Georgia hopped on the birther bandwagon — again — by introducing legislation last week that requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to produce certified copies of their birth certificates.
Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross, who introduced a similar bill in 2010, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 401, according to the Associated Press, and denies he is a “birther” — a person who believes President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. But he said that he hasn’t “personally seen any real proof” of Obama’s legitimacy to serve as president.
“Most people feel it’s an issue to a significant enough portion of our population that it needs to be addressed by the state,” Hatfield said. “It is, in a sense, a response … to the sitting president and his inability or unwillingness to release his original birth certificate.”
Since the “birther” questions started in 2008, this particular conspiracy theory has been discussed, disputed, delivered with stern expressions by talking heads and eventually debunked so many times that another wingnut theory sprung up about where it all began: with Hillary Clinton. Apparently Clinton was so desperate to win the primary, her only recourse was to cast doubt on Obama’s citizenship. Who comes up with this stuff?
During the presidential campaign, Obama released a “certificate of live birth,” an official state document confirming that he was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu. Over the last few years, Hawaiian officials have been deluged with requests from people who want a copy of the document — the same document, except from the state. Citing the state’s privacy laws, officials could not comply. So Hawaii lawmakers have proposed a bill revising the law that would make a copy of the document available to anyone who asks — for $100. “All these people are still doubting it because they don’t want the birth certificate from Obama,” Rep. Rida Cabanilla told AP. “They want it from our state office.”
Hatfield said his bill wasn’t specifically for an Obama candidacy and would apply to anyone seeking the office — but he specified that documentation as provided by the state of Hawaii attesting to Obama’s birth there “would not suffice,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. What will? According to the language of the bill: “Evidence of eligibility… (including) a certified exact copy of the candidate’s first original long-form birth certificate that includes the candidate’s name, time and place of birth; the name of the specific hospital or other location at which the candidate was born; the attending physician at the candidate’s birth; the names of the candidate’s birth parents and their respective birthplaces and places of residence; and signatures of the witness or witnesses in attendance at the candidate’s birth.”
According to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Vital Records division, a computer-generated long-form in our state includes much of that information but does not provide (or require) witness signatures, the time of birth, a specific hospital (only the city) or the name of the attending physician. Thus, if Georgia’s legislation passes,no South Carolina natives need apply to run on the Georgia ballot for president or vice president.
“It could be that this individual really does doubt that Barack Obama was born in this country, despite evidence to the contrary,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. “There are also people who think we have never sent astronauts to the moon.”
Originally, 92 Republicans and one Democrat signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. As of Monday, 28 had removed their names from the measure.
Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut, Indiana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Maine have bills pending. A proposal failed earlier this year in Montana.
Let’s hope it makes a resounding thud in Georgia, too. The South already has enough unfair image problems.
