One of the best, concise, myth-busting Birther pieces...these people should be ashamed...

[HardWorkingDem]

This piece does a great job shattering the idiotic Birther bullshit.

Now, people often suggest why promote this idiotic story by talking about it and the reason I do and the reason it irritates me, is because this story is a barometer of the ignorance of Americans and an embarrassment to intelligent Americans that care about not being seen as idiots.

The last paragraph alone shows how it would not matter if Obama had been born on the moon.


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/15/debunking-the-birther-claim/?hpt=Sbin

[3waygeek]

1. Surprising...

CNN is debunking Obama birthers, and Salon is debunking Trig Palin birthers. I'd have expected it to be the other way round.

[Richardo]

2. ...which is what I've been saying for two years at least.

His mother was a citizen therefore HE'S a citizen. Natural-born, i.e. not naturalized. Location has nothing to do with it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Your 'therefore' is a bit simplistic

In 1961, someone born outside of the USA or its territories, to an 18 year old American citizen and an alien, would not have been held to be an American citizen at birth. But a change in the law in 1988 could have then retrospectively declared them an American citizen at birth, after all. See the laws quoted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=871987&mesg_id=872370

Current law: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/usc_sec_08_00001401----000-.html
Here's the 1952 law: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8693236/1952-Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-Title3-Chapter1
Look at part 7 of section 301. Back then, the American parent would have had to spend at least 5 years after attaining 14 in the USA to get their child to get American citizenship at birth. But in 1988 they changed that period to 2 years.

One thing to note is that this does mean, even now, that American citizens who permanently leave the country before they're 16, and who marry a non-American, won't pass on American citizenship to their children at birth. If the parent moves back to the States with the child when he/she is under 18, then the child is automatically naturalized, but wouldn't, I tihnk be a natural born citizen.

[Richardo]

8. Point taken - but as of 1988 a moot point then?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Yes, I think so

Though I suspect it would take a proper ruling by a judge to say that 1988 law means that everyone already born by then still counts as 'citizen at birth'. But, since Obama was born in Hawaii, it would be doubly moot.

[tblue37]

11. EXACTLY! I have also been saying this to the point where I am saying it

in my sleep, yet people keep focusing on where he was born, as if that is even relevant. He would be a US citizen even if he were born on Mars, because his mother was a US citizen! (And even the dumb birthers don't deny that she was a citizen.)

Even our side falls into the stupid trap of acting as though where he was born is an issue that needs to be settled in order to prove his US citizenship.

[Avant Guardian]

3. Crackpots are not swayed by facts

[Keith Bee]

4. How can they be ashamed.....

...when most of 'em can't spell the word?

[RoBear]

5. "ashamed" implies a moral center,

or at least a moral compass. These people have no such thing because they've sold their souls for political gain.

Which presents the question: would you appreciate being told by sellout McCain that you're his hero? I'd run from that full-tilt!

[The Wizard]

7. The words are clear

Article II of the Constitution states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
"at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution"
The framers didn't want any royalists seeking the presidency. They wanted a generation to pass before anyone not born on U.S. soil would be eligible for the highest office.

[BlueIris]

10. Thanks for posting that. The birther crazy is by far the most toxic

crap I've encountered in the world of smears. Those who believe it drive me freaking nuts.