More questions about Barack Obama's birth certificate, still

Well, here we go again on the Barack Obama birth certificate controversy that just won't die because it's one of those zombie issues like who really killed JFK.

No less an authority on politics, history and government archives than the Pat Boone is now raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the entire Obama administration and everything it has done since those 21 guns went off shortly after noon on Jan. 20.

This is because a lot of people, including firebrand conservative Alan Keyes (as The Ticket described here in February) and now Boone, insist or suggest or imply that Obama cannot be president of these United States because they insist, suggest or imply he wasn't really born in Hawaii but was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland.

(See below for the certificate of live birth provided by the Obama staff a year ago, even though technically that's not a birth certificate.)

(Helpful Ticket Political Reminder: Obama thoroughly thumped Keyes, a last-minute hopeless fill-in GOP candidate, in his initial 2004 U.S. Senate run in Illinois. So there may be a lingering issue there in the mind of Keyes, wherever that is.)

Now, none of this should actually matter because Obama's mother was an American, if you consider Kansas America. So she could have been on Mars when wee Barry emerged and he'd still be American. All the courts have consistently thrown out challenges to the first African American president's legality. And Obama's spending, golfing and official POTUS Air Force One jacket sure don't indicate he's got any doubts about his legitimacy.

But maybe the courts are all part of a vast Kenyan socialist conspiracy or something. As they do daily, Wonkette has a lot of fun with its own theory about this conspiracy theory.

Anyway, the latest development is that Pat Boone, in an article headlined "Mr Obama, Show Us Your Birth Certificate," goes on a long while about the hassle of non-terrorists trying to board commercial American flights nowadays. Which is so true, isn't it?

It's gotten so bad, Pat reports, that he's actually turned down some gigs just to avoid the airport hassle. Which must be a nice position to be in, even with the hassle.

Pat -- we call him that because we've never met -- questions the validity of the certificate of live birth published on The Ticket. He raises dramatic fears about what will happen if years down the road Obama is actually proven to be legally barred from holding the Oval Office as is, say, California's Austrian-born Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But then PB gets to his main point:

If I have to produce my passport, my driver’s license, my birth certificate, for things like leaving the country and returning, buying and selling and leasing and renting — all the things ordinary citizens are required to do all the time — why then, in the name of decency and equality, and, in the “open” and “transparent” approach to government Obama promised, should our elected leader not do the same?

Now, some might say, who is this Pat Boone to question the legitimacy of the president of the United States? Well, he's a lifelong conservative who had a very nice voice and made so many popular hits for your parents that for many years he was second only to a singer who died of drug issues (that would be Elvis).

Pat's qualifications also include popularizing the wearing of white suede shoes about a century or so ago, even though such foot gear is impossible to keep unscuffed for more than 27 seconds..

Pat says Obama is dismantling America’s free markets, taxing the higher-earning middle class into despondency, spending and taxing the nation into bankruptcy, imposing socialistic, government-run healthcare, seriously weakening our military and encouraging our enemies and enacting crippling and fraudulent “global warming” laws, among other nefarious things.

And, he asks, what if "he wasn’t even legally entitled to be president at all. Yes, it is important, crucially and everlastingly important. America’s very future depends on the defense of, and obedience to, our basic constitutional laws."

So while it seems unlikely Pat will be invited to perform at the next White House lesbian gay pride celebration, this birth certificate thing doesn't seem to be going away as quickly as white suede shoes.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Newt Gingrich on the Republican National Committee: Tiny group of 'precious' people

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led the historic Republican Revolution of 1994 that gave his party control of both houses of Congress and might well be a 2012 presidential candidate, has a few typically pithy -- and critical -- words for his own Republican National Committee.

The national committees of both parties are charged with fund-raising and developing national election strategies, plus helping to recruit and train candidates.

The committees tend to play a more important role when they do not hold the White House, which controls political strategy.

After losing the White House in November and both houses of Congress, RNC Chairman Michael Steele faces a major rebuilding -- and rebranding and reunifying -- job for his 155-year-old party.

Appearing on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" today (see video below), Gingrich was asked about reports of internal RNC feuding and efforts by the party's 168-member RNC to put spending controls on its new chairman, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the first African American to head the party of Lincoln.

Steele has had a rocky few initial weeks, as has his party adapting to the popular new Obama administration.

Asked if he thought the curbing attempts on Steele were leftover resentments from January's six-ballot struggle to elect a new chair, Gingrich agreed.

Then, with the usual shyness that has made him a very popular party speaker even 11 years after he stepped down, Gingrich added:

The Republican National Committee is this tiny group of people, some of whom have been there 20 years or more. And they all think they're precious. And they all think they should be taken care of. And they all think that the job of the chairman first of all is to make the RNC members happy.

Chances are few of those tiny people -- or was it a tiny group of people? -- will be feeling too happy watching this video. Gingrich has more to say on it. Worth watching.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

DNC to Norm Coleman: 'Enough is enough'

It's been 24 weeks since the Senate election in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and comedian-turned-Democrat Al Franken.

And still the wrangling continues.

The latest news was Tuesday's development. A three-judge panel in the state ruled that Franken "received the highest number of votes legally cast." At last count, the former "Saturday Night Live" performer  was ahead by 312 votes out of nearly 3 million coast.

But Coleman has vowed to take his case to the state Supreme Court, arguing that more than 4,400 absentee ballots have yet to be counted. And both Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat, seem content to let him take one last appeal to the state Supreme Court before this movie comes to a conclusion.

But Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said it was time for Coleman to concede, accusing him of putting his own ambition ahead of voter interests.

And just in case he didn't hear the message from Kaine, the DNC started running ads on news stations in the Twin Cities today, accusing Coleman and Republicans of wanting “to thwart the will of the voters” and delay the outcome.

“Enough is enough,” says an announcer, noting that Franken won the original election, the recount and a legal challenge. “America is in an economic crisis -- and Minnesota faces unique challenges of its own. Minnesota deserves two senators and voters deserve to have their verdict stand without delay.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Two ex-agents collect the secret stories of the Secret Service

Some of them are obvious at every presidential event -- the little curly wires running from their ear down inside the shirt and coat where the weapons are. There are, however, always more of them around than anyone sees.

The Secret Service guys and gals, who don't respond to anyone's comments but always have their eyes epoxyed on the hands of everyone in the excited crowd shoving to get near the commander-in-chief.
Barack Obamaand others have at times poked public fun at the stony faces of these government agents.

They're extra busy these days as Obama makes his first foreign foray overseas this week.

But you really don't hear much about these agents; hence, the name "secret." Few of them have revealed the fascinating private things they see and hear in the vehicles,the corridors or the freight elevators from the underground garages.

Presidents have taken that grungy route to their ballroom speeches ever since that September day in 1975 when the now-paroled Sara Jane Moore took a wild .38 pistol shot at President Gerald Ford as....

The wondrous ways Obama's Washington works--and doesn't get it

The night in 1865 that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln in downtown Washington not far off the recent inaugural parade route for the man who used the same red Bible for his 2009 presidential oath, Booth's co-conspirators fanned out across town to murder other Cabinet members. The Union targets included William Seward, later of Alaska Purchase fame.

Turns out the assassins couldn't find their victims because they weren't at home. To be more accurate, Seward and others weren't in their rooms. Their rented rooms. In a boarding house.

That's the way Washington used to be, a place where representatives of the people went to work temporarily before they returned back home to the states, districts and, most important, the people they represented. Somewhere along the way, things got turned around.

Once elected, the representatives moved to the Washington area (Republicans generally to Virginia, Democrats to Maryland), got home mortgages there and, most likely, sold their home back home. Unless they had so many they couldn't keep track.

They lived in Washington and became part of a bipartisan, permanent political aristocracy because they knew, even if they ever got unelected, they'd be staying on to work in the lucrative legal-lobby-association complex that permeates that onetime swamp that Maryland gave away as worthless for the federal capital. (See video report on Obama's TV interviews about the Daschle withdrawal below.)

Pretty soon, even well-meaning elected folks began to represent Washington during their home district visits, instead of the original way. It takes a very strong personality to resist the self-import that comes from living and working and socializing in the national seat of power.

The same applies to the media, whose elites thrive on the access and exposure there. And it is a heady experience to address the president and others as unelected representatives of their audiences. Once assigned there, you may notice, few rotate back out into the field where most Americans live.

And so the District of Columbia becomes a club, mainly a fraternity still, with all the rights and privileges assigned to membership thereto. This club has its own culture, protocol and....

Republicans roll out early attack ads on Harry Reid

If you thought it was safe to turn on the television without seeing a political attack ad, think again. At least in Reno.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee this morning rolled out its first attack ad of the 2010 election cycle. And the target is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The ad notes that Reid voted for the $700-billion bailout package this year and supports President Obama's new stimulus package again this year. As a hammer slams into a piggy bank, the ad asks:

And now he wants a trillion more dollars in new spending? A trillion dollars? Tell Harry Reid to stop wasting our hard-earned money.

Last time we checked, Reid had $3 million in his campaign coffers and no strong Republican opponent.

But maybe the Republicans hope to repeat their feat as dragon-slayers from the 2004 election, when they targeted and defeated Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, now, of course, President Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo credit: Associated Press

Blagojevich fights for little guys, gals -- healthcare, tax relief, all sorts of good things

Illinois' legally-challenged Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he's had a longrunning political feud with the Illinois House of Representatives, ever since the 51-year-old former congressman from Chicago's North Side was reelected in 2006.

At a Chicago news conference where he refused to take questions, Blagojevich says the Illinois House is standing in the way of his ongoing, valiant effort to fight for the ordinary people of his state, which is what he says he was elected and reelected to do. "From the very moment of my reelection," Blagojevich says, "I have been in a struggle with the House to try to get things done for the people."

The governor says he's "pushed and prodded" that legislative body for property tax relief for the working folks of Illinois.

He says he's fought to expand healthcare for poor people like the fellow over there in the wheelchair who had a liver disease or kidney disease or something wrong with him and couldn't get coverage. And for the women of Illinois who deserve better care and coverage for their breasts and cervixes.

In fact, Blago says, many people didn't know that the Illinois Senate has passed but the lazy, good-for-nothing House is still sitting on other bills to help regular Illinois citizens. "Is that an impeachable offense" to fight for the people as he's done?

The governor answered his own question: "I don't believe that's an impeachable offense. I understand the House's action. I'm not at all surprised by it."

Oh, and in case anyone had on their mind this silly talk about Blagojevich's legal troubles, now involving the Democrat-controlled Illinois House, by a closely-divided count of 114-1, (see news video below) choosing to impeach (or indict) a governor for the first time in the state's history earlier today, here's what the governor dismissively said:

"The House's action today and the causes of the impeachment are because I've done things to fight for the families who are with me today." And there were families there too, of all colors, looking sad and silent, but cared for.

Blago's alleged news conference today, with him talking nonstop and even quoting a British poet (Tennyson) and rocking up on his toes as he does when nervous or agitated, was....

Ticket Replay: S.C. Dem chair says Sarah Palin's 'primary qualification' is not having an abortion

The Ticket is republishing some items this weekend from the recent political season. This one originally appeared in this space on Sept. 10, 2008:

Thank goodness after all this lipstick-swine silliness we can get back to the important issues of this evolving presidential campaign, like whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin should have gotten an abortion upon learning during her recent pregnancy that she would give birth to a baby boy with Down syndrome.

We were shocked too to learn today that the "issue" of her non-abortion had apparently not been vetted by Sen. John McCain's campaign.

Nor, it seems, has that problem come up during the hasty media vetting of the  44-year-old mother of five since she was named the surprise Republican vice presidential running mate on Aug. 29.

Fortunately, Carol Fowler, the chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, was on duty to alert the rest of us today. In the apparent Palin Panic that seems to be seizing some local Democrats, Fowler told Alex Burns over at Politico.com that the former city councilwoman, mayor, current governor and vice presidential nominee was a female candidate "whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion."

The Ticket was, of course, in the Xcel Energy Center last week when....

Blagojevich says Sen. Reid sought to influence his Obama replacement pick

A quick update on the Democrats' molten stew that is the scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his controversial appointment of Roland Burris as the state's new senator to fill the vacant seat of President-elect Barack Obama.

One, word leaked that Burris, a former Illinois attorney general and comptroller, at his initiative will meet with Democratic Senate leaders including Majority leader Harry Reid in Washington on Wednesday, the day after the new Congress convenes. Burris has vowed to take his seat. Reid has vowed to block Burris from doing that, with armed guards if necessary.

Two, Blagojevich sources threw another brushback fastball past Reid, saying that the Senate Democratic leader had called the accused Democratic governor shortly before his arrest on charges of conspiring to sell government business and favors.

According to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, Reid attempted to influence the governor's nominee choice by expressing serious reservations over the 2010 electability of three potential Blagojevich picks -- Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Danny Davis and state Senate President Emil Jones.

All three men happen to be black, as is Burris.

Reid is said to have told Blagojevich he had more confidence in the electoral popularity of Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, who like Reid is white, or Tammy Duckworth, an Asian American who heads Illinois' Veteran Affairs Department.

A Reid spokesman confirmed the conversation but declined to list the names of those discussed.

Blagojevich is playing a typically hardball brand of Illinois politics, as The Ticket noted here the other day. By naming the 71-year-old Burris, who's never lost an election to a Republican, Blagojevich places Reid in the uncomfortable political position of blocking an experienced black political vote-getter from replacing a black and becoming the Senate's only black member.

Several African American House members of the Black Caucus have called for Burris' seating. And the governor's office now blithely suggests that Reid has a conflict of interest.

A Blagojevich spokesman said, "It seems to the governor that Sen. Reid has a horse in the race and Roland Burris isn't one of them."

In a strongly worded statement late Saturday night Reid accused the governor of "leaking and distorting conversations."

Reid added: "Gov. Blagojevich's efforts to try to tarnish others while the cloud of suspicion continues to grow over him are shameful, as are his efforts to further betray the public trust and sow seeds of division."

The now thoroughly racially tinged controversy is more than likely to come up this morning when Burris appears on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Associated Press (Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada).

Ticket Replay: Gov. Sarah Palin's home church torched

This weekend The Ticket is republishing some items from recent months. This one originally appeared here on Dec. 14, 2008:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband Todd and up to 1,000 fellow parishioners will worship in a local school this morning after a suspicious fire virtually destroyed the Wasilla Bible Church early Saturday. Some women and children in a crafts group were inside at the time.

The Rev. Larry Kroon said some parishioners were in the church on Nicola Avenue at the time the fire was noticed but no one was injured. Firefighters battled for about eight hours in minus-20 degree temperatures to completely extinguish the blaze that began at the front door.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate went to the church Saturday to apologize to pastors in case the estimated $1 million fire damages, suspected as arson, were "in any way connected to the undeserved negative attention the church has received" since the governor's involvement with John McCain's presidential campaign.

The 30-year-old congregation in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage, had moved into its new church just 30 months ago. Church officials said they expect to hold services at the Wasilla Middle School for the foreseeable future during repairs.

(UPDATE: In the ensuing weeks since the fire, there doesn't seem to have been much media attention or outcry against the anonymous attack on a house of worship. Probably just because Wasilla is so far away. Yes, that's probably the reason.)

— Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Al Grillo / Associated Press (top, church); Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images (bottom, Gov. Sarah Palin).