Limbaugh Revives the Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theory

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:12 pm

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On his radio show today Rush Limbaugh was whining about being audited by New York state and NYC, when he said, Barack Obama has yet to have to prove he’s a citizen. All he’d have to do is show a birth certificate.” Limbaugh like the other birthers conveniently forgets that the United States government has already verified Obama’s citizenship.

Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:

Limbaugh said, “By the way folks, you know I don’t do this very often let me get personal here. As you know I am in the midst of another harassing audit from New York State and New York City for the last three years. I am there 15 days a year and I pay taxes when I am in New York, and thus I have not been this year, and I am not going this year. I’m sure I’ll get audited for this year. I’ll have to prove I was never there.”

Later he compared himself to Obama’s birth certificate, “Barack Obama has yet to have to prove he’s a citizen. All he’d have to do is show a birth certificate. He has yet to have to prove he’s — I have to show them 14 different ways where the hell I am every day of the year for three years…”

Of course, Obama has already proven that he is a citizen. All of the birthers will come out of the wood work and say that a certificate of live birth is not the same thing as a birth certificate. They talk about short forms and long forms, but they don’t mention that all of these forms, as long as they are certified, are legally accepted by the United States government as proof of citizenship.

Limbaugh is technically correct that Obama has not made available a birth certificate, but as a candidate Obama did make available a certificate of live birth, which once again, is legally acceptable. The vast majority of states don’t issue copies of long form birth certificates. The short forms are the common copied form.

There is this myth that Obama needs the long form birth certificate, and if he doesn’t produce one for the world to see, then that is proof that he is not a citizen. As long it is a legally certified copy, long form or short form, it is appropriate verification. Do Republicans really think that questioning Obama’s citizenship is the path to victory in 2012?

Obama has proven his citizenship repeatedly and only the most right wing conspiracy theorists believe otherwise. This birther nonsense only serves to make Republicans look insane, and it helps further alienate conservative Democrats and Independents away from their party. Every time a Republican hops on the Birther Express they cost their party votes in 2012.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association