Seeing your government dollars at work in email chains about president Obama’s birth certificate is somewhere between hilarious and exasperating.
On one end, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has suggested the president might not make it onto the November ballot there unless he can surmise whether Obama was truly born in Hawaii. On the other, Hawaii officials have been dealing with similar requests—and answering them along with the president—for years now.
Talking Points Memo obtained the email exchange, in which Bennett and his office are repeatedly rebuffed by the Hawaii Attorney General’s office in requesting further verification of Obama’s birth in Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in 1961.
The Hawaii office asks for proof of legal authority for the request, and whether Bennett plans to further verify the birthplaces of all the candidates who will be on the ballot. Other emails obtained show Bennett answering birther constituents who question his commitment to questioning the president’s eligibility. If they read his emails, they would probably stop questioning him.
Video produced by Paca Thomas.
