Kudos — for the actual reporting and literal legwork — to Mike Stark of Firedoglake (“Scum of the earth,” according to Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)) for nailing this in between FDL reader-funder Capitol Hill reportage on health care (ya know, stuff that actually matters).
Kudos too to Rep. Tommy Franks (R-AZ), for his willingness to admit, for the camera — unlike all of the other Republicans that Stark tried to get comment from on the Hill — that Obama is a natural born “citizen of the United States of America.”
We were prepared to offer Franks a much-sought, but too-rarely bestowed BRAD BLOG Intellectually Honest Conservative Award, but then he blew it at the very end by noting his condemnation of Obama “for promoting abortion on demand, for standing by and letting Jihad gain traction in the word, and for doing things to undermine our constitution and for turning us into a Socialist nation.” Too bad. And you were so close, Mr. Franks!
BTW, in a very related late update, FDL’s Jane Hamsher notes…
Guess this nonsense is getting too idiotic even for Republicans. And in a related note, and (hopefully) the last of our “birther” coverage here, Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert notes how Lou Dobbs seems to have “scared Rush Limbaugh off the birther story”. Virtually daring Limbaugh to re-open the story, Boehlert writes that after broaching the subject just a couple of times, “Limbaugh’s scared to talk about the birthers and won’t defend them because he has seen how Dobbs and the movement got manhandled by the press — including by conservative commentators.”
All of which means, “If Limbaugh won’t back the birthers, that means most right-wing AM hosts won’t either. Because that business is built upon a very simple (lemming) rule: Do whatever Rush does.” And, we’ll add, they do it all on your publicly-owned airwaves.
[Hat-tip RAW STORY, for their coverage of Stark’s video.]
oh – alex jones is gonna be pissed. Heard he b!tched and moaned about this all day.
This is incredible video – the older repug that runs, huffing and puffing, and calling the camera persons “scum of the earth”.
Earlier, I had to post this link downstairs cuz it really shows how stupid the repugs think their base is and they don’t seem to believe the rest of us are any smarter.
They are wrong…
OT
Senate Finance committee kills Public Option. Dead. Max Baucus looks pretty happy, check out the front page of Huffington Post.
Bastards.
Baucus is public enemy #1.
I am not totally up on congressional procedure. IO know this is a stupid question, but I just want to confirm my understanding as best I can…
Those present who do not wish to vote yea or nay abstain by simply voting ‘present’, correct? So a list of those legislators ‘not voting’ is a list of those absent and therefore not able to vote rather than a list of abstentions. Is that correct?
Yes. That’s correct, but there’s no telling how many were not present so they did not have to vote.
Why are they so afraid to even TALK about to a citizen journalist, thats nuts. I mean running in a suit pretending like you’re in a hurry? Get real.
Franks at least came across as only slanted against Obama, not a complete kook.
Agent 99,
I certainly understand that and I’m trying to decide whether to speculate on THAT or not. I’m willing to believe there were Republicans and even some Democrats from conservative districts (Rick Boucher, who was on the ‘Not Voting’ list, represents Bristol, VA… not exactly Obama country even if he is an Al Gore-style technology-for-the-rural-proletariat Democrat) who specifically did not show up in order to avoid having to explain a vote stating their belief that the president is an American citizen to their constituents.
I am more amused, however, by the Republicans who voted for the resolution despite making (or trying to make) political hay off the rumors. Bachmann comes to mind most strongly, but she isn’t the only one.
Then why doesn’t he get in front of the camera with the true birth certificate and end it all. If he trully was born in the US why has he spent so much to block this. The truth dies down quickly just like false rumors. Only true lies and true rumors stick around this long. For me its not about race or Democrat, it is about what is really going on in this country and you morons are helping it to take place.
[ed note: No, actually, you don’t have someone you can call that, jw, not here anyway. Please read our rules for commenting… a very quick and easy read. Thank you. –99]