To engage the birther fantasists is futile; to dismiss them, reckless

[cali]

The Obama conspiracy theorists may appear marginal, but they have a sizeable audience now and were effectively running the country until last year
Comments (65)


guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 August 2009 19.00 BST

When Barack Obama delivered the speech to the Democratic party convention in 2004 that launched his national career, he began by telling his own compelling personal story: "Let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya … While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas."

He went on to tell his parents' story as a quintessentially American tale of love, hope and aspiration. "My parents shared not only an improbable love," Obama told the rapt Democrats, "they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or 'blessed', believing that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success."

But as Obama prepares to celebrate his birthday on Tuesday there are others who would suggest that his appearance that night was not just probable but plotted – part of a long-running conspiracy by foreign Muslim forces to take over the United States. In the alternative version, his white grandparents were so displeased at the race of his mother's fiance that his mother fled to Kenya. Once there, she was repulsed by the manner in which Muslim men treated their wives, but was now too pregnant to fly home and so remained in Mombasa, where the heat brought on early labour. A local imam was kind enough to lead the festivities and called the boy Obama.

<snip>

The aim here is not prove these people wrong. That has been achieved several times over. For them to be right, Obama would have had to persuade the state of Hawaii to collude in forging a birth certificate that has been verified by its Republican governor and director of health as well as the nonpartisan factcheck.org. Moreover, his mother would have had to have the foresight to place birth announcements claiming he was born in the US in both the Honolulu Advertiser and the Hawaii Star Bulletin, 48 years ago, in anticipation of a future presidential run – otherwise, why bother? When you think of the time and effort that must have gone into this cover-up, Obama's election must go down as the most elaborate affirmative-action sting in US history.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/02/obama-birthers-us-presidency

[billyoc]

1. What about egging them on to watch them whirling like dervishes?

That's still cool, right?

[cali]

2. very cool. I'm all for it. Iove Cobert Watcher's suggestion of flooding them

with good fakes.

[Forkboy]

3. For now it's to our benefit to keep this is the news.

Not at the expense of healthcare and the war, mind you. Just enough to keep this, and the Palin thing, alive and well in the GOP. I truly believe both hurt them far more then they help them, and if the Repubs want to embrace these people I see no reason for us to stop them.