Chris Matthews: Why Doesn't Obama Just Release The (Long Form) Birth Certificate?

[RamboLiberal]

On Monday night's edition of "Hardball," host Chris Matthews talked about putting the birth certificate controversy surrounding President Obama to rest.

"Why has the president himself not demanded they put out the original documents?" Matthews wonders.

"If it exists, why not put it out?" Chris Matthews asks.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/27/chris_matthews_why_doesnt_obama_just_release_the_birth_certificate.html

At 1:10 in the video Tweety asks why doesn't President demand they put out the long form holding up a long form example.

On edit: Tweety is almost demanding that Abercrombie find and publish the long form or that the President demand it from Hawaii. Tweety says Hawaii says they have it in storage.

:banghead:

[SpiralHawk]

1. Release your own damn birfer certificate, Matthews

Prove that you are not now nor ever have been a real journalist. Oh, wait, that will be completely unnecessary. Watching you is plenty of proof.

[Beaverhausen]

2. Does anyone here still have that original certificate with their footprints?

I don't. What I do have is a "certificate of live birth" from the state of Pennsylvania.

and that seems to be fine for everyone.

[rfranklin]

5. Yes, I just used it to sign up for Social Security...

and I am much more trouble about the future of SS than his birth certificate.

[HockeyMom]

8. I forgot about SS

I hard a enough time 30 years ago with my BC. Mine is an even shorter version of the short form. No info on my parents at all. My original was LOST by the VA over 50 years ago.

Great. Something else to look forward to.

[rfranklin]

16. Actually, if you sign up via the internet, they never request the BC

You just need your SS number. I think they have computerized records that should get you through the process, especially since you are a veteran.

[Dokkie]

37. I do

I still have my original birth certificate, Baptismal card, SAT results, Passport, High school diploma and a bunch of other personal documents. I have it all in a safe box in my apt and it goes with me every time i travel, you can never tell when there will be an apt fire :)

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. Yes. Why wouldn't I.

[Beaverhausen]

30. because things like that can get lost or misplaced

my husband's BC was burnt up in a house fire. He had to get a copy from the state to get a passport a few years ago.

The point is, an official copy of a BC obtained from the state of one's birth is perfectly acceptable. The birthers are just nutty about the specific BC they are asking Obama to provide.

[tledford]

32. And actually, the one he got from the state ...

... is the ONLY one that can be used for getting a passport. The State Department doesn't recognize the ones from the hospital with the footprint on it, those are NOT the official birth certificates.

[HelenWheels]

11. I don't

but my kids do.

[Little Star]

21. Each of my 4 grown children have theirs, I saved them for them.

And they have those of their children. Just saying...:shrug:

[vaberella]

22. Hah..I'm from Haiti. They don't do that footprint crap in my nation.

It's hilarious---you see all these notes, my name is all weird and shit. I was like did they run out of room. But meh..it's Haiti. It's a BC is a formality---they're like you're alive, right? So were born. Lata. You don't need anything else. ^_^

[rfranklin]

27. My brother was born in Port-au-Prince....

I have to ask him if he has a BC.

[rfranklin]

28. And strangely enough, my sister was born in Nairobi...

Holy shit, Obama and I might be cousins!

[vaberella]

29. That's where I was born. He should have one.

If he lost it...good luck to him. A lot of records get lost, or disappear or whatever. And I remember when I thought I lost mine...it would cost $350 to even search for it and there's no guarantee they'd find it. What makes the entire situation even sadder is the mere fact that on my BC said it would cost 1 gourde to get a copy. Do you know how much 1 gourde is in dollars? It's not even dollars. Doesn't even $.03. But I have to pay $350 for the search and rescue.

[Ter]

35. Yep, I do

I was taught to hold onto them with your dear life.

[Arkana]

47. I don't. I still have whatever the hell was issued at the hospital

the day I was born, but that's about it.

Guess I'm not citizen enough for Eastern-European-immigrant Orly Taters.

[rfranklin]

3. Which one...the Kenyan one or the Indonesian one?

We never saw Bush's Connecticut birth certificate, did we?

[AlinPA]

4. The birthers, Matthews included, will be screaming this crap from now until 2012. nt

[Buzz Clik]

6. Tweety. Has he ever located the map of his anatomy?

With that map, he might be able to find his ass with both hands.

[Supersedeas]

9. Captain Superficial is unilaterally reviving the birfer issue...IF it exists...wow

He must really feel the need to appease the shallower elements of his dwindling audience.

[karynnj]

10. Wow, that is stupid and allowing the ultra right wings story to be seen as deserving some respect

Back in 2004, I thought that there was nothing stranger than the media IGNORING Kerry's official Navy record - and it was on his web site starting in April 2004 and asking him to disprove comments that were in agreement with the official record. The media NEVER asked the liars for one scintilla of proof backing any of their stories - and when "facts" were definitively proved to be lies, they just went to another "fact"

This unwillingness to take official records - ie the Navy gave Kerry all the prestigious awards and the willingness to give credence to contradictions - giving them more weight than the lies shows no morality, no honesty and no sense. I thought than that this was as surreal as it could get.

But, no - here they question a birth certificate already backed by the then Republican governor of the state. They also ignore the non-official, but even harder to fake public birth announcement printed in a Honolulu paper.

I don't know what Matthews' degree was in, but I think Holy Cross should recall it - or maybe we should question it - after all it is no better proof of his accomplishment than Kerry's records and Obama's perfectly legitimate birth certificate.

[emulatorloo]

15. "Matthews called both birthers and those who are undecided idiots"

Just an FYI from another thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=80856&mesg_id=80970

This is about as misleading a post as I've seen here. - Jayfish

His point was that if only 57% of your constituency can say you were born in the US; then it's time to settle the issue. Matthews called both birthers and those who are undecided idiots. ...and used such language. The video seemed to have been selectively edited to exclude that quote. I'd post the transcript but it looks like the transcribers are on vacation. What's your agenda with this post?

========

I seen the show too - NNN0LHI

And the OP is not describing what I seen either.

For the record.

The point Tweety made was that nothing was going to convince the birther nuts.

Don

=========

Yes. correct. Tweety is NO birther... This entire thread is off base. - hlthe2

Tweety is trying to shine a light on how stupid this is, as he has throughout.

[karynnj]

24. Thanks - I did not see the show as I've been away from TV

I still think that offering the suggestion that Obama could end this by producing a long form is naive - and it places some of the blame on him. (just as many did with Kerry, who did have his entire record on his web site. They just claimed it wasn't complete - because, of course, there was nothing negative there. They did push him to sign a release for three papers to get the records directly from the Navy - They did - and the records were essentially exactly what he had on his website - except for one coversheet recommending him for accelerated promotion (and this was at the END of his Vietnam based service). If you look in the blogospere's right gutter, you will still see fantastical charges that he has yet to release his records because of major problems in them.

This tells me that producing the "long form" if it exists would have a similar affect - the people believing these completely made up things will find yet another reason that it can't be true. Why give ANY validation to the idea that there are records that should have been produced to answer this.

[Aramchek]

12. tell the ol' yellow-headed misery that it's not up to Obama

[emulatorloo]

13. Tweety is not a birther. Everytime Tweety has a birther on, he tears him a new asshole

This article seems to miss the part where he called birther's "idiots"

Another thread here:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x80856

The RCP article is misleading

[RamboLiberal]

38. Yes but Tweety did ask why didn't they get the long form out

"I am not a birther, I am an enemy of the birthers," Matthews assured Page and Corn, before comparing a so-called "long form" birth certificate to the more abridged copy that Obama has released. "Why has the president himself not demanded that they put out the initial documents?" he asked.

Page said there was no point in Obama engaging birthers, because they were not interested in evidence showing that he is a natural-born citizen. Matthews responded that, no matter what, it will be interesting to see if Abercrombie's quest for the full document is successful.

"Don't we want to know if he can find it?" he said. "I don't know why the Governor doesn't say, 'snap it up, whoever is there in the Department of Records, send me a copy right now.' And why doesn't the president just say, 'send me a copy right now'?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/28/chris-matthews-obama-birthers_n_801818.html

[AtomicKitten]

14. Tweety is giving credence to this absurd allegation.

The good news is that Gov. Abercrombie knew the Obamas and will straighten this mess out ... no thanks to Tweety. :mad:

[Clio the Leo]

17. One of my favorite lines in "Dreams of My Father"...

"I was going through some of my mothers things, old photographs of me as a baby, my birth certificate..." (written in 1994 of course)

Surely I cant be the ONLY person who noticed that. ;)

[Xenotime]

18. WTF?!?

[damntexdem]

19. Why doesn't MSNBC just release Tweety?

He's an idiot who doesn't realize that to birfers and teapartyers, no facts nor forms will have any effect on their claims.

[spin]

20. No matter how you look at it, releasing the birth certificate ...

would make the problem go away. It's so simple a solution that many people believe that Obama won't do it because he can't.

Personally I really don't give a crap whether he was born here or not. He is our President. We voted him into office.

[golfguru]

23. Obama does have a legitimate birth certificate...problem might be

he does not want the world to know who is recorded as his father on the long BC.
And that is his right to protect his privacy.
But he does have a legit BC as was certified by the highest authorities in HI who
has actually seen the certificate..

[Ter]

36. A better question is does a president lose that right to privacy?

The public has to know his and every president's family tree.

[golfguru]

41. There is no such constitutional right to public

That is why we have elections. Voters can decide who is open and who
is secretive and make up their mind.

[woo me with science]

46. It may also be that there is a line on the long form that indicates religion.

If Obama's father was Muslim, he is likely listed as Muslim, too, which would make all the bigots claiming he is Muslim NOW go crazy all over again.

[Jennicut]

25. No it wouldn't. Don't be naive. There would still be idiots out there saying it was a fake.

You simply can't stop stupidity.

[spin]

26. Unfortunately, you are probably right. (n/t)

[Dokkie]

39. true

people would still believe hes not a natural born citizen, but the number will reduce to say 13% or whatever % constitutes the Sarah Palin faction of the tea party. I say he waits till the election( if he wins the primary election) to release it, the boost he would get from it should propel him to an easy 2nd term victory

[Whisp]

45. give in to this and what will be next? proof the kids are his?

I can't believe this stupidity is being talked aobut so much on media and on Here.

:groan:

[paparush]

44. I disagree.

The cries of "fake, forgery, why didn't he release it sooner" will swirl around the internet and right wing media for years, occasionally popping up in mainstream media.

[Arkana]

48. No it absolutely would not, because he HAS released it.

And it's still not over.

These people are staunch racists and they're not going to change their opinions in the face of silly things like "facts" or "incontrovertible proof". Let them scream at shadows--it makes Obama look good and them look stupid.

[Uzybone]

31. Chris Matthews: why don't they just nuke the oil spill?

[Supersedeas]

33. so much self-righteous indignation about the most superficial of things--ole Yellowhead

if the drool is not flowing over the bright shiny thing in the room, it must not be the Chris Matthews show

[treestar]

34. He did release a certified copy I think

That's good enough for everyone else.

Besides, it would not matter to those loonies. They would say it was forged.

[hay rick]

40. Keeping the birther nonsense alive helps Obama.

There is not a single birther who would switch their vote to Obama because he provided incontrovertible proof of his Hawaiian birth. On the other hand, the transparent stupidity and racism of the birthers tarnishes any politician who courts them and turns off a lot of middle-of-the-road voters who pay more attention to personalities than issues.

[rasputin1952]

43. I have a certified copy of my bc...my mother has the "footprint"

version of my brothers and I. However, my paternal grandmother could only certify here birth through through baptismal records, and there was no "official" bc at the time, she was brn at home by midwife and there is a note in some obscure book by a doctor in a ledger somewhere. My mother was orphaned, and looking through the Maryland records, her, her sister's and brother's bc's were not to be found until a misplaced folder was found.

The whole birther thing has brought down quite a few loons, Orly Taitz seems to have made a cottage industry of the situation, and not surprisingly, those that have grasped at the straws she tosses out have met with disaster. Because of her, a LTC lost everything he worked for, to include possibly his license to practice medicine after he gets out of federal prison, and for nothing. I say let the birther have their many seconds in the sun...every one of them has lost credibility, and except with their core "believers".

As far as Tweety goes, once he starts runnig his mouth, his brian disengages and he's little more than a rude pundit that has lost what little credibility he ever had. He's not as sad a Ducey or that other oaf on FOX...but he's getting close...:D

[old mark]

42. Old Mark: Why doesn't Chris Matthews just shut the fuck up?...nt