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Jeff Flake Knocks Republicans For Not Standing Up To Birthers

Far right dem

Far right dem

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-flake-knocks-republicans-not-172053670.html

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that Republicans should have done more to push back on “birtherism,” the conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not actually a U.S. citizen.

While he said he personally stood up to birthers, Flake told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he wished the party would have done more during this “particularly ugly” time.

“I wish that we, as a party, would have stood up, for example, when the birtherism thing was going along,” he said. “A lot of people did stand up but not enough.”
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Looks like the 2018 election has already begun.
 
Flake will be tested in his primary, against a trump birther supporter .
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Of all he people things and ideas that the DC Elite R Division over recent years should have stood up for or against and did not birthers are a few hundred down the list in importance.

Not that I expect this dude to understand.
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For the most part, nobody paid much attention to the 'birther' issue-- after Obama produced his full certificate.
But even then, it had already waned when the birth announcement was produced in the Hawaian newspapers.
 
99percenter said:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-flake-knocks-republicans-not-172053670.html
Looks like the 2018 election has already begun.
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Not only did they not stand up to birthers, they elected THE birther as president. Conservatives love a good conspiracy theory, especially if it manages to attack both a liberal and a black man at the same time.

Athanasius68 said:
For the most part, nobody paid much attention to the 'birther' issue-- after Obama produced his full certificate.
But even then, it had already waned when the birth announcement was produced in the Hawaian newspapers.
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Yeah you know, except for the current President of the United States. This wasn't even his most outlandish conspiracy theory, and he continued to perpetuate it among his supporters for years after it was proven to be objectively false.
 
99percenter said:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-flake-knocks-republicans-not-172053670.html



Looks like the 2018 election has already begun.
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Seems to me Flake sees himself in a very bad situation and he's grasping the anti-Trump sentiment to save his political hide.

Jeff Flake is up for re-election in 2018 and polls are starting to appear. This is from left-leaning PPP that focuses primarily on the effort to replace ObamaCare.

Trump Job Approval.

Approve 44%
Disapprove 53%
Not sure 4%

Gallup gives Trump a 43-52-5 split in this same category and Trump won Arizona with 48% of the vote. So this number reflects some slippage in Trump’s popularity but far less so than the national number.

Jeff Flake Job Approval

Approve 18%
Disapprove 62%
Not sure 19%

Who will you vote for?

Jeff Flake 31%
Democratic opponent 47%
Not sure 22%

Jeff Flake's Criticism of Trump's Voters Isn't Selling All That Well in Arizona
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He's already seeing competition in Arizona.

He has already drawn one primary opponent — former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who ran against McCain last year — with the prospect of other Trump acolytes jumping in. “He is providing sanctuary to ObamaCare,” Ward wrote on her campaign website. “He's simply too weak to lead.”

Jeff Flake, up for reelection in 2018, will upset Arizona voters no matter how he votes on healthcare - LA Times
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We'll find out next year if "anti-Trump" overcomes "GOP Elite" in Arizona.
 
Flake is a conservative who abhors populism and protectionism and ethnocentrism.

Any birther/Trumper will find it very hard to defeat him in the primary.
 
99percenter said:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-flake-knocks-republicans-not-172053670.html



Looks like the 2018 election has already begun.
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Obama fueled the speculation by refusing to release his birth certificate. Jeff Flake should just join the Democratic Party and be done with it.

Why is it that one has to submit a certified copy of a birth certificate to obtain a passport but not to be the president of the United States? LOL.

I never bought into the birther crap. To me, if your parent(s) is a U.S. citizen, it shouldn't matter where you're born. With that said, I always believe Obama was born in Hawaii.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Of all he people things and ideas that the DC Elite R Division over recent years should have stood up for or against and did not birthers are a few hundred down the list in importance.

Not that I expect this dude to understand.
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Yea, it's time for Flake to address issues affecting the average Americans in the year 2017. He sounds like he should be returning to the private sector.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Not only did they not stand up to birthers, they elected THE birther as president.
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Trump was elected because the average American, particularly those in the midwest and Florida, felt that Trump would do more to improve their lot in life than Hillary. The platform of the DNC for the past 8+ years has been to put the interests of the average American on the back burner while putting foreign illegals, refugees, etc. FIRST. Certainly, the abysmal Obama economy obviously didn't generate votes for Hillary in the aforementioned states.
 
Flake, and others know it was the Birther BS that lead to Trump running for Prez. The GOP should have stepped on Trump and the 30% of the far right base that believed Trump's Birther lies right then and there while it was happening. But they didn't, they shrugged their shoulders, Romney joked about it, Trump and the Birthers were a thorn in Obama's side, so the GOP liked it.

The Moderates in the GOP have completely lost their Party now, and are paying for their silence and apathy during Trump's Birther nonsense. .
 
SenorXm/Sirius said:
Flake, and others know it was the Birther BS that lead to Trump running for Prez.
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How did birtherism compel Trump to run for president in lieu of the fact that the guy in question with regard to his origin of birth was on his way out of the White House? :doh
 
SenorXm/Sirius said:
The Moderates in the GOP have completely lost their Party now, and are paying for their silence and apathy during Trump's Birther nonsense. .
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The average working stiff didn't give a darn about the birther crap, as evidenced by their vote for Trump in the general election.

It seems your hatred of Trump and anything conservative has blinded you to reality. In case you haven't noticed, the economy is IMPROVING.

The Democratic governor of West Virginia just switched to the GOP. I think you are seriously mistaken with your view that the GOP is collapsing.

By the way, if the economy ends up going south, I'll be the FIRST to call for Trump to be dumped. I won't pledge blind allegiance to a politician just because he's got an "R" by his name, as 99.9999% of liberals do with Democrats.
 
SenorXm/Sirius said:
Flake, and others know it was the Birther BS that lead to Trump running for Prez. The GOP should have stepped on Trump and the 30% of the far right base that believed Trump's Birther lies right then and there while it was happening. But they didn't, they shrugged their shoulders, Romney joked about it, Trump and the Birthers were a thorn in Obama's side, so the GOP liked it.

The Moderates in the GOP have completely lost their Party now, and are paying for their silence and apathy during Trump's Birther nonsense. .
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Why take action when the number of people who were skeptical of Obama's birthplace did not translate into any call for action?

How popular was the belief Obama should have been removed from office? The polls from the time indicate not many people believed such an action should be taken.

Did the birther issue hobble Obama and his agenda?

Seems to me this birther argument today is an attempt to excuse the left's unprecedented attacks on President Trump.

Flake has never supported the President, not ever, so any words coming from his mouth needs to be qualified by that fact.

Add in his precarious re-election chances, and the reason the left's media partners keep bringing his name up begins to be clear.
 
Would you look at that, people defending Birthers left and right on this thread.
 
Fruityfact said:
Would you look at that, people defending Birthers left and right on this thread.
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Who defended birtherism? I think most of us are simply stating that birtherism was a non-starter. Sure, there was a fringe on the right that ran with it but it certainly never morphed into the Russiagate thing we're seeing today. Obviously, swing voters weren't impressed as they voted for Obama again in 12'.

Flake or, for that matter, anyone else bringing up birtherism in 17' is simply trying to distract from real issues.
 
Before anyone tries to create a new narrative to explain why Flake might lose his primary, Flake is in trouble for his vote on the Obamacare repeal.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Murkowski and Flake lose their primaries because of their Obamacare repeal vote. I don't think that McCain or Collins will lose, though.
 
BadK9 said:
Who defended birtherism? I think most of us are simply stating that birtherism was a non-starter. Sure, there was a fringe on the right that ran with it but it certainly never morphed into the Russiagate thing we're seeing today. Obviously, swing voters weren't impressed as they voted for Obama again in 12'.

Flake or, for that matter, anyone else bringing up birtherism in 17' is simply trying to distract from real issues.
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aaannnddd you're wrong!
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...ll-majority-of-republicans-still-doubt-obamas
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...partisan-divide-over-birther-question-n627446
https://www.rollcall.com/politics/poll-two-thirds-trump-supporters-think-obama-muslim

I could've quotes pages and pages more of sources, so please don't waste time attacking ad homing.
 
Fruityfact said:
aaannnddd you're wrong!
Poll: Majority of Republicans still doubt Obama's citizenship | TheHill
Poll: Persistent Partisan Divide Over '''Birther''' Question - NBC News
https://www.rollcall.com/politics/poll-two-thirds-trump-supporters-think-obama-muslim

I could've quotes pages and pages more of sources, so please don't waste time attacking ad homing.
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Yep, that's when Trump, and other Republicans saw they could feed the GOP base any line and they'll buy it.

I have no idea if this is true, BUT it sounds possible.

TRUMP ‘KNOWS REPUBLICANS ARE STUPID,’ JARED KUSHNER ALLEGEDLY SAID TO FORMER EDITOR
BY GREG PRICE ON 5/30/17 AT 5:11 PM

One of the strategies Donald Trump employed as he began putting his name on the U.S. political map years ago was championing “birtherism,” the long-held conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born outside of the U.S. and hence should never have been elected. He often chastised Obama and demanded the president produce his birth certificate, revving up an anti-Obama base that eventually helped put Trump in the White House.

Evidently, Trump may have been using the so-called birthers only as a means to an end.

His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is also a senior adviser to the president, allegedly told a former editor of the newspaper he once owned that the billionaire real-estate mogul didn’t believe his own “birtherism” claims, and only made them to charge up Republicans because they are “stupid,” GQ reported.

During a discussion on how to cover Trump, the former New York Observer editor, Elizabeth Spiers, claimed she told Kushner that she had serious problems with Trump’s repeated claims that Obama was not born in the U.S., to which Kushner allegedly told her: "He doesn't really believe it, Elizabeth. He just knows Republicans are stupid and they'll buy it."

continued....

Trump ?Knows Republicans Are Stupid,? Jared Kushner Allegedly Said to Former Editor
 
Fruityfact said:
aaannnddd you're wrong!
Poll: Majority of Republicans still doubt Obama's citizenship | TheHill
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...partisan-divide-over-birther-question-n627446
https://www.rollcall.com/politics/poll-two-thirds-trump-supporters-think-obama-muslim

I could've quotes pages and pages more of sources, so please don't waste time attacking ad homing.
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I could be wrong. I know that, amongst my Republican friends, none of us ever saw anything to the birther thing. I will add that, based on the final results of the 16' election, my faith in polls, such as the ones you cited, is sketchy at best.
 
Flake is right. True Republicans need to distance the GOP party from the populist [and extremely unpopular] Donald Trump.
 
Athanasius68 said:
It's not really clear what the link has to do with the post. There is no mystery that Trump pushed the narrative.
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Not during the 16' campaign.
 
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