Birth Certificate

Florida Dems To Posey: Drop The Birther Bill

Eric Kleefeld | July 28, 2009, 11:08AM

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."

Bill Posey

Lead Birther Bill Sponsor Votes To Recognize Hawaii As Obama's Birthplace

Eric Kleefeld | July 27, 2009, 9:00PM

The House resolution to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood -- which included language recognizing the state as President Obama's birthplace, in a none-too-subtle jab at the Birthers -- passed this evening by a 378-0 vote.

Among the Yes votes: Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), the lead sponsor of the infamous "Birther Bill" to require presidential candidates to present their birth certificates, and who had previously said he wouldn't "swear on a stack of Bibles" that Obama is a natural-born American citizen. Several other co-sponsors of the Birther Bill also voted yes: Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dan Burton (R-IN), John Culberson (R-TX), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), and Ted Poe (R-TX).

On a side note, some suspicions were raised against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) for blocking the passage of the resolution by voice vote earlier today, noting the absence of a quorum. However, as Salon reported, Bachmann's move was an entirely normal procedural motion to pave the way for a roll call vote later on -- indeed, she'd made similar motions today on other non-controversial resolutions -- and she in fact voted for the resolution when the vote was held.

I will also say as a long-time Bachmannologist that I've never seen any probable cause to suspect her of Birtherism. She's certainly said a lot of interesting stuff against Obama, but she hasn't trodden on this particular ground.

Bill Posey

Birther Bill Sponsor Receives Financial Support From House GOP Leadership

Eric Kleefeld | July 21, 2009, 4:51PM

The latest FEC filings show that Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), the author and main sponsor of the infamous "Birther Bill" in the House to require Presidential candidates to submit proof of citizenship, is receiving financial support from some prominent people -- namely, the House GOP leadership, in their regular donations to GOP incumbents.

Minority Leader John Boehner's PAC, the Freedom Project, donated $5,000 to Posey's campaign in June. Minority Whip Eric Cantor's ERICPAC gave $7,500.

On the one hand, there's nothing unusual about the leadership giving money to an incumbent. On the other hand, not every incumbent has refused to say for sure that President Obama is a U.S. citizen

Bill Posey

Coburn Endorses Birther Bill

Eric Kleefeld | June 19, 2009, 5:02PM

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has now signed up with the Birther cause -- the people who think Barack Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and should be required to produce a birth certificate (which he already did, anyway) -- World Net Daily reports.

Coburn has now voiced his support for a bill offered by Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) and five House co-sponsors so far. "The bill requires any federal candidates' campaign committee filing with the Federal Election Commission to produce a copy of the candidate's birth certificate," wrote Coburn. "If the bill makes it to the Senate, I will likely support it."

Coburn also endorsed a similar bill in the Oklahoma legislature: "I hope the Oklahoma State Legislature will give serious consideration to this bill and I hope more states will reform their ballot access laws to ensure federal candidates must affirmatively prove their eligibility."

(Via Ben Smith.)

Bill Posey

Birther Bill Picking Up Co-Sponsors In House

Eric Kleefeld | June 18, 2009, 4:45PM

Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), who sparked controversy when he introduced a bill three months ago to require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates, has now been picking up some more co-sponsors, Dave Weigel reports.

Posey now has a total of five co-sponsors in the House: John Campbell (R-CA), John Carter (R-TX), John Culberson (R-TX), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Randy Neugebauer (R-TX).

Posey also gave an interview with World Net Daily -- one of the foremost Birther conspiracy theory sites out there -- to explain how many of his colleagues both support him on this and don't want to have anything to do with it: "The people that come up and slap me on the back and say, "Good luck to you!' I say, 'Hey, there's room for you on here!' And of course, they start doing the moonwalk, you know? 'Oh no, no, no, congressman!'"

Bill Posey

GOP Rep. Decries Uncivil Responses To His Birth-Certificate Bill

Eric Kleefeld | April 9, 2009, 1:32PM

Freshman Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) has told the Orlando Sentinel just how he felt about the negative reaction he experienced to a bill he introduced: A bill to require presidential candidates to submit birth certificates to the federal government.

"I expected there would be some civil debate about it, but it wasn't civil," Posey said. "Just a bunch of name-calling and personal denigration ... There is no reason to say that I'm the illegitimate grandson of an alligator."

When he first introduced his bill -- which to date has not picked up even one cosponsor -- Posey said it was about dispelling from the get-go in future campaigns the sort of rumors that were spread about President Obama, and was not aimed at denigrating the president. However, the Sentinel does point out that while Posey now says he has "no reason to question" Obama's citizenship, he did tell them at the beginning of this controversy that he wouldn't "swear on a stack of Bibles whether he is or isn't" an American.

Bill Posey

GOP Rep Submits Bill To Require Birth Certificates From Prez Candidates

Eric Kleefeld | March 14, 2009, 12:36AM

Rep. Bill Posey, a freshman Republican from Florida, is now putting forward a bill that should be good news for a particular demographic that cares a whole lot about their issue: Those folks out there who insist that President Obama hasn't offered a birth certificate to prove he's a natural-born U.S. citizen.

CNN reports that Posey has submitted a bill to require all presidential candidates to submit a birth certificate -- which Posey says is needed in order to remove this issue as a reason to question any president's legitimacy.

"Opponents of President Bush used the 2000 election results and the court decisions to question the legitimacy of President Bush to serve as President," Posey said in a statement. "Opponents of President Obama are raising the birth certificate issue as a means of questioning his eligibility to serve as president. Neither of these situations are healthy for our Republic."

Posey's spokesperson told CNN that Posey takes President Obama's word for it that he's a citizen: "This was not meant as an insult to the president. It is simply meant as a way to clarify future election laws and to dispel the issue so we can move on with doing business for the country."

A quick check of the Library of Congress' Thomas site shows the bill does not have any cosponsors yet. But Posey only introduced it on Thursday, so he's just getting started.