Just how stupid IS the National Review, anyway??

[Berry Cool]

"Jim Geraghty, Reporter" needs to bone up on his facts.

One of the execrably stupid things he says in his story "Obama Could Debunk Some Rumors By Releasing His Birth Certificate" is this:

If the concern of the Obama campaign is that the certificate includes his Social Security number or some other data that could be useful to identity thieves, that information could easily be blocked out and the rest released. (Although I wonder if identity thieves would find Obama a tougher than usual target, since using the name on purchases would almost inevitably bring closer scrutiny.)

Duh. What an idjit.

I have no idea whether this guy is too young to remember or just has no memory, but Barack Obama is from the era when a person didn't usually obtain a Social Security number until he or she began working. Maybe around age 16 (that's the time I got mine, and I was born the same year he was). Back in those days, SSNs were used only for tracking the income of the owner, not as child ID numbers for tax purposes.

It wasn't until 1986 that the tax laws changed so that if you wanted to claim a child over age 5 as a dependent on your return, the child had to have a SSN. Then in 1990 you needed a SSN to claim a 1-year-old, and eventually you needed one to claim even infants of under one year. This was what began the habit of parents applying for SSNs for babies right after they were born, usually on the birth certificate application. But by the time any of this happened, Barack Obama was in his mid-twenties.

Prior to 1986, before they got their first job, there was no really big hurry for most Americans to get a SSN. So most people didn't, and their parents didn't apply for them to get one, until they were old enough to start job hunting. Obama is from that era, just like me. I remember going out to apply for mine just before I turned 17. I'll bet you anything Obama didn't get his until he was at least a teenager. You don't need one for a passport, just a birth certificate.

My SSN isn't on my birth certificate because, when I was born, I didn't have one. I even got a copy of it later--not a photocopy but a brand-new certified document with the same information on it as was recorded on the original. Why should Obama's SSN be on his?

In short, this "journalist" is stupid. And if he really thinks he's going to get anyone to believe Obama was born in Kenya, he's stupid too.

[mcctatas]

1. Really?

I'm as dumb as the National Review :cry:

Actually, I can use born to late as an excuse;)

[rocktivity]

2. I'll bet this reporter would turn down the opportunity to be paid

in Hawaiian currency.

:headbang:
rocknation

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. When you're just making stuff up, it doesn't matter if it makes sense. nt

[Ilsa]

4. The location of birth isn't the only indicator of requisite status for

being president. There are exceptionsmade if a parent is a US citizen and has lived in the US for a certain amount of time, but gave birth overseas, etc.