Looney Arizona Republicans Pass “Birther Bill” to Force Obama Birth Certificate

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It’s really getting crazy out there.  Yesterday the loopy Republicans in Arizona’s legislature decided that anyone running for president must who their birth certificate to the secretary of state.  Only an idiot would think this wasn’t aimed at President Obama.  Here is the upside down tale by Raw Story:

An Arizona lawmaker fears her state is becoming a “laughing stock” after the state House passed a bill that will force President Barack Obama to present his birth certificate before being certified to run for president in the state.

Phoenix Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema said the bill passed Monday is among a handful of legislative items that are making Arizona “the laughing stock of the nation.”

While the bill does not target President Obama by name, requiring all presidential candidates to show proof of US birth, its intention is clear. “The legislation originated from a fringe group that believes President Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and therefore ineligible to be president,” reports the Arizona Republic.

The law allows the secretary of state to keep a candidate from registering to run if he or she has “reasonable cause” to believe the candidate doesn’t meet the necessary requirements, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Republicans continue to take Arizona down the wrong track by wasting taxpayers’ time on frivolous legislation instead of working on important issues like health care for kids and seniors and education,” Sinema said, as quoted at the Republic.



The Arizona House of Representatives voted by a margin of 31 to 22 on Monday to add the measure to a larger bill. The bill will have to be voted on again, separately, in the House, and will have to get Senate assent before it can be sent to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.

“Attempts have been made in other states, such as Florida and Oklahoma, to introduce similar legislation,” the New York Post reports. “None of them have ever become law.”

The Republic notes that there are concerns about the bill’s constitutionality.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett also expressed concern about Burges’ amendment, saying that creating state-level eligibility requirements to run for federal office could violate the U.S. Constitution.

“While everyone has an interest in ensuring that only eligible citizens run for president, there are obvious issues with states implementing what could become a patchwork of different tests for a presidential candidate to prove his/her citizenship,” said Bennett’s spokesman, Matthew Benson, in an e-mail.

On Monday, the Arizona state Senate voted in favor of a controversial immigration bill that would “make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to not have an alien registration document,” the AP reports. “It also would require police to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the country illegally.”

That clause about questioning people without suspicion has raised the ire of civil libertarians, who say it will infringe on basic human rights. On Sunday, the head of the US’s largest Catholic diocese compared the law to “Nazi” and “communist tactics” used to sniff out dissidents.

“I can’t imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation,” Cardinal Roger Mahoney wrote on his blog, describing the bill as “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law.”

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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10 years ago

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12 years ago

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13 years ago

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13 years ago

You all must be kidding me..Since you are all so moronic I will take you down one by one with facts. Try to put down your T.V. meal (bought by hardworking Americans tax dollars, I’m sure) and pay attention. Hopefully hooked on phonics worked well enough for you to understand my words, cannot be sure though.

“While the Tea Bag­gers are scream­ing for less gov­ern­ment Ari­zona is giv­ing them more gov­ern­ment. These con­ser­v­a­tive idiots can­not get there col­lec­tive act together.”

Hey moron, I believe the “more Government” the TEA PARTY is working against is..Socialized medicine, gun bans, etc. We are all okay with keeping the ILLEGALS out of America. Perhaps you would like to be the target of one of their crimes (they are ghost in our country)? I wouldn’t.

“Seri­ously, this is obvi­ously uncon­sti­tu­tional.”

Actually, it is by NO MEANS uncon­sti­tu­tional. What IS uncon­sti­tu­tional is allowing a person who was not born here to run for President. You are truly too stupid for words.

“The under­ly­ing sen­ti­ment behind all this is, “we only want white folks to run for Pres­i­dent.”

You HAVE to be kidding..Are you saying that only “white folks” are born in the U.S. and every other race are born in other countries? I could say more, but you said it all yourself. I could have sworn I had met several people of color born here, guess according to you..I have not.

“Don’t call me an idiot until you under­stand what can­di­dates have to dis­close before being accepted. Come back.”

Get over it, he is right. You are an idiot.

“It’s true all of Jefferson’s chil­dren would have birth cer­tifi­cates but then so does obama. He has dis­closed it sev­eral times and sev­eral Hawai­ian pub­lic offi­cials have ver­i­fied its veracity.”

No, he has not. Not one single time. However, they did find a birth certificate in Kenya that REALLY was verified. Oh, I went ahead and changed the capital “O” to a lowercase one for you. It should be “obama”. He does not deserve the extra key press. You’re welcome.

“so tell me… in todays envi­ron­ment, when are things NOT polit­i­cally moti­vated? Wash­ing­ton has got things so messed up (both Dems and Reps) that there is a huge polar­ity. We need another true party. We can be lib­eral socially but con­ser­v­a­tive fis­cally, but in todays world you can’t have that, so “every­one” comes up with these fab­ri­cated “BS” prob­lems so you can “hate” the other party. So I say, if they need a birth cer­tifi­cate to run in their State, (it’s just another doc­u­ment which we all have), show it to them and shut there asses up. P.S. my son needs to show his birth cer­tifi­cate when play­ing in base­ball tournaments.”

^ You are NOT an idiot. I agree with you fully. Good man!

Last but not least..

“I wanted a place for people to gather and learn, laugh, and just have fun engaging in spirited debate. That place is MadMikesAmerica, a web magazine with a different look. We are the next great adventure. A talented group of international writers tackle timely issues with wry commentary and insightful analysis. MadMike’s is a potpourri of fascinating subjects from politics to pet tips!”

You are the biggest moron of them all. You call this CRAP insightful? It’s pure bigotry. Nothing more. And your team of “talented writers” seem to have little talent..and NO intelligence. My friends and myself have had a great laugh at all of your “intelligent writing” but I am worried that some people are stupid enough to believe it. By all means, keep spinning your web of lies and we will continue to debunk it with facts, just as I have down today.

Anyways, I am going to get to work so you guys can pay your internet bill next month. Leeches.

jim
13 years ago

so tell me… in todays environment, when are things NOT politically motivated? Washington has got things so messed up (both Dems and Reps) that there is a huge polarity. We need another true party. We can be liberal socially but conservative fiscally, but in todays world you can’t have that, so “everyone” comes up with these fabricated “BS” problems so you can “hate” the other party. So I say, if they need a birth certificate to run in their State, (it’s just another document which we all have), show it to them and shut there asses up. P.S. my son needs to show his birth certificate when playing in baseball tournaments.

osori
13 years ago

Jim
It’s true all of Jefferson’s children would have birth certificates but then so does Obama. He has disclosed it several times and several Hawaiian public officials have verified its veracity.

It’s politically motivated and it seems to have worked, proof being that the issue just won’t go away.

jim
13 years ago

you’re an idiot… even Jefferson’s slave children would have birth certificates.

Reply to  jim
13 years ago

Don’t call me an idiot until you understand what candidates have to disclose before being accepted. Come back.

jim
13 years ago

Why doesn’t Obama just show his birth certificate and eliminate all this crap that everyone is going through.

13 years ago

The underlying sentiment behind all this is, “we only want white folks to run for President.” A candidate could be descended from one of Jefferson’s slave children and would still be forced to jump through hoops.

13 years ago

Arizona’s really giving Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska runs for their money in the lunacy department. Kudos. Oh, and South Carolina. Wouldn’t want Beach Bum mad at me, I think he knows some gun nuts.

13 years ago

Since it is impossible to determine a person’s legality as an immigrant by just looking at them, how else to find out besides asking?

That said, I could foresee a lot of problems ahead for detectives who must question that community when investigating other crimes. It isn’t unheard of, or unusual for an illegal immigrant, who possesses important information on a case, to go into hiding to avoid being deported. If every cop they ever see has the duty to interrogate them on their status, they’ll avoid police completely.

And WTF with the birther bill? I bet Arizona’s sane representatives are mortified.

Reply to  Mother Hen
13 years ago

Notice that the AP excerpt says “if there’s rea­son to sus­pect they’re in the coun­try illegally” (so that the issue of “ques­tion­ing peo­ple with­out sus­pi­cion” doesn’t arise). Exactly when the police have legitimate grounds to suspect somebody of something is an old problem which presumably has plenty of governing precedent built up around it.

And, of course, it often happens that a person who has important information on a criminal case has himself broken another law and therefore chooses to hide from the police rather than coming forward. There are ways of dealing with that problem, such as immunity from prosecution for that individual in exchange for testimony about something more serious. Deciding that there’s one category of law (immigration law) that shouldn’t be enforced at all, wouldn’t be a rational response.

If the federal government had done a better job of enforcing the law over the last few decades, the states which are most affected by illegal immigration would not beforced to try to tackle it themselves.

13 years ago

any­one run­ning for pres­i­dent must who their birth cer­tifi­cate to the sec­re­tary of state.

What does it mean to who a birth certificate? Send it by owl, like in Harry Potter?:-)

Seriously, this is obviously unconstitutional. States can’t impose extra rules on candidates for federal office beyond what the federal Constitution provides — not even on their own Senators. The Supreme Court has already ruled on this.

Cardinal Mahoney’s comments are an outrage. Establishing laws on immigration and enforcing them is one of the definitive attributes of a sovereign state. It’s a right claimed by every country in the world. Calling efforts to enforce a legitimate law “Nazi” and “Communist” is Orwellian — and referring to illegal aliens as “immigrants” is almost as much so.

osori
Reply to  Infidel753
13 years ago

I don’t quite understand “referring to illegal aliens as immigrants” as being Orwellian?

13 years ago

While the Tea Baggers are screaming for less government Arizona is giving them more government. These conservative idiots cannot get there collective act together.

American Citizen
Reply to  Lazersedge
13 years ago

You people are dumb as dirt. It is a requirement of law that a president be an American Citizen. Try to educate yourselves before posting to the net…idiots

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