Tweetie: only 42% of Americans think Obama definitely was born in the U.S.

[pnwmom]

This is VERY SCARY.

Don't blame Tweetie for this one, though. He was appropriately scornful in referring to the Rethugs "propoganda campaign."

[Drunken Irishman]

1. That has to be Republicans. Not Americans.

[pnwmom]

2. Nope. "American people" -- not just Republicans. (Only 23% of Rethugs say so.)

[Drunken Irishman]

Well Americans are fucking idiots...

I wish Obama really were a Kenyan Born Communist so he could round up all their asses and send 'em off to death camps.

[pnwmom]

3. Now Matthews is displaying a copy of the birth certificate on the screen. n/t

[spanone]

4. this birther bullshit is unfuckingbelievable

rush the fuck limbaugh is fucking out of his fucking mind

[gateley]

10. He KNOWS it's BS -- he's just doing his j.o.b. of fanning the racist flames. nt

[spanone]

5. dupe

[Dawson Leery]

6. Statistically, 42% with a margin of error is 40%.

Each side of the left/right electoral spectrum has a 40% base.
This poll implies that bigotry does clearly exist on the right side of the aisle.

[pnwmom]

14. This isn't just Rethug numbers. This is the percent of Americans in general.

Which means that not even all the Dems are convinced he was born here.

[malaise]

7. Is this the first President ever to have his birthplace questioned

It's all about race.

[gateley]

12. He's the first Black president, so yes, he's the first ever to have his citizenship questioned. nt

[malaise]

17. Joe Conason is absolutely brilliant

I love him.

[gateley]

8. He (and his guest) bring up a good point, though -- that many of those

respondents wouldn't pass a lie detector test, they're just enjoying giving strength to the lie.

But, I'm convinced FAR too many people DO believe he's not American. It's just crazy. But when there's racism involved, it's not as though logic and proof count for anything.

[spanone]

9. republicans are fucking crazy, tweety just played sharon angle

she's fucking nuttier than bachmann

[Mendocino]

11. When my son was born 22 years ago

I secretly had the county health department and the local newspaper conspire to have his birth registered locally just in case he ran for president someday.:)

[lunatica]

13. Well Americans aren't any good at Geography so they think Hawaii is a foreign

country no doubt. It's overseas isn't it? Of course it's foreign.

[golddigger]

15. The vast majority of the American people

are fucking stupid.

[freesqueeze]

16. I think an appropriate follow-up question would be...

"Do you think any black person is a 'real' American?

[AspenRose]

21. +1

There it is.

[DURHAM D]

18. I wonder how the question was phrased.

The other day I had an idiot up at the grocery store (jointed by another idiot) trying to argue with me that Hawaii was not in the U.S. Not now - not ever.

I suggested they go home and google it. One of the idiots just looked at me. I don't think she knew what it meant. JFTR - one of them was male and under 30. The other one was female and over 50.

[IcyPeas]

19. I really think they say this.....

just to piss us off ---- in which case they succeed.
:shrug:

[City Lights]

20. Our corporate nooze media (for the most part) is useless

when it comes to keeping their viewers informed. And Fux needs to be run out of town.

[mitchum]

22. In a strange way, Good Ol' Homegrown Racism trumps xenophobia...

they would rather believe that"...y'know...one of those... African... black people"
could be capable of Obama's life achievements, rather than "...y'know...one of...them"

I honestly think that fuels a lot of the birther nonsense

[txlibdem]

23. It was a CNN poll. Need I say more?

CNN is leaning more and more to the right over the years. I don't even flip through the channels anymore lest I land on CNN or FAUX, they give me a headache (or is that an ass ache). :nopity:

Happy 49th birthday, President Obama! Look, you got a new CNN/Opinion Research poll that says that less than half of Americans are think you were "definitely" born in the United States.

According to the poll, 42 percent of all Americans say Obama was definitely born in the US. Twenty-nine percent say "probably."

And, of course, 41 percent of Republicans say Obama was definitely or probably born in another country.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/04/nation_of_birthers

[4lbs]

24. Why don't they ask these doubters about his mother.

After all, if Obama was born outside of the U.S., then his mother also had to be outside the U.S. right?

I mean, it's currently impossible for a woman to be in the U.S. and her baby born in Africa. We're not medically there yet, and definitely weren't back in 1961.

So, if Obama was born in Kenya, like these birther idiots claim, then there should be a record of his mother leaving the U.S. and living in Kenya at the time, right?

All they do is bring up these fake, doctored, birth certificates, but never provide any 'proof' that his mother was outside the U.S. in 1961.

They can't because Obama's mother NEVER lived outside the U.S. until * AFTER * he was born.

She grew up in Kansas, then went to Hawaii to attend the University of Hawaii, and then to Seattle right after he was born.

So, you stealthy birther idiots. Where's the 'proof' that Obama's mother was ever outside of the U.S. before 1962?

If Obama was supposedly born in Kenya, where's the plane tickets that show her, Obama's mother, going to Kenya? Where's the records that show she was living in Kenya in 1961? They don't exist because she NEVER, EVER, went to Kenya in her lifetime.

[unc70]

29. His mother grew up in Seattle and never visited Canada?

Since Obama's mother grew up (middle and high school) near Seattle, I think it likely she would have visited over in Canada sometime as a child. The US-Canada border was essentially open in the 1950's. Might want to rephrase this a bit if posting something similar in the future. Agree overall with the points you make. Just be aware of this nit; there is even some off-the-wall theory about his mother going to Canada to give birth!!!!


See my post below about McCain birth certificate issues. Many of those with a tiny lingering doubt wrt BO think that, if they could have been fooled by McCain about his birthplace, why should they trust Obama or anyone else? I had several people say to me "Why doesn't Obama just release a copy from the hospital and be done with this?"

[OHdem10]

25. Americans. Tweetie explained this is the success of the haters

propaganda campaign. Poll of all Americans.

Repeat a lie often enough and the people will buy anything.

[ejpoeta]

26. of the ones who aren't sure, how many even know hawaii is a state?

how many know what the names of all the states are? give me a break.

[unc70]

27. Many RW shocked that McCain born in Panama itself, not Canal Zone or on base

The discovery that McCain was not born on base, or even in the Canal Zone, but in a hospital in Panama itself, was quickly becoming a big issue on RW Repubs during the primaries because it raised serious questions about whether McCain actually met the "natural born" requirement of the Constitution. Until his birth certificate from the hospital was uncovered, the argument had been that McCain had been born at a place (the CZ, the base) under US jurisdicition re NB.

The Huckabee supporters were particularly aggressive on this. That was when the focus on Obama and his BC really heated up. Remember the symbolic Senate resolution supporting that each was qualified as NB.

While Obama could easily have ended nearly all the BC BS by requesting the release of a copy from his hospital (in Hawaii, of course), he chose not to, most likely so that it would continue as an issue for a vocal group on the right that would crazier and more racist the longer it festered.

It also kept attention away from the many real issues with Obama's life story, its impossible timeline, and its clever misdirection away from some less-easily-dismissed questions. For example, his mother did not just move to Seattle immediately after BO was born, she had grown up there since middle school. It also seems unlikely that BO and his mother ever lived with his father in Hawaii or anywhere else. These things aren't relevant to this discussion, not very important overall, though I fully expected them in the GE.

[knownothing]

28. Well, it's not like Obama

did much to counter the right wing propaganda on this.

[unc70]

30. True, it was to his advantage for Birthers to discredit RW among independents

It had an effect equivalent to that of a near-perfect disinformation PsyOps operation.

Or of a micro-targetted consumer marketing campaign, building up ones own brand while attaching strong negatives to competing brands.

[BlueIdaho]

31. Tweety is wrong and his data is MISQUOTED

According to Politico, the CNN poll released today states...

"On President Barack Obama’s birthday, a new CNN/Opinion Research released Wednesday shows 41 percent of Republicans believe Obama was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country.

The poll of 1,018 adults shows 27 percent of Americans believe the president was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country, compared with 71 percent who think he was born in the United States."


Edit for clarity.

[marmar]

32. It's Republicans.....Tweety bollocksed up the poll results.

nt