CBS notes that tomorrow (November 4) it will air a segment titled: “THE PRESIDENCY: Chester A. Arthur, the original ‘birther’ target: Was the 21st President of the United States actually born in Canada?” Mo Rocca investigates.
Recall that George Washington was actually the first President who was victimized by birthers.
Update:
Read the Transcript.
Mo Rocca spoke at my college, and one of his big hobbies, as was discussed in his presentation, is visiting Presidential birthplaces.
So it makes an AMAZING amount of sense that he would be doing this segment.
The War of the Pamphlets!
I never miss Sunday Morning, I’ve grown up with the show. It’s been my favorite since I was a kid! (Talk about nerd cred). The show just started and, in the teaser, they played it up to the hilt.
The lead piece is about election predictions, beginning with UNIVAC predicting an Eisenhower landslide way back when, continuing on through Nate Silver holding steady with Obama as a ~75% favorite.
In other images found on my screen this AM, I see birferism has made a permanent stain on our pop culture … I just saw a birther-themed commercial for “X-Factor”. The subject of the birfer spoof? Simon Cowell.
I wish I was kidding me.
Trying to find the commercial online (I could not) lead me to a thread on Prison Planet from 2008 in which the nuts were feverishly proving that Cowell is one of them …. yes, they believe Cowell is a freemason! Horrors. Presumably his productions are a plot to enslave the masses with stupidity.
The plot appears to be working quite well on the nutters on the Prison Planet.
Mo Rocca: “Is there any chance Arthur was born in Kenya?” 😉
John Dunville, VT historian/curator: “[chuckling] Nooooo …. c’mon …. !”
Yes, friends, he went there.
Don’t be ridiculous – Obama is from Mars. Women are from Venus; men are from Mars.
Everyone knows that.
I watched the show, also.
As soon as I read “Mo Rocca”, I knew CBS is having some fun at the expense of birfers.
CBS: The original “birther” controversy
http://ohforgoodnesssake.com/?p=24614
Well, the CBS segment on Arthur was interesting. If birthers were to “prove” that Arthur was born in Canada and thus a usurper, then by one recurring notion in birtherdom, all legislation signed by Arthur and all acts of his administration become null and void.
The CBS piece was a little dismissive of Arthur, implying that his whiskers were the only significance of the 21st president.
But this would be forgetting the Pendleton Civil Service Act that he signed into law in 1883. This replaced the spoils system, which had existed in theory since Washington, and in thoroughgoing practice since Jackson, with a merit-based civil service system. If Arthur was illegitimate, then the Pendleton Act is inoperative (by birther logic), and this means that if Romney is elected, he gets to fire the entire federal workforce and hire people to his liking to fill those millions of jobs.
I don’t believe President Chester Arthur had to be physically born on US soil to have been eligible for his post. His parents were American. Naturally born simply meant he was American at birth. In some countries, he could assume citizenship of his birthplace if they permitted dual citizenship. My father was a US Army and Naval veteran. My mother, A Filipina. Her citizenship was more ambigious. She was born when The Philippines was a US Territory. Her first passport described her as a Philippine Citizen owing allegiance to The USA. She was born in 1910. I was born in 1931, four years before The Philippines became a Commonwealth. Consular Officials had considerable discretion as to admission policies for Filipinos. Stricter requirements were enforced to deny admission to children of bar girls and prostitutes by US servicemen.
I believe his father was British and not an American Citizen at the time of Chester’s birth.
That eliminates Orly Taitz’s children.
Bring on the binders!