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Rick Perry- Birther

Thrilla said:
well, I guess you see what you want to see.... I can't help you with that, I can only point out your errors and hope you would correct them.

this won't be the first time my hopes have been dashed upon the altar of partisanship, won't be the last either.
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You've been very helpful in answering my question.
 
I saw a similar article over the weekend and my first thought was, "Oh, no, Perry! Don't go the birther route!! That card has already been played to death!!!"

IMO, the "dishonesty" from Perry comes in how he dances around answering the questions. Instead of just coming out and saying that "the issue is old news unworthy of being discussed any further," he dances around it with lots of enuendo...

"I haven't see the President's birth certificate, but neither has he seen mind. So, we're even. As far as I'm concerned, he's the President and that's good enough for me."

I'll give him credit for finally getting to that place that removes him from the birther-nuttjobs, but in my book he really hasn't done himself much favors by deferring to "the Donald truth-o-meter"..."Donald Trump says it's not real, so..." Here's the exact question and answer session from the Parade Magazine interview (as found on page 3):

Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?
I have no reason to think otherwise.

That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—
Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

But you’ve seen his.
I don’t know. Have I?

You don’t believe what’s been released?
I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

And?
That came up.

And he said?
He doesn’t think it’s real.

And you said?
I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.
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And then you have the birther queen herself, Orly Taitz coming back into the frey...

Gov. Perry isn't doing himself any favors by going back down this road.
 
You cannot prove a negative. For all we know, it's possible that Obama is a green, shape-shifting lizard-person. We have no evidence of this, and any sane person will dismiss it out of hand. We ignore this issue. All Perry is saying is that he takes a similar approach.
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
You cannot prove a negative. For all we know, it's possible that Obama is a green, shape-shifting lizard-person. We have no evidence of this, and any sane person will dismiss it out of hand. We ignore this issue. All Perry is saying is that he takes a similar approach.
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all the evidence suggests that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
You cannot prove a negative. For all we know, it's possible that Obama is a green, shape-shifting lizard-person. We have no evidence of this, and any sane person will dismiss it out of hand. We ignore this issue. All Perry is saying is that he takes a similar approach.
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No he's not, he's not saying anything like that. Funny to watch people pretend that Perry has some kind of plausible deniability. He really knows how to pander to the lowest common denominators.
 
Thunder said:
all the evidence suggests that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.
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Technically, it is possible that the evidence is fake. I'm not suggesting that it is. The chances of this are so small that one could be called moronic for betting on them, but it is possible. We can never live our lives with complete certainty, only by comparing probabilities.

Rough Rider said:
No he's not, he's not saying anything like that. Funny to watch people pretend that Perry has some kind of plausible deniability. He really knows how to pander to the lowest common denominators.
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Perry stated that he saw no reason to not believe that Obama was born in America. I don't see how you could construe this to mean that he is a Birther without doing quite a bit of mental gymnastics. Typically, when a person says, "I have no reason not to believe," they mean, "I believe." If he has no reason to believe that Obama was born outside of the country, why would he believe it? At worst, he was probably trying to not alienate Birthers who make up a depressingly large percentage of his base. If so, he's no different than any other politician.
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
Technically, it is possible that the evidence is fake. I'm not suggesting that it is. The chances of this are so small that one could be called moronic for betting on them, but it is possible. We can never live our lives with complete certainty, only by comparing probabilities.



Perry stated that he saw no reason to not believe that Obama was born in America. I don't see how you could construe this to mean that he is a Birther without doing quite a bit of mental gymnastics. Typically, when a person says, "I have no reason not to believe," they mean, "I believe." If he has no reason to believe that Obama was born outside of the country, why would he believe it? At worst, he was probably trying to not alienate Birthers who make up a depressingly large percentage of his base. If so, he's no different than any other politician.
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No different than any other politician? You mean no different from any other lying, right wing, douchebag.
 
Rough Rider said:
No different than any other politician? You mean no different from any other lying, right wing, douchebag.
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The vast majority of politicians pander, including those on the Left. To deny this just shows extreme bias. All Perry did was state his honest opinion in a manner that most people could find acceptable.
 
Something tells me that Huntsman would have been more definitive in his answer, something like:

Question:

Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?

Answer: Yes, of course.

Do you believe his birth certificate is real?

Answer: Of course, anyone that doesn't is an idiot.
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
The vast majority of politicians pander, including those on the Left. To deny this just shows extreme bias. All Perry did was state his honest opinion in a manner that most people could find acceptable.
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I guess that assumes "most people" are incredibly stupid.
 
Rough Rider said:
I guess that assumes "most people" are incredibly stupid.
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Birthers don't get pissed off, because he doesn't just trash them. Sane people are pleased that he is not a Birther. Win-win
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
Birthers don't get pissed off, because he doesn't just trash them. Sane people are pleased that he is not a Birther. Win-win
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What is wrong with trashing an absurd view? If someone is either a truther or a birther, then they are either a nutjob or an idiot (probably both). One would think that a major Republican candidate could come out against idiocy without repercussions.
 
This is what gets me. If its the abortion issue, then a republican candidate cannot be even remotely nuanced or ambiguous in their answer or they will be thrown under the bus. However, if its a question about the citizenship of the current President of the United States, they cannot simply give a definitive answer.
 
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SouthernDemocrat said:
What is wrong with trashing an absurd view?
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There's nothing wrong with it. It should be something to be encouraged. However, Perry didn't trash or praise the view. He certainly doesn't take Birtherism seriously. He just said the argument was a waste of time. Him being relatively neutral on this doesn't make me think any more or less of him.

SouthernDemocrat said:
If someone is either a truther or a birther, then they are either a nutjob or an idiot (probably both). One would think that a major Republican candidate could come out against idiocy without repercussions.
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Politicians on both sides pander to stupid people. People with a poor grasp of the issues are a major voting block. Scary, but true. Politicians shouldn't listen to these people's ill-thought out proposals, but that doesn't mean that they have to trash them. They have a job to do. If you're going to blame anything, blame the system.
 
Well, as the 9old saying goes stupid is as stupid does.

Question; Why did Perry go to Trump in the first place to kiss his ring or something, or maybe Perry needs money?

In 2008 a young Democrat named Obama took the stage and said CHANGE! "YES WE CAN"?

Question; Where is this big change or "YES WE CAN"?
Oh there's been a lot of speeches , but talks cheap ,Mr. President.

It is 2011 a bout a year and half away from the election, and that big CHANGE; I ain't seen it.
Except in maybe insurance ads aka "HEALTH CARE", or Unemployment which is up, and tax revenue which is also down while prices keep inching up..:peace
 
Rough Rider said:
Rick Perry was interviewed after a recent dinner meeting with Donald Trump; he now seems to believe that President Obama's birth certificate was probably a fake. Perry is obviously desperate for votes and is likely to say the most incredibly stupid things; though he certainly does understand his "base".
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Perry's base is substantially comprised of red-necks and persons with IQs under 100. This is the only group that could take this issue seriously (unfortunately it remains a good sized voting block).

Rick Perry: the new and improved George W Bush; leaner, meaner and now with 1/2 the brains.
 
Rough Rider said:
Rick Perry was interviewed after a recent dinner meeting with Donald Trump; he now seems to believe that President Obama's birth certificate was probably a fake. Perry is obviously desperate for votes and is likely to say the most incredibly stupid things; though he certainly does understand his "base".
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Rough Rider said:
Try reading a newspaper.
Begs the question: Just exactly how stupid would you have to be to believe in birther conspiracy theories?
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I would say that you would probably have to inhabit the zone roughly halfway between median, and all the people who bought into the notion that George Bush knew about or was behind 9/11.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
This is what gets me. If its the abortion issue, then a republican candidate cannot be even remotely nuanced or ambiguous in their answer or they will be thrown under the bus. However, if its a question about the citizenship of the current President of the United States, they cannot simply give a definitive answer.
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I think that's called appealing to the base.
 
Perry is dropping so far in the polls he needs to elevate his craziness to attract attention to himself. Aligning himself with birthers won't do him any favors.
 
cpwill said:
I would say that you would probably have to inhabit the zone roughly halfway between median, and all the people who bought into the notion that George Bush knew about or was behind 9/11.
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I agree; birthers are just about that stupid. However the two are not really equivalent. Who were the Democrats supporting the idea of a 911 conspiracy? Which Democrat govenor, senator, congressman. public official, etc. ever even suggested that President Bush was complicit in the 911 attacks?
Unlike so many GOP politicians who cater to the fringes.
 
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