I didn't quote him, but that's the intent.
You're black and you're Muslim. And racist, white people hate you. That's what US Congressman Nathan Deal [GA-R] really meant to say.
UPDATE: This [name-calling moment] wants to be Governor! And he just raised $600,000 in the last half of 2009, amassing a $1.8M warchest.
In a letter sent "electronically: and in "PDF format" Deal formally requests our President to prove his eligibility for the Office he currently holds, his chief of staff Todd Smith confirmed. TPM also reports that Deal was the sole signatory, though last summer he promised he would be joined by "several" colleagues.
Now, you may just shake your head and move along. After all, a poll from Kos/Research 2000 from July 2009 showed a whopping 58% of the current GOP was "not sure" or believed Obama was not born in the United States. [Hilariously, 6% of respondents believe Obama is not a citizen but believe he was born in Hawaii. You can't make this up]
You may not know this, but the House already passed a resolution 378-0 stating Obama was born in Hawaii. [Rep. Deal was not present] It contained the provision "Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii." No one likes the Congressional record to show they are certifiably insane.
The facts? They're pretty easy. I think Politifactdid a crackerjack job. They also labeled this lie as a "pants On Fire" variety, a designate of the worst lie possible it seems.
--The state of Hawaii's Department of Health confirmed the birth certificate is authentic. In fact, the spokeswoman that confirmed it also noted her own birth certificate is "identical" to Obama's.
--BOTH newspapers in Honolulu published the birth announcement in 1961.
--The FBI and State Department accept the birth certificate as authentic.
--You can print the birth certificate here.
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The insane evidence to the contrary has been batted down each and every single time they've come up. There was Orly Taitz filing lawsuits. [too many links to provide]
There's the "real" birth certificate from Mombassa, Kenya that was shown as a forgery over a dramatic 48 hour period in August 2009. That was fun. Some guys even made sitewhere you, too, could be a citizen of Kenya!
There's the birth certificate with the inked footprint for dramatic effect from "Coast Province General Hospital." I like this one.
Bonus Birther counterpoint: NO, Obama's grandmother DID NOT say she was there for Obama's birth. Salon nailed this here:
In that interview, Sarah Obama does in fact say at one point that she was there for her grandson's birth. But that was a mistake, a confusion in translation. As soon as a jubilant McRae began to press her for further details about her grandson being born in Kenya, the family realized the mistake and corrected him. And corrected him. And corrected him. (The audio is available for download here.)
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And the biggest ally in all of this is now the moderate slice of the GOP party. They push it. They fan the flames. They pat the heads of the screamers and wingnuts who persist in the story.
And here's why it's important: To delegitimize is to make it so that if anyone harms this President, they will be protecting the nation from a domestic terrorist. And their mission to kill or incapacitate Barack Obama will be honor bound. And just.
When talking about the hysteria, Dan Savage said it succinctly:
"The religious right is fomenting this kind of hatred in this country at our peril. I really do think that the Michele Bachmanns of the world and the Glenn Becks of the world are actively and consciously, or subconsciously, trying to get – I’m just going to say it, trying to get the president killed. [emphasis mine]
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So our duty as part of the reality-based community is to push back HARD. Again. And again. And again. Because if your holidays were like mine, you ran into friends and family that believe this. And they need to be smacked square in the mouth. God bless 'em.
To rehash all of this is to give the movement air. To let it breather. But when a sitting congressman questions his own idiocy, it's a story. And we should get in front of this story all over again.
EASY TALKING POINTS:
-Obama's birth certificate is available to print at home
-The state of Hawaii has a valid birth certificate on file
-The FBI and State Dept have approved the birth certificate as authentic
-Both major newspapers printed his birth announcement in Honolulu in 1961
-No alternate birth certificate has ever been found as real
-What is your major dysfunction?