‘Born in Kenya': Obama's literary agent misidentified his birthplace in 1991

[Grassy Knoll]

Source: abcnews.go.com

<snip>
Obama's former literary agency misidentified his birthplace as Kenya while trying to promote the then-Harvard Law grad as an author in 1991.

According to a promotional booklet produced by the agency, Acton & Dystel, to showcase its roster of writers, Obama was "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."

"This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me--an agency assistant at the time," Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. "There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/born-kenya-obamas-literary-agent-misidentified-birthplace-1991/story?id=16372566#.T7WNsY4zL8t

---

Right wing blogs are blowing up for this correction, on not showing
this report all together.

[drm604]

1. The birthers are going to run with this.

Of course they'll ignore the correction.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. Of course they'll ignore the correction

Everybody else will ignore them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. Breitbart ( however you spell his name) already is running with it.

and the fact the publicity agency has "withdrawn" the article is being seen as admission of guilt, of "hiding" the "real" birthplace.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

29. Breitbart sleeps with the fishes.

[christx30]

30. I have a friend

that is a birther. We've had a lot of... animated discussions on the subject. I've tried to tell him that the subject is dead, from legal or practical standpoint. He (and the rest of the movement) will never convince anyone of the birther question. My favorite way of antagonizing him is to respond to his facebook posts about Kenya with "Yes? And.....?"

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. Drudge is pushing this one hard

So that makes ol' Matt, along with Trump, yet another lunatic, racist birther Romney is allied heavily with.

[Amster Dan]

15. Matty is wetting his panties about it!

Pure Drudgery, with accompanying (lack of) IQ.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. I guess he's taking some time off from posting his usual race baiting articles.

on edit:

Oops, never mind. I see he's got his usual stuff there. It's just not as prominent.

Matt Drudge is one of the biggest pieces of shit in America.

[Garion_55]

3. didnt even make it one news cycle

but im sure the teabaggers will ride it like its proof all the way till nov

[K8-EEE]

4. What does Breitbart.com think of O'Keefe confusing voter who was "Jr." with his dead father

Probably not even a mention of that, but should a sloppy researcher mistake Barack Sr.'s birthplace with Barack Jr's 20 years ago, WHOA STOP THE PRESSES! They are so stupid and will fall for every silly little crumb.

[Mister Lane]

5. An Unwelcome Reply

Well, I now know why the far-right tend to bring up the issue about Kenya...

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Why?

[Zoeisright]

13. I know why too.

Because they're a bunch of fucking stupid bigots.

[Faygo Kid]

7. FReepers going nuts over this one.

Throw the birthers the tiniest scrap, and they run with it. Hannity is close to declaring himself a birther, as is Rush. By late summer, they will all be birthers, and some superPAC will spend millions on ads, while Fox News pushes it front and center.

Sublime. The Swift Boating worked with Kerry. This won't work on an incumbent president. But, they can't help themselves. Go for it.

[Bolo Boffin]

8. FFS. n/t

[onehandle]

10. So What? Rmoney was born in France. nt

[Kalidurga]

18. I thought he was born in Mexico nt

[humbled_opinion]

11. Next thing they will be saying

Obama paid to have this biography written and actually saw it and never asked that it be corrected... LOL idiots...

[humbled_opinion]

12. The latest quote I got from

the teaheads I work with is this...

"Miriam Goderich owes the public an explanation of why and where she got the idea that Mr. Obama was born in Kenya, furthermore it seems quite odd that a biography written by an esteeemed literary agent of the time would not have been seen by the young Mr. Obama who was just starting his political career. In fact wouldn't it seem logical that such a biography would be celebrated and snipped for a scrap book by the young Mr. Obama's mother or grandmother at thet time?"

anyway thats about where they are taking this one...

[castnet55]

14. Obamas

Most of the right wingers I talk to aren't interested in the birthers. They're more worried about the economy and jobs. If you talk to the old ones they're worried about health care and social security. They wonder if they'll have company backed pensions and if SCOTUS is going to scre up the health care plan that was passed.
Alot of what they worry about is simular to OWS or at least what it was when it started.

[Merlot]

16. A literary agents job is to sell books

I'm sure they thought this would make the book "sexy" and therefore sell better. The agent practically says they pulled this out of their *ss.

BTW, I"m reading that book right now, it's pretty interesting. Just this afternoon finished the chapter where Obama goes to his first church service at Rev. Wrights church...and cries.

[JDPriestly]

19. I will repeat this just so people know the facts.

I was born in 1943, less than a year after Obama's mother, Ann Dunham. I know the time. I remember it clearly. I was a college student in 1961 as she would have been. I knew foreign students just as she did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Dunham

The Mau Maus revolted in Kenya, and Kenya finally obtained its independence in 1963.

The Mau Mau Uprising (also known as the Mau Mau Revolt, Mau Mau Rebellion and the Kenya Emergency) was a military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960. It involved a Kikuyu-dominated anti-colonial group called Mau Mau and elements of the British Army, auxiliaries and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyu.[1][7]

The movement was unable to capture widespread public support.[8] The capture of rebel leader Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 signalled the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau uprising, and essentially ended the British military campaign.[9]

The conflict arguably helped set the stage for Kenyan independence in December 1963.[10] It created a rift between the European colonial community in Kenya and the Home Office in London,[2] but also resulted in violent divisions within the Kikuyu community.[5][11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_Uprising

No American girl of our age would have gone to Kenya in the midst of the controversy about the Mau Maus and the status of their rebellion with its threat of violence in 1961, the year of Obama's birth, to have a baby. It's just ridiculous. True. Some missionaries were, no doubt, in the country at that time. But Obama's mother would never have gone there to have a baby. Never. The thought is just absurd.

Things changed quickly after 1963, very quickly. They changed when Kenya became an independent nation. That development reverberated around the world, but in 1961, things were far too uncertain. The birther theories are just ridiculous.

[truthisfreedom]

20. Buncha bullshit.

Fuck 'em all.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. The RW sites have all taken this as gospel, set in stone by the hand of god.

Wonder why they just don't ask Jane Dystel and Jay Acton about it.

[alp227]

23. Same with talk radio - Savage even called for an FBI investigation over this!

Yes, Michael Savage is really this dumb.

[JoePhilly]

22. A promotional booklet is now a legal document .... what dopes.

I hope this idiots waste a ton of money pursuing it.

[progressoid]

24. Aw...

[warrior1]

25. What about American mom

having a child overseas. The child is still an American.

Barack Obama, the President was born in Hawaii to an American woman.

end of story.

[AverageJoe90]

26. Really wish that oversight had been corrected before it was printed.

Unfortunately, the right-wing pundits are so totally desperate to discredit Obama they'll do anything, anything at all, to get some votes back for Romney.

[marshall]

28. That is one incredibly incompetent PR person

I expect her firm to take a huge hit from this. How much more incompetent can she look--she is hired to promote a writer of autobiography, and she just makes stuff up about him that contradicts the facts of the publication. I can't imagine the PR nightmare that PR firm is going through now.