Arizona Goes Birther: Secretary Of State Says It’s ‘Possible’ Obama Won’t Be On Ballot

[Cali_Democrat]

Arizona Goes Birther: Secretary Of State Says It’s ‘Possible’ Obama Won’t Be On Ballot

Nick R. Martin May 18, 2012, 10:53 AM

The man in charge of running Arizona’s elections has gone to the birthers. Secretary of State Ken Bennett now says he’s not convinced Barack Obama was really born in the United States and so he is threatening to keep the president off the ballot in November.

Bennett’s comments came in an interview late Thursday with conservative radio talk show host Mike Broomhead on Phoenix station KFYI.

Bennett said he was following the lead of the state’s eccentric Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a fellow Republican who ordered an investigation into the president’s birth certificate last year and concluded the document released by the White House is a forgery. Bennett said he is now trying to get verification from state officials in Hawaii that the certificate is authentic.


In doing so, Bennett caved to a fringe group of activists and writers who believe in a conspiracy theory that just never seems to die no matter how much proof they get. Hawaiian officials have said time and again that Obama was born there in 1961, yet the theory persists.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/arizona_ken_bennett_obama_birth_certificate_birther.php

[Cooley Hurd]

1. cut all fed funding. starve that state. eff them!

[Horse with no Name]

3. Yep. Pull all federal contracts. Send their Senators and Reps home

If they don't want to participate in the sane world, eff them.

At some point, enough is enough.

[Mosby]

29. You know there are millions of liberals in AZ

I don't appreciate your broad brush.

[PatrynXX]

35. especially since he's citing 1200 concerned paranoid people

against how many millions in AZ. how bout the 90 people that Brewer sentenced to death by denying them health care that Keith brought up before MSNBC kicked him out..

[Bake]

56. Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE CRAZIES that you have running the state.

Bake

[Mosby]

57. All I can do is vote. nt

[Bake]

63. Vote. Speak out. Convince other people.

Voting is not all you can do. I'm not trying to come down on you, believe me. But we've ALL got to do something or people will think "crazy" is NORMAL.

Arizona's got a bad case of crazy.



Bake

[citizen blues]

90. Voting is not all you can do....

While you may vote, how many of your friends don't. Get them registered. Get them informed. Get them to the voting booth. Make use of social media to get the word out to friends and family.

Work on campaigns of candidates who aren't crazy. It doesn't take a lot. One or two evenings or afternoons a month to do canvassing or phone-banking or tabling can make a big difference.

Post signs in your window, a bumper sticker on your car. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Go on the opinion discussion forums of your local paper and talk about it. Try to convince people there.

Talk to your local Democratic party. See what you can do there. Organize rides to the voting locations for those who would not otherwise be able to go. Or organize babysitting services to make sure young families can go vote.

These are just a few ideas. If Arizonans want to take their state back from the freaks out in la-la land, then they're going to have to get up off the couch and do something about it! The crazies have got the big bucks behind them, so it's going to take a concerted effort on the grass roots level to get it done!

Good Luck!!!!

[Mosby]

94. Lots of good ideas, thx.

Welcome to DU!

[Suji to Seoul]

79. I'm a liberal overseas from Arizona (still registered in CD8)

Let Arizona suffer. The majority voted for these clowns. Let the State suffer, wither and die. I support it completely.

The only why to deal with these Phoenix 40 and the Republican bullies in Maricopa County is to ensure draconian punishment for their stupid bullshit.

Starve the state, then see how the people howl!

Of course this only applies the counties that support this crap and Maricopa County. Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Coconino and Yuma Counties are all completely absolved of this because they didn't vote, support to accept any of this nonsensical bullshit.

[1monster]

89. Welcome to the club. A very vocal group has been vilifying Florida and Flordians since

November 2000.

Nothing good that happens in Florida is ever acknowledged anything bad is greeted with the idea that Florida be cut away at the Florida Georgia border and allowed to float away.

It is never acknowledged that this state was very carefully manipulated and defrauded by having tens of thousands of voters stripped from the voting rolls and thousands of votes "disqualified" in 2000 (and you can bet EVERY election since then!).

Now they are saying that there are tens of thousands of illegal aliens registered to vote in Florida and that there will be another voter purge this summer.

This is all carefully orchestrated by Jebby, who chose Florida as his victim state, and his BFEE contingent. Yet Florida gets blamed for all of it. Let's not forget that Florida REJECTED Jeb the first time around, (and man, wasn't the Bush Family pissed about that!!!)

[NoPasaran]

33. Nah, Obama should just head down to Phoenix

Punch this gooberhead in the nose and shout "America Fuck Yeah!"

[DocMac]

41. I'm ok with that. nt

[one_voice]

76. Yeah, that sounds good.

[jwirr]

36. That is exactly what I was thinking but fed funding would also cut out many of the safety net

programs.

[panader0]

44. eff you too. I live here.

State bashing is just stupid. North versus South, East versus West, what's the point? We live in this country together.
This reminds me of Perry threatening to secede...

[Cooley Hurd]

87. I'm not bashing the people of AZ. I am stating that the government is a rogue one and...

...it should be starved by the federal govt. Sorry you took it personally...

[cstanleytech]

78. Yes of course all of the people in the state must be punished for the actions of some nutjobs!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

85. If that happened in NY, I would expect... and welcome an action like that from the Fed.

[cstanleytech]

97. But would the majority of those in NY other than yourself who were impacted? I doubt it.

[CreekDog]

2. Any denial of Obama's constitional rights can only be taken via due process

and due process is not setting up an unreasonable standard to prove he's a citizen, especially one his opponent is not being asked to do (and who's own father was born outside the USA).

[FSogol]

4. I turned off my screen and his eyes still haunt me.

[Horse with no Name]

5. He has crazy eyes

like Bachman.

You truly cannot hide the crazy.

[hifiguy]

6. This goggle-eyed homonculus will likely get a smackdown

from the federal courts. Is there no depth to the idiocy of the freepers? Christ in a tunnel boring machine, they are almost to the earth's core at this point.

[razorman]

7. It won't happen.

I do not believe the AZ SoS has the balls to keep President Obama off the ballot. But, from a strictly legal standpoint, does he have an argument? Does anyone here know what the law in Arizona actually says in regard to this? Is everyone who wants to be on the presidential ballot required to provide a birth certificate? If not, this guy is just blowing smoke.

[kestrel91316]

10. I think he is crazy enough to try. He will, of course, FAIL.

[louis-t]

46. He knows he can't get away with it, but he's playing to

the crazies in his state.

[citizen blues]

47. The point is Obama has already provided a birth certificate...

and it's still not enough for these blockheads.

If they really want to go AZ legal, then ask Romney for proof he's supposed to be here at all. That falls under the "papers please" law, since his old man's a Mexican citizen.

[Amster Dan]

8. Arizona, take off your Tin Foil Hats

People shouldn't live in the climate they do: It cooks the brain.

[liam_laddie]

9. I think you're correct...

...loonies like this POS (oops..I mean SOS) are waaaay too prevalent out there. Or it's the lack of grass (take your pick) - the sun bakes yards into pebbles and sand. Affects right-wing brains the in the same manner.

[former9thward]

24. It sounds like you have never been to Arizona.

We all have plenty of grass where I live. Water does wonderful things, try it sometime.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

25. Non native grass in AZ that needs watering --

is the epitomy of insanity.

[Mosby]

28. Grass, shrubs and trees keeps neighborhoods cooler

So areas in Phx that have lots of vegetation actually use much less electricity than xeriscaped areas. Furthermore, farmers use about 90% of the water in this state, and when farm land is developed into housing water use goes way down.

[newspeak]

104. frank lloyd wright disagrees with you

he was for keeping the natural desert landscape. I was raised in the phoenix area, and most went to public swimming pools' instead of wasting water with individual pools. Flying over phoenix ten years ago, it was unbelievable seeing all those backyard swimming pools. My grandmother's parents came to arizona in a wagon and she told me about the water rationing at that time. My hubby's great grandfather was one who introduced cotton to the area. And my great aunt was secretary to democratic senator carl hayden. Sure, we had the john bircher's; at that time, many didn't take them serious.

However, the atmosphere has changed for the worse in arizona. The crazies have come out of the woodwork and arizona's right wing media has helped it's spiraling downward. It seems that bigotry rules; it's all those damned mexicans' fault. Growing up most of my friends, my co-workers were hispanic and now the snowbirds are yelling about the brown skins. Even when migration over the board has slowed down. I blame the wacko right making it into a political fear campaign and the media. Both pushing fear of the brown people, even when some of their stories are complete fabrications.

The birthers have gone over the edge. There's no proof that will satisfy their claims because it's now the scary "black" man and some of the wackos now residing in my former state will swallow any lie because they want to believe.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. The next step after voter suppression

is to outlaw any party but their own and see if they can get away with it. You know they would if they could.

[liberalnationalist]

20. the

republican party is the party that needs to be made illegal

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. +1.

[Zorra]

12. More Fun AZ Facts! Did You Know?

Arizona produces many of this country's vegetables and nuts.

AZ State Capitol

Main packing shed and warehouse for the vegetables and nuts of Arizona

[Scurrilous]

14. ROFL

[Cali_Democrat]

15. hahaha!

[MineralMan]

13. Let him give that a try. Let's see whether the AZ Secretary of State

can really fuck with a Presidential election. Me? I don't think so. It will take a federal court about 10 seconds to slap an injunction on him. He'll look incredibly silly.

[lonestarnot]

73. Will is future tense.

[randr]

16. Why does no one ask any birther for some proof and documentation

that Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii?
Not even a shred of anecdotal evidence pointing to a foreign birth has been presented and they continue to deny the facts in front of their faces.

[NoPasaran]

34. To a conspiracy theorist, the lack of evidence proving the conspiracy is no hindrance

In fact, the lack of evidence may itself be evidence because all the real evidence has been covered up, man.

[mmonk]

17. I hope they try that one.

Last edited Fri May 18, 2012, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

It will less be possible for people to believe the Republican Party is normal and sane.

[klook]

48. That was my thought.

Maybe they will also turn up questions about whether the moon landings were faked, or whether Elvis has been spotted in any Tucson grocery stores. The GOP's reputation will surely be strengthened among the lunatic fringe!

[cali]

18. Obama will be on the ballot.Hawaii will very publically make clear that the certificate is authentic

and this man will be in a world of hurt if he tries to keep the President off the ballot.

[liberalnationalist]

19. the AZ secretary of state

should be removed from office, tried for treason and given the death penalty

[edcantor]

22. OKAY with me! Except for the execution part

These people need to wake up.

I wouldn't kill someone for being stupid, but life in prison would do the trick to get most of them to open their minds.

[jmowreader]

69. Please...mellow out on the treason talk

Treason is, specifically, waging war against the United States and providing aid and comfort to the enemy.

Charge him with interfering with a federal officer, give him six months (preferably starting in May) in Arpaio's tent jail, and let him go.

[DinahMoeHum]

21. That bug-eye is as dumb as he looks.

n/t

[SidDithers]

26. Back pedaling statement to be issued soon...nt

Sid

[pasto76]

30. go ahead, fuck with the FEC. Talk about voter suppression

they should remember this is a FEDERAL election. All this birther talk is moot, even if he wasnt eligible, since the Chief Justice swore him in. WOuldnt matter if it was my dog. The diligence is supposed to be done before the CJ swears anyone in.

[Blue_Tires]

31. It's "possible" for me to flap my arms and fly to the moon, too...

[MatthewStLouis]

32. While we're talking about Arizona: do they still have all their Rest Areas closed?

For such a beautiful state, they sure are anti-tourist.

[struggle4progress]

37. They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!

[davidpdx]

103. Holy hell

I haven't heard that one in a long time. I dated a gal about 15 years ago who loved that song. Ironically she was a Republican.

[AlinPA]

38. Republicans are completely crazed now. They will be eating their own poop by election day.

[secondvariety]

39. I thought Florida was screwed up...

Arizona makes our politicians look positively sane by comparison. Who votes for these lunatics? Must be the heat.

[Evasporque]

40. crazy wacko needs to be fired....nt

[newspeak]

105. well, apparently

he's part of the looney trio-governor, sheriff and SOS. They make a fabulous team, don't you think?

[lurky]

42. Could this be an actual election strategy?

The republicans know they are in trouble already. Maybe they are hoping they can get Obama off the ballot in a few swing states with R governors and tip the scales back in their favor. Or get the election tied up in the courts where their buddies in the supreme court can give them the presidency again.

I wonder if anybody with more legal expertise can answer this for me: If a crooked or nutty secretary of state drops a candidate from the ballot on a BS pretext, what recourse is there? Can he do this, and if so, can we stop him?

[glinda]

71. This is just the beginning. They will create such an election mess across

the Country that we will have NO President for months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ehrnst]

43. Apparently he can't use the Google:

April 2011 - Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie stated: “Considering all of the investigations that have been done and the information that has been provided, no rational person can question the President‟s citizenship. We have found a way – once again – to confirm what we already knew: the President was born here in Hawaii. State officials of both parties have verified that President Obama‟s birth records show that he was born in Honolulu."

http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/News_Release_Birth_Certificate_042711.pdf

[Rozlee]

62. His birth certificate isn't even the half of it.

Those birthers have got all these other crackpot theories. I glanced over one called, "Where's the Airline Ticket?" Evidently, they allege his mother had left the country years before Obama's birth and not even given birth to him here because no airline ticket under her name could be found returning stateside. Another site insists she renounced her citizenship before she gave birth to him. Yet another states that Obama's father secretly made him a citizen of Kenya in his childhood. It never ends. Birthers are a cult. They'd need aggressive deprogramming to ever have their bitty brains re-directed to semi-plane of reality. If it could even be done.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

99. And complete with a birth notice in the press.

What a unbelievable plan, started on the very first day of his birth.

[Thinkingabout]

107. Gov. Neil Abrecrombie also knew Obama's parents

And knew the mother when she was pregnant in Hawaii. I have ask if Sheriff Joe posse had investigated if anyone was aware of Obama's mother when she was pregnant but then they would have discovered Obama was born in Hawaii. Also the copy they was investigating was downloaded from the Internet so it was only a copy. Now I van see why Sheriff Joe county has a backlog of sexual assaults, he is lacking investigators.

[louis-t]

45. Sorry, not up to him to make that determination.

I smell lawsuit.

[AsahinaKimi]

49. baka yaro.

Another Republican attempt to destroy America by messing with the voting system. It sounds like if these racists had their way, there would only be Republican old men on the ballot. Send in a federal investigator!

[ut oh]

50. More fear

of the Black Man!!!

[meow2u3]

51. The birthers wouldn't believe Obama is American if Jesus himself told them

It doesn't matter to those genocidal racists. In their twisted racist minds, Obama can do no right.

He's black; therefore, he's unfit to be President. That's all that matters. Every anti-Obama conspiracy theory is nothing more than an excuse to discredit him. That's the bottom line.

[DFW]

52. I say arrest the bastard

He is violating Federal Election law if he does that (which I suspect he won't--he'll just
do like Ohio's Kenneth Blackwell or Florida's Katherine Harris and falsify the tally if he can).

But have him brought in for questioning by U.S. Marshals over which Brewer has no jurisdiction.
Then bring in Brewer too if she defends him. The time to laugh at these crooks while they play
havoc with our right to vote is past, I say. Action is required.

[lonestarnot]

67. As do I! What he said!

[suffragette]

92. This from DFW ^

Yep, looks like another budding Harris or Blackwell. He should be shut down before he tries whatever other fraudulent tactics he's thinking of deploying.

[socialist_n_TN]

53. And just as a few polls were showing that AZ was surpirsingly competitive

in the Presidential race. Fucking loon.

[SoCalDem]

54. A Runaway Bride eyed goofball..how nice for AZ

[Cali_Democrat]

58. LOL. Somebody should hook them up. They'd make a great couple

I wonder what their kids would look like.

[McCamy Taylor]

55. Ken Bennet must be a sad little man.

[treestar]

59. So is he going to require the same of Mittens?

And how does he explain the fact Obama has already been on their ballot, in 2008?

[fascisthunter]

60. I'd rather elect a Kenyan than a neo-nazi republican

what can I say...

[edbermac]

61. Keep him off, Kenny...I DARE YOU!

You talk the talk...let's see you walk the walk, tough guy.

[muntrv]

64. Hawaii should demand that Bennett show proof of who he is

and the laws that say he's in charge of all ballots.

[brooklynite]

65. A simple prediction...

President Obama will be on the ballot.

In his next election, Bennett will say he did what he could to protect the integrity of tge ballot.

The Birthers will accept his excuse.

[lonestarnot]

66. This fucker trying to cause problems? Problems may be putting it lightly... snort

[Manifestor_of_Light]

68. They don't understand the concept of jurisdiction.

First Governor Cryptkeeper thinks she can take over Federal immigration law with the "papers please" laws targeting illegal immigrants, and now this bug-eyed wonder?

They don't understand that they can't meddle with Federal jurisdiction.

They don't understand judicial review and the Treaty of Tripoli either, but that's a different rant.....

[NYC_SKP]

70. Code: 7.. H.. 99.. Bravo.. ^^ PREPARE ARIZONA FEMA CAMPS R.F.N!!11!!!

Right Fukkin Now!!!

[lonestarnot]

75. Are you nuts?

[NYC_SKP]

80. I know: Birth Certificate, really??? And Impeachment?????

WebDude just needs a break....

[FSogol]

83. Wow, member since 2002, 875 posts, 2 hidden.

[spanone]

74. good luck with that, dipshits

[cstanleytech]

77. Ya know the birthers are just as wacked out as the ones who keep insisting Elvis is alive. nt

[Iliyah]

81. I demand that all goppers from all the states

give the American people their ORIGINAL birth certificates and allowing the experts to determine if its fact. Not certified which I thought was valid in our country since, the origianls are protected.

The Insane Party of No, please I want to see the ORIGINALS of your birth certificates, shit starting with Rush. . . .

[KakistocracyHater]

82. I think Dems need to help any Dems in Arizona to move out

there ought to be a large Wall around Arizona. It's mostly desert, & with droughts getting worse, & the unbelievably high summer temps? This is the state that counts the first day of your last period as the beginning of pregnancy.

Anybody know what happened to that Norwegian guy who got a 7 year sentence?

[lonestarnot]

93. Not running me out of my native state. I prefer to see pugs move back from where they came.

[PaulRevere08]

84. The fact that Bennet is a Mormon has nothing to do with the stunt. The apple does not fall .....

A 2006 plea bargain involving Ken's son, Clifton, became controversial after several parents of victims accused Ken of exerting undue influence to affect the case. In what a county attorney described as a summer camp "hazing ritual" gone wrong, Clifton and another man inserted a broom stick into the rectums of at least 18 boys in over 40 separate incidents. Ultimately Clifton, only 17 years old and a minor, plead guilty to one count of aggravated assault. Clifton was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, said he "had questions about the handling of the case," but that his office had no authority to intervene. Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk defended the plea bargain and accused the news media of misrepresenting the issue.

[NoQuarter]

101. As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune...

The son of Arizona's Senate president confessed that he and another counselor shoved broomsticks and flashlights into the rectums of 18 boys in at least 40 incidents at a youth camp in June.

Now Yavapai County prosecutors say they will drop all but one assault charge and likely recommend little or no jail time if 18-year-old Clifton Bennett agrees to plead guilty.

A similar agreement has been offered to co-defendant Kyle Wheeler, 19, who faces an additional assault charge for choking three of the boys until they passed out. The plea agreements were first presented in court last week and could be completed at a hearing Monday.

<snip>

The pleas, which describe the assault charge as ''a non-dangerous, non-repetitive offense,'' have outraged parents who say their sons were victims of violent sexual attacks. The boys, who were 11 to 14 years old at the time, have had trouble going to the bathroom, sleep with clothes on, are afraid at night, and have undergone sexual- assault counseling.


http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3670346

[sulphurdunn]

86. This could be a positive

thing for Obama. If Arizona doesn't allow the President on the ballot in a presidential election, the electoral college would not count Arizona's electoral votes, and those votes would surly have gone to Romney.

[tcaudilllg]

88. This is a job for the DOJ

to handle as they see fit.

[Blue Owl]

91. "why do I have an oily taint?"

n/t

[Pisces]

95. Arizona now behind Mississippi in the stupid category. What is going on with Arizona??????

[Swede Atlanta]

96. I know it is unprecedented but.........

what are the constitutional options to "un-state" a state but this is one state we don't need (well Texas is less desirable). These people are without reproach.

[tabasco]

98. I'm so tired of stupid-ass republicans trying to destroy this country

If Romney gets elected I'm leaving. I'm fortunate to have a German citizen wife.

[Shankapotomus]

102. If Arizona wants to be crazy

let it be crazy. I say don't react. Don't do anything. There's nothing we can do to Arizona they are not already doing to themselves.

[TNLib]

106. Well if they don't put the POTUS on the ballot does that mean that they won't be counted in the

Electoral college?

Just pondering the legality and ramifications of this.