation, over and above what is legally accepted, that he a legally born citizen of this country?"

                              Interesting question, I think somewhere today the name of chester arthur was brought up about him possibly having been born in canada. Perhaps you can ask him what documentation he had to produce?

                              Shame on you, and all those like you.

                              Actually, shame on YOU for trying to make this all about race because you think it is.

                              You sound like the story of the man who went to his neighbor to borrow a saw, only to have his neighbor say "no, I have to make soup". The man then asked his neighbor "what does making soup have to do with you loaning me the saw?" To this the neighbor replied " if I don't want to loan you the saw, any excuse will do!"

                              Keep on believing it is all about race, while the rest of us believe that it is about leadership.

                              • 1 vote
                              #6.30 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:50 PM EDT

                              I was listeing to Dave Ramsey today. He is really good with money and helping people solve problems. On his show today he put our national debt situation in practical terms. It was so overwhelming to hear and saddening that our leaders do not have the political will to address it. If Obama would tackle the issue I might forgive the fact he is not a natural born citizen. That he continues class warfare and the sheep follow, we will collapse before we can recover.

                                #6.31 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:21 PM EDT

                                L-I-S-T-E-N ..... to ourselves. PEACE ..... be still . We all know the saying, that " a house that is devided will not stand " and that the " strength of a chain can be found in the chain's weakest link" . We as a country chose division. How doe's it go... you know the question that everyone ask each other , are you democrat ? , are you republican ? and just those two parties alone , divide our house- our nation . As I sit and read this panel, I see hurt, dismay ,denial, anger and hatred just to name of few. I'ts a wonder, that we the people, of the United States as a nation in whole have not dropped dead from sheer heartache and pain ! All of the irrational behavior that has been put before us initiated by our political leaders is just too much . I too, found myself getting caught up in the game and listening to reports and then trying to make sense out of non-sense..... suffice to say the the least , it is weird science. Our weakest link in America is our division and for some reason, we the people of the United States hold strong to the very values that weaken this country . In order for us to change this, we must change the way that we think ,this I am sure would change the way that we relate to one-another. I refuse to comment any further on issues that are schemed up to distract me from the important issues facing our nation. In my pre-occupation with the lame topics in the new's ..... I was shocked to see that in my state , that being the state of Indiana , I discovered that planned parent hood 's funding is being cut...OMG and here I was trying to see what was the non-sense for the day. My point is , we need to pay attention to what is really going on . Let's use our head's and keep them 1oo....Let's keep it real. L-I-S-T-E-N- P-E-A-C-E - (B) S-T-I-L-L

                                  #6.32 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:20 PM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  I read somewhere that the GOP plan is something called "Starve the Beast". If there is no money coming into the the treasury, then you have to limit what you allocate to the various departments of the federal government. If you're the party in power, then you go after the programs you hate most, EPA, HCR, Medicaid and Medicare, etc. You defund them cause "there's no money". Part of Starving the Beast means you have to keep revenues low and that means keeping tax revenues at a minimuim. You don't want to bring 14 trillion into the treasury by taxing the top 1% of Americans at 39% or repeal the Bush tax cuts. Nooooo way...the beast gets fed....you don't have a leg to stand on. It's not fiscal security they are trying to improve, it"s pure and simple partisan politics. Yeah, the GOP is trying to save this country...What a lie...a huge misconception that repeated over and over, people believe like HCR is NOT good for you or there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or reducing the deficit will create jobs. One person explain how reducing the deficit will create jobs. In fact, reducing the deficit will create a money crunch so no one can borrow. Not lifting the debt ceiling will cause the US to default on its obligations and cause world wide economic chaos. Fact..not repeated lies that are NOT refuted

                                  • 17 votes
                                  #7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:20 AM EDT

                                  They've been talking, fairly openly, about this for forty years. Way to keep up.

                                  • 3 votes
                                  #7.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:28 AM EDT

                                  Really..thx. I''m betting that most people do not know that the reason the GOP does not want to raise taxes on the wealthiest of Americans is beacuse they do not understand this concept. So, for those that know about it, sorry I bored you. For those that dis not, hope this was informative.

                                  • 12 votes
                                  #7.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:36 AM EDT

                                  Most people don't know a lot of things, that's why we call them "sheeple". Are you unaware that 9/11 was an INSIDE JOB? Brought to you by Cheney and Marvin Bush and Wirt "Walker". Watch the video of the implosion of WTC#7, and tell us whether you are a "sheeple", or not.

                                  • 4 votes
                                  #7.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:41 AM EDT

                                  ok...after that comment I called the crazy ward and there's one guy missing...they need you to come back and take your meds.....wow!!!!

                                  • 10 votes
                                  #7.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:43 AM EDT

                                  Just exactly what I would expect from a fearful "sheeple". Too "brainwashed"lazy to google WTC#7 Implosion.

                                  You do realize that the Keane/Zelikow 9/11 Commission was never granted the subpoena powered, security clearanced, witness protection abilities required to find out the TRUTH about "the Event". Do you not recognize a WHITEWASH when you see it?

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #7.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:51 AM EDT

                                  Ira:

                                  Very good point see my post above. With only a 150 Billion dollar reduction in the deficit over the next decade (10 years) under the Ryan Bill makes one wonder. He claims 4.3 Trillion in Spending Cuts offset by 4.2 Trillion in tax cuts.

                                  Here is an idea to support your position. Put the tax rate for the rich back to the Clinton rates. This would save 150 Billion (income tax, capital gains and estate taxes) per YEAR or 1.5 Trillion over a decade. 10X the savings under the Ryan Bill. And here is the kicker

                                  It would not repeal Medicare, Medicaid or parts of the current HCR Law as the Ryan Bill does

                                  It would not add to the deficit, unlike the Ryan Bill that will add 5.5 Trillion over the next decade

                                  It will not cost 700,000 jobs

                                  It would not trash the non-military Discretionary Programs like the Ryan Bill

                                  The Ryan Bill does not even qualify as high grade Toilet Paper. I just love the arguement from the right that he did this Bill knowing it would not pass, what a bunch of crap.

                                  • 15 votes
                                  #7.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:51 AM EDT

                                  Sorry Ira, but everyone has to experience Paul once to become a true regular on FR. It's kind of like being sent to find the muffler bearing, flight line, wire stretcher, etc.

                                  • 9 votes
                                  #7.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:54 AM EDT

                                  Devie and US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired..

                                  First, thanks for the heads up. He is the poster boy for crazy.

                                  Agree, there so many more sensible ways to reduce the budget, as you point out, without killing the programs that the poor and elderly depend on. One point you made, put the rates back thhe Clinton rates, that's all Obama wants to do and the idea is ridiculed as "a redistribution of wealth" which is laughable. Clinton left with trillions of dollars in surplus. Man must have been crazy.

                                  • 10 votes
                                  #7.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:04 AM EDT

                                  Do you not think that a MASS MURDER of American citizens on American soil should receive a subpoena empowered investigation? Hasn't happened yet with 9/11. This is FACT.

                                  You make yourself fell any better by calling people who point out that fact to you "sheeple", crazy?

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #7.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:06 AM EDT

                                  Clinton did not leave us with any Trillion dollar surplus.................that's "crazy" talk.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #7.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:38 AM EDT

                                  Paul, Yes those people were murdered. No we aren't buying the GW, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Federal Government, etc. were the ones who did it BS. They just might have been derelict in their duty to the American Public and extremely opportunistic in the stretching the truth to include Iraq in the responsibility of it.

                                  Sorry, but it was a group of Al-Qaeda operatives with four high jacked airliners that attacked us, Paul.

                                  • 5 votes
                                  #7.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:39 AM EDT

                                  devie: Why are you willing to accept the "story" of 9/11 which you were told by demonstrable liars Bush/Cheney?

                                  It is a FACT that the mass murder of American citizens on American soil has not received a SUBPOENA empowered investigation. Are you really not concerned about that glaring dereliction of duty by the DoJ?

                                  Al-Qaeda, "the base", short for the mujahadeen data base at CIA, is our own creation. Osama bin Laden works for us. His codename at CIA was Tim Osman "OZ". He is what George Orwell predicted in his novel 1984; OZman is Goldstein.

                                  The rank and file of Al-Qaeda are unaware that their leaders work for us, as the boogiemen who allow us to waste money hunting them down all over the globe.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #7.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:03 AM EDT

                                  Now that Obama has the long birth record in hand the big GOP controlled states can not deny his name to be on the 2012 presidential ballot. Wow that really screwed things up for their plan to lower the chances of Obama to get reelected, Oh well better luck next time. Now the birthers are toying with the notion that there is no way a black man can get into a collage like Harvard on his own merits. If that is not straight out racist I do not know what is. It looks like the only way the GOP are going to have any luck in removing Obama from office is to send a terminator T-1000 back to 1961 to Hawaii and stopping Obama's mom from giving birth. Fortunately that will never happen, but in 2012 Obama will be back and the only thing we all will be saying to the GOP in the house is "hasta la vista baby". Every one knows that Bush stole the elections from Gore thanks to his brothers help by finagling with the peoples votes and recount efforts in Florida, but after all was said and done we all let it go for the sake of democracy. It is amassing that the Teabagers continue to beat on this already dead horse with such outrageous voracity. I am going to say to the GOP what my mom use to say to me when I got out of control " Think what our neighbors willsay about us". Can you imagine what other countries are saying about our great nation at this time, that instead of finding a way to get our economy back in shape we are arguing over stupid trivial things such as one man's birth record that we already have proof that it exist.

                                  • 7 votes
                                  #7.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:28 AM EDT

                                  Ira, well said. Always good to remind people about Reagan's "starve the beast" ideology; it is alive and well. That's exactly why Bush and the GOP took a budget surplus and turned it into a massive deficit and doubled the national debt. It wasn't because they failed to learn from the Reagan debt mess but because they deliberately wanted another massive debt to starve the beast. The GOP knew exactly what it was doing.

                                  • 4 votes
                                  #7.14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:35 AM EDT

                                  Agree, there so many more sensible ways to reduce the budget, as you point out, without killing the programs that the poor and elderly depend on. One point you made, put the rates back thhe Clinton rates, that's all Obama wants to do and the idea is ridiculed as "a redistribution of wealth" which is laughable. Clinton left with trillions of dollars in surplus. Man must have been crazy.

                                  So why didn't he let the Bush rates expire last year? He didn't even need to win a vote in congress to achieve this. But, the current deficit is 1.5T a year. The Clinton tax rates are projected to bring in 400B a year. Where are you cutting/raising the other 900B?

                                  And Clinton did not leave Trillions in surplus. Stop making @!$%# up.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #7.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:48 AM EDT

                                  Based on the Obama plan, repealing the Bush cuts will bring in 4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. That's 400 billion a year. Just one part of the spending cuts he proposed. Add the others, including a revamp of Medicare, the estimated cuts will exceed 14 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. The Ryan proposal will save the same amount over 70 years.

                                  Correction, Clinton left office with a budget surpus of $237 billion. That's the most conservative number I could find though there are lots of conservatives that say it's just smoke and mirrors. Bush left office with a deficit of 455 billion.

                                  • 3 votes
                                  #7.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:29 PM EDT

                                  including a revamp of Medicare, the estimated cuts will exceed 14 trillion dollars

                                  And can you detail this revamp of medicare and cuts that will save 1.4T per year.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #7.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:35 PM EDT

                                  Alan...

                                  From what I read, the greatest savings will come from converting from manual to electronic records. Billions to be saved there in duplicity and reducing fraud. Not trillions per year but the OMB guess was a trillion over a short period of time.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #7.18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:01 PM EDT

                                  Navy, retired, how soon you forget what obama said in his state of the union address where he basically said "show me a tax cut plan that is revenue neutral and I will cinsider it"

                                  Ryan did, his plan would eliminate many tax loopholes to increase revenue and cut taxes on the wealthy to maintain a "revenue neutral" plan. Ryans $4 trillion + cuts remain in place.

                                  Obamas revenue increasing plan merely adds taxes to small businesses and the rich + removes deductions for them as well. Talk about double taxation! Triple if you consider that they should also pay a "little" more in to support medicare and SS. Seems that obama talks inovation but doesn't want the inovators to reap the rewards of inovation.

                                  Regardless, where are obamas debt reduction numbers?

                                    #7.19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:15 PM EDT

                                    Ira - you are getting numbers confused. Based on the very limited numbers obama gave for his $4 trillion reduction plan, it was over 12 years and was made up by an estimated $3 trillion in cuts and $1 trillion in revenue and maintaining the status quo on medicaid/medicare.

                                    Ryans plan was to cut $4 trillion + over 10 years while maintaing a revenue neutral tax plan, making medicare remain the same for those 55 and older and revamping the system for those under 55 to a sustainable level. The 40 years you mention I believe refers to how long to get to a balanced budget (as in zero debt). This means that obamas plan would take longer to get there as his projected cuts are less.

                                    BTW - The US has been carrying debt for over 100 years. Annual budgets have been +/- over the years but the debt, what we pay interest on, has always been in the hole.

                                    Considering that the US historically has had a recession every 7 - 12 years I don't have much hope for obtaining 0 debt, but a debt considerably less than $14 trillion would help us weather economic unknowns.

                                      #7.20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:40 PM EDT

                                      Thanks American! After reading many of today's posts, I was beginning to think I was the only one who read Ryan's proposal. I've also been looking at the numbers from the CBO and trying to figure out where the really effective reductions in Govt. spending occurred in the last 30 years. I was surprized by the outcome and wondered if you might have looked at any of these numbers lately.

                                        #7.21 - Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:44 AM EDT
                                        Reply

                                        Please keep the people of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and the rest of the Southeast in your thoughts and prayers. The scenes from the devastating tornadoes yesterday are simply heartbreaking...entire neighborhoods flattened. The death toll is already approaching 200 and is likely to surpass that. Luckily the Tuscaloosa tornado missed the college campus...a small silver lining.

                                        This is as good a time as any to make a donation to reputable relief organizations (Red Cross, etc) or donate blood. In many cases, the people affected are less fortunate and live at or below the poverty line.

                                        • 14 votes
                                        #8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:21 AM EDT

                                        Please keep the people of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and the rest of the Southeast in your thoughts and prayers.

                                        Absolutely Grimey!

                                        Also, these people who reside in those Red States should keep in mind, that it's the damn Federal 'gubment' that will be stepping in to assist!

                                        The Republican Governors couldn't get on the phone to the WH fast enough!

                                        • 12 votes
                                        #8.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:26 AM EDT

                                        Grimey, thank you for mentioning this. Thoughts and prayers to those who lost so much.

                                        • 9 votes
                                        #8.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:33 AM EDT

                                        Frank:

                                        Will do and thank you for keeping this on the front page. Be well.

                                        • 6 votes
                                        #8.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:52 AM EDT

                                        Absolutely Frank, they are front and center in my thoughts today.

                                        • 6 votes
                                        #8.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:57 AM EDT

                                        I have family in Georgia that is counting their blessings as the storms missed them by very little. Thankfully, I've heard from all of them.

                                        Feisty...I hear ya...to me though, one of the central functions of the Federal Government is to step in and provide assistance in exactly this sort of situation.

                                        Allow me to kinda wander off the reservation here for a second and hop up on my soap box. I'm a fiscal conservative and believe that there is a lot of waste in federal government and a lot of places where spending cuts can and should be made. One of the areas where I do NOT want to see spending cuts is NOAA , the NWS, and the NHC. These organizations provide the warnings that keep the death toll from devastating events like yesterdays tornadoes to "only" 200 or so. I read that people had warnings up to 30 minutes in advance of these tornadoes. To me, it's kinda like the old saying about an ounce of prevention (or whatever it is...sorry, that saying is a little before my time). I shall now descend from my soap box.

                                        I try not to touch on politics in a situation like this...but I believe the President has a real opportunity here. He's in the midst of quite a few fundraising and campaign stops. If he takes time out from that to visit devastated areas in "red states" that are extremely unlikely to vote for him, I think it would go a long way to blunting some of the criticism he might otherwise receive. It would be a very "Presidential" act in my mind.

                                        • 9 votes
                                        #8.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

                                        As Feisty pointed out, this is when the whole community, in the form of the federal government, springs into action to help our fellow citizens. I for one am happy that my taxes will be used to help put peoples life's back together. And my heart goes out to those who have been injured, ot lost loved ones, and they are in my prayers. Thanks Grimey, for keeping our priority's straight.

                                        • 9 votes
                                        #8.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:15 AM EDT

                                        Frank, I only hope that if the President does what you say, he will not be labeled with seeking "photo ops".

                                        • 5 votes
                                        #8.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:19 AM EDT

                                        Best wishes to all of those affected by these storms.

                                        • 4 votes
                                        #8.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:30 AM EDT

                                        Grimey - Apologies for the 'cheap shot'!

                                        I'm just so sick and tired of the very same people who disparage Government, being the very first ones in line with their hands out!

                                        You're right though, this was not the time to bring it up!

                                        BTW - you might call yourself a 'conservative' but I think you're more of an Independent! The Republican party left you 2 1/2 years ago!

                                        Margarita's are on my tomorrow! ;o)

                                        • 5 votes
                                        #8.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:56 AM EDT

                                        Hi, Grimey Great post we should all help in any way we can. American's of every race and creed were devastated by these storms.

                                        • 4 votes
                                        #8.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:13 AM EDT

                                        Feisty...no worries. Trust me, I can understand frustration. Heck, sometimes that's all politics seems like...an exercise in frustration. ;-)

                                        I am very sensitive to devastation like this as I've seen it firsthand. The look on the faces of people who have lost everything suddenly is one that is permanently etched in my memory and one of the reasons I'm very quick to advocating donations.

                                        Have a great Thursday everyone! :-)

                                        • 3 votes
                                        #8.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:30 AM EDT

                                        Feisty. I am not sure an apology is necessary. Some people have a difficult time in making the connection, between the taxes they pay and the service they receive. For me, there is little difference between helping those who have lost jobs through no fault of their own, and those who are impacted by natural disasters. Both deserve our help.

                                        • 4 votes
                                        #8.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:32 AM EDT

                                        Thanks Grimey & Patrick!

                                        One thing we can ALL agree on, is helping our neighbors out in trying times like these! ;o)

                                        I did notice that Grimey is the ONLY conservative on this board who even mentioned this disaster, let alone, call for donations!

                                        Grimey has what others are sorely lacking around here - compassion! Too bad it's not contagious!

                                        • 3 votes
                                        #8.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:43 AM EDT
                                        HiheelsDeleted

                                        The rebulican govenors are done for in 2012

                                        I think it is very funny that Paul Ryan want to privatize medicare, voucher medicaid and privatize Social Security .He is going after Social Secury even though HE HAS USED Social Security himself, Odd.

                                        • 4 votes
                                        #8.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:09 PM EDT
                                        Reply

                                         President Obama in 2012.

                                        • 17 votes
                                        Reply#9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:23 AM EDT
                                        HiheelsDeleted

                                        Wrong, 76% approve of him.

                                        43% dislike what the Repubs want to do with SSI< Medicare, Medicaid

                                        • 5 votes
                                        #9.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:11 PM EDT

                                        76% approve? You must have gotten that number counting the double-dip voters and dead folks. Or else you're a New Math whiz.

                                          #9.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:37 PM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          Its the Presidents fault that all the other important headlines were overshadowed by the release of his birth certificate? Give me a break!! The press decided what to cover.

                                          Chuck and Savannah, you could have covered Ryan, you decided (as the President knew you would) to cover this nonsense.

                                          • 11 votes
                                          Reply#10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:27 AM EDT

                                          Patrick, as long as you are holding people accountable, I assume you also hold the republican leadership accountable for letting race baiting run amok in the republican party?

                                          • 13 votes
                                          #10.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:37 AM EDT

                                          Patrick, as long as you are holding people accountable, I assume that you are holding republican state legislators accountable for wasting valuable time passing "birther" election laws around qualifications to be on state ballots?

                                          • 11 votes
                                          #10.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:41 AM EDT

                                          Ed. Of course, but that is what we expect from the nuts. But when the media gives the nuts the kind of coverage it has, they need to be held accountable.

                                          • 8 votes
                                          #10.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:50 AM EDT

                                          Did anyone hear or see any Republican come out yesterday and finally say, well, looks like this piece of ridiculous nonsense is over? All I heard is we need to examine the document for authenticity. You can make sometings foolproof but not damned fool proof.

                                          • 13 votes
                                          #10.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:09 AM EDT

                                          Ira:

                                          Sort answer NO, but they did attack his educational opportunities trying to portray that he got special attention because of his color. This type of rhetoric is designed for one thing, to divide the country by race baiting.

                                          The GOP/TP has nothing else to run on. They cannot use their rhetoric from last election since they lied about all of it, they have no new ideas and they do not give one iota about the American people. It is all about Wall Street, Big Business and Millionaires and Billionaires.

                                          Great posts today, keep them coming.

                                          • 7 votes
                                          #10.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:52 AM EDT

                                          Seems we old vets think alike. USMC 1967 to 1971. Two tours in Viet Nam. Seems to me that the older you get the more liberal you get. Seen to much bad stuff, too much suffering. Developed an empathy for the old and poor as I am rapidly becoming one of them. Have totally lost my patience for what passes for politics these days. Sorry...just an old man rambling on.

                                          • 7 votes
                                          #10.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:05 AM EDT

                                          Ira: Do yourself a favor and watch WTC#7 being imploded on 9/11/2001, on youtube. You will then begin to understand why our politics never seems to deliver any solutions for the majority of the populace.

                                          • 1 vote
                                          #10.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:22 AM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          Leave it to Donald Trump to make himself an even bigger douche...bad enough that he became a Birther in the first place but now he actually takes all the credit for "making" President Obama release his full birth certificate.

                                          Former Bush Administration speech writer David Frum asks the correct question..."Why didn't the GOP stand up to the Birthers?"

                                          www.frumforum.com/why-didnt-the-gop-stand-up-to-the-birthers

                                          • 8 votes
                                          Reply#11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:28 AM EDT

                                          Looks like activist judges are busy legislating from the bench again. Obviously everyone hates that sort of thing, so it deserves to be exposed;

                                          Fine print in everyday consumer contracts can include provisions that require Americans to surrender their rights to file class-action lawsuits, the U.S Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning a lower court ruling.

                                          The ruling could have immediate impact on consumers' ability to fight against companies when they feel their rights have been violated. It also raises questions about the future of class-action cases.

                                          Consumer advocates roundly criticized the decision.

                                          "(The ruling) is a devastating and far-reaching betrayal of the most fundamental principles of American justice," said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a civil rights advocacy organization. "(The court) has effectively removed any incentive for corporations to behave within the law."

                                          http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/27/6544896-advocates-consumers-betrayed-by-high-court-ruling-on-class-action-suits

                                          Naturally this ruling came down by the normal 5-4 majority, with the majority being the usual group of ideologically-tainted Conservative group complete with their conflicts of interest and complete disregard for the rights of anyone except the crème de la crème of society.

                                          The minority did what they could to protect average Americans, and Stephen Breyer had it right;

                                          "California courts believe that the terms of consumer contracts can be manipulated to insulate an agreement’s author from liability for its own frauds by ‘deliberately cheat(ing) large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money,’ " he wrote. "Why is this kind of decision — weighing the pros and cons of all class proceedings alike — not California’s to make?"

                                          If the Supreme Court’s servants to the rich were at least consistent in the way they decide such cases I wouldn’t be critical, but that isn’t the case. After all, the court has decided that if South Dakota offers the weakest consumer protections on credit card issuers, for example, banks can set up shell corporations there and neither federal law nor the laws of any other state can strengthen those protections.

                                          In other words, where laws favoring the wealthy elites originate in the states, state law prevails. Where laws favoring the wealthy elites originate with the federal government, federal law prevails. These Conservative activist judges are very consistent in that way.

                                          Meanwhile the folks who would buy our entire government have made it known they’ll do whatever they have to do to continue doing so;

                                          After a brief truce of sorts between the White House and business leaders, the top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took aim at President Obama on Tuesday over an as-yet unannounced plan to force government contractors to disclose their political giving.

                                          The lobbyist, R. Bruce Josten, said in an interview that the powerful business bloc “is not going to tolerate” what it saw as a “backdoor attempt” by the White House to silence private-sector opponents by disclosing their political spending.

                                          “We will fight it through all available means,” Mr. Josten said. In a reference to the White House’s battle to depose Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, he said, “To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table.”

                                          http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/politics/27donate.html?_r=1

                                          That’s right voters, you’re too insignificant to have a right to know if government contractors are buying business by anonymously bribing lawmakers. When it comes to unbridled government spending this must be a Liberal plot, right? Nope, it’s mouthpieces of corporate titans and the rich that need to protect their welfare;

                                          Mr. Josten said that the order as now drafted would also stifle free speech rights for businesses that worked with the government by subjecting them to harassment and protests if their political spending were disclosed.

                                          As one example, he pointed to the Target Corporation, which was the object of boycotts and protests at its stores last year after reports said that the company gave $150,000 to a Minnesota business group that supported a Republican candidate opposed to gay marriage. “This is meant to have a chilling effect,” he said of the disclosure plan.

                                          Seems to me that’s part of the free market. I’m free to make decisions on whom to patronize based on anything I please. Somehow Conservatives don’t see it that way. Their right to purchase legislators of their choice trumps my right to know what they’re trying to do to my government.

                                          • 13 votes
                                          Reply#12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:28 AM EDT

                                          John B:

                                          OUTSTANDING.

                                          It just keeps getting worse, but then again what can you expect when you have GOP/TP fundraisers and cheats pretending to be impartial Supreme Court Justices. This will not change until some of them retire and we put in real judges and not political hacks beholding to the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove or the US Chamber of Commerce.

                                          • 11 votes
                                          #12.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

                                          Free speech has consequences, even if those consequences are not imposed by the government. For example, if I were to go online and trash my employer, I can't reasonably expect to keep my job if they find out. Therefore, it is necessary to be judicious in what I say at all times. That may be wrong, that may be right, but it is simply the way it is.

                                          However, businesses are increasingly held to a different standard. Businesses (or rather their owners), want to become an increasing part of the political system, without having to risk anything for their involvement. This suggests that they know that their public involvement will have consequences, and thus seek to do anything they can to keep their involvement anonymous.

                                          And the issue here isn't even whether businesses can donate to campaigns, just that those that deal with government have to make those donation public. The Obama administration isn't saying that businesses can't contribute to political campaigns; they aren't even saying that all businesses have to make their donations public. They are simply saying that if you receive money from the federal government, you will have to accept certain rules, including the disclosure of political spending.

                                          And why not? Shouldn't consumers have the right to know where their money is going? Should bank customers know how much money is going into political activity? If they don't know, then aren't the customers indirectly subsidizing political activity with which they may not agree?

                                          Plus, the whole concept of anonymous donations smacks of a weak-mindedness on behalf of the business owners to begin with. If these donors really cared about their causes, they'd be happy to tell the world, and suffer the potential consequences. Instead, they contribute and contribute without even the threat of repercussions, and thus they are able to undermine the system while still taking in cash from the unwitting public.

                                          Finally, it smacks of hypocrisy whenever conservatives criticize boycotts such as the Target, because they are more than willing to engineer boycotts when it suits their purpose. Granted, it's more of a liberal tool than a conservative one, but you can better believe that companies that have policies that are too "gay friendly" often get targeted by local conservative leaders.

                                          • 9 votes
                                          #12.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:01 AM EDT

                                          If the Supreme Court’s servants to the rich were at least consistent in the way they decide such cases I wouldn’t be critical, but that isn’t the case. After all, the court has decided that if South Dakota offers the weakest consumer protections on credit card issuers, for example, banks can set up shell corporations there and neither federal law nor the laws of any other state can strengthen those protections.

                                          John B, have you noticed the language that was being used by Justice Breyer? The snippet above kinda says it all, doesn't it? The emphasis is mine, by the way.

                                          Is this the Justice's way of telling ALL of us that there is some real chicanery going on? Why would this Justice phrase this sentence like this?

                                          There is DEFINITELY something rotten going on in the Supreme Court.

                                          • 2 votes
                                          #12.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:38 PM EDT

                                          Mea Culpa, Pietro, that paragraph was mine and not meant to be attributed to Justice Breyer. His quote was the paragraph above it;

                                          "California courts believe that the terms of consumer contracts can be manipulated to insulate an agreement’s author from liability for its own frauds by ‘deliberately cheat(ing) large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money,’ " he wrote. "Why is this kind of decision — weighing the pros and cons of all class proceedings alike — not California’s to make?"

                                          I was just expanding on his point.

                                            #12.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:11 PM EDT
                                            Reply

                                            The WH may have been ignoring/starving the beast, but you guys in what passes for "media" today kept making trips back to the derp buffet to keep it well fed and cared for.

                                            Perhaps if you all did your jobs and actually asked tough questions of racist carnival barkers like Trump and ORLY, the beast would have died a long time ago.

                                            Meanwhile, the only person to point out the continued screwjob that Congress is giving to 9/11 first responders was John Stewart, who at this point is one of the only real reporters left.

                                            • 8 votes
                                            Reply#13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:36 AM EDT

                                            Yes, he did so since hew has "more important" issues to address like flying to Chithugo to be on Oprah, jetting off the NYC for fundraisers and off the the shuttle launch by an agency he shut down. What lying sack of doo-doo.

                                              Reply#14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:39 AM EDT

                                              Reality, it is unfortunate that Obama needs to appear on Oprah to assure America that he is the bogeyman that republicans make him out to be. Also as a result of the Citizen's United Supreme Court Decision, it is unfortunate that Obama needs to raise an ungodly amount of money to be re-elected. Finally, it's a shame that small minded people question Obama going to a shuttle launch to support a congresswoman that was brutally shot and her husband.

                                              • 10 votes
                                              #14.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:49 AM EDT

                                              Nice diversion...typical

                                              "They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

                                              That is truly a shame....

                                                #14.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:48 PM EDT
                                                Reply

                                                I have to say this totally outed the "FRUMP" as a racist and a pathological lier not to mention a psychopath ! He has now totally lost his bid for the white house ..and so did a lot of congress/senate republicans .. they showed true form that they to are also Racists.. For the first time in my 60 yrs as an American ..i have to say i am truly ashamed for our Republican congress/senate members !

                                                • 13 votes
                                                Reply#15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:40 AM EDT

                                                Of course now the same news people who say he should just show the birth certificate are this morning saying that he should not take time away for important issues. No matter what he does he can not win. They were on Hardball with Chris Matthews the day before saying if he has nothing to hide then he just needs to release his birth certificate and school records. Now that he has done one some are saying it is photo shopped. They are technically calling the public officials some of them republicans liars.

                                                • 13 votes
                                                Reply#16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:45 AM EDT

                                                This is a sad time for America. To have a President bow to the likes of Donald Trump who is nothing but a selfish, pompous idiot. Can you imagine a man like that as president?! Most definitely the Anti-Christ would be in power. I am sure there are many decent people left in this country; how about standing up for your President? Please don't tell me that we have sunken so low that we let people like that influence politics. The republicans have already done enough damage, blocked every effort for change the President made. Now they even have a website against Obama care where the minute you call or access the site you are counted as voting against it. Why doesn't anybody stop this nonsense. I am very frightened for our country. Insanity and money have taken over!

                                                • 7 votes
                                                Reply#17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:51 AM EDT

                                                Why would the President NOT have a press conference with so many people calling him a liar??

                                                • 7 votes
                                                Reply#18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:54 AM EDT

                                                How proud you GOPERS must be you belong to a party bereft of ideas, except for more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and oozing with racist. Tell me any other President that's been asked for their Birth Certificate? Anyone? Nope not one, so why was this one singled out, gee let me think, Because racism is alive and well and the GOP and BIRTHERS and BAGGERS all in the same party want to keep this country in the hands of wealthy white men! All you've truly done is shown exactly how low you are, If someone disagrees with the President on his policies, that's fair, that's what politics are all about, but this crap, well it just shows how slimy the GOP has become. The party of Carnival barkers and Reality TV Stars and whack jobs from Wasilla. Intelligence has never been a requirement in the GOP in order to run for office of spew their constant hatred. What they have proven is they can't stand losing and to a Black man, well that just won't stand. When they can't win on the facts make crap up that's how they roll.

                                                • 7 votes
                                                Reply#19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:58 AM EDT

                                                sfilutze

                                                How proud you GOPERS must be you belong to a party bereft of ideas, except for more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and oozing with racist. Tell me any other President that's been asked for their Birth Certificate? Anyone? Nope not one, so why was this one singled out, gee let me think, Because racism is alive and well and the GOP and BIRTHERS and BAGGERS all in the same party want to keep this country in the hands of wealthy white men!

                                                I agree and they are all losing ground. This is the 21st century; not the time before the Mayflower brought Africans to these North American shores foe economic gain.

                                                People today, especially the youth, do not want to live in a limited live style. They intermarry, they have no dislike of gays and most of all they are educated more so than their parents. They love Freedom.

                                                Too these racist can learn from their children.


                                                • 8 votes
                                                #19.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:16 AM EDT

                                                Too bad these racist can't learn from their children.

                                                • 6 votes
                                                #19.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:20 AM EDT

                                                Reality Check-1104333

                                                Yes, he did so since hew has "more important" issues to address like flying to Chithugo to be on Oprah, jetting off the NYC for fundraisers and off the the shuttle launch by an agency he shut down. What lying sack of doo-doo.

                                                Watch your filthy mouth. I have lived in this city since birth and am very proud to be a Chicagoan. I have traveled to other cities throughout the land and very few stack up with Chicago's modernization.

                                                Chicago is a special city to live in and to visit.


                                                It’s the third largest city in the United States, right behind New York and Los Angeles, and is the home to more than three million people. In Chicago, you can visit museums, see famous buildings like the Sears Tower, eat great food, and explore the neighborhoods where residents live.

                                                Chicago took spot number 5 on the list belongs to the mind-blowingly fast-growing company, Groupon. They come in ahead of companies like Netflix, Trader Joes, LinkedIn, Amazon and even Google, who took spot number 6.

                                                http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/blog/chicagos-most-innovative-startup-culture

                                                BTW: The economy of the Port of Chicago is highly diverse, giving it a balanced economy and making it the fourth most important business center in the world (according to the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index). It is one of the world's richest cities and an important financial center. It has the second biggest business district in the United States. Home to three major financial and futures exchanges (Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the city is a center for innovation in the finance industry.

                                                • 5 votes
                                                #19.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:37 AM EDT

                                                Yes...that genteel Chicago erudition beams right out of your daily posts...

                                                  #19.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:51 PM EDT
                                                  Reply

                                                  Obama exposes himself as the divider in chief by not settling the birther question two years ago and then his bots falsely proclaim anyone who questions Obama is a "racist"......what a wonderful leader this fool is......isn't he? LOL Then to top it off, he tells us he has no time for this because we have such serious problems to deal with and then he jets off with Michelle to do the Oprah show in Chicago and then on to NYC to pick up some campaign cash at three elitist benefit dinners for rich people!!!!!!!! Thanks for showing America what a thin skinned, empty suit you really are and why the most secretive administration in history must be tossed out of office in the next election.

                                                  • 1 vote
                                                  #20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:01 AM EDT

                                                  nyc, Trumps race baiting makes your argument sound pretty hollow. Obama needs to get off his basketball court and do his job? Pretty weak post nyc.

                                                  • 7 votes
                                                  #20.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:09 AM EDT

                                                  Ed- Trump never mentioned race, so you don't know what your talking about.....or do you have any facts that you want to reveal?.......and when did "basketball" become a racist word?.......how about "golf" is that also a racist word now? Ed, your whole thought process is flawed.

                                                    #20.2 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:20 AM EDT

                                                    nycguy - You are certainly entitled to your opinion of President Obama. However, using lies to support your opinion suggests that you are the thin-skinned person, rather the President Obama. How many times to you have to be told the President Obama presented the legal document issued by Hawaii to verify birth in 2008? How many times do you have to be told that a "Certificate of Live Birth" is, in fact, a legal document issued by the government, not a commemorative certificate for a scrapbook, issued by some hospitals? To blame President Obama for not "settling the issue two years ago," indicates that you won't accept responsibility for believing propaganda.

                                                    • 7 votes
                                                    #20.3 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:23 AM EDT

                                                    Trump left out any mention of the golf course, because he himself conducts a lot of business while he's on the course. He bought up basketball because "the-blacks" excel at it, and Obama wastes a fair amount of time on it.

                                                    • 2 votes
                                                    #20.4 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:26 AM EDT

                                                    Mary- thank you for allowing me to have an opinion of Obama, that is so kind of you, forgive me if I don't believe all the pap that emanates from this secretive administration that has not done a single thing to bring the country together and get our financial house in order. I'm glad you have faith that Obama will be able to help America get back on track but judging by what he has not accomplished at this point in his administration, I don't expect anything from this failure . He does a great job talking to Oprah, though!

                                                      #20.5 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:34 AM EDT

                                                      nycguy - I did not discuss anything in my above post regarding President Obama's job performance. Additionally, if you don't believe "all the pap that emenates from this secretive administration," that's great. Many people don't. However, if you are stating that you don't believe all the "pap" emanating from Hawaiian officials, and if you don't believe all the "pap" contained in a legal document issued by Hawaii verifying President Obama's birth, then you have little regard for states' rights provided for by our United States Consitution.

                                                      Article IV

                                                      Section 1.

                                                      Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

                                                      • 7 votes
                                                      #20.6 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:48 AM EDT

                                                      Mary- I have some questions about that Hawaiian documentation that I'm sure you can clear up for everyone. In 1961, did they label all black fathers race as being "African" and is that regardless of where the father was born or do they not mention "negro" on any birth record as a descriptive for any black father in Hawaii? When did Hawaii stop refering to people's race as African and use the new term African American? Did they never use the term "negro", even in 1961?

                                                        #20.7 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:07 AM EDT

                                                        Mary- I'm glad your concerned with states rights, you may want to remind Obama that Arizona is allowed to make their own rules concerning how their state is run without Obama filing lawsuits to stop them. Good point on your part!

                                                          #20.8 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:14 AM EDT

                                                          NYCGUY do you think they published fake birth announcements in the HI paper to facilitate this "scam" 50 years into the future?

                                                          • 4 votes
                                                          #20.9 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:22 AM EDT

                                                          Not in FEDERAL ELECTION standards they don't.

                                                          • 1 vote
                                                          #20.10 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:25 AM EDT

                                                          brundo- no, but many foreigners would love to get American citizenship, have you never heard of anchor babies? How did Obama attend an Indonesian Muslim school for years that was only supposed to be attended by Indonesian citizens, did Obama renounce his American citizenship and his Christian religion to be allowed in the school? There are many questions out there about Obama that are mysteriously never answered and if these were unanswered questions about George Bush, the media would have left no stone unturned to get to the truth......I say it is not racist to hold Obama to the same standard as Bush. Don't you?

                                                            #20.11 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:50 AM EDT

                                                            nycguy,

                                                            Most secretive administration? I have you ever heard of Richard Nixon? Sounds like Belleuve is missing one.

                                                            • 2 votes
                                                            #20.12 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:14 PM EDT

                                                            Devie- What is it about the Nixon Administration that you don't know? I only wish the reporters spend one tenth of the time checking in to Obama as they did Nixon, then we would not have to put up with all these secrets that Obama wants to keep. There are all these questions still unanswered about Obama and you are happily not interested in getting any answers. That says little for you.

                                                              #20.13 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:19 PM EDT

                                                              Here's an idea, nycguy: quit listening to Fox "news", quit reading what the nuts at Worldnetdaily have to say, because they are stupid, and try reading something edifying. What you have posted is absolute rubbish.

                                                              • 4 votes
                                                              #20.14 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:30 PM EDT

                                                              nycguys, do you have any idea how entertaining you are? You are poviding much laughter, have you ever been a town jester or villiage idiot? What, you can't understand why Hawaii didn't behave the same way Mississippi did in 1961? Lol Never been to Hawaii have you?

                                                              • 3 votes
                                                              #20.15 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:47 PM EDT

                                                              Dawning- here's an idea for you, stop attacking my right to ask questions about the people who are supposed to represent me in this country and offer up some answers that make some sense and are based on facts.

                                                                #20.16 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:50 PM EDT

                                                                Shellie- I glad your entertained, too bad you have no answers, I would have loved to hear how you explain the unexplained, but you will just have to take your place in the sad line up of Obamabots who shake their heads in agreement and never question the annointed one!

                                                                  #20.17 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:57 PM EDT

                                                                  In order for me to stop attacking your right to ask questions...you would have to ask some that are intelligent and devoid of racism. Have you no shame.? Of course not, people like you never do. And it is Ms. Dawning to you.

                                                                  • 3 votes
                                                                  #20.18 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:06 PM EDT

                                                                  nyc guy

                                                                  I'm glad that you stated that I made a good point about states' rights. States cannot override provisions in the U.S. Constitution, such as the "birther" laws, some immigration laws, and DOMA do. So, the Obama administration is correct in blocking those laws.

                                                                  In regard to your questions about the race of President Obama's father being reported as African, I have provided a link below for you to peruse. African is used in Aggregrated Ethnic Groups in Hawaii. I believe this model was developed after President Obama's birth, but as certificates are computer generated, it's possible that it picks up the newer categories.

                                                                  http://www.csuchico.edu/cjhp/1/hawaii/91-104-sorensen.pdf

                                                                  • 3 votes
                                                                  #20.19 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:15 PM EDT

                                                                  Ms.Yawning- I thought so, you have nothing, thanks for proving my point. Please tell me what I said that is racist in my posts, if you can put a cogent thought together. I'll wait!

                                                                    #20.20 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:28 PM EDT

                                                                    Mary- your attachment is interesting, but it has nothing to do with a 1961 Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth that lists the father as being "African". That description was never used as a description of race at that time in America. The politically correct description used at that time was "Negro". Why that is not the case on Obama's form is very curious, indeed!

                                                                      #20.21 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:40 PM EDT

                                                                      Negro? You're actually insisting that the Health officials in Hawaii should have typed "Negro" when they were told "African"..........REALLY?

                                                                      • 5 votes
                                                                      #20.22 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:46 PM EDT

                                                                      Exactly, Paul, incredible, isn't it?

                                                                      • 3 votes
                                                                      #20.23 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:55 PM EDT

                                                                      "Politically correct" ?!? They never cease to amaze. Do they? "Well that's just how it was back then."

                                                                      • 3 votes
                                                                      #20.24 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:01 PM EDT

                                                                      Yes, kiddies, in 1961 black people were refered to under the race category as Negro.....look it up!

                                                                        #20.25 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:09 PM EDT

                                                                        But, honestly Paul, the things that are written on this issue, and the fact that I have workmen in the house gives me a headache.

                                                                        • 1 vote
                                                                        #20.26 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:11 PM EDT

                                                                        Look it up, where? We have a document from Hawaii indicating that adult "blacks" from other Continents were refered to differently.

                                                                        • 1 vote
                                                                        #20.27 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:13 PM EDT

                                                                        Actually Martin Luther King started using the term African American in his speaches. They prior terms were

                                                                        black, colored the Negro, prior to 1955. His African American was really in place by 1963. So yes, it is posible that Hawaii adopted this at Obamas Birth.

                                                                        Dont you research anything, I mean R E S E A R C H< you have to look at several thing to get the general idea.

                                                                        OBAMA WAS BORN IN THE US,

                                                                        Now get over it.

                                                                        Martin Luther King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president.

                                                                        • 3 votes
                                                                        #20.28 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:25 PM EDT

                                                                        African American was not a commonly used term until after the seventies in the USA and sometimes interchanged with the term "black". Negro was the proper term to use for almost all the sixties. Birth certificates would usually only refer to Caucasian, Negro or Asian as your race, most didn't even use Hispanic until much later in the century.

                                                                          #20.29 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:40 PM EDT

                                                                          Looks like unlike Richard Nixon we WILL continue to have Birthers to kick around.

                                                                            #20.30 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:13 PM EDT

                                                                            John- no one is kicking anybody around on these threads but Obama has two years to try and get something right or he will get the kick......right out of office!

                                                                              #20.31 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:34 PM EDT
                                                                              Reply

                                                                              "Per our reporting, Obama himself made the decision . . ."

                                                                              'Just can't keep your egos under wraps, can you?  When will you realize that you're not the story?  You're simply lower case people who live vicarious lives, following around and commenting on those who are actually engaged in real projects of real import.

                                                                              Please get over yourselves. You're much less interesting than you imagine.  

                                                                               

                                                                              • 3 votes
                                                                              Reply#21 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:05 AM EDT

                                                                              Dude, you hit the nail on the head!!!

                                                                                #21.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:34 AM EDT
                                                                                Reply

                                                                                I just saw the chair of the RNC on CNN. He said that the repubs don't care about the birther issue, they don't talk or think about it, they are only serious about solving the problems facing this country, and that the Pres should get off this & lead the nation. What a crock.

                                                                                • 9 votes
                                                                                Reply#22 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:07 AM EDT

                                                                                Insiders at NBC have alluded that Trump has signed a contract to host "The Apprentice" next year and Trump is "just being Donald." So it would seem his current "run" for President is nothing more than an effort to promote his show (mentioned it again during his airport news conference). He is playing the tea baggers and birthers and 45% of Republicans like a cheap flute.

                                                                                • 8 votes
                                                                                Reply#23 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:11 AM EDT

                                                                                Yes, Thomas G, NBC clearly has a "conflict of interest" where this story is concerned . . .

                                                                                Bob Woodward was on Morning Joe-ke this morning . . . he summed up the state of modern journalism and the sorry way this whole "birther" nontroversy was handled better than I ever could. Nice to see a real journalist drop a little knowledge on Joe and Mika, Lord knows someone needs to . . .

                                                                                I love seeing all the new "journalists" get all defensive and irrational when the President calls them out on their bullsh!t. I bolded the last thing Bob Woodward said below . . . if you can't read the whole thing . . . read that . . . because he really got to the heart of the matter . . . and the key word is EVIDENCE. . . that is what is missing in our sorry "discourse" these days . . . I now give the floor to Mr. Woodward:

                                                                                Joe: I'm just curious, you know Washington better than anyone, why did the President feel the need to release anything to a group of conspiracy theorists?

                                                                                Bob Woodward: Well, because it's not just the conspiracy theorists unfortunately, there are all kinds of people who have these suspicions. I've looked at this a little bit, there's no evidence at all that he was born in someplace else. All the evidence, long form, short form, median form, what was in the newspapers, what people say, what the history of this is - he was born in Hawaii, and what happened is Donald Trump came on the scene and raised this and, you know, let's call things as they are, Donald Trump I think was I think or maybe still is aspiring to be the new Joe McCarthy.

                                                                                No evidence, but you make an assertion and you look at these things Trump said, "Oh people are looking into this are really surprised and shocked", people interviewing him at that moment should have said " What's your evidence?"

                                                                                Trump has no evidence, and when you have no evidence, you have nothing and the discussion of the subject should, uh, should end. I fault our business to a certain extent magnifying this.

                                                                                Look, if there's any evidence, if there's a shred of doubt, where there's a piece of paper or a witness, then examine it, but people running or about to run for political office like Trump making assertions like this, presenting not one, not one factoid, not anything should just be kind of say "Okay come on back when you've got something". Trump,is gonna get the new name "tailgunner", I think that's what they called Joe McCarthy.

                                                                                And so when Obama said "My God this seeping into the conversation, I'm gonna try to present more evidence" . . . you know whether he's gonna convince people or not I don't know, but the news media has kinda gotta get a handle on itself on this. My old partner Carl Bernstein calls this "manufactured controversy", and that's exactly what it is.

                                                                                Mika: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now I'm all about calling something for what it is, manufactured controversy, fake news, but the President held a press conference, I mean, are you kidding me? Was that a smart move?

                                                                                Joe: I was gonna say Bob, I think this was in a great sense manufactured controversy , manufactured for prime time cable, and I guess that's why I am so surprised that the President engaged in this.

                                                                                Mika: And I'm just not sure the media's the one that needs to get a handle on this. I'm serious.

                                                                                Joe: They'll never be happy will they? Whoever didn't believe the President wasn't born in America will never be happy, they'll just come up with a new conspiracy theory won't they?

                                                                                Bob Woodward: Look, you follow President Obama, he has press conferences, he makes statements every day almost, . . . it's not covered with this intensity.

                                                                                This is the news media. You know it has a kind of "Oh there's this side and that side, it's a controversy", we agree manufactured, you know, I think, you know, we've all lived in the world we now cover and anybody can say anything about anybody and he saw this seeping into the polls . . . I kind of feel sorry for him quite frankly. . .

                                                                                Mika: Bob, but Bob you said he has press conferences all the time, is it the media's fault for covering the press conferences for choosing this one over others? I don't understand what you're saying.

                                                                                Bob Woodward: No, what I'm saying is cover it and the headline is "There is no evidence that he was born elsewhere". When you have a situation when all the evidence is on one side and there is zero evidence on the other side, what's the controversy? What's the big deal?

                                                                                Yeah, you could deal with it, people have dealt with it, I think it's one of these things that gets raised in the political arena, people jump on it in the media, oh my God, Donald Trump is saying this or that, you have to be able to sift and deal with facts, and unfortunately, we're not doing enough of that.

                                                                                • 10 votes
                                                                                #23.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:41 AM EDT
                                                                                Reply

                                                                                Daniels for President? Really? This gets worse and worse for the GOP. They don't have a single credible candidate for President YET! This racist right wing turd Daniels won't get within 10 points of President Obama ever.

                                                                                • 8 votes
                                                                                Reply#24 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:12 AM EDT

                                                                                I wish he would run and get the hell out of Indiana and take the whole GOP/TP with him. He has sold out my state piece by piece. Here is the latest from TPM

                                                                                Mitch Daniels' Social 'Truce' Faces Test Over Planned Parenthood Vote

                                                                                http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/mitch_daniels_social_truce_faces_test_over_defunde.php

                                                                                • 3 votes
                                                                                #24.1 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:31 PM EDT
                                                                                Reply

                                                                                So Patrick, are you admitting that republican state legislators that are passing birther llaws are nuts? Are you also admitting that republican leadership has been complicit in the nuttiness?

                                                                                • 8 votes
                                                                                Reply#25 - Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:15 AM EDT
                                                                                Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 ... 7
                                                                                You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                                                                                As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.