On Nathan Deal, birthers, and Georgia’s hunt for water
Last week was the first anniversary of the election of Barack Obama to the White House.
More than 100,000 Atlanta voters celebrated on Tuesday by sitting on their hands. Having cast their ballots 12 months ago, they considered the job done.
Other Georgians found more creative ways to mark the ascension of America’s first African-American president.
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville, for instance, celebrated by announcing that he would lend his voice to those who doubt that Obama was born in the U.S.A.
The venue was an online chat room established by Deal’s Republican campaign for governor.
”Do you believe that Barack Obama is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president?” asked an Atlanta reporter, Tom Crawford.
Deal tapped out his reply: “I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question.”
On Friday, Deal elaborated with more ambiguity. Putting his signature to that incendiary question, the congressman said, wasn’t the same as endorsing it.
Personally, Deal said he has “no reason” to question the legitimacy of Obama’s citizenship. And yet the north Georgia congressman expressed doubts about that birth certificate. “I have looked at the documentation that is publicly available and it leaves many things to be desired,” Deal said.
Never mind that officials in Hawaii, ruled by a Republican governor, have sworn six times to Sunday that the Obama’s birth certificate exists and is legitimate.
Deal’s motivation can be guessed at. He is one of seven Republicans now in the 2010 race for governor, and survival is dependent upon carving out a niche of reliable supporters.
Two months ago, a national survey by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina found that nearly two-thirds of Republicans don’t believe Obama to be a citizen, or aren’t sure.
(Never mind that the same poll indicated that a quarter of Obama-doubters also aren’t sure whether Hawaii is a state.)
In north Georgia, the birther movement is undoubtedly stronger. Deal obviously thinks his constituents must be indulged – even at the expense of his self-image. The congressman entered the race for governor in May, portraying himself as the mature voice of reason in the GOP field.
Deal has now allowed even state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, his volatile GOP rival for conservative hearts and minds, to appear cool and level-headed. “Any serious adult running for governor of Georgia needs to understand that we have a responsibility to do business with the president of United States. For the sake of the taxpayers of Georgia, a high degree of respect is required,” Oxendine said.
If Deal’s coddling of birthers were merely a case of electoral cynicism, the episode wouldn’t be worth more than a sigh and a sad shake of the head.
But the Gainesville congressman is considered by many to be Georgia’s lead Republican negotiator in Congress in the water dispute with Florida and Alabama.
Legislation will be required of a Congress controlled by Democrats. It will be, in Washington parlance, a “heavy lift.” Cooperation will be required of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which operates Lake Lanier and ultimately falls under the authority of a president whose legitimacy Deal now will help question.
Deal says his letter to the president will have no impact on water negotiations. The issue will be compartmentalized. Likewise, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, Georgia’s senior Democrat in the House, says he won’t permit Deal’s letter to Obama muddy Georgia’s negotiations over water.
But behind closed doors, in Atlanta and Washington, the worry about the cost of take-no-prisoners rhetoric used by Republicans is palpable – despite some successful attempts to reduce the temperature.
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Southern cities, counties and states could seek escape from federal oversight of election laws, as imposed by the Voting Rights Act. Many Republicans wanted Georgia to immediately press for that exemption.
But Gov. Sonny Perdue nixed the venture. One of many reasons was concern that it could jeopardize Georgia’s unified approach to water negotiations – by stirring unnecessary animosity among Democrats in Georgia’s congressional delegation, and the Obama administration itself.
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112 comments Add your comment
Bill White
November 7th, 2009
4:16 pm
Nathan is a great Ameican and I support this important decision. Barack Hussein Obama was born in rural Kenya to extreme Muslim parents who sent him to madrassas through Africa and Indonesia. The badly scanned Hawaiian birth certificate is fraudulent. The Kenyan certificate that is all over the Web is the real thing. I’m sorry, but you clueless secular progressives are being duped. I pray for our nation’s future with this fraud who was installed into the White House. I cry at night knowing that the presidency is being held hostage by a foreigner. All Nathan Deal wants to do is see an authentic certificate. It’s not happening because it doesn’t exist! The MSM of course is doing nothing about this, so the honorable Mr. Deal is stepping up to the plate. God Bless Mr. Deal who will help take our country back.
Intowner
November 7th, 2009
4:22 pm
This is all making Roy Barnes look like he will be our next Governor. All the Repubs have are bridge burning Deal, crazy Oxendine, and high school educated Handel. Good lord!
Cris Ericson
November 7th, 2009
4:47 pm
U.S. President Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977) did not know that he was adopted until he was sixteen.
Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
When he was two, his parents divorced
and his mother later married Gerald Rudolff Ford,
who legally adopted the boy and gave him his own name.
The secret was kept from him until his high school years,
when his real father came up to him one day and announced the facts.
Source: “The Last Cow on the White House Lawn” by Barbara Seuling.
On the Certificate of Birth that President Obama’s people released,
it states that his father is African.
If President Obama is a “Natural Born Citizen”
then the African man is NOT his biological father.
Who is President Obama’s biological father?
Who was the attending medical physican at birth?
What Hospital was he born in?
Was he born in a taxi cab and did a driver certify back seat delivery?
29 CFR 1910.1200 (Code of Federal Regulations) gives employees a “right to know” about
the chemicals they are exposed to at work.
The U.S. Constitution gives voters the “right to know” if President Obama is
a natural born citizen.
We must demand our “right to know” and petition U.S. Congress with our greivance.
Cris Ericson, http://vermontnews.livejournal.com
NY Yankee
November 7th, 2009
5:05 pm
You cry at night over this? Get help. Before it’s too late. Seriously.
Muscogee
November 7th, 2009
5:53 pm
You gotta case for impeachment? Take it to the Senate.
William
November 7th, 2009
6:35 pm
NY Yankee
November 7th, 2009
5:05 pm
I have constitutional right to know if he is an American citizen. If you do not like that then let us take away some of YOUR constitutional rights and see how well you sleep at night….why dont you just volunteer to give up your right to vote?
T.K. Moore
November 7th, 2009
6:52 pm
This birther crap is considered a “platform” now? Unbelievable…
Pat
November 7th, 2009
6:54 pm
Blatant pandering to the base…gotta love it.
M.Rich
November 7th, 2009
7:04 pm
*sigh*
Hawaii has confirmed that Presiden Obama was born there. Whether or not his father was a citizen is not relevent. According to the 14 ammendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” A US citizen is a citizen for life – the only way for a citizen to lose citizenship is through their own actions. Read about it at http://www.visalaw.com. And the US doesn’t care if another country decides you are a citizen of that country. Doesn’t matter at all.
Now we know he is a citizen. Is he a “natural born citizen”?
As Chief Justice Morrison Waite noted in Minor v. Happersett (1874):
Additions might always be made to the citizenship of the United States in two ways: first, by birth, and second, by naturalization. This is apparent from the Constitution itself, for it provides that “no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President,” and that Congress shall have power “to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.” Thus new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization.
In other words: if you are born a citizen, you are a “natural born citizen.”
jackie
November 7th, 2009
7:05 pm
The Tallapoosa river starts in Paulding county by two small creeks going together to form the river.It wanders around until it gets to be a good sized river in georgia.To my knowledge, no one in ga, drinks any of the water in this river. It goes into Alabama and all of it gets sucked up by Alabama towns. Montgomery,Al.gets 60 % of its water from this river. Yet in all the squalling by Alabama and Florida about where Georgia gets its water,no one disputes where they get their water.I think we should dam up this river and use it ourselves
Barky Obummer
November 7th, 2009
7:06 pm
I wanted to help Kenya get the Olympics instead of Chicargo but I owe Daly…I want to thank the nation of Kenya for erecting a monument and a museum denoting my birthplace…it would have been great for my homeland to host the Olympics but that was ‘over my pay grade’ and the decision favored our latina brethren in Rio…have faith that I WILL take you over sooner than you thought…
Mike
November 7th, 2009
7:09 pm
His place of birth could be irrelevant. If, as an adult, Obama travelled on an Indonesian passport, he would have surrendered his citizinship and would have made himself ineligible for the presidency. There are also reports that he attended Occidental as a foreign student.
Obama’s actions give credibility to what I would otherside see as crackpot theories. The man who promised the most transparency administration in history is refusing to release records that would disprove them.
If McCain can release records showing that he graduated in the bottom 1% of his class at the Naval Academy and Biden can release transcripts that showed he was in the bottom 8% of his class in law school in spite of cheating, what is Obama hiding?
M.Rich
November 7th, 2009
7:25 pm
“If, as an adult, Obama travelled on an Indonesian passport, he would have surrendered his citizinship and would have made himself ineligible for the presidency.”
There is no evidence that that happened.
His birth certificate has been released. Geez, get a life.
Go Birthers!
November 7th, 2009
7:33 pm
You people are complete idiots. Is that the best that the GOP has?
Mike K.
November 7th, 2009
7:36 pm
I love how the birthers make all these claims but have nothing to back them up. Kind of like the Intelligent (sic) Design IDiots.
colin richards
November 7th, 2009
7:36 pm
I can’t believe these comments. Boy are there a lot of ignorant racists in the South. It was a real shock when I moved here from the North almost 20 years ago, and it is as bad or even worse now. If Georgia needs to do one thing, it is to invest in education. But instead, the Governor is cutting the educational budget. Maybe he wants to makes sure there will be plenty of people who vote for him and his ilk. It seems he and his party want to keep the schools below par in order to swell the ranks of their constituency.
PatGund
November 7th, 2009
7:40 pm
Mike – There’s no way he could have gotten an Indonesian passport. Why you ask? Simple:
Under US law, a US citizen minor cannot renounce their US citizenship nor can it be renounced for that child. Renouncing citizenship has to be done as an adult and it has to be witnessed by US officials, with documentation.
Under Indonesian law, a adopted child (and there is no evidence that Lolo Soetoro adopted Barack Obama, Jr.), cannot be granted citizenship unless they’re under the age of five. Furthermore, citizenship at all cannot be granted if it results in dual citizenship. If citizenship is to be granted as an adult, then the person has to have living in Indonesia for several years as an adult residence.
Obama was over the age to gain Indonesian citizenship as an adopted child when he went there to live, and only was there a few years before coming back to Hawaii to go to school. There’s no record or evidence of his having returned to Indonesia to live as an adult.
Therefore under both US and Indonesian law, there is no way he could have lost his US citizenship or be granted Indonesian citizenship.
As for the claim he traveled to Pakistan in 1984 on an Indonesian passport, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have used his US passport. The US State Department has confirmed there was no travel ban for Pakistan during that time period, and the New York Times even has an August 1984 article on travel and tourism to Pakistan.
Matt
November 7th, 2009
7:43 pm
Birthers=Loons. Please do not feed the wildlife.
Trusslady
November 7th, 2009
7:44 pm
I don’t know why you people continue to feed the birther trolls. They will never be satisfied.
Ramguy
November 7th, 2009
7:51 pm
Well Ga has had a fine showing this week. We have Paul Broun acting like a jacka$$ hanging with the lunatic known as Michele Bachmann who is openly calling for a revolution. Maybe we should use wingnut standards and line her up against the wall and shoot her for treason.lol Now we have Deal aligning himself with the birther nutcases. What do you expect when the face of the Republican party is the dope addict known as Limbaugh and the insane Beck? I don’t think Deal believes in this nonsense anymore than he believes in the man in the moon. He is just preaching to the choir. He knows how low the Ga public education system is rated and is just playing down his constituency’s level. The sad thing is that Georgians voted these guys in and now we deserve them.
toggle
November 7th, 2009
7:58 pm
I am beginning to wish my forebears had gone to Nova Scotia rather the Savannah.
NY Yankee
November 7th, 2009
8:01 pm
“I have constitutional right to know if he is an American citizen.’
He is. Now be a man and stop crying.
Lsten up, all you “patriots” :
If you are so interested in the welfare of the country, why don’t you actually do something positive-go work in a homeless shelter, volunteer to read to someone in a nursing home (assuming you can read), prepare meals for the hungry. Instead you cry over the President. You condemn a person over where you “think” (based on ZERO evidence) they might, possibly have been born..And I bet most of you believe you are “Christians”. The one crying is Jesus over the behavior of his followers….
William
November 7th, 2009
8:23 pm
NY Yankee
November 7th, 2009
8:01 pm
I can not advertise whether or not I am a Christain. I will be attacked by the liberals, aclu, the biased media. I could declare I am Islam. They are afraid to attack a perons of that religion.
ps You do not believe the state of Hawaii would ever lie do you?
NY Yankee
November 7th, 2009
8:32 pm
“ps You do not believe the state of Hawaii would ever lie do you?”
Let me tell you about my personal experiencxe with the state of Hawaii. I went to the web site for the State Tourist Board. They told me Hawaii was warm, had lovely beaches, palm trees, volcanoes. So I went there and guess what? All of that was 100% true. So in my experience, no, the state of Hawaii does not lie.
And you may be a Christain, but you are not a Christian, because you attack a man for who his father was.
vuduchld
November 7th, 2009
8:54 pm
Is this clown, Nathan Deal, the best that you Georgians can prop up to run for governor. I used to live in GA now I know why I left. Unemployment is more than 10 per cent in your state and all your so-called leaders can worry about is whether President Obama is a US citizen. Who are the people in your state voting for idiots like this? And you folks sit back ans wonder why you’re on the lower rung of the social ladder. YOU PILGRIMS ARE STUPID!
Stanislaw
November 7th, 2009
9:07 pm
@ Bill White, you had me going for a second. That was a great parody of a birfer! I like the way that you managed to shoehorn all of the knuckle-dragging insanity of the birfer movement into one post.
You have created a true classic. Pat yourself on the back!
Keep doing this GOP
November 7th, 2009
9:09 pm
I hope the state repugs keep this up. They keep showing how ignorant they are. This is also the reason why more people are NOT identifying themselves as republicans now. Keep up the stupid work.
Jay
November 7th, 2009
9:09 pm
I don’t believe Nathan Deal is a Klansman but he’s never
proven to my satisfaction that he ISN’T.
colin richards
November 7th, 2009
9:37 pm
Lol Jay!
BIG MAC
November 7th, 2009
9:41 pm
I don’t believe there is anything to the birth certificate thing but Obama has smugly kept the issue alive by refusing to release his full documents including the original birth certificate, medical records, college theses, etc. When you run for President you are expected to provide FULL disclosure. The man promised transparency, he has not delivered. period. In that regard, I support Deal.
For all the apologists, full disclosure is always easier unless you have something to hide.
DFlaw
November 7th, 2009
9:42 pm
Dear Nathan Deal: You are embarrassing the people who know you and your family. You are better than this. Please don’t join the ranks of the birthers to gain a few votes. You don’t need this kind of rhetoric to win…or at least you didn’t need it before. You have gone too far out on a limb now. I don’t believe you really, really believe this garbage. But if you do, then God help us all.
colin richards
November 7th, 2009
10:08 pm
Hey big mac I want to see your birth certificate. Scanning it in and putting it online is not enough. The assurance of the authorities of the state you were born in is not enough. The assurance of fact finding organizations is not enough. Unless I see your birth certificate with my own eyes and get to hold it I will never believe you are a citizen. Well, unless you are of European descent and are Caucasian. Then I will believe it.
whatever
November 7th, 2009
10:21 pm
If Barry is a citizen, then why has he spent millions blocking everything that would prove that he is?? What is he hiding??
whatever
November 7th, 2009
10:28 pm
Jay, you are just on here to get a reaction. In your world, if you disagree with someone who is black you are racists or KKK. That excuse is getting lame. As soon as Barry releases all his information, I will become a believer that he is a citizen. Again, what is he hiding???
Toxic and Proud!
November 7th, 2009
10:34 pm
Deal has my vote for Georgia’s most toxic candidate for guv. He has proved that he will do or say ANYTHING to win. Of course, he has some good competition. All of you candidates and their supporters–ignore the fact that Georgia is ranked near the top on every list of undesirables: most bank failures, highest unemployment, most toxic city, among the highest foreclosure rates, among the worst test scores, among the highest dropout rate, etc. etc. etc. and concentrate on this IDIOTIC birther nonsense. That will insure that Georgia continues it’s slide into third world oblivion.
Justy
November 8th, 2009
12:18 am
What I don’t understand is why Obama has spent over a million dollars defending himself over the birth certificate issue. Nobody spends a million dollars for no reason at all. And the lawsuits go on…and he keeps spending. Why doesn’t he just come up with the long form birth certificate and end all this speculation? And why are all his school records sealed? Everything from his past has been sealed. Does he really expect no one to question this? And, from what I read, this just isn’t being questioned in the United States but is being talked about in other countries. And all because he won’t come up with proof that he’s a natural born citizen. It’s all very strange.
Bill White
November 8th, 2009
12:19 am
@Stanislaw Thank you for the compliment. For that, my wife Delores, boys Dale + Kyle invite you to our home in Hattiesburg, MS for prayer + pie. Join us for an evening of praying to the Lord Almighty for a return to normalcy. This normalcy includes a pre-emptive wars, low taxes, unlimited oil exploration, high deductible/high premium health insurance for all, prayer in the few remaining public schools and the end of Planned Parenthood as we know it. But @Stanislaw, I feel that we need to build a wall around the great states of TX, MS, the Carolinas, LA, AL, GA and FL. Northerners don’t understand that the South believs in freedom. Freedom to the South includes unlimited use of Hummers, pick-up trucks, marriage between man + woman, Christian-based home schools headed by the woman of the house and unregulated coal and nuclear power plants. We in the South know that those issues are patriotic-unlike the Godless secular progressives who love Communism, abortion, high taxes and the gay agenda. God Bless, Bill Orvis White
Ramguy
November 8th, 2009
1:13 am
Where are all these people getting the information that the POTUS has spent over a million dollars defending himself over this accusation? I would guess the same place the birthers get their information. That would probably be Glen Beck, Matt Drudge and Rush “Limp”baugh. I have some ocean front property in NE Ga I would like to sell these people.
Michelle
November 8th, 2009
7:34 am
A poll of republicans would show that two thirds wish the president was not a natural born citizen and wish also his policies and this nation would fail. Republicans had their chance to complain with Bush Jr.’s idiotic policies that led to 9-11, war, thousands dead, trillions in debt, privacy destroyed, and where were Republicans then but leading the way to ruin. And now Nathan Deal has stepped up to the plate to strike out and embarrass himself and all of Georgia in his drunken claims. Deal was only recently exposed on TV with his business partner as having a sweetheart deal with the State of Georgia and his car inspection business for wrecked cars. He has decided to get out of that business and now he should get out of politics before Georgia becomes the joke of the nation, oh sorry, too late.
LOL
November 8th, 2009
7:40 am
I love this!!! Go Nathan Deal. We are near the bottom of the smart state survey in nearly every category and now I know why. We continuously elect morons to lead us. Who can careless if Johnny can read above the 6th grade. The state of Georgia will soon be back in Democratic hands…Oxendine = corrupt, Handel = hs diploma?, Deal = Loon, wow. The GOP has great role models.
Fishawk
November 8th, 2009
8:55 am
This debate is an embarrassment to the state and the people who live here. I just changed my vote. Roy Barnes now looks like Aristotle in comparison to the Republican slate. Nuts!
howard
November 8th, 2009
9:47 am
Deal should have to provide proof he has a brain
lightman
November 8th, 2009
9:51 am
Birthers are crackpots.
Dr. Tenenbaum
November 8th, 2009
10:29 am
This is the stupidest debate that has taken place in American history.
He has already provided copies of birth certificates in several states, the only people complaining anymore are the morons that don’t realize that fax machines do not emboss the pages that come out of them.
Although, another probem is that as many as 30% of the birthers do not realize that Hawaii is a state.
hd wood
November 8th, 2009
11:17 am
Dr. Christmas Tree… that’s rich. 1) I’m sorry you don’t think meeting the qualifications of office are important. Do you have a mail order degree? 2) The first official act of the president was to lock out all access to his documentation (first president in history to do that).
3) Great logic: you simply ignore those people. Those who understand what he’s up to should not be banished for a few. Do you really think Perlosi, Reed, and Frank are any more rational?
Jay
November 8th, 2009
11:30 am
All Rep. Deal has to do is show that he never filled out an application to be a Klansmen.
I don’t know where these rumors get started but he better nip it in the bud. However,
we all have our own crosses to burn…I mean bear, bear….
M.Rich
November 8th, 2009
12:38 pm
“What I don’t understand is why Obama has spent over a million dollars defending himself over the birth certificate issue.”
“The first official act of the president was to lock out all access to his documentation (first president in history to do that).”
Proof, please? Other than a web site that claims so?
Didn’t think so.
M.Rich is an idiot
November 8th, 2009
1:20 pm
First of all the 14th amendment doesn not make you a citizen just because you are born here…..funny how you quoted it but I guess you never read it…..It doesn’t say all persons born or naturalized ARE SUBJECT TO THE JURISTICTION THEREOF…it clearly states all persons born or naturalized, AND SUBJECT TO THE JURISTICTION THEREOF….get it NOT ARE…AND….if their parents are subject to the juristiction of their homeland by not being legal residents of AMERICA than a person born here to those who owe allegience to another nation are citizens of that nation…..NOT AMERICA!!!!!! And Obomber has spent nearly a million dollars to keep his birth certificate from public scrutiny….I suppose you are also going to dispute the fact that he has not released his transcripts either….If those who want OBOMBER to produce his birth certificate instead a certificate of live birth are called birthers than those who oppose should be called deceivers. M.Rich and Jim Galloway are so in the tank for this moron in the white house they should just go to washington….make an appointment to meet with OBOMBER and just blow him and get it over with
M.Rich is an idiot
November 8th, 2009
1:26 pm
Michelle….Bush’s policies led to 9/11?????? Really. So tell us….What clinton policies led to the first bombing of the WTC in 93???? What Clinton policies led to USS Cole being attacked and two embasies in Africa???.What Clinton policies led to the Kandahar towers being bombed…If 9/11 was bush’s fault then Clinton is responsible for 3 incidents
M.Rich is an idiot
November 8th, 2009
1:27 pm
Sorry…..4 incidents….unless of course you want to include the Oklahoma city bombing….I think Clinton was pres. then too….right Michelle…so that would make it 5