My Newly Revised 'Secret Origins of Birtherism' Article

[Loren]

As recently requested and promised, I've gone back and done a heavy revision and rewrite on my old "Secret Origin of the Birthers" piece from 2011:

http://www.bullspotting.com/the-secret- ... irtherism/

Pretty much all the content and research is the same, so there won't be any big revelations for folks here. But I've made some changes that should hopefully help it attract more eyeballs than my old Barackryphal posts:

- It now includes several relevant screenshots, which should make it a little more visually engaging, and I may add some more.
- I've consolidated the old 'Part 1/Part 2' format into a single piece, and heavily reorganized the entire thing.
- I've cleaned up a bunch of dead links.
- I've completely rewritten the first couple pages of material, to provide a more thorough explanation of my purpose in writing.
- And it's now published under my Bullspotting.com domain, which may help provide it with a little more authority than my Blogspot site. Even the URL should be more eye-catching.

I expect to continue tweaking it a little, but it should be good to share.

[BillTheCat]

As recently requested and promised, I've gone back and done a heavy revision and rewrite on my old "Secret Origin of the Birthers" piece from 2011:

http://www.bullspotting.com/the-secret- ... irtherism/

Pretty much all the content and research is the same, so there won't be any big revelations for folks here. But I've made some changes that should hopefully help it attract more eyeballs than my old Barackryphal posts:

- It now includes several relevant screenshots, which should make it a little more visually engaging, and I may add some more.
- I've consolidated the old 'Part 1/Part 2' format into a single piece, and heavily reorganized the entire thing.
- I've cleaned up a bunch of dead links.
- I've completely rewritten the first couple pages of material, to provide a more thorough explanation of my purpose in writing.
- And it's now published under my Bullspotting.com domain, which may help provide it with a little more authority than my Blogspot site. Even the URL should be more eye-catching.

I expect to continue tweaking it a little, but it should be good to share.

THANK YOU!! Very helpful to combat the alt-wrongs.

[Karen Walker]

As recently requested and promised, I've gone back and done a heavy revision and rewrite on my old "Secret Origin of the Birthers" piece from 2011:

http://www.bullspotting.com/the-secret- ... irtherism/

Pretty much all the content and research is the same, so there won't be any big revelations for folks here. But I've made some changes that should hopefully help it attract more eyeballs than my old Barackryphal posts:

- It now includes several relevant screenshots, which should make it a little more visually engaging, and I may add some more.
- I've consolidated the old 'Part 1/Part 2' format into a single piece, and heavily reorganized the entire thing.
- I've cleaned up a bunch of dead links.
- I've completely rewritten the first couple pages of material, to provide a more thorough explanation of my purpose in writing.
- And it's now published under my Bullspotting.com domain, which may help provide it with a little more authority than my Blogspot site. Even the URL should be more eye-catching.

I expect to continue tweaking it a little, but it should be good to share.

Loren! Good job, very detail oriented!

I have to confess though I had a very hard time following along. Granted this could be because I didn't take my ADHD meds today. The dates seemed to jump around & some do not include the year.

For someone like me a timeline with hyperlinks to additional details would be very, very helpful. Ex:

January 1, 2007 = comment on blogpost by username ZZZZ appears: [ insert link to detail ]

March 1, 2007 = So&So repeats ZZZZ rumour in a comment posted at: [ insert link to detail ]

Please don't take this as an instruction, it's just an observation from someone who appreciates detail/facts but also struggles with information overload.

Thanks so much for sharing your hard work with everyone!

[Loren]

Loren! Good job, very detail oriented!

I have to confess though I had a very hard time following along. Granted this could be because I didn't take my ADHD meds today. The dates seemed to jump around & some do not include the year.

For someone like me a timeline with hyperlinks to additional details would be very, very helpful.

Thanks! And I'd already considered creating a visual timeline, but your suggestion of a hyperlinked timeline was much better.

So it's been added to the bottom of the article.

[GreatGrey]

Thanks Loren. Like many here I've appreciated your reconstruction.

One thing though, Mark Penn seems to be missing. I say this because in the last 24 hours when I confront RWNJs they always cite him as the origin within the 2008 Clinton camp.

[Karen Walker]

Loren! Good job, very detail oriented!

I have to confess though I had a very hard time following along. Granted this could be because I didn't take my ADHD meds today. The dates seemed to jump around & some do not include the year.

For someone like me a timeline with hyperlinks to additional details would be very, very helpful.

Thanks! And I'd already considered creating a visual timeline, but your suggestion of a hyperlinked timeline was much better.

So it's been added to the bottom of the article.

Awesome! Soooo much easier (for me)
to follow along.

Do you plan to eventually incorporate the Clinton volunteer who was fired, Penn from the Clinton campaign, the date President Obama recieved the nomination, as well as Trump's & Arpaio's shenanigans?

[Orlylicious]

Thanks Loren! Sent you a tweet... there are a lot of links to barackryphal, now that gives an error. Any chance to have a copy at barackryphal so the link still works?

Foggy, when putting a Fogbow link, it's not putting an image in the box, not sure how to fix that but a LFBC or some image would be cool.

Fogbow Link.JPG

[Foggy]

They keep changing the code that makes it work. I'll try to find time to look at it.

[Chilidog]

[bob]

This recent Snopes article on this topic may be relevant to your interests.

[esseff44]

This recent Snopes article on this topic may be relevant to your interests.

Loren gets listed in the sources.

[Northland10]

They keep changing the code that makes it work. I'll try to find time to look at it.

It's a feature.

[Plutodog]

So, Martin (2004) was attacking the heritage of Obama Sr. to Obama - hiding from his father's "Arab", "Muslim" culture/roots. Not his birthplace/citizenship.

Schlussel (2006) the same plus "wassabi" education, Muslim street see him as once a Muslim, always a Muslim.

Penn (3/2007) is all about "lack of American roots" - strategy memo addressed to HRC.

Clinton County volunteer (11/2007) more of the same as Martin/Schlussel (and fired for it), focusing on black, Muslim, anti-American because Koran, not Bible, etc. But born in Hawaii.

Freeper FARS (3/2008) on Birth in Kenya

Alan Peters (3/2008) on Ruthless Roundup on Birth in Kenya

Ben Smith and Byron Tau (4/2008) on birth in Kenya and rushed to Hawaii to claim US citizenship.

Is that the bare bones of it before the PUMA/Berg/Orly mudslide really flowed?

[Loren]

That looks more or less right at a glance, with two notes:

- I'm not clear on the reference to Smith and Tau. The others listed had roles in creating rumors; Smith and Tau just reported April as being the start date.

- Until I see a news story or some more authoritative source about WHEN the Clinton staffer was fired, I'm personally deeming that 'late 2007' date as tentative at best. Like you say, the story thus far suggests that it didn't involve any birthplace allegations, but as far as pinpointing the time of the firing, right now all we have to go on is one person's 8-year-old memory. She could be remembering correctly, or she might not be.

EDIT: Found a source, which includes the actual text of the email sent: http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith ... ted-004503

[Foggy]

I don't know why, but I have zero interest in revisiting the birther issue. Maybe because all the MSM outlets already know Clinton didn't start it. Maybe I'm just burned out after all these years.

Part of me wants to say "Great work, Loren," and part of me - I hate to admit it - wants to say, "Is there a website somewhere with people who care about the birther movement?"

Oh, wait. That would be us. Oops.

I've become Justin.

Maybe it's just that birtherism isn't the craziest thing da Trumpstah says nowadays.

Or maybe I've just moved on. Whatever, I'm not going to try to discourage you, Loren. You always do scholarly work, and you care about the truth. That's what this site is all about, hombre.

Carry on.

[Loren]

I don't know why, but I have zero interest in revisiting the birther issue. Maybe because all the MSM outlets already know Clinton didn't start it. Maybe I'm just burned out after all these years.

Hey, y'don't have to sway me. Remember, I retired from blogging at Barackryphal almost three years ago. I still have every intention of writing a book, but that's more about chronicling the development of the universe of Obama conspiracy theories, not about debunking them.

This article revision was borne partly out of Trump and the media discussing the issue again, and partly out of frustration that the media kept blaming vague email chains, when my detailed findings have been online for five years now.

Plus, there's been an added, unexpected bonus: thanks to Snopes citing my original research, FreeRepublic has discovered how one of their posters was responsible for starting the rumor. And they either seem to want to shift the blame to Obama's author bio, or be weirdly proud of the credit. They also tried pinging FARS, who hasn't responded, probably because he's still dead.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3470316/posts

[GreatGrey]

Plus, there's been an added, unexpected bonus: thanks to Snopes citing my original research, FreeRepublic has discovered how one of their posters was responsible for starting the rumor. And they either seem to want to shift the blame to Obama's author bio, or be weirdly proud of the credit. They also tried pinging FARS, who hasn't responded, probably because he's still dead.

They'll blame the Clintons when they find out.

[PatGund]

I can sympathize Foggy. Last Friday, I was so pissed off that I wanted to do an update to Bad Fiction detailing exactly how much of a lying sack of crap Trump was on this.

Except I found I'm TIRED of the fucking birthers. I'm tired of their lies. I'm tired of their bullshit. I'm tired of conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, and I'm tired of people trying to excuse them or explain them away.

And I'm REALLY sick of the right-wing continually refusing to accept responsibility for their own role and actions in creating the birther crap in the first place. I'm tired of the "well, if there's smoke there must be fire" rationale. I'm tired of them using birtherism as an excuse to get the President of the United States to "show his damn papers, BOY!". And I'm tired of them using birtherism to mask their own racism.

I"m happy to show what evidence I can to refute them. But after a while, if someone wants to be willingly pig-ignorant, far be it from me to deny them that pleasure. Rainbow Ick, Yoel, Falcon, all of those idiots, can rot in the mutual masterbation hell they've created for all I care.

[esseff44]

I understand that folks might be tired of birthers and trying to debunk them. Sadly, they are not tired. That is the problem. They are more determined than ever to dominate and force us to live their vision of intolerance and bigotry. This is not the time to let down. After Nov. 8th, it will be time to declare them irrelevant.

[Fortinbras]

What I don't see mentioned here, but I think helps address the birfers' reports of strange Photoshop or other analysis of the internet image of the Obama birth certificates is the fact that the certificates (including replacement certificates) issued by the Hawaii Dept of Health since 2005 have had to be printed on special security paper. This is 'security paper' deliberately designed to frustrate and reveal attempts at erasure or falsification (the green pattern is called 'basketweave'). The use of such paper was already the practice in some states, but was made a nationwide requirement by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Public Law 108-458, Dec. 17, 2004; section 7211 (b)(3)(A), 118 Stat.L. 3638 at 3826, now 5 USC § 301 official note. "Not later than [Dec. 17, 2005] ... the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall by regulation establish minimum standards for birth certificates for use by Federal agencies for official purposes that (A) at a minimum, shall ... require the use of safety paper or an alternative, equally secure medium, .... and other features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or otherwise duplicating the birth certificate for fraudulent purposes......" According to Obama, the original black & white certified photocopy of his birth record issued shortly after his birth in 1961 was destroyed in a house fire some decades back, so he had to obtain a replacement copy from the Hawaii Dept of Health, which is the certificate on green paper. That the green basketweave pattern was deliberately designed to frustrate attempts at photocopying and the like helps explain why internet images of the certificate seem to show anomalies that fuel birthers' fantasies.

[bob]

And I'm REALLY sick of the right-wing continually refusing to accept responsibility for their own role and actions in creating the birther crap in the first place.

The few remaining birthers are not being courted (they'll vote for Trump, regardless).

Birtherism 2.0 is about who started it: Because if people believe Clinton started birthering, then the issue is a wash, i.e., politics as usual. Rather than one candidate engaging in dog-whistling racism, and then lying that his opponent had engaged in dog-whistling racism.

[Dolly]

That looks more or less right at a glance, with two notes:

- I'm not clear on the reference to Smith and Tau. The others listed had roles in creating rumors; Smith and Tau just reported April as being the start date.

- Until I see a news story or some more authoritative source about WHEN the Clinton staffer was fired, I'm personally deeming that 'late 2007' date as tentative at best. Like you say, the story thus far suggests that it didn't involve any birthplace allegations, but as far as pinpointing the time of the firing, right now all we have to go on is one person's 8-year-old memory. She could be remembering correctly, or she might not be.

EDIT: Found a source, which includes the actual text of the email sent: http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith ... ted-004503

I don't know if this helps. Two Free Republic threads. The originating source link no longer works.

Clinton volunteer asked to resign (forwarded a hoax e-mail about Barack Obama and 'Muslim intent')
AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/9/07 | Nedra Pickler - ap
DES MOINES, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign on Sunday requested the resignation of a second Iowa volunteer coordinator who forwarded a hoax e-mail saying Barack Obama is a Muslim possibly intent on destroying the United States.

Linda Olson, a volunteer coordinator in Iowa County, had forwarded a similar version on Oct. 5, without comment, to 11 people. One of the recipients was Ben Young, a regional field director for Democrat Chris Dodd's campaign, who provided a copy to The Associated Press on Sunday.

The Clinton campaign responded by asking for Olson's resignation. <SNIP>

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1937133/posts

Clinton Volunteer Quits Over Obama Email
AP ^ | Dec. 05, 2007 | Nedra Pickler
WASHINGTON (AP) - A volunteer Iowa county coordinator for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has resigned after forwarding a chain e-mail that suggests Barack Obama is a Muslim who wants to destroy the United States by being elected to its highest office.
....
Judy Rose, a Clinton coordinator and Democratic Party official in Jones County, Iowa, forwarded it without comment to eight people on Nov. 21. Rose referred requests for comment to one of the recipients, Grace Zimmerman, who serves with her on the Jones County Democratic Central Committee. <snip>

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1935395/posts

[esseff44]

Trump is bragging about 'finishing it' by forcing Obama to produce his LFBC. He manipulated the media in 2011 to such an extent, Obama could not get attention to his budget crisis. Of course, it did not finish anything. It just started a new round which hasn't stopped. Without that, Trump would have not had the level of support he has now. Who started it is less important than who brought it into the mainstream and kept it there until the majority of the GOP voters accept it as fact. Who promoted and based their campaign on a pernicious CT?

The journalists need to examine themselves and their responsibilities to the public. Our democracy depends on them doing better than what they have been doing with this shiny object.

[bob]

Loren tracked the first birther-curious post to March 1, 2008.

Meaning birtherism is now 10 years old.

[Reality Check]

The last Birther case will die this month.
https://rcradioblog.wordpress.com/2018/ ... arch-16th/

Let's have a funeral