Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #36 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)#1 in Constitutional Law? Does that hurt, o fellow conlawprofs? Check out the rest of the list? How far down do you have to go before you see a book on constitutional law that you respect? But anyway... who can pity Corsi? He got his #1 book. But no, the book won't be released until May 17, so everyone who's put in an order for the book, everyone who made that book #1, should go right into their Amazon account and delete the book. Or will the publisher find a way to withdraw it and redo it so that it becomes super-timely? Some new chapter espousing some trumped up conspiracy theory about the birth certificate and its release.
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James Taranto got me thinking about Corsi:
Jerome Corsi's "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President" has an official release date of May 17. Corsi must be wishing he'd pushed the date up to yesterday...
Presumably Obama could have made this request [Hawaii's Department of Health] at any time, so why now?...
It's an amusing thought if an idle one that perhaps Obama did this just to stick it to Corsi, whose book reportedly hit No. 1 on Amazon after Drudge promoted it. John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking former junior senator from Massachusetts who by the way served in Vietnam, is probably smiling. After all, Corsi was co-author, with John O'Neill, of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry."
But Kerry really was unfit for command, whereas contrary to Corsi's new book, Obama, fit or not, is legally qualified to be president. "We don't have time for such silliness," Obama said at his briefing today. Then, as John Podhoretz notes, the president "flew off to Chicago to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show."
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We're going to get to the nation's business after Oprah, a round of golf, a couple of fundraisers, and maybe a short vacation to recover from it all.
"We don't have time for such silliness," Obama said at his briefing today. Then, as John Podhoretz notes, the president "flew off to Chicago to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Pretty much sums up Barry's entire presidency. No, his entire life.
I really was hoping he wasn't born here. Not because it would make him ineligible to be president (although that would be a plus), but because at least we could blame this moron's failures on another country.
And, yes, I think he's a moron. I don't buy any of this super-intelligent bullcrap. No one has ever challenged the man - he's affirmative action exemplified.
Oops, I didn't answer your question (and got off thread - my apologies). No, I don't shed any tears for Corsi. Timing is everything and he missed the boat.
A law prof thinks that one born a British Subject is eligible for POTUS? Which Con Law class did that "law prof" take?
"Presumably Obama could have made this request [Hawaii's Department of Health] at any time"
Exactly right. So it was a dick move to let it go on this long. It should have been taken care of before the election. It should have been done on principle. If it's true that Obama has been playing politics with it then it's just one more display of how small a man he is. He seems to have a fundamental lack of understanding that he was elected to do a job. And the job is not campaigning. But here we are almost two years before the election and he's already decided the most important use of his time is fundraising, and campaigning, and political games and raising a billion dollars for an election in which he always claimed public financing was the right thing to do*. Like I said, just his latest dick move that's beneath the dignity of his office.
* When is one of our brave media knights going to press him on that issue?
I do not understand the provenance of the PDF file that the White House released.
My understanding is that Obama sent a lawyer to Hawaii to retrieve two certified paper copies of the birth certificate. If that is true, then the PDF file must have been obtained by photocopying that paper document.
However, even a cursory inspection of the PDF file shows that it is made up of at least three different images, one of which is the signature block for the state registrar. How could that have happened if the PDF file was a photocopy of a single paper document?
So I would like to see an explanation of how the PDF file came to have the curious structure that it has before believing that it is simply a photocopy of a paper document.
I would like a calmly reasoned analysis. I'm still agnostic and this release did not help at all. I've heard the proof on both sides and much of it is compelling, yet both sides have huge holes in their proof.
I care about the rule of law, but not so much whether he is natural born or native born, and I don't believe he was born in Kenya.
I mostly concerned with the handling of the controversy, which I think the Birthers have handled more respectfully, offering evidence, even when flawed as opposed to their adversaries who evidence, but always need to add an insult about crazy, racists, obsessed, etc. Only one side is being told repeatedly to shut up. That should concern us.
I suspect Obama was eligible, but I don't see why proving it needs to be controversial. He simply has Hawaii produce the document for independent eyes to examine. What they provided yesterday was designed specifically to extend the controversy and giving Obama a freshly sharpened sword to swing. Releasing an electronic facsimile gives the Birthers no choice but to fight on, and that's the whole plan. Obama absolutely does not want to get back to the nation's business. That's been a loser.
Mick, she's one that does not invent legal theories that have no support in text or case law evidently.
I don't feel sorry for Corsi nor anyone who buys his book. Obama's career has been marked by this type of stuff. Beneath the "conspiracies" he's just basically not very good. In the midst of his lofty rhetoric, he votes present. With three wars, high unemployment, inflation, debt, etc etc, he goes on Oprah, plays golf, and does fundraisers.
As a general rule, when you bet on the weather, you cover rain and shine.
I'd be surprised is Corsi & Co. did not anticipate this recent turn of events absent a built-in contingency plan.
(The Crypto Jew)
"Will no one shed a tear for Jerome Corsi?"
Not me...
Not me...
Now as to Althouse's plaintive, Cri de Coeur about Amazon, Best Sellers, and ConLaw…no tears there either. IF Con layers want to be read, to have best sellers, then they need to be a little more clear than Eugene Volkokh or Althouse. Sorry folks, but at times you’re IMPENETRABLE…Nigel Calder did a more than passable job explaining Einstein, Rhoads did a more than passable job explaining the politics and the physics of the Atomic Bomb, Cary Sublette has done a more than passable job explaining Nuclear Weapons, as has Hansen. Carl Sagan did a more than passable popularizing Cosmology as did Hawking. If ConLawyers can’t do as well, it speaks more to ConLawyers than to the Reading Public. If Jerome Corsi is a best-selling ConLaw book, then shame on lawyers for doing such a poor job of explaining their field.
Unfortunately for Corsi, his boat this time was not swift enough.
So I would like to see an explanation of how the PDF file came to have the curious structure that it has before believing that it is simply a photocopy of a paper document.
Instapundint linked yesterday to a few blogs that went over this. I only scanned it, but my impression was that the software does the layering automatically or somesuch.
I'm not a birther.
For argument's sake, let's say that Corsi's book has substance. That would explain Obama's release of the document, namely to draw attention away from the evidence. The worst he could do is muddy the waters, which is maintenance of the status quo.
For argument's sake, let's say that Corsi's book is utter nonsense. What is the motivation for Obama's release of the document in relation to a fairy tale? None. Trump is a joke, but it reinforces the notion that he was able to force Obama's hand on this issue.
wv = wated...the nation wated with bated breath
Corsi sure wishes his publishing boat was swifter than the the Obama Campaign's swift reaction to the Donald's leadership style. Now we will see if Trump will continue hammering on Obama's eligibility to graduate from an accredited college. Registrars want to know.
This "document" changes nothing. Photoshopped or not, there are the contemporary newspaper announcements of the birth, and there are people around who well remember Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama Sr., and their baby.
If you have doubts about where this Barack Obama was born, you first have to show that he is not that baby.
Honestly, birthers need to stop. If Obama really is not eligible for the presidency, you need to take that up with congress that certified his electoral win. Secondly, even if you get past that stage, do you really want to be saying President Biden? Enough already. It's over.
TWM said...
Oops, I didn't answer your question (and got off thread - my apologies). No, I don't shed any tears for Corsi. Timing is everything and he missed the boat.
4/28/11 9:57 AM
It was a swift boat, for sure.
Trump, who is a democrat, is asking more inconvenient questions.
@Fen: I have seen several blogs saying things like "Oh yeah, OCR software does that." I've also seen blogs saying "No it doesn't."
What I haven't seen is anyone taking a piece of paper with text on it, scanning it with OCR software, and posting a PDF file that has a similar structure to the PDF file from the White House.
Until that happens, the speculation is just that--speculation.
#1 in Constitutional Law? Does that hurt, o fellow conlawprofs? Check out the rest of the list? How far down do you have to go before you see a book on constitutional law that you respect?
It’s actually got the #1 and #2 spots on the list.
Well #3 is the “Declaration Of Independence, Constitution Of The United States Of America, Bill Of Rights And Constitutional Amendments” but that’s sort of like including your wife or your mother on the list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Women.”
I’d skip #4 because Erwin Chemerinsky has established himself as such a political hack that I wouldn’t trust his scholarship on constitutional law any more than I’d trust Paul Krugman on economics.
#5 is “The Law” by Frederick Bastiat which was an interesting read in college but doesn’t really have much to do with constitutional law.
#6 is “The Five Thousand Year Leap” which sounds like the kind of “constitutional law” book read by people who want to sound knowledgeable about constitutional law to lay people who don’t know any better without having to do the hard work of actually learning it. See Paul, Ron or Beck, Glenn (who wrote the forward).
#7 is Crunchtime by Steven Emanuel. I used several of these books in law school and they were useful in breaking things down to the basics so I guess that would be my first recommendation.
Corsi sure wishes his publishing boat was swifter than the the Obama Campaign's swift reaction to the Donald's leadership style.
Nonsense. The release wasn't about the buffoon Trump, it was about undermining the book. Look at the timing. Trump's been making noise for weeks, getting nothing but scorn. The book, on the other hand, was mentioned on Drudge on April 20th, immediately shot up to #1 on Amazon, and within the week, Obama made the request for the certificate and released it.
Which is why Corsi gets no tears. His success in getting pre-orders is exactly what got the certificate released.
New title:
What Took So Long With The Birth Certificate, Bub?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President
Can a ConLaw Prof, best-selling or otherwise, please answer this for me definitively: Would a man born in Kenya to an American mother be eligible to be the POTUS?
I'm reasonably well-informed, but I would assume this question would be answered by responsible reporters every time this nonsense is brought up, and I haven't heard it.
Steven ...your guess may be true. Were you in the White House when that decision was swiftly made? The Corsi book was still a rumor, but Trump was all over the network news with the correctly posed question of, "Why won't Obama release it to end people's doubts?". So the White House was either reacting to Trump's trumpet on stonewalling, or to a fear of the other questions raised in Corsi's book.
Schorsch said...
"Can a ConLaw Prof, best-selling or otherwise, please answer this for me definitively: Would a man born in Kenya to an American mother be eligible to be the POTUS?
I'm reasonably well-informed, but I would assume this question would be answered by responsible reporters every time this nonsense is brought up, and I haven't heard it."
No, only those born in America of 2 US Citizen parents are natural born Citizens (or born of an unmarried US Citizen mother in America).
hahaha, this is the funniest angle to this whole mess.
Bravo, Prof. Althouse.
I can see Corsi getting drunk right now because his book just got made irrelevant, but I suspect he is just swimming in a bathtub full of $100 bills instead.
Somehow, he'll manage.
Robin said...
"Mick, she's one that does not invent legal theories that have no support in text or case law evidently."
Really? So which Text of case law says simple birth in America makes one a natural born Citizen. Which text or case law says that birth to 1 US Citizen makes one an eligible natural born Citizen?
Corsi's portions of "Unfit for Command" were pretty worthless. O'Neill focused on facts; Corsi was all snark and emotion.
Corsi? The birther and truther nutjob who buys into Steven Jones long disproved microspheres argument, thus putting him firmly in the Twin Towers Were Intentionally Demolished camp?
Only tear I shed is for the foolish who get taken in by his drivel. And I shed it not for them, but for the fact that humanity contains such ridiculously credulous people.
There have been a gross of books published on all matters Ozero. This Corsi book is no different.
The game changer I saw last week was the speculation that Hawaii was legit, but who the father is was different on the BC than what he stated in "Dreams . . ".
That cut too personnal.
He had to react.
Still no explanation on why the Gov. of Hawaii didn't or couldn't find it. Unless he lied and was told to say that.
"Still no explanation on why the Gov. of Hawaii didn't or couldn't find it. Unless he lied and was told to say that."
It's true that democrats handled this badly. I think with bad faith, or desperation to protect Obama (apparently from nothing).
I guess maybe they thought agitating birthers was a clever tactic.
Either way, I think it's very important that Obama's detractors realize their tactical benefit. Obama looks like an idiot for hiding this document, and then releasing it. No principle explains it other than personal interest, which is sad considering so many doubted his word on the matter. It's sad for the birthers too, of course, since they were wrong (and this wasn't really in dispute before).
But insofar as Obama was hoping to play victim, or set a trap, or cry that birthers were racist against Kenyans or something, I'm glad that blew up in his feckless face. He's not even leader enough to play politics.
Let's just laugh at Obama's failure to handle this obviously easily solved problem. Fact is, some saying 'there's this document from 1961 in Hawaii about your birth, may we see it?' didn't think it showed Obama wasn't eligible, but thought Obama's actions were odd and worth scrutiny.
It was an easy call, and Obama blew it. Dubya would have released it years ago.
I think they found it under the pile of Rose Law Firm records.
No sympathy.
If you hitch your wagon to a conspiracy theory you should accept the consequences.
The only real insight here is into the President. Liberals want to see a shrewd political move. I only see petty vindictiveness. There are a lot of other examples, from the treatment of the UK to the four month wait for an Afghan policy. The Dalai Lama became welcome in the White House only after the President was snubbed by China. The President is very into exercising power and letting everyone know who's in charge. That's worrying.
These incidents weren't good politics. As everyone has said, he could have released the certificate three years ago. It's just about power.
What I haven't seen is anyone taking a piece of paper with text on it, scanning it with OCR software, and posting a PDF file that has a similar structure to the PDF file from the White House.
I've done this but I haven't posted anything yet.
What would prove more is to take a document from 1961, scan it into a computer, save it as a PDF file, then open it in Illustrator, and see if the same occurs.
I took an already-scanned document from 1961, opened it in Acrobat, optimized the PDF, saved it as a new file, and then opened that into Illustrator.
It shared some of the same quirks as the Obama PDF.
(Multiple images splintered onto multiple layers.)
I think they found it under the pile of Rose Law Firm records.
Ok, that was pretty funny. :)
You still haven't seen a genuine birth certificate!
Oddly enough, the next day, at that hospital, not 12 hours later, a woman named Norquist had a C-section. And, had TWINS.
Instead of the kids getting sequential birth ceriticates ... low and behold. Obama gets "one of them!" How likely is that?
Did Trump just force this issue?
What if there were terrible fears that Corsi's book would plunge the knife in even deeper?
If this was the "issue" that was going to be used to label white people racist ... (And, yes. That's exactly what was attempted, here!)
Then who knows if the Affirmative Action birdy ... ain't the birdy that just flew out the window?
Do you know "back in those days" when the bamster was born, "African" was not a popular way to say Negro.
Besides, his color designation was MULATTO.
wv: fluck
How could I not post a comment?
Corsi will simple insert the word "real" in front of "birth certificate" and proceed, while he works on an updated edition.
wv: weemp
Blogger must be in a silly mood.
This really is bizarre. No court is going to nullify an election two years after the fact, period. And without more proof than this, I'd sanction any attorney who wasted court resources this way.
I will admit I was a bit surprised that there was nothing embarrassing on the birth certificate. I had assumed he was born in the US, since had he not been, the Clinton muck-rakers would have dug that up, but I had thought there must be a reason for Obama to spend big money to keep it hidden, beyond just being a dick.
I guess I forgot Obama's massive capacity for dickishness.
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