Slog
News & ArtsFriday, May 18, 2012
2012 That's One Way to Take Arizona Out of Play
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, May 18, 2012 at 8:49 AM
So there was this:
The Obama campaign is looking to expand the battleground states map to include Arizona, opening campaign offices and registering voters across the state despite its Republican governor, two Republican senators, and a history of voting Republican in presidential elections broken, in the past 50 years, only by Bill Clinton.... “It is going to be a swing state,” said Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager. “The question is, whether we can get enough people registered to put it in play this year.”
Which is why there's this:
The man in charge of running Arizona’s elections has gone to the birthers. Secretary of State Ken Bennett now says he’s not convinced Barack Obama was really born in the United States and so he is threatening to keep the president off the ballot in November.... Bennett [is] the state’s No. 2 elected official just below Gov. Jan Brewer (R).... “I’m not a birther. I believe the president was born in Hawaii—or at least I hope he was,” Bennett said on the show. “But my responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure the ballots in Arizona are correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking.”
1
How offensively unsurprising. Note this stupid, stupid bit from the article: "Bennett said he sent his request to Hawaii officials eight weeks ago but has yet to get the proof he was hoping for. He said he didn’t want another copy of the birth certificate. He wants Hawaii to give him what he described as “a verification in lieu of a certified copy of a birth certificate.”
3
Arizona has proven that it should just be excised from our country like a tumor.
I am always shocked how the legislature just keeps getting stupider and more bigoted.
How about we give it back to Mexico?
I am always shocked how the legislature just keeps getting stupider and more bigoted.
How about we give it back to Mexico?
4
Secretary of State Ken Bennett is holding a completely untenable position. He can not exclude the president from the ballot on the grounds he does not meet the constitutional requirements, as Obama can not be both the president and constitutionally barred from holding the office.
5
Perhaps this is good, The republicans expose their stupidity, the DNC sues and the President's name goes on the ballot anyway, Romney gets asked to weigh in on the issue, therefore knocking him off message for at least a day, and is forced to defend the President, which will anger his base.
6
@5 If this country had not turned into Bizarro America, then that logical chain of events would definitely happen.
7
I'm guessing he's already received “a verification in lieu of a certified copy of a birth certificate” from Michigan to ensure Mitt Romney's ballot spot.
11
As Arizona pulls ahead in its WTF race against Florida: How will Florida top this? Make no mistake, there are too many months before the election for there not to be at least two more rounds.
12
This, coupled with the episode of Independent Lens that was on last night... Oy.
pbs.org/independentlens/precious-knowled…; for anyone who's interested.
pbs.org/independentlens/precious-knowled…; for anyone who's interested.
13
Goddammit. pbs dot org/independentlens/precious-knowledge/
One of these days I'm going to have to learn to do something more in html than just italics.
One of these days I'm going to have to learn to do something more in html than just italics.
14
“It’s just something I believe is leading our country down a path of destruction and it just is not serving any good purpose,” she told CNN’s John King.
Yes, because non-Americans are getting to see how breathtakingly stupid you lot can be.
Yes, because non-Americans are getting to see how breathtakingly stupid you lot can be.
17
When I was a student, protesting against war, against unenlightened university policies, etc., various defenders of the Republic would call us "anarchists."
That wasn't anarchy.
What the Republicans now do to compete, to thwart, to obstruct, to cheat (like dumping Democratic voters off the rolls, wholesale, without notification in time to reregister), now that's anarchy. Well, either anarchy or sedition, pick one.
Fucking fascist, seditious pigs....
That wasn't anarchy.
What the Republicans now do to compete, to thwart, to obstruct, to cheat (like dumping Democratic voters off the rolls, wholesale, without notification in time to reregister), now that's anarchy. Well, either anarchy or sedition, pick one.
Fucking fascist, seditious pigs....
18
Way too many mormonbots in AZ for a win, but Obama should force Rmoney to spend money here. If Obama allowed TX and AZ to secede, would that be "downsizing America?"
20
Hope the DNC is pushing to get Bennett removed. Then he can practice his birtherism all he wants.
21
At some point this has to be pretty much tantamount to slander, right? I mean, the legal documentation in question has been made a matter of public record. If you start going on the record telling damaging lies, and it's untenable to make a case that you don't know they're lies...
What a contemptible asshole. This is the lowest form of racist-dogwhistle stunt short of just dropping some n-bombs.
What a contemptible asshole. This is the lowest form of racist-dogwhistle stunt short of just dropping some n-bombs.
22
Remember. There are no (or at least virtually no) "red" and "blue" states. They're all purple. Sadly, Arizona is more of a maroon (though with some pockets of blue-ish, notably Tempe and Tucson), but there are plenty of Democrats (and at least some Greens, and various other fringe parties) in this state.
23
I dont know why we dont chop off the bottom part of the country completely, not just Az.
Actually, I am reading a book called Ecotopia right now, where Wa, Oregon and northern CA declare independence from the US. It was written in 1975 but got alot of our current tech and culture pretty right.
Actually, I am reading a book called Ecotopia right now, where Wa, Oregon and northern CA declare independence from the US. It was written in 1975 but got alot of our current tech and culture pretty right.
25
For conservatives, the ends justify the means. Hence, all their talk of morality and values is empty, because they are not merely willing, but eager to drop their own standards to get what they want. They have no sense of empathy or social conscience, or at least it's very small compared to the desire for personal gain.
26
And to think as a young, dumb teen I had actually wanted to live in that state....[shudder]
Is it the higher per-capita number of seniors in AZ and FL that cause this inability to think? The water? Too much damaging sun rays?
Is it the higher per-capita number of seniors in AZ and FL that cause this inability to think? The water? Too much damaging sun rays?
27
Remember when you were a kid and you played the game where you pretended the floor was lava? There would always be that one kid that stepped on the floor and claimed he had lava proof boots on, only to scream cheating at the top of his lungs when someone else did the same. Those kids grew up to be Republicans.
28
@22: They're not purple; they're islands of blue in a empty desert of red. http://www.urbanarchipelago.com/
Also, I love Hawaii's response to this. They're refusing to give Bennett any information until he submits proof that he is really the Secretary of State and is allowed to serve in that position.
Also, I love Hawaii's response to this. They're refusing to give Bennett any information until he submits proof that he is really the Secretary of State and is allowed to serve in that position.
29
@26 Arizona is an incredibly beautiful state though it's residents are certainly doing their best to make it as ugly as possible.
30
"Natural born citizen" means "born a citizen." Not "born in the United States." So unless you're going to try to assert that Obama's mother was someone other than who she was, the Kenya-or-Hawaii question is irrelevant anyway.
31
@23 Actually, creating Ecotopia has been a movement that a lot of folks in the northwestern states have been rumbling about for years. The current movement is calling the nation that would be created Cascadia. Frankly if we could find a way to get out of the Union without starting a war I would be all for it.
32
@30, I've seen this mentioned several times in discussions about Obama's birth place. Sounds perfectly logical to me. Somehow, however, this never seems to change the debate. What gives?
33
It is past time this birther nonsense was put to rest. Feel free to enlighten any fool you run across. It does not matter where the President was born. His mother was his birth mother and she was a citizen. Doesn't matter who his father was. 8 United States Code Section 1401 defines citizenship in general and a natural born citizen (the legal requirement for the presidency) in particular.
8 USC § 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or periods of employment with the United States Government or with an international organization as that term is defined in section 288 of title 22 by such citizen parent, or any periods during which such citizen parent is physically present abroad as the dependent unmarried son or daughter and a member of the household of a person
8 USC § 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or periods of employment with the United States Government or with an international organization as that term is defined in section 288 of title 22 by such citizen parent, or any periods during which such citizen parent is physically present abroad as the dependent unmarried son or daughter and a member of the household of a person
34
When I read this : Gov. Jan Brewer (R).... “I’m not a birther. I believe the president was born in Hawaii—or at least I hope he was,” I heard this translation in my head : " I can't believe Americans voted a nigger as President so he must be a foreigner." because that's what those birther types think. It's code for racism plain and simple.
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