More Media Misrepresentation On Presidential Eligibility Legislation

The Star has a lengthy story from the AP discussing the continued doubts many Americans have about Obama's natural born status and asking why "it's the conspiracy theory that won't go away." You need look no further than an item the Star originated in its "Behind Closed Doors" column this weekend that blatantly misrepresents legislation Sen. Mike Delph and Sen. Sue Landske have asked that a summer study committee look at to determine whether Indiana should enact a law that requires all presidential candidates to furnish evidence they meet the eligibility requirements set out in the U.S. Constitution to be president.

Now, Delph wants the legislature to assign a summer study committee to explore whether Indiana should require candidates to prove they are citizens--a proposal Democrats find absurd and an untrue, unfair attack on Obama.

Presumbably, Mary Beth Schneider, the Star's State House reporter, is the person who contributed this false information to this item in the column because she was the only reporter for the newspaper in attendance at this week's hearing on the resolution. If Schneider bothered to read Delph's legislation, SB 114, or had bothered to listen to the testimony at the hearing, she would know that her reporting was patently false. In addition, I spent considerable time discussing the legislation with her earlier in the session that should have cleared up any misapprehensions she had about it. As with all of the mainstream reporters who have covered this issue to date, Schneider is not interested in the truth; rather, she is simply interested in casting aspersions at anyone who raises legitimate constitutional questions about the process for electing persons to the most important elected office in the free world.

The purpose of requiring a candidate to provide a birth certificate is not to prove he or she is a citizen as she falsey writes in the item, but rather to establish that they meet the age requirement and the natural born citizenship requirement, which the constitution specifically requires. We already know presidential candidates are citizens by virtue of them being participants in the political process as registered voters. I also furnished to Schneider proof that the Democratic Party refused to affirm that Obama met the constitutional eligibility requirements when it filed its nominating certificate with the Indiana Elections Division in 2008, unlike the certificate of nomination the Republican Party filed for John McCain. Of course, Schneider won't report that fact. Instead, she used the item to poke additional fun at Donald Trump calling Delph to offer his support for his efforts. "Trump--yes, THAT Donald Trump, the one with the hair, the bank account and the TV show . . . the most famous 'birther,'" she writes. She throws in a dissing quip from Mitch Daniels, who also jumps on the trash the birthers bandwagon with this: "I'm one of the few people in America who can honestly claim to have said, 'Donald, you're fired." Let's see, Mitch, didn't you tell the American people when you were Bush's budget director that the war in Iraq was only going to cost the American taxpayers $50 billion? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Yes, this is why the American people have doubts about who President Obama is. They have been repeatedly lied to on so many fronts about his biographical narrative not only by Obama, but also by his deceiving allies in the American news media, that they don't know what to believe about him anymore. They want you to believe this issue is all about Obama when it knows full well that McCain similarly faced lawsuits and challenges over his natural born status because he was born in Panama where his father was stationed on a naval base. Sen. Richard Bray also pointed out during the hearing at which Schneider was present his vivid recollection of George Romney's natural born citizenship being challenged in 1968 because of his birth to U.S. citizen parents who were living in Mexico at the time of his birth. Perhaps if the media wants the "conspiracy theories" to go away, it should begin by leveling with the American people candidly about who this man is and what his policies actually are and honestly report on the ideas any other person offers that runs counter to his views instead of the non-stop marketing pieces fit for those charlatans who produce those half-hour infomercial ads that run on late-night TV.

UPDATE: Senate Republicans chickened out under pressure from the same elitist and moral supremacist thinking that has destroyed this country. Sen. James Merritt (R-Indianapolis) and Sen. Tom Wyss (R-Ft. Wayne) skipped out on the hearing to vote on the resolution this morning, along with the Senate Democrats who claim the only motive behind the resolution is racism against a black president, in order to ensure no vote could be taken and no summer study committee could be established. They will show up to vote to cut corporate taxes, force consumers to pay for a farcical new coal gasification plant that will enrich pay-to-play contributors at the cost of residential ratepayers and allow the robber barons to take your land by eminent domain to build their pipeline over your farmland and property. Great leadership.