Sam Slom, the lone GOP member of the Hawaii State Senate, reportedly told a New York radio station that he believes questions about President Obama’s Hawaii birth are “a legitimate issue.”
Slom’s comments were reported yesterday by WorldNetDaily.
A recording of the Slom interview is also provided.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I’m not sure it fair to say Slom “Joins the Birthers” since he does say Obama was born in Hawaii. His question is about what is on the long form that the president doesn’t want disclosed. Do you consider that an illegitimate question that should be suppressed?
I don’t think Ian or anyone else is suggesting that anything should be suppressed. The former director of DOH has been quoted as saying that Obama wouldn’t be given access to or a copy of the actual birth certificate even if he asked for it.
So what, exactly, is it that you want Obama to do?
From what I read about the Hawaii laws, anyone has the right to “inspect” their original birth certificate. You can’t get a copy but you can see it. Am I mistaken here on this point?
In any case, the “certification of live birth” is a legal document as defined by the State of Hawaii as being legally equivalent to a copy of the original “long form” birth certificate.
Again, anyone correct me if I’m wrong here….
Yes that is an illegitimate question. Being someone who has a long form Certificate of Live Birth, I can tell you there is nothing on it that is relevant to the issue that is not on the state-issued copy. The doctor and the hospital would simply be harassed by a parade of idiots, and as far as I’m concerned, Obama is a good man for not subjecting them to that.
A few points:
Sam repeats the nonsensical claim that “Obama has spent millions in legal fees” trying to keep the birth certificate and other personal records private. That is false:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/apr/12/donald-trump/donald-trump-claims-obama-has-spent-2-million-lega/
Sam suggests there are other reasons why Obama might want to conceal information on the origianl birth certificate, like the name of his “real” father. Others suggest Obama’s religion might be listed as “Muslim.”
Even if that were true, can Sam or Mynahblog or anyone else explain why they have a right to that information?
A poll of Hawaii voters conducted about a month ago found that 29% of Hawaii’s Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States. MynahBlog might argue Sam Slom is not technically a “birther” –to me, that would depend upon how you define “birther.” But by ANY definition, 29% of Hawaii’s Republicans ARE “birthers.” So they believe Lingle and former Health Director Fukino are liars, involved in a cover-up. Sam wants to avoid offending Hawaii’s birthers. So rather than take them on directly, he offers an alternative, dingbat, theory to validate their paranoia.
Sam is the most principled Republican in the State Senate.
I hereby attest that some Birther and Tea Party dingbats have spent much of their lives on Pluto. Until they produce all documents from the Plutonian government to disprove this allegation, it will be considered The Truth. Thus spaketh Jebus.
o.O
Look I don’t care about Obama’s birth certificate.
I was just pointing out that using a headline that asserts as a fact (Slom Joins Birthers) when he says he isn’t one in the story; and further says he believes Obama was born in Hawaii (a very un-birther-like statement) is designed to direct the predictable anti-birther consternation at Slom. You can argue against his actual statements without invoking false accusations of your own.
Do I think Obama is hiding something on his birth certificate? I don’t care.
I’m also not convinced that 29% of Republicans really think that Obama was born outside Hawaii…they just say they do to jerk you guys around.
MynahBlog,
You make it sound like you agree “birthers” are dingbats. Can I get you to admit that outright?
You might wish it were true that birthers are a small segment of today’s Republican Party, but it is clear Fox News, World Net Daily, the Free Republic, Frontpage.com, many conservative talk radio shows and other “conservative” opinion sites are obsessed with the question.
Few prominent Republican elected officials are willing to anger the birther grouping within the Republican Party by saying openly the theory is nonsense.
Even Slom hedges in the interview. 11:30 into the tape, he says he does not consider himself, “a birther, per se.” Why the “per se”? The written article also blurs Sloms attitude towards birtherism:
“Though Slom had previously refused the label of ‘birther,’ he told Jeff Katz of WXKS Radio in Boston, ‘Why would anybody, let alone the president, spend all this money, all this time, all this effort, not to disclose the information?'”
Sounds like World Net Daily thinks Sam’s views are awfully close to the birther position.
CNN had a good opinion piece recently about this. Based on the principle of “Law of the bloodline”, Obama is a “natural born citizen” based on the fact his mother is a natural born citizen. This is true even if he was born on foreign soil. Here’s the link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/20/chin.natural.born
Another legal principle at work is the “law of this soil” which makes anyone born in Hawaii since 1903 (I believe) is a citizen automatically as Hawaii was a US territory. Since it was a state when Obama was born here, even if BOTH parents were not citizens, he would have been a citizen since he was born here. I have several friends that are not are citizens and their kids born here are US citizens!
Both of these issues are legislation that has been in place for quite a while and not part of the original constitution.
I don’t know why the point about his mother being a citizen isn’t brought up more. As far as what I have read, there is NO question she was a natural born citizen. Even if Obama was born in Kenya, his mother was a US citizen which makes him a citizen automatically.
I demand to see Slom’s carnival barker credentials.
I have reason to believe he is merely a roustabout.