So our Viner, proglib, seeded the following article today. I looked for it in the Des Moines Register. As of this writing, no articles appeared on the subject.
Iowa Republicans want Obama to prove his citizenship before they allow him on the ballot. Like it's their rules that we have to follow instead of regular election rules. Like they have all the power.
This birther redux thing is gettting really old.
Iowa GOP takes shot at Obama with 'natural-born citizen' requirement
Washington Post
http://proglib.newsvine.com/_news/2012/05/22/11808812-iowa-gop-takes-shot-at-obama-with-natural-born-citizen-requirement
Today, I’m on the phone with one of my sons, who lives two doors down from me (there’s this independence thing going on). We’re talking and all of a sudden, he says, “Hold on a minute.”
In the background, I hear a woman’s voice, something about ‘sign this’.
So I look out my door.
There’s a guy in a plaid shirt there, so I figure it’s some kind of petition.
Sure enough, the guy comes down to my door as I’m opening it up. That kind of surprised him. I explained how I knew to open it.
He has a petition he’d like 1,500 signatures on. See, his dad, age 66 now, is retired. His dad wants his name on the Presidential ballot in Iowa this year. His dad doesn’t have a platform and isn’t affiliated with any party. He’s not going to do any fundraising or campaigning. He just wants to see his name on a Presidential ballot.
Not kidding. Straight face. Clipboard with signatures on it.
1,500 signatures to get somebody’s name on the Presidential ballot in Iowa.
I tell him that, under other circumstances, I might sign it, but not for this election.
“You see, it looks like it’s going to be a tight race, and putting your dad’s name on the ballot might siphon off other votes – for either side – that might make the difference. I understand that it’s your dad, and you and he would like to see his name on the ballot. Kind of cool, actually, but there’s too much at stake this time.”
I tell him I’m on disability and the Republicans want to cut that. I’ve worked since I was 15 years old. I raised my three sons alone after the divorce from their military father, when he dumped us on the curb. I told him about how, as I was hitting 50, in the middle of the first Bush job recovery, I’d basically been thrown away in the work force. And for the first time in my life, I had to use food stamps. On May 23, 2003, I stopped being a Republican.
He chuckles, like he knows the date. I go on.
I watched the second tax cut for the wealthy being passed on CSPAN. Watched the channel all afternoon. Saw my family thrown away a couple of times that day. And I ended up going back to school to level that playing field. Graduated, went on to grad school, and there, near then end, I was diagnosed with cancer.
He shakes his head and says, “I’m sorry. That’s really too bad.” I think he means that.
“So, you see,” I go on, “I’m watching my sons have as hard a time as I did – a woman – in the job market. And it wasn’t supposed to be like that. They are bright, capable, competent, smart young men. But all they can find are jobs that pay like what I used to make. And I want more for them than that. One’s a single dad, who works a lot of hours. One just got into college, and I’m thrilled for him. (Maybe the other two will make it there someday.) And one hasn’t had a job for 3-1/2 years. He applies. He goes to interviews. He’s capable, meticulous, and diligent, but he isn’t as spontaneously interactive with new people as most others are. So he’s out of work.”
About that time, he receives a text message. “My wife is reminding me we have to pick up our daughter from school.”
But I want to finish my point.
“After a lifetime of work, in spite of that degree, here I am, on disability, living in poverty, after everything I did to avoid it. The Republicans want to cut all those programs. They want to limit my rights, my health, and take even more away from me. And I just won’t let that happen without a fight. So, as much as I’d like to help your dad realize that goal of his, what’s at stake is larger than that. I want my sons to have that life that you and I thought we were going to have way back when. As Republican as this area is, as this state is, we’re going to need every vote to get that done. They aren’t telling the truth. They haven’t been. If you want to get a glimpse of what’s going on, just Google ‘7.4 million’. You’ll see a link to ‘political corrrection’. Go to that link and see for yourself what they’ve been doing. You can go from there in your research. “
We exchange good-byes and he disappears around the corner.
It is 2:34.
It took a few minutes, but the other irony, that ‘life is happening while we make other plans’ moment hits me.
Some man who wanted his name on a Presidentail ballot – just because – was collecting 1,500 signatures from anybody.
But Don Racheter, chairman of the Iowa GOP’s platform committee, doesn’t want the current President of the United States included on the Presidential election ballot in Iowa in 2012.
And I thought about this. I thought about the implications. I thought about whether or not to even tell the story in case others try this for purposes other than vanity. And now I’m wondering how many other people – here or elsewhere – are going to try and do this in order to siphon off votes in the General Election.
I’m wondering to what lengths the Republican Party will go to win the election in November.
I’m wondering why the Republican Party in Iowa is going to add a plank in an attempt to prevent the President of the United States, who is running for a second term, from appearing on the Iowa general election ballot.
Maybe it's because their candidate can't cut it in a fair fight. That's the real crux of the whole debate.
