CNN President Jon Klein wrote an email last night to “Lou Dobbs Tonight” staffers telling them the Obama birth certificate story is “dead,” TVNewser reports.
“It seems this story is dead,” Klein wrote, “because anyone who still is not convinced doesn’t really have a legitimate beef.”
He sent the email just before Lou Dobbs went on the air. He included information CNN’s political researchers had gotten from the Hawaii Health Department — information which “seems to definitively answer the question.”
“Since the show’s mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite,” Klein wrote.
This is what he sent:
*In 2001 – the state of Hawaii Health Department went paperless.*Paper documents were discarded*The official record of Obama’s birth is now an official ELECTRONIC record Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Health Department told the Honolulu Star Bulletin, “At that time, all information for births from 1908 (on) was put into electronic files for consistent reporting,” she said.
This is what Dobbs then said during his show:
The state of Hawaii says it can’t release a paper copy of the president’s original birth certificate because they say the state government discarded the original document when the health department records went electronic some eight years ago. That explanation, however, has not satisfied some critics.
He then continued with a segment about the birth certificate.
Dobbs, who’s said he believes the president was born in the U.S., has nonetheless given airtime (and a measure of validity) to “birthers,” people who question Obama’s right to be president and argue that he’s hiding his real birth certificate.
Late Update: In an interview today with Greg Sargent, Klein said CNN wouldn’t take action against Dobbs if he continues pursuing the birther story, saying it’s “his editorial decision to make.”
When pressed about the fact that CNN has debunked the birthers’ argument, Klein said, “We respect our viewers enough to present them the facts and let them make up their own minds.”
