1||April 27, 2011: Hoping to quell speculation that he is not in fact a U.S. citizen, the White House released President Obama’s long form birth certificate. Despite significant proof that Obama was born in America, a number of Obama’s critics have peddled the “birther” myth over the past few years. Here, TPM takes a look back at the best (or worst) of the birthers.
Donald Trump is the latest, and perhaps most high profile birther, having forged his potential presidential candidacy largely around the issue. Following the release of Obama’s birth certificate, Trump held his own press conference, taking credit for the revelation and raising further questions about the Presdent’s past. ||TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images/Newsco&&
2||Lawyer, dentist, and “Birther Queen” Orly Taitz filed several lawsuits alleging that President Obama was not a U.S. citizen. In 2009, a federal judge forced Taitz to pay a fine for filing frivolous suits. ||a01/a01/ZUMA Press/Newscom&&
3||Lieutenant Colonel Terrance Lakin faced a court martial last year after he refused to report for duty, saying Obama was ineligible to serve as President and was therefore not a legitimate Commander In Chief. ||MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom&&
4||Joseph Farah, publisher of the website World Net Daily, has repeatedly questioned Obama’s citizenship on his site. Apparently an official birth certificate isn’t enough to satisfy Farah, as WND’s article about Obama’s release is titled, “White House releases Obama ‘birth certificate.'” ||CD1 WENN Photos/Newscom&&
5||Farah’s website even sponsored billboards questioning Obama’s citizenship, such as this one in California. ||wikimedia&&
6||In Arizona, state Rep. Carl Seel (R) sponsored a bill that would require presidential candidates to produce copies of their birth certificates to get on the ballot in that state. Gov. Jan Brewer (R) vetoed the bill when it came to her desk.|| facebook.com/carlseel&&
7||While Fox News’ Sean Hannity has not said he believes Obama was born in a foreign country, he falls into the category of “birther curious,” in that he has often questioned why Obama hadn’t released his birth certificate, further fueling the overall birther debate. || m78/m78/ZUMA Press/Newscom&&
8||Cult action star Chuck Norris is another of the birther curious bunch, having walked the line between calling Obama a foreigner, and questioning why he hadn’t released his birth certificate. ||KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/Newscom&&
9||Right-wing activist Pamela Geller was among the earliest birthers, sounding the alarm during the 2008 presidential campaign that Obama had not released a long form birth certificate. “And why won’t Obama release his birth certificate? Is it his country of birth? His religion? His name?,” Geller asked on her blog. ||b09/b09/ZUMA Press/Newscom&&
10||Conservative blogger Matt Drudge has also promoted accusations about Obama’s citizenship on his website. ||Ron Sachs/Ron Sachs – CNP/Newscom&&
11||Jerome Corsi, co-author of the widely criticized book Unfit For Command about Sen. John Kerry’s military experience, is set to release his new book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President next month. ||RICHARD B. LEVINE/RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom&&
12||Republican Presidential aspirant Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), has sidestepped the birther issue, while at the same time adding fuel to the controversy. When pressed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Bachmann said she take’s President Obama at his word, but that it was not her place to say if he was a born in the U.S. ||Gerry Melendez/MCT/Newscom&&
13||Another Presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, also stepped into the birther debate, saying that he thought Donald Trump was on to something with his birth certificate scavenger hunt. ||hc1/hc1/ZUMA Press/Newscom&&
14||Pastor Bill Keller was so concerned about Obama’s citizenship, that he helped produce a full-length informercial on the subject. ||s70/s70/ZUMA Press/Newscom&&
15||Alan Keyes, who lost a Senate bid against Barack Obama in Illinois back in 2004, filed a lawsuit challenging Obama’s natural born citizenship shortly after Obama won the 2008 presidential race. ||Jeff Malet/Jeff Malet Photography/Newscom&&
16||Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has thrown his weight behind the birther controversy as well, once saying on his show that Obama was like God — in that neither one has a birth certificate. ||ALEXIS C. GLENN/UPI/Newscom&&
