Roy Blunt: Birtherism "A Legitimate Question," Obama Has Produced "No Health Records, No Birth Certificate"
Maybe the House Republicans aren't done with Birtherism, after all. In fact, we now have Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), a former House GOP Whip who is now the party's likely nominee in the top-tier 2010 Missouri Senate race, saying it's a legitimate question.
Mike Stark from Fire Dog Lake has done another canvass of Capitol Hill Republicans, asking them point-blank if they believe President Obama is a natural-born citizen. He got three answers in the affirmative, from Reps. Pete King (R-NY), Mike Pence (R-IN) and Tom McClintock (R-CA). From others, it ranged from refusals to comment -- which is frankly not a bad standard practice when a stranger is in your face with a camera -- to Blunt's open skepticism:
"What I don't know is why the president can't produce a birth certificate," said Blunt. "I don't know anybody else that can't produce one. And I think that that's a legitimate question -- no health records, no birth certificate." Blunt was unaware that Obama already has produced a certificate from Hawaii, which Chris Matthews has waved around on TV.
Also, Stark didn't realize the first time around that he'd gotten a member of the leadership, House GOP Vice-Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), saying she wanted to see documents. This time, she said nothing, while her staffer ran interference.
Interestingly, both Blunt and McMorris Rodgers voted for the resolution that recognized Hawaii as Obama's birthplace.
Late Update: Ryan Hobart, the communications director of the Missouri Democratic Party, gives us this comment: "This just shows how out of touch with reality Congressman Blunt is.Too much time in Washington has affected his ability to steer clear of even the most fringe conspiracy theorists. It's time for him to go."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
"Interestingly?" No, I'd say "Amusingly". Blunt votes that he believes Obama was born in Hawaii, but still wants to make hay by questioning his American citizenship.
July 29, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know why Blunt won't show us his medical records, including the Viagra/Cialis consumption patterns.
July 29, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I live in Missouri.....and I shake my head in disbelief (and shame that we somehow share the same state).
July 29, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, well, it could be worse. You could live in my state, S.C. We're overflowing with shame here.
July 29, 2009 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, no kidding. I lived in Blunt's district until April and I'm still in MO. We're responsible for some pretty bad dudes. Ashcroft, Limbaugh, Bond...
Anyway, this is great news. Robin's really going to take this loser for a ride.
July 29, 2009 8:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember a few days ago when the NRO was trying to depict birtherism as a liberal straw man, and claiming the entire thing was being ginned up by the liberal media to make conservatives look silly?
July 29, 2009 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roy Blunt is Canadian, born at the Alberta Hospital May 3rd, 1932.
July 29, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're killing me with this stuff. First Rodgers, now Blunt?
"I have in my possession a list of the 182 members of the House who are not American!"
Republicans would do it, if they could.
July 29, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Bachmann declare on Hardball that there were some unAmerican people in Congress? (www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pN2IPAw6E)
July 29, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, Bachmann is totally on the ball on this!
Roy Blunt moved to the U.S. when he was 23, settled in Las Vegas for a few years on a student visa and then moved to St. Louis. He managed to start his naturalization process early due to a child with Alma Melissa McHughes (of St. Louis, died June 4th, 1964), but to this day there is no official document stating that he actually attended the naturalization ceremony at the Bankruptcy Court's venue on Tuesday, May 11th 1965.
Bob Davidson of St. Louis, MO, has been recording the details of this case at the Baden branch of the St. Louis Public Library, but after his death, his research is only available through special permission (form U-32a of the St. Louis Public Library system, available at branches where limited-access documents exist) to persons of good character (I think they run an ID check off your driver's license at least.)
July 29, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, the guy is only 59 years old (again, according to Wikipedia), but you're claiming he's 77. If you're right, then he's had some excellent plastic surgery. Let's also keep in mind that he assumed his current office 12 years ago when he was only 47 (or 65 according to your time line). In fact, he first entered politics in 1972 when he was either 22 years old or 40, depending on which biography you believe. Do you really think that, at 40 years old, he was trying to pass himself off as 22?
July 29, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, I think you're taking this a little too seriously.
July 29, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's entirely possible that my satire meter needs a serious readjustment.
July 29, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nah.
If Karl the Marxist were out there on TeeVee and writing blogs about Blunt being a Canuck, yes, it'd be supremely stoooooopid.
But KTM's doing a nice job of capturing the essence of the birth nuttiness, if you ask me.
July 29, 2009 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, this is DEADLY SERIOUS!!!!!
We have a fraud sitting in the Congress! Despite repeated requests for documents from his naturalization, or any other documents to prove his eligibility to serve in the Congress, Blunt has always avoided producing those documents!
July 29, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well played. I've read enough of what you've written in the past that I should've known better…
July 29, 2009 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
HEY! I'VE NEVER SEEN HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE!
July 29, 2009 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I defy you to prove you have never seen the document. Go ahead, make my day.
July 29, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you provide a cite for that claim? Point us to where you got that information? I mean, I'm all for hammering these guys who can't find the guts to state one way or the other where they believe Obama was born -- but stating outright falsehoods against them, that ain't helping the issue.
July 29, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, blunt says he was born in MO but I'm from MO and I say "show me." I want to see his real birth certificate, the real one, not the fake one. He also claims he taught at a university...hmmmm.
July 29, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to Wikipedia, he was born in Niangua, Missouri.
I say this realizing that I very well might be missing and/or ruining a running joke.
July 29, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone can change Wikipedia.
July 29, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, they can. And when they do, there's invariably a lot of comments on the talk page. I see absolutely no one challenging where he was born. If you have evidence he was born elsewhere, you really ought to bring it up there. If there's any merit to your claim, I'm sure several long time editors will listen to what you have to say.
Now, if your point is merely what soupson52 had to say, then that's fine. I just want to make sure that if that is your point it doesn't get out of control, making us as bad as them.
July 29, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not from Missouri, but a friend of mine is. He told me about Blunt and his Canadian roots. Karl speaks the truth.
July 29, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually Nebton, it's deeper than that. I got it straight from his step-grandmother's hairdresser that he was born in France in 1873 and is really a cheese-eating surrender monkey.
July 29, 2009 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL
July 30, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ooops, forgot the most important part - the reason he looks so young is that he bathes in the blood of Cub Scouts.
July 29, 2009 10:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
From Wiki: George Romney, Mitt Romney's father was born in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. He ran for President in 1968.
Don't let this be wrong.
July 29, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not. He really was born in Mexico.
July 29, 2009 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somebody said Niangua was a fictitious town created by Mark Twain in his novel Huckleberry Finn. A site where slaves were traded before transporting them downriver.
Only a Canadian would say they come from a town they read about in a book.
To put it bluntly, I think Roy has some serious s'plaining to do.
July 29, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I looked at a map, and there is a Niangua, Missouri. However, the population is listed as only 445 people. There clearly is no hospital there, so I seriously doubt Blunt was born there. By 1950, his claimed birth year, people were almost universally born in hospitals. I am sure he thinks it makes him look good to have been born in a tiny town in Missouri, that is why he picked it.
July 29, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I demand to seehis long-form birth certiicate. And no photocopied "Certificate of Live Birth," either. Let's see the documents, Roy.
July 29, 2009 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blunt needs to show us the hospital records. I don't know who he paid to get the announcement in the paper.
July 29, 2009 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
There needs to be a new organnization called Despicable Politicians Anonymous to help these lowlifes get off their addiction to lying.
July 29, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd be in favor of Despicable Irresponsible Politicians Somehow Having Ignorant Thoughts.
(Give me a break. I only spent three minutes coming up with that.)
July 29, 2009 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Might I make a suggestion? Change 'ignorant' to 'idiotic.'
July 30, 2009 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Blunt? More like Thick.
July 29, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sheehan is a nut. Michael Moore is not. I don't appreciate the reporter calling him an extreme figure.
July 29, 2009 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sheehan's son was killed in Iraq in what she considered a pointless conflict. She may have been used by extremists and demagogues who exploited her grief over that fact, but calling her a nut seems a bit excessive. At any rate, the point remains that neither Sheehan or Moore have any influence whatsoever over Democratic elected officials, as opposed to the birthers and other fringe elements of the Republican base.
July 29, 2009 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, she allowed herself to be used by extremists and wackadoos who had other motives and damaged the anti-war movement in the process.
Nut.
July 29, 2009 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a tangent, but why is Sheehan a nut? The fact is her sit in outside Bush's pseudo-ranch was a turning point in public opinion on Iraq.
So no, maybe Mike Stark thinks Sheehan and Moore are nuts, but I think Stark is obnoxious and crossed some lines. Doesn't mean he's wrong, which maybe he should think about in regards to Moore and Sheehan.
July 29, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sheehan is a nut because she was allowed herself to be punked by Chavez. Chavez doesn't give a fuck about the war or the death of her son. He just wants to be the anti-US central american dictator.
Yet, Sheehan went to Venezuela and stood next to this thug while he said horrible things about the country. She was a stupid pawn.
She's also a nut because she was the most ineffective anti-war activist imaginable. She made the anti-war movement look like a bowl of pistachios.
July 29, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
What things did he say and which of them were true? I presume he said we had no business being in Iraq....
July 29, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Instead of presuming, why don't you actually look it up. He kept chanting "Down with the US, down with the empire. We must crush the US". Crap like that.
Regardless of how you feel about the war, no self-respecting American would stand on the stage with that thugish dictator while he advocated for the destruction of your country.
FYI, Bush was not the US.
It was bad enough to denounce Bush in such undiplomatic terms at the UN but to cheer for the destruction of the US is a bridge to far for sane people.
In addition, Chavez had his political opponents JAILED! He's a thug. Just because he dislikes Bush doesn't make him a decent man.
July 29, 2009 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I take it you don't share my belief that Bush should be impeached?
July 29, 2009 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
1. What does impeaching Bush have to do with saying "destroy the US"?
2. How can you impeach someone who's not in office?
3. Try to keep up. You're about a year behind.
July 30, 2009 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nutty or no, IMO Sheehan has more standing than anyone around here to say whatever the heck she wants.
July 29, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why? Because her son died in the war? How do you know that no one else around here lost a loved one in the war? Don't make assumptions.
Sheehan was as good for the anti-war movement as the birthers are for the GOP.
July 29, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummm...I've served over there. I'll say whatever I feel like, whether you approve or not. How about you keep your mouth shut til you have some real idea?
July 30, 2009 12:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I suppose it's a legitimate question to ask whether the President is actually a US citizen. However, once sufficient proof is offered that in fact he is a US citizen (which has), the legitimate question should stop being asked.
July 29, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
When the Democrats fall from power, they pragmatically examine what went wrong within the party to identify the problem and fix it. When Republicans fall from power, they blame others for their failures and do anything and everything they can to tear the Democrats down while ignoring the internal problems that are killing their chances of ever returning to power. This Birthers "controversy" shows the GOP is already well down the road to self-annihilation, not to mention sheer lunacy.
July 29, 2009 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
amen
July 29, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. President, please, please, don't produce a birth certificate. This is great.
July 29, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dean had Jerry. Boehner had Blunt. Need I say more?
July 29, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
They should start a group and call them selves "The Blunt Boners!"
July 29, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's funny!
July 29, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just for shits and giggles:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blunt
July 29, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank G-d Kleefeld's back...onto the crackpots like a duck on a june bug as we say down South
July 29, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The absolute most shocking part of this video is Pence's strait up answer. Sure he said "I believe so" and not "yes", but Pence's rhetoric is usually pretty far out there and I'm shocked his answer didn't more resemble Roy Blunts answer.
July 29, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is excellent news! For Obama! And Robin Carnahan!
July 29, 2009 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reporter: 'Mr.Blunt, many on the right claim the world is flat, do you agree with them?'
Roy Blunt: 'Well, they are asking legitimate questions, we'll have to see.'
July 29, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do you spell 'stupid' in three letters? G-O-P!
Actually, it's willful ignorance, which has become the intellectual backbone of a crippled Republican party.
July 29, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The man is a solid asshole.
July 29, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
BADA...BOOM..BOOM..BOOM.....another one bites the dust...BADA...BOOM..BOOM..BOOM.....another one bites the dust...
July 29, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes I agree that Rep. Blunt needs to come clean regarding his own birth circumstances and documentation, as well as his medical, tax, and investment records. I mean all of them, especially the ones he doesn't want to divulge.
What does he have to hide?
And what about those trips to Kansas City?
July 29, 2009 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roy. What you fail to understand is this: When you say "What I don't know is...", well, it becomes an infinite set; you could never even comprehend the magnitude of what you don't know.
July 29, 2009 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
May I second the suggestion that Blunt show his own birth certificate and if it has the same errors that the birfers keep claiming Obama's has, then he needs to resign his seat? Also, is it true that he is the result of an out of wedlock union between his grandfather and a beaver? It has been said that some of these Canadian fishing vacations lead to some strange behavior. He needs to show his DNA to prove that it isn't so.
July 30, 2009 12:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I heard it was his grandmother and a buffalo. Apparently, there are pics somewhere, too.
July 30, 2009 9:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wouldn't that make him and his father brothers?
That's just sick.
July 30, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Birther is far to kind of a label for these hateful wackos. Lets see, bullshitter is overused, loser is to obvious, rat bastards probably won't work, scumbags is to general as well as douchebags, turdblossom is taken, jerks-no, boneheads-maybe, crybabies-that's close & gets me to "Whiners" Appropo & to the point.
I'm going with "Whiners".
July 30, 2009 11:41 PM | Reply | Permalink