UPDATE from James Taranto
at the Wall Street Journal
The memo urges Democratic candidates to force their opponents to answer a series of questions:
“Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen? . . .”
If a Republican candidate says no to any of the questions, the memo says Democrats should “make their primary opponent or conservative activists know it. This will cause them to take heat from their primary opponents and could likely provoke a flip-flop, as it already has several times with Mark Kirk in Illinois.”
If you want to read the rest of the questions, click through to the link atop this item. We truncated the list because the first item is absolutely jaw-dropping.
Are we given to understand that the Democrats intend to run for office by raising questions about Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president?
That has got to be the most brilliant campaign strategy since Michael Dukakis and Max Cleland raised questions about their own patriotism.
Lotsa news today… biggest challenge – where to begin. (Cue the music — “Where do I begin… to tell the story of how great a love can be…” )
OK, I know. Love Story was schmaltz, and the song along with it… but I needed to do my mental verbal scales to get my voice warmed up…
I’m ready now. Let’s take it from the top, shall we?
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The birther issue is what the Dems are beginning to use (in the mainstream media) to drive a wedge between the Tea Party conservatives and the rest of the Republican party.
First thing this morning, my producer Dave told me about a hot link on the FRONT PAGE article in the Sacramento Bee, aka “Pravda West”. While we talked, he observed that within minutes, the hotlink had been expanded to a front page headline story.
Tea-party allies include Obama birth site skeptics
By Steve Wiegand swiegand@sacbee.com The Sacramento BeePublished: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3ALast Modified: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 – 12:21 pm
Californians are pretty sure President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A., but not at all sure about the tea party movement, according to a new Field Poll.
Conversely, the survey found that those who identify strongly with tea partiers are not at all sure about the president’s true nation of origin.
“It’s an interesting phenomenon that they are not only rebelling against the growth and size of government, but they are actually questioning the authority of the president,” said poll director Mark DiCamillo.
Doubts about whether Obama was born outside U.S. soil, and thus constitutionally ineligible to be president, arose during the 2008 campaign, and have been propagated since then by a “birther movement.”
We were puzzled why this piece would be on the SacBee’s front page. It’s the first time the Sacbee has ever mentioned the b/c issue to our knowledge. And certainly NEVER before in conjunction with the Tea Party effort.
We began speculating about the strategy behind this piece… and didn’t have a good feeling about it.
Moments later, an email dropped into our boxes from a mutual friend that added to the intrigue. It was pointing us to a post by Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:
After getting trounced in Massachusetts, Democrats distributed a memo this week that details their plan for the 2010 elections. They hope to drive a wedge between tea party activists and the Republican Party.
The Politico reported:
Democrats are looking for someone to blame for their electoral woes — and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez is working hard to make sure it’s not him.
Showing that they’ve learned the lesson of Massachusetts, Menendez and his staff will distribute a memo Tuesday advising Democratic campaign managers to frame their opponents early — and to drive a wedge between moderate voters and tea-party-style conservatives.
“Given the pressure Republican candidates feel from the extreme right in their party, there is a critical — yet time-sensitive — opportunity for Democratic candidates,” the DSCC writes. “We have a finite window when Republicans candidates will feel susceptible to the extremists in their party. Given the urgent nature of this dynamic, we suggest an aggressive effort to get your opponents on the record.”
The memo urges Democratic candidates to force their opponents to answer a series of questions on health care, taxes and some of the favorite causes of the far right:
“Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen? Do you think the 10th Amendment bars Congress from issuing regulations like minimum health care coverage standards? Do you think programs like Social Security and Medicare represent socialism and should never have been created in the first place? Do you think President Obama is a socialist? Do you think America should return to a gold standard?”
If a Republican candidate says no to any of the questions, the memo says Democrats should “make their primary opponent or conservative activists know it. This will cause them to take heat from their primary opponents and could likely provoke a flip-flop, as it already has several times with Mark Kirk in Illinois.”
Jim’s post matched our conclusion, and that is we believe this to be a concerted effort by the Dems to force the b/c eligibility question as a wedge issue to fracture the Republican party. The Dems know that Washington Republicans are scared silly of this issue, and will run away from it like little girls. That the media has been told to NEVER mention the b/c. Until now. Until now???
The upside: this could force the issue to the surface, to the top of national consciousness, more so than before. Force the conversation — force the discovery, the disclosure. Just what is on that birth certificate that would be so damaging to Obama and his regime? Could it be that beside his father’s name are the words “Arab / Muslim”?
***
TONIGHT:
Just weeks after the 9/11 attack on America, a team of Special Forces was secreted into Afghanistan. Their mission: seed a rebellion in the Pashtun region to defeat the Taliban. The critical three weeks of Operational Detachment Alpha 574, the first military unit to operate in the Taliban-held south of Afghanistan is told in The Only Thing Worth Dying For, by award winning author Eric Blehm. For the first time, members of ODA 574 have broken their silence to tell he story about how they wee tasked with seeding a rebellion among the Pastun in southern Afghanistan with only a small team, a few donkeys, some battered trucks, and a smattering of local guerillas. Eric Blehm joins us tonight to tell the story of the eleven heroes of ODA 574, and the two who gave their lives in the fight.
Link here at 9 pm ET tonight to listen:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/01/27/the-andrea-shea-king-show
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THURSDAY NIGHT:
Mark your calendars for Thursday night when we’ll talk to HILLBUZZ blogger Kevin DuJan who has been under attack by the Chicago machine for his views on Obama. Link to the program at 9 pm ET Thursday:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/01/29/the-andrea-shea-king-show
Show producer Dave Logan writes at his blogsite ThirdWaveDave:
The blog in question: Hillbuzz–there’s plenty going on over there, and they could use your support. We’re talking about Obama thugs and the Chicago machine… Here’s an excerpt from their site:
“Every day we get a little closer to exposing the people behind all this. Once we have concrete proof of who it is, we will indeed publish your identities for all the world to see, just as you revealed one of us, posted his picture, told people he is a racist, and encouraged Obama supporters in Chicago to harm him physically, financially, emotionally, and personally.”
***
And finally, I hope you caught Glenn Beck’s opening monolog on today’s TV show. It was Beck at his finest — like a fine bordeau, shall we say? Never better. I don’t know how Joe Klein will ever sit again…
LOL….
American liberty and prosperity began as a seed planted by about fifty people in New England almost 400 years ago. There were no government caretakers, so they had to do everything for themselves, think out of the bubble and live out of the box of Old World tyranny they left behind. All individuals were their own government. Each shared governance with others close to them for defense. Government was close, no more than a day’s horseback ride in counties so citizens could change it when needed, advise it in town hall meetings, vote to change it, and punish it by vigilance committees, as people ruled government. Today, government has moved far away, grown, become an organized crime, stealing from and harming its people. The Tea Party movement has come into being as is our tradition. See The Changing Face of Democrats, Losing Our Libertarian Roots on Amazon.com and claysamerica.com.
The question should read, “Do you believe that Barack Obama is a natural born citizen?” NBC, is different from “citizen,” and wholly relevant to Constitutional eligibility for POTUS.
BHO is NOT a natural born citizen, having been born with dual citizenship. How can you be a NBC with dual citizenship?