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Andrew Sullivan: The Original Birther

Submitted by Conn Carroll on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 13:02

A home run by National Review today on the birthers:

We are used to seeing conspiracy theories from the Left, for instance among the one in three Democrats who believe that 9/11 was an inside job conducted with the foreknowledge of the Bush administration. We’ve seen everything under the sun blamed on Dick Cheney and Halliburton, and Rosie O’Donnell has given us much mirth with her metallurgical expertise, while Andrew Sullivan has beclowned himself and tarnished the good name of The Atlantic with his investigation into the “real” parentage of Trig Palin.

It's true: Andrew Sullivan is an embarrassment to himself, The Atlantic, and to Barack Obama supporters everywhere. But the birthers are just as embarrassing to us. This NR editorial is good ... but its only a start. No matter how bad the economy will be in 2012, conservatives just do not have the luxury of tolerating birthers in our midst.

Good conservatives in the House caucus, and us on the right-o-sphere, should be pushing Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) to drop his ridiculously embarrassing birther bill. All nine co-sponsors (and it really pains me to see Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on the list) should be embarrassed into withdrawing their support as well.

It was good to see the House affirm 378-0 that Obama was born in Hawaii last night. But that is not enough. Conservatives must do a better job of confronting, rebutting, and shunning birthers. Otherwise, we're no better than Andrew Sullivan.

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Comments

In defense of Andrew Sullivan

Submitted by Mead50 on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 15:17.

I am a daily reader of "The Dish", and in defense of Andrew Sullivan:

1) Palin's own story about giving a speech and then flying from Texas to Alaska after her water broke and then driving past hospitals in Anchorage to get to Wasilla makes no sense; and

2) Andrew himself now accepts that there is no grand conspiracy here - it is just a case of Palin embroidering and embellishing a story. Sorry that I can't provide a link, but there was a post on The Dish a few weeks back wherein a reader wrote in proposing to apply Occam's Razor the the Trig birth story - if you accept that Palin fabricated the story that here water broke in Texas, then all of the rest of the conduct makes perfect sense. Andrew agreed.

Birthers

Submitted by tomllewis on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 19:23.

Conn,

Good points all. I'm with you. Ive started commenting on more and more. We need to concentrate on his wild spending and harmful legislation. I won't become a hater that the millions of deranged Bush haters.

 

I'll disagree with you on one pont

Submitted by rhymeswithright on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 21:00.

While I agree that Obama is a natural born citizen and I believe that they are an embarassment, I profoundly disagree on the posey bill.  Why NOT makie every presidential candidate prove that they are, in fact, constitutionally eligible for the office to which they aspire?

Conn Carroll writes: the

Submitted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 22:16.

Conn Carroll writes: the birthers are just as embarrassing to us.

I'm not one of you (nor am I one of them or the others or them over there), but I have to ask: what part about the truth don't you understand? What part about telling the truth and using that to discredit the MSM doesn't Conn Carroll understand?

No, really, I'd like an answer. Of course, I'm going to assume that Conn Carroll will take whatever time is necessary for him to understand my points with an open and inquisitive mind and will look at a few examples of me pointing out how Obama supporters in the MSM lied about this issue for months. And, I'm sure that he'll be completely intellectually honest in whatever response he provides.

For example, here's a post about Ed Morrissey that points out that one of the claims he made was directly contradicted by Hawaiian law. I sent two emails to HotAir suggesting they correct that post; the response to one is discussed at the link. If Ed Morrissey were smart (yes, an impossible condition) he would have told the truth and then pointed out that Obama's supporters weren't telling the truth. And, he could have done all that without buying into any "Birther theories".

Let's see if Conn Carroll can rise above the Ed Morrissey level.

Conn Carroll 2

Submitted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 12:19.

I probably haven't given it enough time, but in case he's declined to respond let me try another one. A National Review editorial recently lied. To make it easy, let's try this lie:

The director of Hawaii’s health department and the registrar of records each has personally verified that the information on Obama’s birth certificate is identical to that in the state’s records

Can Conn Carroll provide any supporting evidence for that claim? Let me make it easier: here are the only two statements the director has released: link, link. (The second one of those, from 10/31/08, was released by the director in conjunction with the registrar; the first one, from a couple days ago, was from the director alone.)

Those are very short statements, and both can be verified to match the original source documents available at the links.

Is there some alternative universe where Conn Carroll would be willing to state that the NRO told the truth?

Add that together with the other issues listed at the first link and in my overall summary, and at least one thing is clear: anti-Birthers don't just lie, they lie outrageously.

Anyone seen Conn Carroll around?

Submitted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom on Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:33.

This applies to him and those like him.