This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:
Two weeks ago I explored the accusation by Leonard Pitts, Jr. that the only reason Barack Obama’s birth certificate was being raised as an issue was because of inherent racism, “Your race card narrative does not fit, so you must acquit.”
I pointed out that numerous white presidential candidates in the past had their qualifications for office challenged on the basis of citizenship or birthplace, including one candidate (Chester A. Arthur) who was alleged by Democratic Party opponents to have been born in Canada, a rumor which persists to this day:
Nearly 123 years after his death, doubts about his US citizenship linger, thanks to lack of documentation and a political foe’s assertion that Arthur was really born in Canada – and was therefore ineligible for the White House, where he served from 1881 to 1885….
The focus on his place of birth became an issue in the 1880 presidential campaign, when Arthur was tapped to be the running mate for Garfield.
According to historical accounts, Republican bosses wanted him to provide proof of his birthplace, but he never did.
Democrats, meanwhile, hired a lawyer named Arthur Hinman who sought to discredit Arthur, alleging that he was born in Dunham, Quebec, about 47 miles north of Fairfield. Hinman traveled to Vermont and Canada to research Arthur’s past, eventually concluding that Arthur was born in Canada but appropriated the birth records of a baby brother who was born in Fairfield, but died as an infant.
He later incorporated the findings into a book titled “How A British Subject Became President of the United States.’’
You mean Democrats played the “Birther” card against a white Republican from Vermont? But Mr. Pitts and so many other people are telling us that this only happened to the first black president:
“He needs to stop saying that racist bulls**t birther s**t,” [John] Legend told told Vulture last night in New York City. “Quote me please. He should be ashamed of himself. It’s awful, really.”
As proof that questioning Obama’s citizenship must be based on racism, people point to the fact that nobody ever worried about or tried to obtain Bush’s birth certificate, right?
Four days before the runoff, Reese produced a copy of Bush’s birth certificate and accused Bush of omitting the fact that he was born in New Haven. A Bush aide insisted it was an error of “punctuation” – not deliberate deception. The brochure had said: “Born July 6, 1946 and raised in Midland, Texas.”
The year Bush’s birth certificate was obtained and passed around by an opponent for political gain was 1978. Which may explain why no one asked for Bush’s birth certificate in 2000.
Oh well, no one ever said you needed consistency to play the race card.
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