How much money has Obama spent ignoring the birthers?

[GabonX]

An interesting comment was made in another thread..

Obama should just show us his real birth-certificate! Politicians should disprove our crazy conspiracy-theories, not ignore them for the bullshit that they are!



Your position is retarded.

Strangely enough, I hadn't said anything about Obama or his birth certificate.. Still, it brings up an interesting question.

Let's assume the consensus that the President is a natural borne citizen is correct. If that's the case, I'd like to know how much money the President has spent "ignoring" this controversy. Birth certificates cost around $20 to produce, while defense in court is considerably more expensive.

So the question stands, how much money has the President spent defending himself in various courts so that he would not have to produce a birth certificate which he could quickly and cheaply produce?

[Phatscotty]

Millions....as of mid-2009.

[GabonX]

If that's the case, it would almost be better if he were hiding something.

If he has nothing to hide but would choose to spend millions of dollars on something he could address for so much less, I have no confidence in the man's ability to manage the nation's economy.

Do you have a good source Scott? I've been looking for one and can't find any figures..

[Phatscotty]

If that's the case, it would almost be better if he were hiding something.

If he has nothing to hide but would choose to spend millions of dollars on something he could address for so much less, I have no confidence in the man's ability to manage the nation's economy.

Do you have a good source Scott? I've been looking for one and can't find any figures..

I hate to say it, but I never saw a source. I will only say I heard/saw it from more than one place at more than one time. The problem with the internet is it's 50-50 when it comes to good info/bad info, so I'm not about to go looking to the birthers for information.

[GabonX]

I know there have been cases, but I haven't heard anything about the defense in any of them.

From what I've read, all of them have been dismissed.

[Baron Von PWN]

I presume he has spent 0$ as he has nothing to defend from. The birthers are idiotic retards.

[GabonX]

That's possible, but I don't think it works that way.

Just because someone else is stupid doesn't mean you won't pay for it.

[Baron Von PWN]

That's possible, but I don't think it works that way.

Just because someone else is stupid doesn't mean you won't pay for it.

where would he be spending money ingoring them? he just ingores them it costs him nothing.

[bradleybadly]

Why is this even an issue?

[Neoteny]

We require one on actual paper.

EDIT: Also, we demand his social security number.

[bradleybadly]

We require one on actual paper.

I'm not that knoledgable about the whole birther movement. So when you say that, is that an actual line that they use to try and say he's not an American?

[Neoteny]

We require one on actual paper.

I'm not that knoledgable about the whole birther movement. So when you say that, is that an actual line that they use to try and say he's not an American?

I'm just making fun of them. I have no idea why they are still consumed by this.

[jonesthecurl]

We require one on actual paper.

EDIT: Also, we demand his social security number.

And credit card number

[pimpdave]

Also, we demand his fingerprints.

If he refuses, truth serum and military tribunal.

[jonesthecurl]

Remind me where and when truth serum, military tribunals, and birth certificates were invented?

[pimpdave]

And first born son.

[Doc_Brown]

The basic issues is that the US Constitution requires one to be a "natural born citizen" in order to become President. It is now accepted that all people born on US soil are automatically considered "natural born citizens." Also, children of US citizens born overseas are likewise US citizens, except when the child's father was never resident in the US. The phrase "natural born" was removed from this particular law in 1795.

Obama's father was Kenyan, though he was a resident of the US for a while. Obama's mother was a US citizen. The basic birther argument is that Barack Obama was not actually born in the US. I'm not sure where all the claims come from. I think there is some obscure statement from his grandmother about him being born in Kenya. If he was not born on US soil, he is not a "natural born citizen" and would presumably be ineligible to be US President. (Incidentally, John McCain was born in the Panama canal zone under US control, so there was some noise during the election campaign as to whether he was a natural born citizen as well!)

The birther argument relies on two premises:
1) Barack Obama was not born on US soil.
2) US citizens born abroad do not qualify to be President under the "natural born citizen" clause.
The second premise is not particularly clear and would almost certainly go before the Supreme Court if it were to ever become an issue.

As far as the first premise, I've not been interested in digging through the dark underbelly of the internet conspiracy sites to look at all the claims. What I do know is that the birthers claim that Obama only produced a "Certification of Live Birth" and not a "Certificate of Live Birth." The later was an older form of the birth certificates that included the hospital where the child was born as well as the name of the physician. Hawaii no longer produces those "long form" birth certificates, so there is no alternate birth certificate that can be obtained. In addition, there was a notification of Mr. Obama's birth in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on August 14, 1961:
[bigimg]http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/ObamaBirthStarBulletin.jpg[/bigimg]
In order for the birther claims to be true, they have to believe that there has been a conspiracy in place since 1961 to fabricate evidence that a Kenyan was actually born in the US in order to get said Kenyan elected US President. Is it possible? Sure. Is it even remotely likely? Not a chance.

[PLAYER57832]

This has nothing to do with truth, it is about attacking someone that a few people dislike for various reasons.. .many are pure racists, others just staunchly anti anything remotely Democratic even if its nothing controversial, others just plain are lunatics.

[GabonX]

That's possible, but I don't think it works that way.

Just because someone else is stupid doesn't mean you won't pay for it.

where would he be spending money ingoring them? he just ingores them it costs him nothing.

Presumably if he were spending money, he would be paying attorney fees for legal defense. A number of cases have been taken to court and they've all been dismissed to my knowledge.

[Neoteny]

His penis size might be worth knowing too.

[Baron Von PWN]

That's possible, but I don't think it works that way.

Just because someone else is stupid doesn't mean you won't pay for it.

where would he be spending money ingoring them? he just ingores them it costs him nothing.

Presumably if he were spending money, he would be paying attorney fees for legal defense. A number of cases have been taken to court and they've all been dismissed to my knowledge.

since all these laughable claims have been and will be denied he won't spend a dime.

[GabonX]

I don't think you actually know that.

If that is the case, it's interesting nevertheless.

[jbrettlip]

Birthers are the right wing version of 9/11 Truthers. It is fucking ridiculous. They give conservatives a bad image, just like truthers give progressives a bad image.

[GabonX]

Birthers are the right wing version of 9/11 Truthers. It is fucking ridiculous. They give conservatives a bad image, just like truthers give progressives a bad image.

I never really associated Truthers with progressives.

Regardless, this thread doesn't consider the possibility that Obama was not borne in the United States.

[Phatscotty]

I don't think you actually know that.

If that is the case, it's interesting nevertheless.

hes one of those canadian's who is an expert on America