State Sen Mike McLachlan introduces birther bill

by: ctblogger

Mon Jan 31, 2011 at 09:48:59 AM EST

Remember State Sen Mike McLachlan? You know, that senator from Danbury who says one thing on the campaign trail (fiscal responsibility), but offers nothing but far right teabagging nonsense as a legislator (tenth amendment/state nullification bill, homophobic legislation proposals against same sex couples, etc).

Well, for someone who claimed to the Danbury News-Times that he was "attentive to the issues in the region" and sold himself as a stalwart for fiscal restraint during the campaign, the FIRST bill he introduces in the general assembly paints a different and more disturbing picture.

Proposed Bill No. 391

January Session, 2011

LCO No. 844

Referred to Committee on Government Administration and Elections

Introduced by:

SEN. MCLACHLAN, 24th Dist.

AN ACT CONCERNING QUALIFICATIONS TO APPEAR AS A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OR VICE-PRESIDENT ON A BALLOT IN THIS STATE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

That title 9 of the general statutes be amended to require the Secretary of the State to be presented with an original birth certificate of any candidate for the federal office of president or vice-president that certifies that the certificate holder is a natural-born United States citizen, prior to certifying that the candidate is qualified to appear on the ballot.

Statement of Purpose:

To require that candidates for president and vice-president provide their original birth certificates in order to be placed on the ballot.

Conspiracy theories often flourish in the wake of traumatic or game-changing events - the Sept. 11 attacks, the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination - and the election of America's first black president has been no exception.

Almost as soon as Barack Obama emerged as a serious candidate for the presidency, rumors about whether or not he is really an American, and thus eligible for the presidency, began popping up online. In response, the Obama campaign posted the Certification of Live Birth* (here it is) showing that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

But that did not quiet the skeptics, a group that has been come to be known as the "birthers." If anything, it encouraged them. They argued that the birth certificate is a fake, and that Mr. Obama is not the "natural born citizen" he claims to be. Mr. Obama, many birthers say, was actually born in Kenya, though there are a number of theories that fall under the birther umbrella.

The din eventually got loud enough that some reputable organizations checked out the birthers' claims - and they found no evidence to support them. In fact, there was overwhelming evidence against such claims, including Mr. Obama's 1961 birth announcement, printed in two Hawaii newspapers. Here's one detailed investigation, and here's another.

PolitiFact wrote after its extensive look at the claims a year ago:

   It is possible that Obama conspired his way to the precipice of the world's biggest job, involving a vast network of people and government agencies over decades of lies. Anything's possible.

   But step back and look at the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and your sense of what's reasonable has to take over.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has done an EXCELLENT JOB confronting and ripping apart state lawmakers such as McLachlan who introduce idiotic birther bills.

Have you heard that the Birthers are making a comeback? They are, baby! Straight up passing laws in Arizona that would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates in order to get ballot access for the election. It's just one thing that is making Arizona, in the words of State Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix), "the laughing stock of the nation".

But State Representaitve Cecil Ash (R-Mesa) supports the measure -- not because he thinks President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States... no, no! -- simply because it would help to remove doubts. It's all part of that small government ethos that maintains that the power of an intrusive state government can and should be brought to bear in order to alleviate the silly concerns of legitimately crazy people.

So, last night, Anderson Cooper took up the issue on his eponymous CNN show, and more or less laid the wood to Ash, who reiterated his point about the need to dispel the "controversy."

ASH: Anderson, I think there's been a lot of controversy over the issue, created a division among a lot of people in the United States, for better or worse, many people don't believe he is a U.s. citizen, they believe he has divided loyalties, i suppose you could say.

COOPER: Right, but those people are wrong, he is a U.S. citizen.

ASH: You're telling me that he's wrong. I've never investigated that. If he is, he has nothing to fear.

Also? He has "nothing to fear" because as Cooper noted, those people are wrong! But look: this is precisely how juvenile this stuff gets:

COOPER: But I mean the information is out there, it has been released, it has been shown there are some people who don't believe it but there are also some people that believe the moon is made out of cheese. You can say you never investigated it but I think you would probably say the moon is not made out of cheese.

ASH: I certainly would.

UPDATE 2: McLachlan further insults the public's intelligence.

"You have to have a birth certificate to get a driver's license," McLachlan said. "The same should be true to become president or vice president."

Wait...it gets better.

McLachlan submitted his proposal after hearing several arguments about President Barack Obama's citizenship, he said.

"They claim that he is not a natural-born citizen," McLachlan said.

McLachlan said he is not suggesting that Obama is not a natural-born citizen with this bill. Instead, McLachlan said, he hopes passage of the bill will stop these types of arguments in the future.

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof

"Let's stop talking about this," McLachlan said.

...unreal.

UPDATE 4:24 PM: More blowback against McLachlan's boneheaded bill.

"At a time when Connecticut faces a significant budget shortfall, it's ridiculous that Senate Republicans are focusing on tired political attacks that have nothing to do with the issues facing Connecticut," Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said Monday.

"Our Democratic leaders are focusing on real solutions to move Connecticut forward, and their Republican colleagues in the Senate should join them," DiNardo added.

McLachlan did not want to talk about the conspiracies surrounding Obama's citizenship he said he simply wanted to write legislation that requires it going forward to stop the arguments about who qualifies. McLachlan said Sen. John McCain's citizenship was also challenged by a Senate panel.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wondered why McLachlan was picking on McCain.

"You know, listen, I think we should honor our constitution and I think John McCain was eligible to run for president so I don't know why the senators picking on John McCain," said Malloy.