US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

there's something deeply sinister about the fact that this is basically getting JFK-assassination kind of traction in conspiracy-nut circles

bam busted in birth bunco

"deeply sinister" or "totally unsurprising and pathetic"?

bam's bum birth bamboozle

Wow, this is even convincing nutcases who weren't on the birther train, ffs:

I've scanned a lot of images. What you scan is what you see. What I haven't seen when I've scanned something is where they show letters cut off such as what looks like a "5" on the left hand side where it bends down. Also, the dashed green lines on the background go straight across, and the black lines of the form curve down. It they scanned the black lines only, then why transpose onto green lined paper, why not just show the scanned document on whatever was the original paper as I always do when I scan a document. This doesn't pass the smell test. Either this is a forgery on green paper, or they are hiding something on that left side that was cropped off. Why can't we just get a scanned copy of the original birth certificate, showing every notation on margins, every smudge, everything? Frankly, until today I was thinking this birther thing was much ado about nothing, but after seeing this document I now have many suspicions about Obama's birth.

Live Poll

Now that you've seen Obama's long-form birth certificate, are you convinced he's a US citizen?

VoteView Results
Yes. It is irrefutable proof he was born in Hawaii.
10%
No. There will always be doubt in my mind.
37%
I never questioned his citizenship in the first place.
53%

Wow, this is even convincing nutcases who weren't on the birther train, ffs:

lol because if there's one thing I take totally at face-value, it's paranoid insane comments on web posts

Well, no shit, that's why I said "nutcases".

53% !

No. There will always be doubt in my mind.
37%

i am in the club right now just cryin

cryin in the club

jon, you realize that some of these comments are out-and-out trolling, right

this is unscientific MSNBC website poll so that # doesn't shock me tbh

jon, you realize that some of these comments are out-and-out trolling, right

I think you are reading way more into what my post than what I meant. Guess I should have added the "lol" to make it clear that I wasn't taking it at face value.

billionaire bilked by bam's bogus birth bonafides

(to DJP) well yeah that too...I guess my point is that however deluded the JFK guys were, it seemed that at least the underlying assumptions that informed their paranoia weren't cultivated by something so toxic as racial delirium...if you get my gist...?

I just want to hear what aero says as this ramps up new levels of "OMG FAKE, SEE?!??!!" over the next few days.

"Optimize Scanned PDF" will convert an image PDF into a series of sliced images and clipping masks to save on bandwidth. BEHOLD!

http://yfrog.com/h2fbnsdj

(Unless, of course, I'm cleverly faking my visa application)

And isn't it ever so convenient that both his parents are dead? The same as Vincent Foster!!

(to DJP) well yeah that too...I guess my point is that however deluded the JFK guys were, it seemed that at least the underlying assumptions that informed their paranoia weren't cultivated by something so toxic as racial delirium...if you get my gist...?

Okay sure, but what exactly were you expecting to happen to our first black President? I mean tbh I'm shocked no one has shot at him yet.

Biden

hahaha

Frankly, until today I was thinking this birther thing was much ado about nothing, but after seeing this document I now have many suspicions about Obama's birth.

a lot of birthers do this, this is sort of standard Usenet troll practice: claim that you used to be with the side you're arguing against

What was it I read - between '33 and '63 the only president not shot at was Eisenhower.

Okay guys, just to clarify I was posting one particular comment I saw, not trying to hold this up as representative of some real group.

I just want to hear what aero says as this ramps up new levels of "OMG FAKE, SEE?!??!!" over the next few days.

why? kinda makes my point - these people now look like the sort of people who when you show them two things next to two things and say "see, there's four" say "I see they've gotten to you, too"

xxxp I think it's John Cole refers to that as "I was a liberal Democrat before 9/11 made me realize I hated Ted Kennedy" syndrome

^ I read this as "John Cale refers to that..."

I thought, weird of him to chime in.

Okay sure, but what exactly were you expecting to happen to our first black President? I mean tbh I'm shocked no one has shot at him yet.

this is an excellent point. I have often thought this was an underlying reason why Obama has taken a more cautious and moderate approach to governing actually

yeah, but that's only 4 presidents, and FDR hadn't been sworn in yet when Zangara shot at him

xxxxxxp

xxxp I think it's John Cole refers to that as "I was a liberal Democrat before 9/11 made me realize I hated Ted Kennedy" syndrome

― Paul McCartney and Whigs (Phil D.), Wednesday, April 27, 2011 2:41 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

lol i think michael berube called this "chappaquiddick syndrome" and found a bunch of examples

from corner comments: Trump is playing a media game and now he has sucked Obama into it ... there is now blood in the water and Trump is energized ...
sexy

trump is a literal clown

What is Trump's official response? Not satisfied, i imagine?

I read it was somthin' like What took so long?

I don't think Truman was shot at -- was he in the Blair House when the Puerto Rican nationalists blazed away?

why? kinda makes my point - these people now look like the sort of people who when you show them two things next to two things and say "see, there's four" say "I see they've gotten to you, too"

I think I was misreading what you were getting at earlier, I thought you were hinting at some sort of resolution to this whole thing but reading back now I think you were referring more to the strategy side of things. I just didn't think this was going to do a single thing to end the ridiculousness and, at least so far, it appears we're heading for more of the same.

my mom was watching FOX NEWS the other day, and Neil Cavuto was talking w/ Karl Rove about Trump...Rove basically said that Trump's decision to make headlines w/ the birther controversy made him impossible to take seriously as a potential Presidential candidate, which seemed to surprise Cavuto, who acted like he honestly thought it gave him some credibility...

Fun with cascade logic

in fairness to Neil Cavuto, he is dumber than a stump

x-post to Morbz Yeah, it sounds more impressive than it is. But here we got rid of a bunch of political violence a long time ago - Charles I, Spencer Percival, and I guess the IRA in Brighton. We just seem to miss out on a lot of political violence :(

i think we ought to distinguish violence that is really political! booth and czolgosz, absolutely. hinkley and zangara, not really. oswald and sirhan, kind of, in a very weird way basically skew from 'real' politics.

giffords' shooter (can't remember his name already!) probably non-political, but he did hate women apparently.

x-post Yeah, absolutely.

James Fallows worth reading here.

5) Speaking of carnival barkers: Every member of the political press knows that the chance of Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States is zero. I say that the chance of Sarah Palin becoming president is extremely low but greater than zero. I will take any bet at any odds against Trump becoming president, for reasons I'll boil down to this: the same circumstances that would make Obama so vulnerable that a Trump could beat him (economic, political, military, or social chaos of any kind you want to imagine), would simultaneously motivate the Republican party to choose a "real" candidate with the best chance of winning the election and running the government. That is, if the Republicans think they have a serious chance to win, they're not going to blow that chance with Trump.

My real point is: knowing for sure that Trump's "lead" in the GOP polls now is a quaint artifact of name recognition, and knowing that there is no chance that his "colorful" background and prima donna manner could stand the long grueling, humiliating ordeal of the primaries and the caucuses and the endless interviews, how long will the press keep acting as the megaphone for this carnival barker? Why aren't they jumping all over him now, for the patent idiocy of his "birther" claim, rather than acting as if somehow he has scored a point by making Obama react? In reality, he'll be on the stage with the press' megaphone until people get bored with him -- which gradually but undeniably has happened to Palin.

btw you guys' endless fascination w/ these crazies is exactly why dissatisfied libs will be "driven into Obama's arms," as per every prez election post-Reagan.

these crazies are setting the GOP agenda fyi

Yes, but:

no chance that his "colorful" background and prima donna manner could stand the long grueling, humiliating ordeal of the primaries and the caucuses and the endless interviews

= truth bomb.

I don't know, the thought of Obama completely destroying Trump in a head-to-head debate brings a smile to my face.

here's hoping hubris will make him try anyway xp

the entertainment value of a Palin/Trump/Huckabee debate would be very, very high