August 19, 2009
Updated birth certificate posts #2
Hardball
Chris Matthews with Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
They talk about DeLay’s new gig on Dancing with the Stars. Yes. For real. Matthews has an interesting take on DeLay’s shoes – which he happened to have right with him. Matthews then asks him if he’s a birther. DeLay of course says yes – whether he cares or not – he knows he’ll get play for a couple of days. A politician to the gills. DeLay then asks Matthews to ask barry for his gift birth certificate and Matthews seems to have had a conversion. He doesn’t say “birth certificate”. Seems he got so tired of shouting and shaking that worthless piece of paper around he actually read the printing on it. He embarrassed himself more than his dancing groping of Ellen and her subsequent jokes about it. Enjoy the flashback.
MATTHEWS: . By the way, I think you missed the boat, Congressman. The country was turning in your direction. You just missed it. Let me get—let me get the set on you. Are you one of those Texas boys, you know, square-dancers, the old days…
DELAY: Yes.
MATTHEWS: … wearing the boots and the tux together and all that stuff?
DELAY: Black tie and boots, dancing the Texas two-step, polka, waltz. I even took disco lessons once.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you, can you do the British quick-step, that stuff you have to do to all the songs like Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, and Gershwin? Do you do that one? That‘s the hardest one for me to do.
[Ellen learned first hand - literally - what's easiest for him.]
DELAY: No, no, I can‘t do it right now, but I hope to do it. That‘s one of the reasons I got on here. My wife and I have always wanted to take ballroom dancing. Now—now they‘re going to pay me to take ballroom lessons. So, this is cool. The only downside, though—I have got to show you, Chris—look at this shoe. A Texan doesn‘t wear a shoe like this.
MATTHEWS: That‘s a little—that‘s a little pump, isn‘t it?
DELAY: This is what they‘re making me wear. It‘s a little pump with high heels…
[that's what I wanted to title the post]
MATTHEWS: I just—are you going to be a little light in that shoe, I think?
DELAY: Well…
MATTHEWS: No more comment. Let‘s just drop this conversation.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about what‘s going on in the country. You‘re a man of the right, and proudly so. I wonder whether you‘re even comfortable the way it‘s headed. We have got people that question whether the president is legitimate or not, whether he was born in the United States or not. And they mean it viscerally. It isn‘t just something they want to check his papers. They don‘t think he is. Where are you on that one?
DELAY: Well, Chris, Chris, you shouldn‘t be surprised about this. This has been going on forever. When I did my town hall meetings, I can‘t—I will never forget one back in the ‘80s—on health care, by the way. They brought in quadriplegics on gurneys and dumped them on the floor in front of my podium.
[Who are "they"? Democrats? Mr Sola questioning Rep Dingell seems civilized.]
DELAY: I mean, this—this is not new. What‘s new is, the people that came into disrupt my town meetings, we just let them go on, because it usually turned off the people that were there.
[He actually gets it.]
DELAY: What‘s happening here is the American people are on their side, and as evidenced by Barney Frank. Barney treated them with arrogance. And that‘s not what you do. You let them go. But the problem is, they‘re making an impact. And the American people are on their side.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you a couple questions where you stand. You know, we have some people on that are pretty far right, but they say they‘re not birthers. They don‘t question the president‘s legitimacy. How far do you go these days, Mr. Leader?
[With the shoes...?]
MATTHEWS: Are you over there with the birthers? Are you over there with them? Are you over there with those who think this is a Hitlerian health care plan, like that woman up in Massachusetts said yesterday. Do you think it‘s Hitler-like, what he‘s doing, the president?
DELAY: I want the president, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid to keep the federal government out of my health care, period.
MATTHEWS: When you turn 65, they‘re getting into your health care, whether you like it or not. Medicare is a government program.
DELAY: I want Medicare to be privatized. It shouldn‘t be a government program. It‘s the thing that is driving up health care costs, not that we don‘t have a public option. It‘s Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP, the government run programs that are running up health care costs. That‘s where the reform ought to be.
MATTHEWS: So you want to get rid of what‘s known as Medicare today, HCFA and all that government apparatus? Get rid of all that, replace it with private sector health care? With private sector insurance?
DELAY: Amen. I‘d do it in a minute.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you this. You keep skipping over this birther thing. [and like a dunce he keeps bringing it up] A half dozen members of what was your delegation—in fact, you built that delegation. You built that Republican stronghold down there. Culberson, people like that, they are birthers.
They raised the question of the president‘s legitimacy. By the way, the implication they draw is this guy ought to be picked up, because he was never naturalized, and therefore, he‘s in the country illegally. Where are you on that one?
[Now that is just plain wacko. The issue is straightforward. barry said he released his birth certificate...he did so willingly...and then he, barama and the rest of the barrymedia lied about it while barry kept proclaiming transparency and refusing to release it. Bottom line: no one knows the actual physical birthplace of the POTUS and the issue will not go away until it is known with 100% certainty.]
DELAY: I would like the president to produce his birth certificate. Yes. I can. I can. Most illegal aliens here in America can. Why can‘t the president of the United States produce a birth certificate?
MATTHEWS: Are you actively seeking that paper? Do you want him to produce—are you Tom Delay, with your political and professional and career history in the United States government, questioning this man‘s bona fide?
DELAY: No, no.
MATTHEWS: You‘re questioning it. You want to see his paper.
DELAY: Chris, the Constitution of the United States specifically says…
MATTHEWS: I know it.
DELAY: — you have to be a natural born citizen.
MATTHEWS: I never asked you for yours.
DELAY: Ask me, I‘ll give it to you.
[Bingo.]
MATTHEWS: Has anybody ever said, Mr. Delay, give me your birth certificate? Of course not, because you‘ve got a Texas accent and you seem home grown.
DELAY: Chris, can I speak? They have asked me if I‘m a resident of Texas. They even sued me about being a resident of Texas. How about that? The Democrats sued me about being a resident of Texas. That‘s just like asking me for my birth certificate.
MATTHEWS: No, it‘s not.
DELAY: What‘s the difference?
MATTHEWS: Mr. Delay, did anyone ever ask you if you‘re an American?
DELAY: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Who?
DELAY: Democrats have looked through my—are you kidding?
MATTHEWS: Have they ever asked whether you‘re an American or not?
DELAY: Chris, they have spent 15 years trying to demonize me and to even put me in jail. Of course, they‘ve asked me if I‘m an American citizen.
MATTHEWS: Let me just tell you something. The problem they have with you is not whether you‘re homegrown or not. They figure you‘re definitely homegrown. They‘ve got other problems with you.
DELAY: Chris, will you do me a favor?
MATTHEWS: Sure.
DELAY: Will you do me a favor? Will you ask the president to show me his gift certificate—I mean his birth certificate.
MATTHEWS: No, I‘m not going to ask him, because I don‘t get to ask him.
[Confirms once and for all that Matthews is just a talking head and not a reporter. That he's just a rude interrupting attacker with no spine. Since when is it "get to" ask him? Imagine Mr Cronkite saying that or the pre-tabloid Barbara Walters. And is there anything that he hasn't "gotten to" say - said - to and about Hillary Clinton?]
MATTHEWS: You want me to go up to the president and say, can I see your papers, sir, like he‘s an illegal alien? I want to see if he has a right to be in the country or not?
[No, Chris. It's whether he has the right - and sacred privilege - to hold the most powerful job in the world.]
[Now listen closely. He catches himself. He's no longer saying "birth certificate". Who do you suppose enlightened him?]
MATTHEWS: When I‘ve seen—here‘s what I‘ve seen. I‘ve seen a Honolulu newspaper announcing his birth in Hawaii. I‘ve seen that.
[No, Chris. You've seen a photocopy of a Honolulu, Hawaii newspaper announcing the birth of a son to his alleged parents, who have never been proven to have resided at the specified address. The one and only verifiable fact is yet unverified. How long before someone enlightens him to that?]
DELAY: Newspaper!?
MATTHEWS: Do you think they cooked up that newspaper announcement back in 1961? Do you think they cooked it up so that he could some day be president?
[Why the jump to his eligibility to be president? There are other very simple reasons.]
[This DeLay character is a riot. He's the only person I've seen who has been able to answer every question of Matthews with something he can't attack. And he manages to put Matthews on the defensive, without shouting and with a good ol boy smile on his face. Matthews should watch the video a few times and learn the old honey - vinegar that is the South. DeLay would have done quite well in Chicago Politics. What kind of pay to play did he get caught in? I'll have to look up what he did.
DELAY: Is a newspaper article an official document?
MATTHEWS: Do you think they cooked it up?
DELAY: Wait a minute. Is a newspaper article an official document?
MATTHEWS: No, it‘s not.
[Bingo.]
MATTHEW: It‘s just common sense we‘re talking about here. Common sense.
[Yo, Chris, common sense is: why doesn't he release it if he has nothing to hide.]
DELAY: There isn‘t anybody in America that‘s been born in America that didn‘t get a birth certificate at Obama‘s age. Now, maybe at my age, there are people born –
[This is stunning turn of events. I wonder if he has gone back and watched the videotapes of his screaming that he had the "birth certificate!" in his hand, while calling the birthers delusional nutjobs. This would be great fodder for SNL if it wasn't such a deathly serious issue.]
MATTHEWS: All I know is they gave us [Who's they and who's us?] the document that was made available to anybody in Hawaii who asked for a birth certificate. That document they give you. That‘s all I know. OK?
[Congratulations, Chris, you're getting closer. Yes, it is the routine document they send you when you request a "birth certificate". Yes, it is accepted as a substitute for many things, including perhaps a passport -- but it is not enough to prove he is a natural born citizen. And, yes, he can get a copy of his original birth certificate at any time for less than $20.]
MATTHEWS: It‘s good to have you on. I don‘t think I‘ll ask him for his birth certificate.
[The politician makes sure he gets back to plugging the show.]
DELAY: How about these shoes.
MATTHEWS: I think you‘re going through some changes, sir.
Another good title.
