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Florida Dems To Posey: Drop The Birther Bill

In the wake of last night's vote by the House to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood -- and its status as the birthplace of President Obama -- the Florida Democrats have put out a statement challenging Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) to drop his proposed legislation to require birth certificates from presidential candidates.

The Florida Dems' statement cites Posey's own vote in favor of the Hawaii resolution, contrasting that with his being the lead sponsor of the widely-ridiculed "Birther Bill":

Now that Rep. Bill Posey not only allowed the House of Representatives to certify the Presidential Election in January, but he also voted last night in Congress to declare President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, the question he needs to answer today is: Will Bill Posey withdraw his crazy bill questioning President Obama's citizenship?

Because the people of Florida's 15th District need a Congressman focused on creating jobs and fighting for NASA, hopefully last night's vote shows that Posey has finally taken off his tinfoil hat and will finally get to work on the issues that matter.

Late Update: Posey spokesman George Cecala told me that Posey will not withdraw the bill, and it is not a personal slight against President Obama -- citing Posey's vote for the Hawaii resolution as evidence. Instead, it's about ensuring transparency and disclosure as a general principle for an issue that has come up multiple times throughout American history for politicians like Chester Arthur, Charles Curtis, John McCain and others.

"Quite honestly, the bill was never about Barack Obama and Mr. Posey, and I think that's true as to what our original statement was back when we introduced the bill," said Cecala. "The bill is simply about implementing the Constitution through legislation, and Mr. Posey is not going to withdraw the bill."


13 Comments

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Don't push the Republicans to drop it. Just save the quotes and clips of them pushing it, and use it for the next campaign. "Culture of crazy" could be as effective a campaign theme as "culture of corruption" was in 2006.

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Don't worry, they won't drop anything because the Democrats told them to. There's plenty of hay to be made out of them acting crazy right now!

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Gets to have it both ways. Keeps his birther bill and acknowledges Obama is a citizen. It's called the Republican Fantasy World.

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Someone add an amendment requiring this for all National officeholders.

(And maybe a psych evaluation too...)

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I'll drink to that suggestion.

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"Quite honestly, the bill was never about Barack Obama and Mr. Posey, and I think that's true as to what our original statement was back when we introduced the bill," said Cecala. "The bill is simply about implementing the Constitution through legislation, and Mr. Posey is not going to withdraw the bill."

Baloney.

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It looks to me like Posey as boxed hiself in. Either way he is damned.

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Nah, it's not about the birth certificate issue, it's about the color of his skin.

How many times do they have to do this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090728/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_birth_certificate

This is beyond disgusting and absurd.

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"How many times do they have to do this?"

They have to do it until someone in the MSM (probably the big three nightly newscasts) actually uses the word "racist" or "racially motivated."

It probably won't happen, obviously, because doing so wouldn't be "objective."

Cowards.

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Just add a amendment to test all Florida congressmen to make sure they are not part alligator.

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Birthers today, Birthers tomorrah, Birthers forevah!!

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HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK!

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(insert name of Republican here) has finally taken off his tinfoil hat and will finally get to work on the issues that matter.

There. I fixed it.

And this is priceless:

Instead, it's about ensuring transparency and disclosure as a general principle for an issue that has come up multiple times throughout American history for politicians like Chester Arthur, Charles Curtis, John McCain and others.

Uh, excuse me but it wasn't an issue for McCain until you people started this crap on Obama. Even though the Panama Canal Zone wasn't officially US territory until after McCain was born, Democrats didn't push the issue because that would be ...er, how shall I put this? ... oh Yeah, crazy.

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