Associated Press
In May, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) dabbled in the "birther" conspiracy theory and publicly questioned whether he'd allow President Obama to appear on the statewide ballot. Soon after, a chastened Bennett—who oversees Arizona elections despite his role as the state co-chair of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign—backed down.
I assumed at the time we wouldn't hear much more about unhinged Republican activists trying to keep the president off the ballot. I assumed wrong.
Kansas election officials said Thursday that they want more information before deciding whether to remove President Obama from the state's November ballot.
The all-Republican State Objections Board heard arguments Thursday on a claim from a Manhattan resident that Obama is not eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya. The resident, Joe Montgomery, also questions whether Obama has a valid birth certificate. [...]
The Kansas board is led by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an ardent voter-ID proponent who during his successful 2010 campaign once suggested Obama should produce his long-form birth certificate.
Yes, we're talking about that Kris Kobach. The top elections official for the state of Kansas is also a far-right anti-immigration activist who serves as an adviser to Mitt Romney's campaign.
Any chance Kobach would be responsible enough to simply ignore the strange conspiracy theorist and dismiss this nonsense? Of course not. Kobach responded yesterday, "I don't think it's a frivolous objection. I do think the factual record could be supplemented."
The factual record already includes incontrovertible proof that the conspiracy theory is insane, making this practically the definition of a "frivolous objection." But Kobach is nevertheless asking for additional certified documents from Hawaii.
The state elections board is scheduled to meet again on Monday, and may rule on this garbage then. The Romney campaign has not yet commented publicly on the story.
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And Mitt Romney won't comment on this....at least not coherently.
They're a bunch of nuts.
Is the Media going to ask Romney about this?
Obama is not eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya.
Earth to Republicans: It doesn't matter where your parents were born. It matters where you were born.
Why is it that all white supremacists manage to prove with their every action white inferiority?
"Obama is not eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya"
Also Earth to Republicans, if that were true then Romney too would have to be ineligible to be president because his was from Mexico. Birthers need to take a course in Logic & Critical Thinking. My friend teaches such a course at a community college and he'd looove to have in his class.
It's a widely known fact that Obama is a Keynesian. And thes people from Kansas may not be too bright, but it not really matter. Romney will win Kansas either way.
I'm confused-what does an economic........OH-you are a Stewart/Colbert fan!
good one!
I think it is time to send the National Guard in . Space Aliens have invaded the bodies of Kansas Republicans.
Actually has more explanatory power than Tom Franks' theories when you think about it.
I've come to the conclusion that for them to make sense, they must know something about the end times that the rest of us don't, and that all their "crazy" actions are a valiant effort to forestall doom to us all.
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Don't be talking Smack on Aliens, I have a feeling Aliens wouldn't be this disjointed or irrational.
What are they worried about, Kansas isn't a swing state.
I live in Kansas and I want to vote for Obama. That's why I'm worried about it. I know that my Democratic vote won't have much of a legitimate impact in my blood red state of Kansas, but I have every right in the world to cast it for the candidate of my choice. I am a 19 year old college student and I just received my certificate of registration a week ago, and I may be prevented from casting the first vote I would ever be eligible to cast. That's what worries me. There are Kansans who support Obama and intend to vote for him this November; that's why we should be worried about it. Because we exist. Everyone who believes in our democracy should be outraged because this is outrageous!
Bennett tried this in Arizona. too. I imagine if they actually removed Obama's name from the ballot, every Democrat in the state would sue for billions of dollars in a class action suit. Bennett's next job would be a underwater explorer in the Mariana Trench.
Kris Kobach is an adviser to Mitt Romney?
I just tried to find out for sure and have found out that he is - or was - but then again - no but later - he is ... or not.....................!!!!!!!!!!
Does Mitt Romney support this effort? Oh - wait - just read the last sentence - they haven't commented..........................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is an "informal" adviser to Romney on immigration. He is "informal" because Kris Kobach is the Architect Of Arizona Immigration Law SB1070.
I just read his bio on Wikipedia. Summary: He's a really white guy who really, really, really dislikes
Illegals. Oh, yeah, he was also an Eagle Scout...
I hate hearing that about Kobach being an Eagle Scout. I am currently writing a book that makes use of a diary written by an Eagle Scout who became the rear gunner in a Navy dive bomber during World War II. He was described by his fellow squadron members as a "reader" (looking at his reading lists in the diary, one should say serious reader) who was always engaging them in interesting discussions. He was a class-conscious young Democrat and supporter of FDR, who saw the bull pucky in the Navy and fought against it as much as he fought the war, and he was happy to convince three of the officers he flew with to vote for the president in the 1944 election. He was sadly lost on their final mission, or we'd all know him as the great writer he would have become. But to me as I read that diary and get to know him, he is exactly what an Eagle Scout is supposed to be.
Unlike a turd such as Kobach.
Most Eagle Scouts soar. Kris Kobach became a flying a$$hat.
They'll just never get over it.
It's twenty frakking twelve, a hundred and fifty years since the Emancipation Proclamation and half a century since the "I Have a Dream" speech, and they still just can't frakking get over it.
But, hey, don't you dare say its about race because they'd totally be doing this crap year after year after year, for example, there was a question, say about whether the a white presidential candidate born in the Panama Canal Zone, the sovereign territory of another nation, was a "natural born citizen," or, if, just for example, a white candidate's father (who also ran for president) had actually been born in another country.
Steve, the difference is all your examples are Republicans.
They hated Clinton just as much as Obama, no matter how much Romney tries to use Clinton as some kind of battering ram against the President. The hatred was just as irrational, the rumors were just as scurrilous, the attacks just as hard, if not more so - current House reps demand various investigations into presumed wrongdoing by the Obama Administration, but back in Bubba's day they DID something about it, and investigated him for years until they caught him lying about oral sex with an intern, and then impeached him for it. Because, as we all know, Presidents should never ever lie under oath, about anything. It's why George W. Bush refused to ever be put under oath.
They took decorated war veterans Al Gore & John Kerry and painted them as traitors, while giving draft dodgers Bush & Cheney the veneer of True Patriotism. Last I checked, Gore & Kerry were white.
Unless there's a dramatic shift in the behavior of "we the people" over the next few years, then I guarantee you, if the frontrunner for the Dem nod in 2016 is a white male, the attacks will be just as brutal as they were now, and in '04, 2000, 1996, 1992...this is the way the GOP runs itself now, and will continue to do so until it stops being effective. Because they've got nothing else.
I will grant you this - Obama's skin color (for lack of a better word) colors the attacks they make at him, but the vitriol would still be there if he were all white. Racism is the sour icing on their hate cake, but it ain't the cake. There are plenty of racists in the GOP, but they'd find another reason to hate white Democrat.
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Me: Come on, admit it, you hate Obama because he isn't like you.
Them: Racism, that's all you Liberals can think of, We are NOT Racist.
Me: Actually I was thinking of Barry not being a Loony Tune Right Winger ... but since you went straight to Racism ... now I'm sort of wondering....
.
Just remembering the Whitewater investigation vs. Clinton that seemed to go on for years. I agree that the republicans seem to find something to focus hate on and just go on and on. I agree that if the democratic candidate was white the republicans would find a way to hate him.
I'm certainly not saying that every Rape-Public-CON is a racist, just that it's... weird... how many racists seem to find themselves comfort in the GOP's warm, cozy embrace. You don't suppose it could be the "Southern Strategy", do you? /s
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
You folks need to stop the Clinton reminders. Team Obama is trying to portray that his presidency is the only to have undergone hatred. You folks are countering that concept with facts. Stop it.
Republican Motivation 101
Does it piss off liberals? ANY liberals? Even ONE?
Then it's a Thing Worth Doing. Proceed.
Were we to have an electorate that called people like this what they, to their face and in print...were they to be chastened and humbled to the point that they wouldn't engage in these sorts of cheap stunts (which would have the added value of making them more believable if they ever had valid complaints to issue), this wouldn't be an issue.
But the GOP leaders feed and reward the intolerance and fear and bigotry of their base, who in turn demand their leaders continue to feed and reward their intolerance and fear and bigotry, inspiring any other current or potential future GOP leaders to do more of the same, but MORE.
It's just racism and bigotry. Probably will gain votes for Obama in the long run.
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What makes this all so funny is ....
It wasn't that long ago I was hearing Republican talk about wanting to run Schwarzenegger for President.
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Oh he's way too liberal for the Republicans now.
Too willing to compromise , must be some kind of Commie
And they wanted to change the Constitution so he could run. They scream about defending the Constitution, but they always want to change it......when it would benefit them.
I wish the comment about Schwarzenegger would gain more recognition!
Ok so since The POTUS father was born in Kenya, regardless of the fact that the POTUS was born on US soil. Makes him not an American Citizen? Ummm then wouldn't that make Ann Romney & Marc Arubio, not US Citizens as well, considering both of their parents were in fact not born here, even if they were.
I mean do they even realize how stupid this sounds. Because The Right is constantly complaining about illegals and 'anchor babies". Because if the child is born in the US, than the child is a US Citizen, regardless of where the parents were born.
"I mean do they even realize how stupid this sounds."
Deep down, they probably DO realize how silly it sounds. They just can't help themselves. They're pandering to a group of people who are generally poorly educated, feel powerless, and are anxious about the direction of their lives.
Also, for your edification, it's "Marco Rubio," not "Marc Arubio."
I stand corrected on his name.
Marc, Marco, Rubio,Arubio, Arubia they all sound the same to me [/s]
Do they realize how stupid they are? Probably not. In fact, definitely not. Republicans are the kind of stupid people you run across who are too stupid to have a clue about how intellectually challenged they are and where they stand on the intellectual continuum. (I used that last sentence to confound any of our trolls, since it uses big words they won't be able to understand)
It's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, combined with Authoritarianism.
Isn't Arubio an island in the Caribbean?
Remember; he's not one of us, he's foreign looking, has a foreign name, is a community organizer, wasn't born here, his dad was a communist, he's a closet socialist, plus, he's a muslim. These are just a few of the slander's made against the president that I consider a rascist skreed to get 61 percent of the white vote; not one of these birthers would have the guts to say any of this to the president's face. The fact that I read a book about socialism, does not make me a socialist! What's wrong with being a muslim? This is bigotry and prejudice, nothing more..... They don't have any proof for any of these slanders.
I come across this with my co-workers, most of them Repudicans themselves. I definitely feel like Don Quixote chasing windmills in this wasteland called "Inland Empire." I see the point where if they tried this tactic here, I would be ready to sue the idiot that even thought of proposing such an outlandish scheme. I too am an Eagle Scout and haveto shake my head at this individual with these ignorant ideas.
What is amazing is they are not JUST dissing the President based on some 'belief'. They are saying the STATE OF HAWAII lied. Sorry Kansas. You are ONE state of 50 and if you want to 'go it alone' with absolutely no facts on your side, try it.
It doesn't really matter if he's not on the ballot there - not like he'd win there or anything.
do they realize that most people who live in america have ties or family members that were born outside of america? just because his dad is from kenya, doesn't mean he is, and for god's sake, do you think the first black president didn't get vetted or looked into prior to becoming the freaking president?! guess what? he's already in office! there's no way to go back now! stop bringing it up!
The GOP is a laughingstock.
disagree! hate mongering pundits camouflaged as republicans are nothing to laugh about, because they have become a dangerous force to be reckoned with.
I realize there's a principle involved here and that Democrats should not take this lunacy lying down. But really - how important is this? Kansas is not a swing state. Obama's not going to win that state anyway unless it has a a limited Rapture between now and November and all the evangelicals disappear.
Nonetheless, I'm wondering - where was Kobach born? Is he qualified to hold state office? Where's HIS birth certificate? Is it real?
No doubt that Kansas will go Red in November. But the bigger context is the exercise of democracy here. Trying to keep a sitting President off the ballot because of a conspiriacy theory with no evidence is completely antithetical to what we as Americans should stand for - the right to vote for and choose our political leaders. To draw a parallel - Imagine if in 2004, New York (a reliably Blue state) tried to keep GW Bush off the ballot because one person at a public meeting brought up the "truther" theory. Republicans would have been outraged, and said it's anti-democratic! It's the same deal now, except that with Obama, it's things he has no control over that people conspire about - birthplace, name, parents, etc. That is what makes this even more deplorable.
Mitt's grandfather moved to Mexico. I believe Mitt was born in Mexico. I think we should require a birth certificate, newspaper announcements and a statement from his deceased father stating the date, time and location of his birth to let him on the ballot. Oh, and he's a Mormon. Therefore, we'll need affidavits from every woman in the western hemisphere affirming that she's not secretly also married to him to verify that he's not a polygamist. If he can't prove these things to MY satisfaction, he shouldn't be allowed on the ballot in any states. If they think their crazy requests can keep Obama off the ballot, I think mine should keep Mitt off.
(By the way, the difference between their crazy requests and mine is that not only is mine satire, but I understand that my request makes me sound crazy, biased and uninformed.)
Mitt was born here, it was his father George (the good Romney) who was born in Mexico - but since he was born outside the US to American citizens, he was recognized as an American citizen. That's how the rules work.
"it was his father George (the good Romney) who was born in Mexico - but since he was born outside the US to American citizens, he was recognized as an American citizen."
By that logic, Obama would be a citizen even if he was born in Kenya because his mother was a U.S. Citizen.
Which is absolutely true.
absolutely right!
Look, TC and Karen! Don't try to muddy the issue with facts. It is MY belief that Mitt was born in Mexico. Therefore he needs to prove to MY satisfaction that he wasn't, or he can't be on the ballot.
I think that it would be fantastic if Kansas kept Obama off of the ballot. Obama is not going to carry Kansas anyhow and it would provide a very loud and clear message to everyone who is not a reich wing nut how crazy they are.
I am from Kansas. If they take Obama off of the ballot, there will be massive protests from the 40% of us in Kansas who are not Republicans. It will be Kris Kobach's worst nightmare.
Kobach is a narcissitic jerk. In 4 years, even Kansas will vote this azzwhole out of office.
Of course, Steve. That's exactly what you would say... if you were part of the... conspiracy!
Duhn-duhn-duhn [drama sting]... /eyeroll
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Why didn't Willard's dad go through all this crap about a birth certificate when he ran for office? Oh wait, he was a teapubbagger and WHITE. I wonder what our country would be like if all these STUPID teapubbaggers would freaking grow up for a change instead of acting like sandbox bullies with NO common sense. I am getting so sick of their crap that even though I figure I don't have many years left in this life, I'll never vote for any republican again for any reason. They lie and lie and once they get into office they drink the koolaid, tell the big lies and act just like the rest, really, really STUPID.
No matter how they wrap themselves in the flag and the constitution and call people that disagree with them unpatriotic and anti-American, they don't care about this country or the people they represent. It's all a sham by that party and has been for years. It's probably because I'm so fed up, but I can't think of one thing that party has done to benefit the working people of this country for 30 years. I've had it with that party of rich spoiled brats.
The reason that George Romney didn't have to go through this is because he dropped out of the Presidential race at the time that the questions about him being born in Mexico were starting to surface. Had he continued, this would have been an issue. I find it hypocritical that the righties keep pushing this, but am not surprised because they always project their actions onto the President. It continues to take some "brass" doesn't it?
They should change their name from republican party to the projection party, doncha think?
Kris Kobach is a fraud.....Full time job as Secretary of State for Kansas....Consult for various anti-immigration groups and radio talk show.....Did not kow that Secretary of State was a part time job.....
There's a constitutional issue here when one state (Kansas) doesn't honor the documentation (the birth certificate) from another state (Hawaii). Supremes? Please?
Yes, it would be interesting to hear Kobach explain how it is that Chief Justice John Roberts, not exactly Mr. Obama's BFF, swore him in as POTUS if there were a truly legitimate basis for questioning his eligibility to serve.
This would be great for Obama! He aint gonna win Kansas anyway, I say let Romneys bigoted advisor go nuts.
Maybe we should seriously consider removing Kansas from the U.S. Because I don't think the people of Kansas feel they're even living there anymore, anyways, anyhow.
I feel sorry for the normal people in Kansas. Maybe we could give them refugee status if they move to a blue state?
Kansas was taken over by extremist, facist, nutjobs in 2010.
The governor's approval rating is about 32%- and that is in a red state.
Unfortunately, the billionaire Koch brothers spend millions of dollars in Kansas to put their puppets in power- like Brownback and Kobach.
We have LOTS of good progressive people and moderates who do not like what is going on and are fighting hard against this craziness and power grab.
I have never seen such blatant disrespect of a sitting U.S. President. That Kansas is condoning such disrespect is reprehensible. I don't appreciate my tax dollars being wasted on this nonsense. The three men on the Objections Board are absolute troglodytes, and they should never have been elected to public office.
Not all of Kansas is so backwards and bigoted--just most of it. Here in Lawrence, KS, we live in a small blue bubble floating in a seething sea of red. Or as I saw on a bumper sticker once: "Lawrence: 32 square miles of sanity surrounded by Kansas."
Well, I wouldn't go that far. Both sides have had just as blatant disrespect for Presidents of the other party for years. Can you real say that the Dems gave respect to bush? Or before that, the GOP to Clinton? And on back- seems even Abe didn't get much respect from Dems. And the reason Dems have symbol of donkey is because during reelection, Andy Jackson was depicted as a jackass. I'd say only people trying to sensationalize things will claim "never before"
We love Lawrence! Great posting.
Wait a minute. Wasn't Romney's father born in another country? I understand he was born in Mexico
Wait a minute. Wasn't Romney's father born in another country? I vaguely recall reading that he was born in Mexico and thus was not eligible to become president.
Once again, No. The rule is that the child of American citizens born in a foreign country is an American citizen if the parents register the birth with the American embassy of that country.