The Birthers just will not give up

[Racket_Man]

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/15/ar..._lnk1%7C209846

Summary: the Arizona state legislators have passed a bill that would require ALL (local state and Federal) candidates for office to produce an Official Brith Certificate or baptisml record

The Arizona proposal would require political parties and presidential candidates to hand in affidavits stating a candidate's citizenship and age and to provide the candidate's birth certificate and a sworn statement saying where the candidate has lived for 14 years.

Is it just me or has Arizona just gone completely loony with nutty laws lately?????

It's a fringe issue in my view, and it's going to cause people to look again at Arizona and say what's all this craziness going on there," said Democratic Rep. Daniel Patterson of Tucson, an opponent of the bill.

[Gravekeeper]

Honestly at this point in the "debate", you're just a fucking idiot or a complete lunatic. There is absolutely no other reason for people to still be clinging to this ridiculous bullshit. You don't deserve reason or respect and you certainly do *not* deserve any attention from the media let along equal time as the "other side" of the "debate".

You. Are. Wrong. At this point the rest of us are just standing back and watching in awe as you manage to shrug off the pain of reality's constant, repeated fact laden cock punchs.

<deep breath>

Ok, I'm better now.

[Greenday]

Don't they have to provide that information anyway to become president?

[Boozy]

Don't they have to provide that information anyway to become president?

I had also assumed that. If being born in the US is a requirement of running for President, then presumably someone in the election commission is responsible for checking for a birth certificate.

I'd also assume that the Secret Service does a fair bit of investigating.

[Greenday]

Just reread the OP. This also means everyone from Governor to Mayor and everyone in between who runs for any position in the state must be a US citizen by birth.

[HYHYBT]

I don't think it says that. Requiring candidates for all offices to provide birth certificates isn't the same thing as requiring they all be born in the US.

[blas87]

It doesn't matter. The birthers like my father are never going to listen. He's one of those who thinks Nobama was born in Kenya, I can't remember all the different places birthers think he's from. They're all nuts.

I have zero respect for the president, but I am not one of those nuts who uses that excuse to dislike or discredit him.

[FArchivist]

Summary: the Arizona state legislators have passed a bill that would require ALL (local state and Federal) candidates for office to produce an Official Brith Certificate or baptisml record

It'll get struck down. The concept has been examined previously and it won't pass Constitutional muster. Several legal scholars have already examined and shown that it places citizenship requirements which are not present in the Constitution (just as the GA-proposed bill did) and so will not go anywhere.

Don't they have to provide that information anyway to become president?

Interestingly, no.

I had also assumed that. If being born in the US is a requirement of running for President, then presumably someone in the election commission is responsible for checking for a birth certificate.

I'd also assume that the Secret Service does a fair bit of investigating.

And again, interestingly, no. The Federal Election Commission does not have the authority to check Constitutional credentials. When it was examined in the 2008 election, it turns out NO ONE does. You're assumed to be on the honor system. And no one seems to be interested in creating an agency or panel to take up that job either.

[Racket_Man]

It'll get struck down. The concept has been examined previously and it won't pass Constitutional muster. Several legal scholars have already examined and shown that it places citizenship requirements which are not present in the Constitution (just as the GA-proposed bill did) and so will not go anywhere.

and that was my point. just another case of the fringe zealots (agin what is with Arizona???) going nuts and trying to stomp on and splat anything they can find just because "it goes against that "fantasy" 1950's American way of life idealism" (that of course never really exsisted).

[Boozy]

And again, interestingly, no. The Federal Election Commission does not have the authority to check Constitutional credentials. When it was examined in the 2008 election, it turns out NO ONE does. You're assumed to be on the honor system. And no one seems to be interested in creating an agency or panel to take up that job either.

I find that fascinating, because it seems like such a small thing to do. You need a birth certificate (or something of the sort) to get a passport in the US, right? Why not require the same for filing candidacy paperwork?

[radiocerk]

Because "something of the sort" isn't good enough for the birthers. There is a Certificate of Live Birth for Obama, and Hawaii has his birth certificate on file, but they don't reissue the birth certificate itself for replacement. And the birthers say that isn't good enough, they need an original.

I don't have my original birth certificate, and I was never baptized. Does that mean my citizenship should be thrown into doubt? Of course not, because I have the same pasty skin tone as the birthers.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't even have a birth certificate, and have never had one. And, unlike Obama, I don't even have an announcement in my local paper, I don't think.

^-.-^

[MadMike]

I have zero respect for the president, but I am not one of those nuts who uses that excuse to dislike or discredit him.

And that's fine. If people think he's doing a poor job, that's one thing. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. But it annoys me when people do stupid shit like scream about how he's not a citizen, despite his birth certificate saying otherwise, that he's a muslim (even if it were true, don't we still have freedom of relgion), or refer to him by his middle name, which implies that he's like Saddam Hussein.

That last one especially gets on my nerves. First of all, it's not like he chose that name for himself, and second, just because he has the same name as a brutal dictator doesn't mean he's anything like him. I have a former classmate named Tim. Does that mean he's a homegrown terrorist who blows up buildings and kills hundreds of people? Of course not! But then these are probably the same idiots who screamed about the band Anthrax picking that name to offend everyone over the 9/11 attacks, despite the fact that they chose that name back in the early 80s, roughly two decades before 9/11 even happened.

I can respect people who argue the facts, even if I don't agree with them. But when they take cheaps shots based on things that aren't even true, or stupid stuff like what their name happens to me, they just sound like idiots.

[Racket_Man]

UPDATE: Arizona Gov vetoes bill.

Best quote from the article

"I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions," said Brewer, who was secretary of state until she became governor in 2009.

[smileyeagle1021]

Because "something of the sort" isn't good enough for the birthers. There is a Certificate of Live Birth for Obama, and Hawaii has his birth certificate on file, but they don't reissue the birth certificate itself for replacement. And the birthers say that isn't good enough, they need an original.

Damn, guess I can't run for President... I don't have an original birth certificate anymore, all that exists anywhere is certified copies.

Of course the question that no one is willing to answer is why would Hawaii fake a certificate of live birth? What do they possibly have to gain from it? I guess there is the standard bribes and back room deals, but those would be easy enough to trace, so surely this vast investigation the birthers have put on would have turned up some sign of that. So, other than the standard bribes and backroom deals, what motivation would Hawaii have to forge a certificate of live birth?