Obama Citizenship

Sen. Shelby?s Foray Into the Eligibility Issue Helps Cause a Stir in the Press

By Phil

This evening, WorldNetDaily is reporting that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) had seriously questioned the President’s eligibility:

WASHINGTON ? A U.S. senator has weighed in on the continuing controversy over Barack Obama’s eligibility for office by saying he has never seen proof the new president was actually born in Hawaii.

“Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told constituents in Cullman County. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

The above was originally reported by The Cullman Times, a news outlet out of Cullman, AL (original article here). Despite the fact that Sen. Shelby’s office seems to be reporting the story as a “distortion,” The Times is sticking by their accuracy…

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cullman Times is seeking any video or audio recordings of Sen. Shelby’s comments at Saturday’s meeting. If you have a recording that you could share with us so we could post it on CullmanTimes.com, please e-mail editor@cullmantimes.com.)

Sen. Richard Shelby’s office is calling a Cullman Times report “incomplete” and a “distortion” of his comments on President Obama’s citizenship status during a town hall meeting Saturday.

When asked during the meeting whether there was any truth to the rumor that Obama was not a United States citizen, Shelby said, ?Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven?t seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.?

According to the Politico, a Washington-based political publication, Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo issued the following statement:

“The Cullman Times article contains an incomplete account, and therefore a distortion, of Sen. Shelby’s comments regarding President Obama’s citizenship. At the town hall meeting in Cullman, Sen. Shelby laid out the Constitutional qualifications for the Presidency and said that, while he hasn’t personally seen the President’s birth certificate, he is confident that the matter has been thoroughly examined.”

The Times stands by its reporting as complete and accurate. 

The Times is seeking video or audio recordings from the meeting and, if available, will post them on CullmanTimes.com. [emphasis added]

Even Sen. Shelby’s Wikipedia entry has been updated with a reference to The Cullman Times‘ article:

Obama Citizenship

At a meeting on February 21, 2009, Shelby called into question whether Barack Obama had been born in the United States, and therefore able to be President of the United States. When asked if there was any truth in the rumour that there was an issue regarding Obama’s citizenship, Shelby responded “Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven?t seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.?

In fact, even a blog on the LA Times web site is recognizing that the eligibility issue is percolating:

The controversy over the validity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate is back on a burner with firebrand conservative Alan Keyes making serious new charges.

In a video … released Friday, Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois that launched the new president’s national political career, calls Obama a communist and usurper and says he refuses to acknowledge the validity of Obama’s inauguration over lingering questions in the minds of many conspiracists about the 44th president’s birthplace. …

This simmering dispute, occurring online and in e-mails coursing daily across the Internet, seems unlikely to evaporate any time soon.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on February 22, 2009 (boomark / email).