Comments on Advance Indiana™: The Birth Certificate Issue Will Not Die

I thought this was a germane editorial comment I r...

2008-11-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

I thought this was a germane editorial comment I read:
"Many of the people who voted for Barack Obama were doing so as an act of faith; they were not voting for his past record (which was quite liberal) or his past achievements (which were, by the usual standards for selecting a President, fairly minimal). Friends of mine who are lifelong Republicans voted for Obama because they were impressed with the quality of his mind, his manner and approach, and the discipline of his campaign. They believed that if he were elected President, he would act in a prudent, responsible, non-radical way. But they readily admitted they weren’t sure what we would get; Obama, more than any other presidential candidate in recent memory, was an unknown quantity and something of a mystery in terms of how he would govern. I found myself going back and forth on Obama, sometimes in the course of a single day.

It’s far too early to make any kind of firm judgment on President-elect Obama; he has not even taken the oath of office. People who are viewed as strong picks at the outset of an administration can, in retrospect, look bad. Managing a team is harder than selecting one. And the acid test for Obama, as for all public officials, will be the policies he pursues and the actions he takes while in office. For example, my suspicion is that Obama will, in the areas of the courts, culture of life, and health care, take actions that conservatives will view as quite problematic. And I would prefer a stimulus package which reduces tax rates on individuals and businesses, which is the best way to increase productivity and wealth.

But for now, those who did not vote for Mr. Obama have reasons to be somewhat hopeful about the direction in which he appears to be heading. His actions to date are not those of an ideologue. If this trajectory continues - and it cannot be said often enough that we are only at the dawn of the Obama era - America’s new President may pleasantly surprise conservatives and agitate the Left. He just might turn out to be more like John Kennedy than George McGovern. It remains an open question; but right now, that possibility is reason enough to be grateful." Pete Wehner, Commentary

Fair enough. We all have hobby horses we ride, and...

2008-11-25T22:20:00.000-05:00

Fair enough.
We all have hobby horses we ride, and if you're open to the idea that the GOP might be as screwed up as Democrats, then I will proffer the peace pipe and admit that it is distinctly possible that a Democrat will be as screwed up as a Republican.
I will hold very tightly to the facts at hand - it's just my nature I guess.
That is why I will challenge Advance Indiana (whom I grant is open minded enough to post my responses) when he bashes a president that hasn't even taken office - as if someone who hasn't had the chance to do anything can remotely compare to someone who has had 8 years in office.
In my opinion, that borders on bizarre, or at least silly.
Give the guy a chance, at least.
On the birth certificate issue, I agree that Obama should offer it up. Now, I don't think there is something bad there and I won't offer any reason why he hasn't yet.
I've learned that there always is a reason or motive and 9 out of 10 times it ends up being something mundane and not something horrific.
I just can't leap into the dark side of life no matter what the political idealogy is being skewered. I like to stick to the concrete - I hope I do with my criticism of Bush-Cheney (quite frankly the worst president since Watergate).
In mulling it over it appears that a judge is going to have to rule that a state's electoral college reps can't vote until Obama gives up the origial document. Personally I'm all for it - make him hand it over.
And finally, I don't understand the "we know little to nothing about Obama's college years" comment, though that is admittedly minor.
To be blunt with all the mystified right wingers, the reason why the Ayers-Wright-Rezko stuff didn't stick is that the contention didn't match Obama's personality. "He's a terrorist lover. He's a hater of white America. He's a corrupt money grubber."
And the average voter, watching the cool and collected junior senator dispatching Hillary Clinton and then John McCain, decided that he was none of the above.

jbarg, I'm not sure if you read this blog closely ...

2008-11-24T15:56:00.000-05:00

jbarg, I'm not sure if you read this blog closely or not. If you did you would realize that the editor here is often much more hard on his criticism of Republicans than Democrats.

Be careful of being so partisan that you refuse to see the problems and wrongs within your party. There are lots of problems with Obama.

It should greatly trouble you that we know little to nothing about Obama's college years, nor has the public seen the birth certificate we demanded. Why is he hiding it? If he was a legit citizen, wouldn't he just show it to us and put it behind us?

None of this adds up.

Oh, I'm just testing the level of hypocrisy, i.e. ...

2008-11-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

Oh, I'm just testing the level of hypocrisy, i.e. we'll focus on the "crimes" of Obama, while ignoring actual crimminal convictions (you know, the kind where you show up in court and get a guilty plea) that do exist for Bush and Cheney.
As I expected, the hypocrisy is substantial (defined as: you get all huffy about a democrat's alleged crimminal actions but offer no recrimminations for a republican's actual crimminal convictions {multiple at that - I can just imagine the glee if Obama-Biden had 3 DUI convictions between them}), but I did want to offer a fair chance for you to prove me wrong.
As I try to avoid the sin of hypocrisy, I am prepared to denounce all crimminal convictions of both Barack and Biden.
Oh, wait, there aren't any.
Does that mean I think that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are better people than George Bush and Dick Cheney because of that?
Well, I am glad for my latest slogan:
"Hey, at least my guys are not convicted crimminals!"
Personally, I believe that politicians of all stripes, liberal and conservative, play hardball, skirt the issues, and cross legal and ethical lines.
It's just that Obama is at least a cut above the politicians that have been running things lately, so when someone wants to give him a hard time I like to see if they apply the same standards to Bush-Cheney.
They never do, of course.
It's been a chuckle watching the contortions of those implying that Obama is somehow worse than the political disaster we've just lived through.
But who knows, maybe Barack will leave us with 2 unwon wars (as in Afganistan), 2 mismanagaed occupations (as in Iraq 2003-2006), 2 prisons filled with kinky torture (as in Guantanamo), 2 hurricane disasters ignored (as in Katrina), 4 terrorists attacks on US soil (as on 9/11) and 2 financial meltdowns (as in Wall Street 2008).
I doubt it, but maybe I'm just an optimist.

Artfuggins, it has been proven that Obama took ill...

2008-11-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

Artfuggins, it has been proven that Obama took illegal campaign contributions from fake people. However, no one seems willing to prosecute it.

Excuse me for believing in enforcing that thing we...

2008-11-23T16:44:00.000-05:00

Excuse me for believing in enforcing that thing we call the U.S. Constitution. It does have a tendency to get in the way of things from time to time, doesn't it?

AI, you have NEVER been able to prove one of your...

2008-11-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

AI, you have NEVER been able to prove one of your charges against Obama......isn't it time to get off the birth certificate etc and express your legitimate disagreements with his policies. That is what opposing political parties do.

Haven't you figured it out yet, downtown indy? Non...

2008-11-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

Haven't you figured it out yet, downtown indy? None of the rules which apply to everyone else apply to Obama. He's The One. He's the Messiah. He can take $300,000 bribes from political fixers in Chicago, break all of the FEC rules like taking money from foreigners and ignorning indidividual campaign contribution limits, not meet the constitutional requirements for being president, et al. When you're The One, you can do whatever you please.

When did 'well he got away with it' become a valid...

2008-11-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

When did 'well he got away with it' become a valid legal defense?

And we're suppose to think more highly of Obama be...

2008-11-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

And we're suppose to think more highly of Obama because he didn't get caught smoking pot or crack cocaine as he admits to frequently doing in his autobiorgraphy when he was younger? Or what about the dozens of unpaid parking tickets he ignored while going to school at Harvard until he decided to run for president decades later. Do you think he disclosed on his bar admission application in Illinois past illegal drug use or his unpaid parking tickets as he would have been required to do if he had filled out his application honestly?

Hey, on the Obama charge that he didn't register f...

2008-11-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

Hey, on the Obama charge that he didn't register for the draft and thus committed a crimminal act: what was your reaction to Bush's crimminal conviction for a DUI? What was your reaction to Cheney's conviction for 2 DUIs? Let's see, the GOP has 3, count 'em THREE, crimminal convictions between them. Since here we have actual crimmnal convictions (and imagine if that had been the case with Biden and Obama), as opposed to allegations, what is your reaction? I"m sure you consider yourself a fair person who treats all sides fairly regardless of political affiliation, so here is your chance to show it.

If you want to check your own registration online,...

2008-11-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

If you want to check your own registration online, go to http://www.sss.gov/records.htm.

You will need to enter your social security number, your last name and date of birth.

Interestingly, I looked up mine. It says I registered on January 21,1981. That is not the day I registered at the post office in my town. I was flying back from Washington, D.C. that day with my parents after attending President Reagan's inauguration. I recall registering on or right after my 18th birthday about 7 weeks earlier. Whoever entered my registration in the system must have put the date on which it was inputted as opposed to the date I registered in person at the post office and which would have appeared on the form I filled out.