CT Blue

Yesterday, I posted about my foray into the world of right wing radio, and my astonishment that in these critical times, the intellectual underclass is more concerned about Obama’s birth certificate than financial meltdown, imperial madness, health care, global warming, or even their own pet causes like abortion.

I confess that the issue took me aback. I was vaguely aware that there were some right wing rumblings about Obama’s birth certificate, but they seemed so absurd on their face that I never paid much attention. Today a couple of things came across my RSS feeder, so I pass them on to my readers in case any of you have the occasion to disabuse anyone of the notion that Obama is not an American born.

First, I should say that one of the callers said that Obama had refused to respond to a lawsuit brought by a highly respected lawyer. Turns out the lawyer is Philip J. Berg, a former Pennsylvania deputy attorney general (don’t let the title fool you, every lawyer who works for the state in the civil area is a deputy attorney general. Many of them are every bit as incompetent and nutty as the random crackpot private practitioners one runs into now and then) who has brought several high profile frivolous lawsuits. His case was recently dismissed for lack of standing, but the facts are really not in dispute:

Obama was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961, and the campaign posted a document issued by Hawaii on its Web site, fight thesmears.com, confirming his birth there.

Berg said in court papers that the image was a forgery.

The nonpartisan Web site FactCheck.org examined the original document and said it was legitimate.

Further, a birth announcement in the Aug. 13, 1961, Honolulu Advertiser listed Obama’s birth there on Aug. 4. *

Even the wingnut Website WorlnetDaily has admitted the birth certificate is authentic, but that hasn’t stopped the vile Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Jerome Corsi from claiming that Obama recently went to Hawaii to cover up his true origins, rather than visit his dying grandmother. Precisely what he could do in Hawaii to effect the cover up is, of course, not explained. They moan about the fact that Obama has not “answered” the lawsuit, which he has not done because he has had it dismissed, as any responsible lawyer would have done.

I submit these facts to my readers only so that they will be better prepared than I, should someone bring up this particular piece of lunacy. Not, of course, that the facts matter to these people.

Note: I should clarify here that the show that I was on was not hosted by a right winger. My impression is that she is a no-winger, someone with no discernible political views. But the station’s political listenership is definitely right wing, and the folks my debate opponent encouraged to call (they were from all over the U.S.) were definitely of the thought-free stamp.