The Greater Phoenix Tea Party Patriots report that the birther celebrity event organized by the Surprise Tea Party Patriots, featuring Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Mike Zullo, singer Pat Boone, and disgraced Army doctor birther Terry Lakin. has been canceled due to inadequate sales of the modestly-priced $10 tickets. Unlike the canceled Birther Summit, refunds are being issued.
Read more at the Phoenix New Times blog.
I think there’s something to be learned here, but I’m not exactly sure what it is. Birther public events flop. We have Carl Swensson’s march on the Atlanta capitol with maybe a dozen folks showing up. There was Berg’s big fling in DC that garnered a handful of curiosity seekers. The “King of the Birthers” Andy Martin maybe filled up a hotel room – two single beds. The Orly Taitz/Pastor Manning protest of Fox News in New York was a bust.
Birthers just don’t show up. I don’t know whether they are afraid that Obama will get them, or that there really aren’t more than a handful of committed (or maybe “not yet committed”) members of the birther movement. The number of people who watched the various birther court appearances were in the tens of thousands, but we don’t know if these were birthers or anti-birthers. Maybe birthers are too anti-social to congregate (this actually makes sense). Maybe most of the birthers are really institutionalized and can’t travel. Maybe the number of serious birthers is wildly overrated and birtherism is a web-only movement.
“Birthers just don’t show up.”
It’s the port-a-potties.
They get confused for FEMA camps.
“Maybe the number of serious birthers is wildly overrated and birtherism is a web-only movement.”
I think you’re on to something, Doc.
They are a certain kind of movement known for evacuations.
Were there ever Dealy-a-Paloozas? Moon Hoax Fests? Symposia on Trutherism?
I guess Loose Change drew some audiences in its time; have the birthers just settled for midnight showings of 2016 where the audience throws Kenyan birth certificates at the screen? “Let’s do the fact warp again!”
While the polls show that a fair percentage of Repubs say they don’t know where Obama was born, this doesn’t mean that those poll respondents question Obama’s citizenship or his eligibility to be President. In fact, we don’t even know that they are answering beyond “no, I don’t know which U.S. state he was born in”. I think that we obots tend to make assumptions regarding the meaning of poll responses. We also tend to assume that the average American watches as much news as we do. These are mistakes on our part.
Those who are sincere birfers are usually not actively involved with the birfer movement beyond occasionally commenting on websites (news and birfer sites). They gave up writing to D.C. and state Reps. None of them are going to vote for Obama, so they don’t really pay attention to the birfer movement … but they support the movement.
Something many obots have noticed is that many of the die hard, seriously involved birfers mention how their family members think they are nuts. Why risk an argument with a family member over a birfer event (that they can’t afford to travel to)? Esp when the birfers know that the turn out will likely be poor.
Many-most serious birfers are in what Anne of Green Gables would call “the depths of despair”. They loathe Orly for her incompetence, they no longer (or never did) trust the courts, and the past 4 years of Epic Fail has demoralized them. What is there for them to get excited about anymore? Why take time off work and spend money on travel just to attend an event that isn’t likely to have any impact? Like may Americans, spending money on travel just isn’t an option right now.
Besides, the Tea Party is a dying movement. They make a lot of noise, but even the non-birfer Tea Party groups can’t get people to show up for general protests.
$10 ticket AND they have to bathe TOO?
why bother
doc: The number of people who watched the various birther court appearances were in the tens of thousands, but we don’t know if these were birthers or anti-birthers.
from my experience, birthers don’t rely on original sources – they quote translators like wing nutzz daily or the obamafile which “cherry-picks” articles it posts and provides the following disclaimer:
“Ultimately, the reader must decide what may and what may not be FACTUAL.”
I think the message here, is that outside of the hardcore nuts like Oily Taint, Zulu and Eggplant Wizard, birthers are all talk and no action.
Agreed.
A lot of Birthers are really old. They are probably past their working years and quite a few are probably too feeble to travel. There were a lot of health related excuses on their boards, for why they couldn’t attend previous events. I wonder how many of them no longer have driver’s licenses…
A lot of excuses about not being able to afford the trips as well – so many of them are probably on limited or fixed incomes…although ironically, they’ve probably thrown too much of their “disposable” income away on contributing to various Birther grifts… as they say, a fool and their money are soon parted…
So much of their movement seems to be very similar to the analogy of a cranky old and unstable man, yelling at an empty chair…
Maybe the reason The Birther Cotillion flopped is that Birtherism has simply become a routine article of faith for most of the Birthers, to be included with other run-of-the-mill articles of faith in the conservative religion. Why pay $10 or whatever to go celebrate something that is about as new and exciting as “you put white gravy on a chicken fried steak.”
Viewed in that light, Birfapalooza also had a lousy entertainment lineup. Pat Boone singing some old timey songs would be bearable, but who wants to dress up to go listen to Terry Lakin??? That would be boring as hell. And who wants to spend good money on some stupid slideshow about pixels, without being totally pixilated.
And, the point of the whole thing was unclear. Was it supposed to be a Birtherfest, or a Tea Party fest, or a Sheriff Joe campaign event??? On one advert, it was a “Greater Phoenix Tea Party Patriots Event.” On the “it’s over” announcement, it was the “Cold Case Posse Event.” Then, in that same announcement, it was called the “Sheriff Joe Event.”
Many respectable, uptown Tea Partiers, who believe government should be severely restricted in scope, might not want to spend time, or be associated with their Birther country cousins. In short, maybe the event had something for everybody, and not enough for anybody.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Seriously, I think the main problem is that MOST Birthers are at least in their 70’s, many in their 80’s. They’re just not up for it. They “talk” big once they learn how to post online, but as to actually getting up out of the La-Z-Boy and hauling their fat geriatric asses out to a protest… it just ain’t gonna happen.
It’s embarrassment.
Only the truly nutty are without shame.
I am reminded of the strenuous efforts I witnessed in evangelical churches to get people to “witness” (proselytize). Getting people to make some physical / verbal demonstration of faith inside a closed church of supposedly like-minded people can be like asking for torture volunteers. A handful are always willing, but the bulk of the faithful are more than happy to let those without shame carry the congregation’s water.
Birfers know birfing is wrong, and that birfers are crazy. They enjoy wallowing anonymously, but aren’t about to publicly identify or demonstrate..
I think one of the reasons is that they all want to be the leader, or the inspiration, rather than the person in the trenches doing the actual work. Notice how few actual ballot challenges got filed, even though they had plenty of lead time to get them all done. They all love typing their calls to revolution, but, of course, they expect someone else to do the dirty work. They did their part, they told someone else to do something.
Yeah, that is what I suspect too.
The GOP in general in trending older in membership. Their extreme wing, the Tea Party, trends even older on average. The super-extreme Birther group also seems to trend mostly to the elderly set.
It all leads to the same root cause – folks fearful of change in an ever changing world. For them, a black President with a foreign, “muslimy” sounding name is simply a bridge too far from the way life was in the world they grew up in. That is what this all amounts to at its core.
Excellent point!
The very definition of Keyboard Commandos…
Can’t agree with that. Every one that I’ve had any contact with has been totally committed, and proud to self-identify.
Those would be the “truly nutty” and w/o shame. Assuming you refer to offline encounters, how many are those in comparison to the online population? How many birther activists (thsoe willing to witness birerism to a crowd) have you come across?
Reminds me of my college days (early ’70s) when a fellow classmate asked “What if they gave a revolution and no one came?”
No, no, I NEVER meet these idiots OFFline!
Thanks for the comments so far. I agree that age is a factor at least among “keyboard warriors.” Being retired with nothing to do leads to someone being extra active online, and some of the elderly are pretty gullible. Being retired myself I have a little insight on this.
Another idea I’d like to interject is that the typical conspiracy theorist is a loner who writes a newsletter in his basement, nowadays a blog. Such folks don’t attend meetings.
Finally, I would mention that birthers are a leaderless movement. There is simply no one with the stature to motivate any organized birther activity. Dean Haskins tried and failed in that role. Joe Arpaio has some stature, but he’s not trying to organize anything.
Exactly! Even here in Okieland, I have only once experienced the offline equivalent of the common-as-dirt-online birfer outburst. I was wearing a “Super Obama” tee shirt to the local whiter-than-white suburban Lowe’s (the location in the center of town is the hipster Lowe’s). A Cranky Old White Guy saw me coming in and lost IT. For a few glorious seconds, the spittle was flying! …. and then he realized he was actually saying what he was thinking, a lynch mob failed to materialize, and he promptly shut up and scuttled off.
A couple thoughts:
First, what is there to lead? It’s a disorganized rabble willing to believe anything that appeals to their fantasy. A fantasy really based on…….race.
They simply can’t deal with the fact that a black man is President of the United States.
Most of the birthers I see appear to be of an age that grew up in the dying days of segregation when people freely gave voice to their racism in public. Today that isn’t acceptable so they have to conjure up all the nonsense we see here to cover for their real, true feelings.
That is a very important point – and the key distinction which differs between a traditional Cult movment and this “online Cult”.
As a whole, the movement doesn’t have a defacto “leader”, but it does have a lot of “hero-worship” for various prominent “leader-like” figures within their overall movement. And yes, there are clearly separate “factions” within the Birther community, who gravitate towards the ideas and theories and hero-worship of certain “leader-ish” personalities over others.
I think the only reason that they fail to have a defacto “top dog” comes down to two main issues. The first and most important one is that none of their “heroes” can achieve a “win” (as the entire movement is based on bunk), so the movement never advances beyond the threshold of merely being a bunch of competing failed strategies. The second key point has to do with the generally thin-skinned and ego-maniacal nature of those various competing “leader-like” figures. They simply don’t “play together” very well at all…
Heck, in general, Birthers (and their leaders) seem to lack a lot of common social skills. That certainly could be another factor in why they don’t succeed at gathering in the “real world”. Many of these folks are likely “shut-ins” for a reason – they simply lack good public interaction skills and have never grasped why their own mannerisms turn other people off to them.
That seems to be a really good correlative factor to the general age group of many birthers…
Exactly.
I grew up in the western U.S. and one of my first jobs away from the area was in the deep south when I was in my mid-20’s. I was in the television business.
One of the things I noticed was that many of the people my age had no problem spouting all kinds of racist nonsense.
We covered a Klan rally and cross burning and I was amazed to find young families in attendance.
Those people grew up to be Teabaggers and Birthers.
I resemble that remark.
Except for the part about nothing to do… speaking of which…
The birthers are all racist and really hate the enigmas but are just afraid to admit it.
Willful enigmas are the nastiest kind.
I don’t think they are all racist. That is too simplistic of a generalization. If you had simply said they were all bigots , then I would agree. Having dealt with numerous birther blather over the past four years, there are clearly several other underlying trends, beyond racism.
A lot of misplaced anti-muslim sentiment drives a number of them, on their mistaken assumption that Obama is some sort of “secret muslim”, because of his father’s religion and the “furrin” sound of his name.
There is further religious bigotry at play here as well – from those zealous extreme theocratic circles, who simply don’t see anyone outside of their particular evangelical splinter-faith as “worthy” and who have abject hatred and fear of science and the realities of a secular world. Those are the American Taliban types.
Continuing on that theme, there are also a lot of folks who have been brainwashed (usually in evangelical circles) to more broadly have irrational bigotry against anyone who isn’t deemed “as conservative” as them. These folks particularly reject the entire Democratic party outright, and characterize them as “godless socialist commies” and stuff.
Not to mention even a bit of irrational sexism at play – as some of the early Birthers were PUMAs – a movement mainly driven by being upset that Hillary Clinton was upstaged from getting to break the ultimate glass ceiling for women.
Then there is pure xenophobia at play too (which is awfully close to racism), as there are a lot of folks out there who simply fear/hate the rest of the world and can’t trust someone who’s father was a “furriner” and who spent some of his childhood living in a “furrin” land and who doesn’t go around treating other nations like they are all a bunch of inferior subhumans, merely around for America’s domination and subjegation…and who fear a future of “terrorist anchor babies”…
All of those are clearly different forms of bigotry, in addition to outright traditional racism on display.
So yes, there is clearly a lot of racism at the heart of Birtherism, but it is certainly NOT the only cause, nor is it necessarily the most common trait behind their movement. But it seems to be nearly all about BIGOTRY, in one ugly form or another…
So true. We cannot fall for the same logical fallacies so many of our birther friends become victim to.
Racism is undoubtedly a motivation to some or a latent motivation for other, but in many cases it’s just fear. Look at Linda Jordan who was let to believe that President Obama was stealing from medicare.
So sad…
Ignorance and fear, makes them easy victims to those in the birther movement who are intent on spreading fear.
Maybe they’re afraid that if they show up en masse, they’ll be forced to gay-marry?
Very well put. With a lot of intersecting subsets here.
But an enigma wrapped in a mystery and stuffed inside a pizza crust is the tastiest!
Me neither. Moreover, I think Mr. Long Form is just trying to stir up trouble. From the awkward phraseology of his post, to the hyperlink in his name that leads to a Go-Daddy site, I’d say he’s some kind of troll.
So much for the GOP Convention after party. That animatronic Pat Boone looks so real.
Wouldn’t Terry Lakin have just sent someone in his place anyway?
They see a threat from the left
A forged BC to the right
A CT SSN
And they go mad with fright
‘Cos it’s the dark-skinned prez that really drives them insane
Let’s do the Birther again!
Which can be said of pretty much all fringe group leaders.
Because they’re all only in it because they dream of being Supreme God-Emperor one day. (Something which has, fortunately, prevented the extreme right from rising to significant power in my country, every little group leader dreams that he will be the next Führer.)
I mean, the major world religions also started out as fringe movements, so today’s cultists have an example to follow.
I guess unlike some of you – I have met birthers in real life – several of them, in fact. A long time close friend of mine is one – and it has definitely put a hitch in our friendship. He is older, very social, and is also a member of the tea party.
The owner of the gun shop a couple of doors down from my business is also a birther, judging from his bumper stickers on his truck. I’ve never talked to him about politics, and don’t intend to.
Several of my friends back from my military days are also birthers. They also believe Obama is a muslim, are sure that Frank Marshall Davis took nude pictures of Barack’s mother, and he was raised a communist. That’s how I was introduced to Orly Taitz – one of the people I was in Turkey with during Desert Storm solicited a donation on her behalf.
Sitting here thinking about it, I know for certain 11 birthers, and if I asked, I am sure there are several others who haven’t been so vocal about it but probably are. That is actually how I found this site, way back in the day. I started hearing this crap, and started to look for original sources. Some believe Obama was born in Kenya, and others believe he is no eligible as president due to the Law of Nations.
So from that basis:
I can’t agree with LMK. While some are depressed about the failures in the courts, others recognize that it would take congressional action to get anything done. All of them think the courts are corrupt anyway. At this point I don’t really believe they expect an extraordinary resolution, I believe they just hope enough people are exposed to birtherism to cost the president re-election.
I do agree with Donna – they are not interested in original sources. Any sources that don’t confirm what they want to believe is considered “Biased”. They also all listen to talk radio, watch fox news (although some don’t trust it, as it is owned by the Saudi Royal Family).
I don’t know if G and Paul are right, most birthers I know are in there 40s, 50s and 60s. I know of two in there 20s, both followers of Glenn Beck. I don’t think of 40s to 60s as old.
I don’t think John Potter is correct, the birthers I know are very, very vocal about it. Most passionately believe that the country is on the verge of being lost forever. All are certain that Barack is a socialist, and none see that the conservative movement is something now quite different from what William Buckley, Barry Goldwater and Edmund Burke would recognize. They see the history of the US through the eyes of Robert Welch, Jr., whether they know it or not.
I don’t think Ask Esq and Magic M are correct – none of the ones I know are leaders, and none have the desire to be a leader. All hoped for a leader that would draw concentrated national attention. Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum were all people that were thought could take the mantle and blow the scandal wide open.
I would add that I know the Ron Paul wing of Birthers. Some liked Palin, thought Trump sold out as part of the conspiracy, but through it all Ron Paul has been their star by far. The most active of them has been very involved with Ron Paul events and likes to talk about doing secret things behind the scenes and rallying the people with the truth and without being a leader out front, that it is the people resisting the conspiracy. The failure to unseat the Governor in Wisconsin is considered a success of the people acting without a leader.
So even the most active birther of my circle probably wouldn’t bother with an explicitly birther event, at least if that was its main point. However, events, marches, in any way counter to the larger conspiracy, or in support of Ron Paul, while *including* birther complaints, yes. Now that the convention is over, which was the last major “event” for Paul, I am not sure where they go, but no doubt I will find out soon.
Interesting insights. Are those people also involved on birther websites (you know, the crowd who thinks it somehow helps their case if they keep posting “he’s a usurper!” twice a day) or is it a totally different crowd than what we perceive as the “typical birther” (i.e. the keyboard warrior type)?
I got to the end of the comments before I realized they were trying to have an event in the Celebrity Theatre. The Celebrity is fairly small. Depending on the setup, it’s a 1650 seat auditorium or a 2650 seat round arena. Booking requires a minimum $5000 deposit, and the theatre takes 4% of the ticket sale, with a flat minimum. They also take a 30% cut of merchandise.
When it comes to a stage event, you must use the stagehands and electricians, sound and lighting folks that are under the theatre’s contract. IATSE stagehands, that is, with a four-hour minimum. It’s not “expensive” to put on a show there, as these things go, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap.
I wonder if there is something to the story that the promoters aren’t telling us. Did they book a “Joe Arpaio campaign event” and not disclose until later that it was a “tea party birther summit?” The Celebrity might have pulled the plug and the “low ticket sales” excuse might be a smokescreen for the “organizers”. The reason I say that, is that I think Sherriff Joe can sell a thousand tickets to a fundraiser in Phoenix with no problem at all.
I have been challenged on another site about the Georgia court issuing a subpoena. The birther claims that there was a subponea and cites a lot of birther sites and Fox News. I would like to be able to show that there was not one, that a subpoena was not issued. I recall reading that administrative law courts in Georgian cannot issue subpoenas and that the claim that one was issued came only from a birther lawyer. Can anyone help me with a link?
By the way. I am an anti-birther.
well, maybe it was the fear of being infiltrated by ringers?
Once you’ve had a circular firing squad to detect spies and saboteurs, most willing activists are either disgusted or disgraced. 😉
Or maybe Birthers are not merely the silent majority, but an invisible one… 😀
ellen :
taitz issued her OWN subpoenas
not signed by a court
nor would they have been valid out of state
she issued a subpoena to arpaio
the response:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/79674934/Georgia-Farrar-v-Obama-Response-From-Joe-Arpaio-to-Orly-Re-Subpoena
donna:
Thank you!
Can anyone add to that? The obvious question is whether the subpoenas of Orly Taitz were real subpoenas?
If they were not signed by the court, are they real?
Also any links would be welcomed that show that they were only Orly’s “subpoenas” and not signed by the court.
Thanks again.
Can anyone add to that? The obvious question is whether the subpoenas of Orly Taitz were real subpoenas?
NO
Scope of Subpoenas
In Georgia, a court can subpoena a witness, or it may instead subpoena the written or graphic document of a witness, or any physical evidence such as lab materials in a witness’s possession. It can also order the inspection, by any means, of an area of land, but in any such case it must specify the items of interest as well as the time, location and procedure for any questioning or inspection. On receiving a subpoena, the recipient must write either a statement of compliance or an objection stating the specific reasons for objecting. An attorney requesting a subpoena, after an objection to that subpoena, must then make a court motion for its enforcement and justify his request for the evidence requested. This may not be difficult, however, given any relevance of the evidence to his case.
Read more: Georgia Subpoena Laws | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8751510_georgia-subpoena-laws.html#ixzz26BOWQjb1
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and insight.
The key thing we should all remember is that the Birthers are not a homogeneous group. Although there may be certain general traits that appear to apply to a majority, there is still a lot of variety.
As you correctly noted, just because there are lots of really old birthers and Tea Partiers out there, does not mean we should ignore the number of middle age and even younger members too. I suspect many of those younger members follow from simply being raised and living in extremely conservative circles and therefore get their influence from there – as well as the RW tv & radio sources that you noted.
Very much enjoyed your post and the time you put into it. Thanks again.
Many thanks again Donna.
If I understand correctly, the “subpoena” of Orly was not a real subpoena because it was not signed by the court?
If so, how can I demonstrate that it was not signed by the court.?
ellen:
i’ve been scouring my brain but do believe i saw the subpoenas signed by HER as exhibits in her pleadings
this link has a bunch of subpoena stuff (scroll down)
http://ohforgoodnesssake.com/?p=22224#more-22224
Hi Donna>
No I can’t find anything there. I suppose I’ll have to go with, “if the judge had actually issued a subpoena and Obama had not obeyed, he would have said something.”
Can anyone answer the question as to whether administrative law courts in Georgia can issue subpoenas?
motion to quash subpoena may help
http://www.scribd.com/doc/78680745/Farrar-v-Obama-Motion-to-Quash-Subpoenas
Hi donna. Was the motion to quash the subpoena granted??
Thanks again.
The way I heard it, word leaked out that Zullo still hadn’t found the right duck, and the big duck-weighing got called off. After that, the whole thing kind of fizzled.
The main guy…very active youtubing, a lot related to conspiracies and the greatness of Ron Paul, follows a lot of the nuts online, big on Alex Jones among others, and will consider some of these wild and wooly ones off the reservation but says the message is still true even if the messenger is off (such as Orly). I take that claim with a touch of salt, because he himself as a messenger is off, and he makes that point, in my opinion, as a rhetorical strategy aimed at me. Have seen his comments around, but wouldn’t say twice a day, unless he disguises himself even more than he to my knowledge already does. And not the simple “he’s a usurper” chorus. He has been involved in various public events, not explicitly about birtherism, but political or conspiracy-touched. He’s a Patriot/Oath Keeper. He talks about meeting various anti-Obama players of different stripes. He claims secret knowledge, some of which he discusses, but never shows, and some which he merely alludes to. His birtherism, and the birtherism of all my circle, is fully embedded in a larger conspiracy thinking; namely, all conspiracies lead to the NWO. All ages in this circle, and some of the next generation. The latest dig at me was about my support of someone not born here who is doing any number of monstrous things; thus, I am evil.
Ellen,
Doc has a page of links Here which include all or most of the filings. The motion to quash was denied. Therefore, some of Orly’s subpoena’d supports showed up but would have anyway. The rest of those she sent a subpoena sat next to the defense on the front bench as seen Here.
The punishment for Obama (and the party attorney) not showing… the judge ruled in their favor.
Try coming to rural Arizona where they believe that if your white like them that you believe what they believe.
Racism is overt here.