Full Disclosure: I am not a "birther," and I believe that generally speaking "birthers" do more harm than good to true Conservative causes.
Having said that, I do believe that President Barack Hussein Obama has done himself more harm than help through his resistance to the simple requests being made of him to produce his birth certificate. Obama could very easily put this issue to rest, yet he allows it to linger for exactly the reason I am writing this piece tonight.
Recently John McCain released a mud-slinging advertisement, attempting to tie J. D. Hayworth to Orly Taitz and Philip Berg. Taitz and Berg are two of the most prominent people in the "birther" movement.
The advertisement is called "Identity." For some reason it will not embed, please take a minute (1:09) and click here to watch it.
The advertisement, in my opinion, takes Hayworth's words completely out of context. I am a resident of Phoenix, Arizona and had many opportunities to listen to Hayworth while he was the host of the afternoon talk show on AM 550 KFYI.
To hear Hayworth in full context is to understand that his perspective is my perspective. I will say that Hayworth has been a bit of a bomb-thrower as of late, but he does not approach the subject during interviews unless asked.
Here I offer Hayworth about one month ago on Hardball with Chris Matthews. The entire clip is worth watching; if you're only concerned about the "birther" question and the answer Hayworth gave, you can jump to about the 6:40 mark:
Additionally, here is a clip from an interview with Campbell Brown on CNN. Notice that Hayworth explains to Brown that if it were not for the media, the question would not even be raised, yet she pushes forward.
For another perspective on the subject, I can offer azcentral.com, which is a copy of an article from Politico whose headline reads "Birther Backs Hayworth," (no media bias there) and this blog entry at redstate.com that discusses the Campbell Brown interview with little regard for context.
5 comments:
I don't know, Sol. It seems to be doing J.D. Hayworth and the birthers more harm for Obama to let this question hang out there. They are the ones being made to look like crazies for questioning it.
I don't know if Hayworth is a birther or not, but I think he shouldn't bring up the "identity theft" line again. The Left is going to shred him apart with it.
I think he would be a better senator than McCain and I hope he wins the primary and the general election. But having the "birther" label isn't going to do him any good. Look what happened when Glenn Beck asked Debra Medina about that subject. She lost some credibility.
TCL -
I agree wholeheartedly with what you say.
That's exactly why I believe Obama is letting the issue hang - he know it is going to be a non-starter for anyone who allows it to permeate their campaign. Unfortunately the two leftist media entities used it and now it's on YouTube.
In this case McCain is "the left," because there will be no formidable Democrat to run against the Republican from AZ, so it's one of the two. We need JD, but he's got to get this issue off the table.
Hayworth is going to be on KFYI tomorrow morning, and I'm going to try to call in and offer him some advice. I'm going to suggest that he simply tell people that the subject is not available for discussion, that it is an issue for Obama and those private citizens who are attempting to pursue it through the court system.
BTW - with Beck and Medina it was the "truther" issue, but unfortunately the two are treated about the same. No matter how diplomatic you try to be about the birth certificate issue, you're dead if you even engage.
Oops. I should have remembered it was the "truther" thing, oh well. Anyway, they both (truther/birther) are something serious candidates must avoid.
Here's a post that compares McCain and Hayworth on things that matter. This is the stuff that will win J.D. the election. Stick to this, and he's got it made.
http://boycottnrsc.blogspot.com/2010/02/jd-hayworth-vs-john-mccain.html
Your suggestion to Hayworth is one worth his taking. He is probably already thinking he better start to change his answers when it comes to the birther subject...the bad press will kill him. They are going to keep nagging him until he says "yes" or "no" about whether he thinks Obama was born in the USA. I just hope they don't find his signature on a petition, ha, ha.
I agree with you and TCL, Sol, but I have to say that if the rumors are true that the "birther" issue originated with the Hillary Clinton . . . . Anyway, it's too late now. Even if it were found out that he is not a natural born citizen, do you think this Congress would impeach him? Not on the likely.
btw, I do not agree that lumping birthers and truthers together is a good thing. At least the birthers are patriots who love our country (that's not as common these days as it should be).
That's completely false advertising (LIES !). I'm talking about the last 15 seconds!
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