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Thank you Larwyn, for including this in your daily round up.
“Rather than wonder why it is John Boehner’s job to clear the air, the Times might ponder the possibility that a notable portion of the public seems to think that a man who is hiding something might have something to hide.”
– Tom Maguire at Just One Minute
Geez, guys like Tom Maguire are worth their weight in birth certificates… er, gold.
This Just In: The NY Times Discovers A New Race
The NY Times editors continue to work on their five minutes. Their latest draft includes some great material about leadership and Obama’s Muslimosity. The mini-howler is here:
This Just In …
But the speaker of the House, John Boehner, made it clear on the NBC program “Meet the Press” last Sunday that he had no interest in quashing these fantasies or stopping his fellow Republicans from accusing Mr. Obama of lying about his citizenship and his faith.
Pressed by the show’s host, David Gregory, Mr. Boehner said — grudgingly — that an assurance from the government of Hawaii that Mr. Obama was born an American citizen was “good enough for me.” And that when Mr. Obama says he is a Christian, “I’ll take him at his word.” But he said it was “not my job” to try to do anything about it. “The American people have the right to think what they think,” he said.
Well, the President could request his full birth file from the State of Hawaii any time he wants to, yet he has chosen not to, as careful readers of the Times learned a while back.
Rather than wonder why it is John Boehner’s job to clear the air, the Times might ponder the possibility that a notable portion of the public seems to think that a man who is hiding something might have something to hide. When will the Times exhort Obama to request and release his file? (My guess is “Never”. Does “Never” work for you?)
But let’s press on to their comic climax:
If Mr. Boehner really wanted to lead, he could make this obvious but important point: Being a Muslim is not a disqualification for being president of the United States.
If Mr. Boehner made this point, the Times editors that survived their ensuing aneurysms would fulminate that he was engaging in back-handed promotion of the notion that Obama was a Muslim.
This sort of racism stained American politics in earlier centuries. It has no place in this one.
Being Muslim is a race, not a religion? Hmm, maybe anti-Catholicism was also racist? I try to learn something new every day.
For my money, I lean towards Bill Maher’s view that Obama is a Christian by convenience rather than conviction. But if, while Obama was sauntering towards Air Force One for a weekend away, his bag popped open and a Koran and a prayer rug fell out, well, I would not object to his being a Muslim; I would object to his being a liar.
The very astute Karl Rove would take me to task on these topics, arguing that Republicans have plenty of real, winning issues to air against Obama. My extrapolation of his view is that Times’ editors see enormous political advantage in writing drivel about Boehner and birthers rather than tackling something more topical such as Obama’s dubious backing of the public sector unions in Wisconsin.
Posted by Tom Maguire on February 20, 2011
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The “Honesty” or lack thereof, of our so called “President” IS of paramount importance and IMHO Should be to everyone. I have had thew exact same line from Mr. Rove, but it does not hold water. If the man is a liar,(and he has proved that!) he willl and probably does lie about everything!
Why are we giving him all these chances??
NeilS
So… If I go to DC and tell John Boehner that I’m a multi-millionaire, and that I’ll give big contributions to his next campaign if he will only loan me a fighter jet for my next vacation, will he take my at my word, too?
This reminds me of what a tourist overheard as a newspaper salesman walked by in Red Square back at the zenith of Soviet Communism: “New lies for old. New lies for old.”
If the FGOP wants to be taken seriously, then they should be all over the eligibility question like white on rice.
Instead, they are politely avoiding it like yellow down the middle of the road.
Hmmmmmmmm.