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Why did Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie make a show of saying he was going to produce Obama's birth certificate if he wasn't sure he'd be able to do that?

Watch out! It's a trick question. Here's Rush Limbaugh, unpacking the problem today. Read the whole thing, but here's a super-tight edit:

I would think that if Abercrombie is gonna [say he'll produce the birth certificate], he's not the Lone Ranger. He's gotta be calling the White House, "Okay, look, we have a potential problem here. I want to find this thing and I want to make it public."  If that happened, somebody at the regime did not say, "No, don't do it," because Abercrombie is still alive.  If they had said, "No, don't do it," and Abercrombie is still doing it....

I can't imagine Abercrombie being a free agent on this.  Abercrombie gets inaugurated governor and out of the blue says, "Ah, you know what, I'm worried about this birther thing, they may have something there.  I gotta find that birth certificate, and I'm gonna release it, I'm gonna prove it once and for all."  Then he says, "I can't find it. Oh no, I'm in trouble. I'm really embarrassing myself here."  And that's the hook and the bait, the unsuspecting and the beguiled are expected to chomp on that hook, line, and sinker and be reeled in.

So Rush thinks the birth certificate is there and the delay is about trying to get Obama's opponents to go on record spouting birtherisms that will make them look stupid and mean-spirited when the birth certificate is finally whipped out.

By the way, if it were actually true that Obama is not a natural-born citizen ? as the Constitution requires as a qualification for the presidency ? wouldn't it be the case that Obama is not a citizen at all?

Full post as published by Althouse on January 21, 2011 (boomark / email).