Robert Gibbs Blames Birther Tale On “Internet”
The “birther” whackjobbery has made its way into a White House press briefing! Asked today by a reporter about birtherism, press sec Robert Gibbs condemned the birther tales as “made up, fictional nonsense.”
But the more interesting bit might have been when Gibbs was asked why the birther stuff “keeps coming up”:
Gibbs’ explanation: “Because for $15, you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want.”
And that’s true, as far as it goes. But surely media figures like Lou Dobbs, who continues turning CNN’s airwaves over to birther theorists, and CNN president Jonathan Klein, his enabler, as well the Republicans in Congress who continue to indulge this stuff, also bear some of the blame.
The point is that there’s a kind of reflexive tendency to blame bloggers and the Internets for the most foul sewage polling our discourse. But lots of other far more respectable people and outlets are happily doing their part to keep this story alive, too.
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Bloggers are always the first to get blamed instead of those rational figures like Hannity and Dobbs and O’Reilly.
Damn bloggers.
sg, yes. The article goes into detail about how Berg was suing Orly.
And regarding the military officer that was allowed to not go to Afghanistan because it was a voluntary assignment…if the military is voluntary, couldn’t they in theory begin using the same justification to get out?
This birther thing is truly entertaining. I’m sure there are plenty who honestly believe the misinformation being fed to them. But there are a whole host of people who go along with it because they think this is hilarious.
It’s interesting how the Internet is playing a role in this movement on both sides of the discussion. Since traditional media refused to entertain this movement initially until right wing radio got into the game along with CNN, the internet acted as the enabler of the movement. But, at the same time, the internet has a plethora of information debunking the birthers and each argument used to cast doubt can quickly be countered by a quick Google search and and a ctrl-c/ctrl-v. That article I previously linked has links to a few birther debunking sites.
It’s almost turned into the GE fight between the right wing smear shops and fightthesmears.com, which is now non-existent.
Maybe Obama should go ahead and fire up that site again.
Sorry, noticed a new topic was up so I just copy/pasted from last blog and now reading it I’ve noticed much of what I wrote doesn’t make sense since it addressed posts in the last blog.
The story is already being bandied about, wouldn’t Gibbs placing the sole blame on the media make it more of a media driven story?
CNN pushing crazy right winger Glenn Beck was disturbing, but right wing racist Lou Dobb’s birther nonsense has even more seriously soiled CNN’s reputation.
Making an error is one thing, but now CNN has knowingly and repeatedly perpetuated a falsehood.
It’s a shame that Gibbs would blame faceless bloggers when the real culprits are the bosses of mega-media like Murdoch (FOX) and Jeffrey L. Bewkes (CNN/Time-Warner).
Murdoch and Bewkes are in charge of managers like Roger Ailes (FOX) and Jonathan Klein (CNN) and can change their corporate-media from spewing fictional right wing propaganda to reporting verifiable news at a snap of their fingers.
Mike I understand what you were saying, its all good!
The thing of it is this all did start online. Orly Taitz and Phillip Berg and Alan Keyes were basically doing all this stuff under the radar sending around all kinds of crazy sh*t. But the truth is this didn’t pick up ANY TV or print media attention until one thing happened, and that is when GOP members of Congress came up with a “birther” bill. THATS what made it a mainstream story. It wasn’t the internet, it wasn’t the bloggers, and it wasn’t even CNN or FoxNews. It was the GOP making it a mainstream argument by introducing the bill. THAT’S who should be getting blame for it.
“Birfers” are racist, tin-foil-hat wearing retards, to an individual.
And CNN’s Lewd Obbs sucks eggs. Looks like the vicious old gasbag wants a piece of Rash Limbaw’s $$$ pie before slinking off to a long-overdue retirement. I’d like to “retire” Lewd Obbs with the toe of my boot.
Birthers give retards a bad name. I say let them keep going. By all means, i welcome this awesome display of the mental incompetence of the right in this country– and any right wing politico that hitches their wagons to these retards — should be put on display in 2010/2012.
HAY GREG were is the damn birth cert lets see it huh were the hell is it
put up a ******* link let me see a real Birth cert not a declaration of birth a ******* birth certificate and a SS
obama is the biggest deception of modern time
There is more to this story than just whether Obama was born in Hawaii, there is a legal point which is being ignored.
See: http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/major-stefan-frederick-cooks-america/
If there is any truth to a rumor, then by all means, a politician should make every attempt to quell the story for the sake of his/her career. However, if there is no truth to the attack on their character, they should ignore the whole thing and let their future actions dispel any doubts which might remain.Anyhow, that’s how I see it from where I stand.
Obama can easily put this to rest by allowing HI to release the ‘long form’ birth certificate, his college and law school transcripts, and his complete medical file (Not the 1 paragraph he released) — just as McCain, Kerry, Gore, Bush did.
The Obama campaign has refused to release his college transcript, despite an academic career that led him to Harvard Law School and, later, to a lecturing position at the University of Chicago. The shroud surrounding his experience at Columbia contrasts with that of other major party nominees since 2000, all whom have eventually released information about their college performance or seen it leaked to the public.
Obama did not release his client list as an attorney or his billing records. He maintained that he performed only a few hours of legal work for a nonprofit organization with ties to Tony Rezko, the Chicago businessman convicted of fraud in June 2008 but did not release billing records that would prove this assertion.
He released just one brief document detailing his personal health. McCain, on the other hand, released what he said was his complete medical file, totaling more than 1,500 pages.
# Obama refused to offer his official papers as a state legislator in Illinois. Nor did he produce correspondence, such as his schedules of appointments or letters from lobbyists, from his days in the Illinois state Senate.
# Obama did not release his client list as an attorney or his billing records. He maintained that he performed only a few hours of legal work for a nonprofit organization with ties to Tony Rezko, the Chicago businessman convicted of fraud in June 2008 but did not release billing records that would prove this assertion.
# Obama ignored requests for his records from Occidental College, where he studied for two years before transferring to Columbia University.
# Obama%u2019s campaign refused to give Columbia, where he earned an undergraduate degree in political science, permission to release his transcripts. Former President George W. Bush and presidential contenders Al Gore and John Kerry all released their college transcripts.
# Obama did not agree to the release of his application to the Illinois State Bar, which would have cleared up intermittent allegations that his application may have been inaccurate.
# Obama did not release records from his time at Harvard Law School.
I believed Obama is a natural born citizen. He is OUR president. BUT what I find increasingly obvious is the coordinated effort to not release his personal information. This intentional refusal to release his school records, long form birth certificate (too many contradictions about that one), and college records (writings/grants/scholarships). Why? I think he is hiding something but not where he was born. There are just too many contradictions in all the reasons why he doesn’t release the information to not be suspicious. By the way, I voted for him. I think this is a huge distraction but it is not going away anytime soon. Just too many questions and no answers that are substantial. JMO