Your morning jolt: House speaker suggests ‘birther’ bill has a limited future
House Speaker David Ralston, in a late Thursday interview, said he would not stop committee-level debate of a bill to require President Barack Obama to provide proof of his American birth in order to get on the ballot next year.
But Ralston, who has developed a strong relationship with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, suggested that HB 401 stood little chance of making it to the floor for passage, despite carrying the signatures of 93 Republican lawmakers.
House Speaker David Ralston. Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com
“I’m not promoting the bill or squelching discussion. We’ll have a discussion, and then we’ll see what happens,” Ralston said. “First of all, I believe President Obama is the duly elected president of the United States. I’ve never followed the ‘birther’ school of thought.”
The measure was introduced Monday, and has its first hearing today in a House subcommittee. The bill could require all candidates for president to provide certified copies of their “first original long-form birth certificate.”
Documentation as provided by the state of Hawaii, which has insisted time and time again that Obama was born there, “would not suffice,” said state Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross, the bill’s author.
The bill comes as the Georgia Ports Authority continues to push the White House for hundreds of millions in federal dollars to dredge the Port of Savannah – the state’s most important infrastructure project. The bill also flies in the face of an alliance that the House speaker has built with the mayor of Atlanta on another crucial issue – transportation funding.
Moreover, passage of the HOPE scholarship bill on Tuesday was accomplished with the cooperation of House Democratic Leader Stacy Abrams of Atlanta, who has her own ties to Obama.
All that said, the signatures of 93 Republicans on the bill – in a 180-member House – requires Ralston to perform a high-wire act on this issue.
“I am elected by a large and diverse caucus. And the issues that matter to them span a considerable range,” Ralston said. “What I’ve tried to be about, is allowing the committee process to have discussions about issues that are important to members.”
Another measure being heard today, the speaker noted, was a proposed constitutional amendment to permit horse-racing in Georgia.
Asked whether HB 401 could hurt the state’s effort to obtain federal funding for its all-important port, Ralston said:
”I would hope that having the discussion would not. I would hope that there would be respect for a diversity of opinion and a free exchange of ideas. I would hope that everybody in this process is big enough to understand that in the legislative process, a big part of what this is about is having ideas vetted and debated.
“I’m kind of proud of the relationships we have. Mayor Reed and I have formed a kind of alliance that I think is healthy for the entire state. I think we share some goals that I think are good for Georgia – such as the port and its future.
“I think all of those are much larger than this discussion.”
In case you missed it, go back and read the emphasis Ralston placed on the word “discussion.”
Asked whether his relationship with Reed would survive a floor vote on a bill that questions the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency, Ralston said this:
”I think our alliance is very strong. And I would not do anything to damage that alliance.”
So no House floor vote? Replied Ralston:
”I’m saying that we’ve got a lot of big issues that need to come to the floor. That’s different than saying that debating this bill in subcommittee or at the committee level – that’s two different things.
“At some point we’re going to have to sit down and prioritize how we’re going to spend our energy. The priorities are the budget, the reservoir bill, making sure the HOPE scholarship bill gets all the way through the process. We’ve got the tax reform council.”
At the request of many of you’ve I’ve uploaded a scan of the many signatures on HB 401. Stopping this bill may be harder than it sounds. Originally, we wrote here that, among the 22 Republicans who have not signed onto the bill was John Meadows, chairman of the House Rules Committee, which determines which bills move – and don’t move.
But Hatfield pointed us to Meadows’ signature. “Top of the second row, back page.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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249 comments Add your comment
ksdb
March 2nd, 2011
10:40 am
@chilidog, the state of Hawaii has NOT provided any official documents to the state of Georgia to confirm Obama’s nativity myth. That’s the whole point of this bill. A jpg on a website is not acceptable evidence of anything, especially when the state of Hawaii goes out of its way to avoid legally confirming its authenticity.
Aquagirl
March 2nd, 2011
10:41 am
Gee, straight talk, I’d believe you if you just included your birth certificate with your post. How hard can that be? Why don’t you post it, what’s the big deal?
Rodger
March 2nd, 2011
10:42 am
Please list the 93 Republicans who signed this bill. A billboard should be erected in Atlanta with all of their names posted under the caption “93 RACISTS IN OUR STATE GOVERNMENT”
Let’s call a spade a spade!
ksdb
March 2nd, 2011
10:43 am
@ aquagirl, you’re imagining things. The state of Hawaii has not verified Obama’s jpg of an alleged birth certificate. The current governor can’t find the original. He had his people look for it and now he claims that something is written down in the State Archives. The problem is that the state archives in Hawaii don’t contain ANY birth records newer than 1929. Why would he tell such a terrible lie??
Bourne Penetration
March 2nd, 2011
10:44 am
““Birther’ is intended to disparage anyone who has concerns about the citizenship status of our current President.”
I am not attempting to disparage anyone who has those concerns….I am outright, in plain speak and at the top of my lungs disparaging those people. IGNORANCE IS NOT A BIRTH DEFECT BUT A WILLFUL CHOICE.
And this is the height of ignorance.
So consider yourself disparaged.
OH MY GOD!!! REALLY????
JustMe
March 2nd, 2011
10:44 am
The state of Hawaii has refused to verify that Obama’s jpg is genuine, and they made several misleading and outright false statements to cover for him. There is no legal evidence to back up the jpg Obama posted on his website. NONE.
Where on earth do you get that from? The former Republican (and I emphasize “REPUBLICAN”) Governor, Linda Lingle confirmed the authenticity of the birth certificate on more than one occasion.
GaBlue
March 2nd, 2011
10:47 am
C’mon. Bring it. Tell us we won’t have the option of voting for the Democratic nominee.
Watch the revolution spread as the progressive people of Georgia wake up and converge on the Capitol to overthrow the oppressive Talibaptist, Good ol’ Boy Corruption Regime. We’ll thank you for the motivation afterward.
Bourne Penetration
March 2nd, 2011
10:48 am
“Dumb thought here guys. Instead of talking trash or allowing others to do it for him why not just show a copy of the original document?”
Because IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Obama is the President whether we like it or not. Change it is 2012 if you wish but this is the kind of idiocy that makes my home state look like its filled with the Ned Beatty raping psycho rednecks.
OH MY GOD!!! REALLY????
Denise
March 2nd, 2011
10:49 am
I am sure that Newt is loving these birther comments. He can surely depend on votes from the simple- minded people and politicians in Georgia!
Let it go! Focus on Georgia’s REAL problems.
pn
March 2nd, 2011
10:49 am
Wake up blog monitor. AJC makes reporting nasty comments too difficult to be useful.
You people are suckers
March 2nd, 2011
10:51 am
Yes, “birther” is disparaging, and it ought to be. Every time there is a piece of information that directly proves Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, people of that school of thought find something wrong with it.
My personal favorite is when someone found a birth announcement for him printed a couple of days after his date of birth in the Honolulu newspaper that also listed the names of his parents. I’ve actually read where people have argued that such an announcement could have been faked in 1961 to set up some sort of “Manchurian Candidate” scenario.
The birth certificate the Obama campaign released is the one you get if you were born in Hawaii and order your birth certificate to get a U.S. passport. It is what the state issues.
The problem with conspiracy theorists is that there goal is not to find out the truth, it’s to keep the conspiracy going for whatever personal reason. Engaging a conspiracy theorist substantively does nothing other than give him or her more material to spin into a silly web. THAT is why the Obama White House and the State of Hawaii choose to ignore birthers.
And on another note, don’t give Mr. Ralston too much credit for disavowing the birther theories. Note that he said he thinks the President was “duly elected.” He didn’t say something to the effect of “The President is a natural born citizen, and any theories to contrary have been completely debunked.”
The inability of Republican politicians to just state that plainly always amazes me. It shows how “out there” the Republican Party has become.
ksdb
March 2nd, 2011
10:53 am
@ JustMe: Lingle made a claim that she had her health director put out a news release while she was campaigning for McCain in October 2008 and this news release said Obama was born in Kapiolani Hospital. This is false. The health director did put out a news release on Oct. 31, 2008, but it only said that an “original birth certificate” was on record. It said NOTHING about where Obama was born. It said nothing about the authenticity of Obama’s jpg.
Several months later (July 2009), coinciding with a House resolution sponsored by Neil Abercrombie (then a HI state rep), the director released a second statement claiming that Obama was born in Hawaii. It did not say Obama was born in a hospital.
Not only did Lingle lie, but NOTHING in any of these statements confirms that Obama’s jpg is authentic. The director of health has statutory authority to release an actual copy of the certificate if she wants, but she refused. She could issue a legal verification of the record, but she refused. None of these statements is a legal verification of that jpg. None.
bart
March 2nd, 2011
10:54 am
Why the hell aren’t they dealing with jobs, the economy, tansportation, and water instead of wasting their time and our money dealing with emabarassing stuff like this? We need to throw them all out of office in the next election!
bart
March 2nd, 2011
10:54 am
transportation
Question
March 2nd, 2011
10:54 am
Where can I find the list of names that signed on this monumental waste of time and taxpayer money, eh, I mean bill?
Aquagirl
March 2nd, 2011
10:55 am
ksdb, you need to quit getting your info from Whirled Nut Daily or forwarded e-mails. It’s not the Governor’s job to “find” anybody’s birth certificate. It’s the Director of Health’s job. She and the Registrar released an official statement saying the certificate is there, in full accordance with state policies and procedures.
Now, the Hawaii State DOH is one of those yellow people, so I understand how you don’t accept her official statement. But Hawaii does not place an undue burden of proof on people who don’t mark the “caucasian/white” box. It’s really not normal for those of us living in the 21st century.
bart
March 2nd, 2011
10:55 am
embarrassing…I can’t spell today. Looks like I’m about as dumb as they are!
Sounds like a Wimpy Move
March 2nd, 2011
10:57 am
Kudos to Mr. Ralston. This is nothing more than a political farce by some knuckleheads that we elected. The FBI and Secret Service have done the background check. The state of Hawaii confirmed President Obama’s cerificate is legimate. here is another fact that these genuises have ingore. Since his mother is a American citizen who was born in the state of Kansas, that makes the President a citizen of the U.S. regardless of where he was born. Do you want a copy of his mother’s birth certificate? Why is the certificate he used to obtain a passport not adequate enoough proof for the birthers? How about focussing on the real issues for which you were elected to address?
ksdb
March 2nd, 2011
10:59 am
@ suckers, You don’t seem to understand who the real suckers are. There has been no piece of information that directly and LEGALLY confirms Obama was born in Hawaii. You mentioned the newspaper announcements from 1961, but what you don’t seem to understand is that these announcements did not list a place of birth. The state of Hawaii allows out-of-state births to be recorded in Hawaii and there is nothing under state law that precludes such births from being reported in the newspapers. We do know that the street address listed in that announcement is an address that Obama’s father never lived at. All that announcement proves is that a birth was registered with the state. That’s it.
Moderate Voice
March 2nd, 2011
10:59 am
Now is Ga infringing on another state. Hawaii says Obama was born there and uses its Filings as Proof. Thus one state is telling another state to change its Filing procedures. Yep State Rights in full effect.
Red
March 2nd, 2011
11:01 am
To those ashamed to live here….there’s the door. Bye. No one is forcing you to live here. There is quite a large amount of foreclosed homes up north along with a higher tax burden. If you are ashamed, there are alternatives. Nothing like a group of whining adults who take advantage of what Georgia has to offer but then complain like 5 year olds. Do us all a favor and just leave.
ksdb
March 2nd, 2011
11:01 am
@ aquagirl, what I’ve cited is from the original newspaper stories and from the state of Hawaii’s own website. You need to quit trying to build a strawman to knock down and focus on why two governors would tell outright lies to cover for Obama and why the president can’t be held to the same legal standard he voted for in confirming the authenticity of birth certificates.
Your morning jolt: House speaker suggests ‘birther’ bill has a limited future | Conservative GA
March 2nd, 2011
11:01 am
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Aquagirl
March 2nd, 2011
11:03 am
You people are suckers
March 2nd, 2011
10:51 am
“The problem with conspiracy theorists is that there goal is not to find out the truth, it’s to keep the conspiracy going for whatever personal reason. Engaging a conspiracy theorist substantively does nothing other than give him or her more material to spin into a silly web. THAT is why the Obama White House and the State of Hawaii choose to ignore birthers.”
Absolutely. If you release a short-form certificate and birthers shriek “FAKE!!!11!!!” then why offer more documentation? So they can shriek “FAKE!!!11!!!!” Some more?
Don’t engage with hysterical drama queens.
GaBlue
March 2nd, 2011
11:04 am
Question @ 10:54,
I called my rep’s office yesterday afternoon to ask whether he was among the 94 for, or the 22 against. Could not get a straight answer from the secretary. Will call again today, and continue calling until I get one. Suggest everyone do the same. The reason our reps do such outrageously irresponsible things is that they believe no one is really paying attention.
Laughing At Republicans
March 2nd, 2011
11:04 am
You can really tell that the adults are in charge downtown! I would think they have much more important things to worry about. Don’t they know the Secret Service is in charge of vetting candidates for such high offices…NOT the idiots elected in Georgia. Too funny. Thank goodness not all the Rs were at recess when this came up.
Red
March 2nd, 2011
11:05 am
Sounds Wimpy – Background checks? Where is this info you speak of?
The birth certificate I have right now produced by the state of Tennessee says the man listed is my father. I was actually adopted at the age of six. So even though it swears this is the accurate info from my birth this document does not reflect the same info at the time of my birth. Ask anyone who has been adopted. What a legal birth certificate says NOW does not reflect the way it was actually at birth. This alone should let people know that what Obama produced does not conclusively rule out the way it was in 1961.
bart
March 2nd, 2011
11:08 am
Aquagirl, you’re right about this being a moot point in GA. Obama can’t win the State anyway. The problem is, this is an embarrassment to all of us in our state. And ksdb, you’re obviously getting your info from Fox and emails. Lingle, the REPUBLICAN governor of Hawaii, verified the birth certificate. Our legislature needs to be dealing with jobs, the economy, transportation, water, and education. GA is hurting and they don’t need to be wasting their time on this crap.
Aquagirl
March 2nd, 2011
11:09 am
Red
March 2nd, 2011
11:01 am
To those ashamed to live here….there’s the door. Bye. No one is forcing you to live here.
Well, time for the daily post—Why are some people proud Georgia sucks so badly, others are fleeing? If you cr@p in your pants it’ll clear the room out, but it’s not really a win for you, Red. But keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.
pn
March 2nd, 2011
11:09 am
This bill and the vote on it are nothing but political theater to divert attention from the abysmal lack of productive accomplishments by our legislature. They continue to fiddle and pander while the state crumbles around them.
ECB
March 2nd, 2011
11:11 am
By the way, I’ve never seen George Bush’s birth certificate. Should we ask him to produce it? How about Reagan. He was so old when he was elected that I think he must have been born before Columbus. Did you ever see his birth certificate?
Real Athens
March 2nd, 2011
11:12 am
kdsb:
Get a life.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:14 am
@ faa q: “Dumb thought here guys. Instead of talking trash or allowing others to do it for him why not just show a copy of the original document? Boom done.”
============================
Boom, he did it, two years ago.
Accept it and move on.
JustMe
March 2nd, 2011
11:16 am
Sorry ksdb – fail … http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/feb/27/leo-berman/state-rep-leo-berman-says-hawaii-governor-cant-fin/
You have obviously been drinking way too much of the right-wing freak show koolade.
GaBlue
March 2nd, 2011
11:17 am
Hahaha! “If you cr@p in your pants it’ll clear the room out, but it’s not really a win for you, Red. But keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”
Excellent.
JustMe
March 2nd, 2011
11:19 am
And if Lingle was campaigning for McCain (of course, they’re both Republicans) then why would she cover for Obama if it wasn’t true (which of course it is)?? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! But then again all of what the members of the right wing freak show known as birthers do makes ZERO sense.
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:20 am
@ksdb: the state of Hawaii has NOT provided any official documents to the state of Georgia to confirm Obama’s nativity myth. That’s the whole point of this bill. A jpg on a website is not acceptable evidence of anything, especially when the state of Hawaii goes out of its way to avoid legally confirming its authenticity.
==========================
You are avoiding the point. The document thatthe president posted on his website is a legal document issued by the stae of Hawaii. The state of Georgia HAS to accept it as valid proof that the president was born in Hawaii. If the State of Goergia refuses to accept it and demands that the state of Hawaii issue further proof, the president is entitled to go to court and have the court tell the state of Georgia to get its collective birther heads out of its asses and accept the document released by the stae of Hawaii.
Red
March 2nd, 2011
11:21 am
Aquagirl – is that the best you can do? Find me a better state to live in and I’ll rent the U-Haul for you. I never knew Georgia sucks so badly. Again, if it does, by all means…leave. I could care less what is a “win”. I just think it’s pretty childish and pathetic that people who live here do nothing but get on a blog and complain about it all the time. Well if it gets your unmentionables in a wad, do yourself a favor and leave. Find your utopia. I’ll help you pack.
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:22 am
@ksdb “The current governor can’t find the original. He had his people look for it and now he claims that something is written down in the State Archives.”
=========================
that story is a hoax. The guy who wrote the story admitted he made the whole thing up. Why do you persist in repeating a known lie?
JP
March 2nd, 2011
11:22 am
Why would Obama discourage birther talk? It takes away from legitimate beefs people have with the guy. Lump those that disagree with him into the same camp as the birthers and the independents will think they are all crazy. (Disclosure -I support O, but don’t agree with everything he has done)
Aquagirl
March 2nd, 2011
11:23 am
JustMe, I’m sure ksdb will reject yet another current reality and substitute his/her own.
After all, you didn’t provide a certified long-form triple backflip copy of Politifact’s assessment, IT’S FAKE!!!11!!!
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:29 am
@justme: “The state of Hawaii has refused to verify that Obama’s jpg is genuine,”
==================
Which was entirely in accordance with existing privacy laws. Let me repeat that, under the law, the state CAN NOT release birth certificate information without the consent of the person involved.
Now let’s look at your statement one more time, from a different angle: “The state of Hawaii has refused to verify that Obama’s jpg is genuine,” It is a violation of Hawaiian state law to forge or alter a state issued document. If the JPG file on the internet was forged or altered, that would have been a violation of state law. Do you understand that? If the JPG image released by the president, or the document photographed by FactCheck were forged or altered, that would have been a violation of state law. The state is obligated to protect the integrity of its official documents. Therefore, if the documents in question were forged or altered, then the state would have been OBLIGATED to follow up on this as a violation of state law.
Please explain why you think they did not do this?
Mystified Independent
March 2nd, 2011
11:30 am
I believe John Boehner was born on that planet of the Orange People. I demand to see his birth certificate.
This entire charade is both ludicrous and disturbing.
I guess education, transportation, and the economy are just not important enough to warrant any attention from our legislature.
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:30 am
@ JustMe, don’t forget that Lingle’s Attorney General was a hard core republican. Don’t you think he would have prosecuted Obama for forgery if he could have?
Red
March 2nd, 2011
11:32 am
Chilidog – go back and read my earlier post. Just as anyone adopted can attest, what a birth certificate says now does not mean the same thing as what it said at birth. I don’t know how else to repeatedly say this. What was released was a current version. This still does not verify what was stated on the form at the time of his birth.
Chilidog
March 2nd, 2011
11:34 am
Red, are you claiming that Obama was adopted?
otherwise, your point is moot.
Beeg Boi
March 2nd, 2011
11:36 am
Red- What if Obama turns out to be a Kenyan? Then what? Why would that improve your life?
Matt
March 2nd, 2011
11:38 am
Wow, what a colossal waste of time.
The economy is in shambles, we are fighting two wars, and the government is about to shut down and this is what our state legislators are doing?
“Birthers” need to get a clue. As any government employee knows, they do background checks for every person that gets any kind of security clearance and the president is not exempt from this.
I think the secret service have better resources than a bunch of nutjobs who know how to make a website or two.
JustMe
March 2nd, 2011
11:41 am
Chilidog, you obviously misread what I said (or misunderstood the link to the article I posted) I never said I didn’t think they did this and yes, Lingle would have prosecuted Obama for perjury – which is exactly the point I was making with my post at 11:19. For some reason you seem to think I side with the birthers – trust me – I do not.
Native Atlantan2
March 2nd, 2011
11:42 am
@muggymug — who the heck really cares? My god….this is the least of our worries….