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And from the transcript of the show, here's a segment of the letter:
Before being elected president, then-Senator Barack Obama was plagued with questions about whether or not he is a natural-born citizen of the United States as the Constitution requires. To refute these claims, the Obama campaign in June of 2008 released a certification of live birth stating Barack Obama was born in the State of Hawaii in 1961.Rachel uses this as more evidence that the Congressman is among the "Birthers" in DC. We won't say that he's not a birther. We've already noted his presence in the Firedoglake clip - where he refuses to say that Obama was born in the US (though he doesn't say that Obama wasn't). So it may be true that he's a birther but he may also, in this letter at least, just be explaining the situation to his constituents. I can't tell for sure. And I want to know for sure.
Before giving birth, the suits claim, President Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father, but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, and therefore, gave birth to the president in Kenya.
At the time of birth, the suits contend, President Obama's father was a Kenyan citizen subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, thus handing down British citizenship to the president, while his mother was a minor at the time of birth, too young to confer American citizenship.
Moreover, critics argue, his grandmother claims to have been present at the birth in Kenya. Other suits claim that even if the president was born in the United States, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia.
As a historical matter, U.S. citizenship can be forfeited upon undertaking of the various acts including naturalization in a foreign state.
So in the interest of fairness, I'd love to see the complete text of the letter.
So c'mon any Murphy constituents out there! Anyone get the letter? E-mail me. We'll discuss.
