Obama and Birthers: Sen. David Vitter Says It's Valid Question for Courts
Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Posted:
07/13/10
He didn't exactly join the chorus, but Louisiana Sen. David Vitter says the lingering question of whether President Obama was born in the United States is a "valid" issue for consideration by the legal system.
So-called birthers believe the president is not a native-born American, despite repeated confirmations by Hawaiian officials who have examined his 1961 birth certificate. The matter continues to circulate on the Internet in an on-going effort to de-legitimatize his standing as president.
At a town hall meeting in Metairie, a conservative New Orleans suburb, Vitter that he supports "conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court," the Associated Press reported, citing a video of the Sunday event. "I think it is valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it," he said to an audience member who asked what Vitter would do about Obama's "refusal to produce a valid birth certificate."
But Vitter also said it would be a "big mistake" to focus on "that issue" and become distracted from the challenge of defeating Obama and his allies at the ballot box. He said most of what he knows about the birther issue came through the news media filter.
Vitter, a first-term Republican running for reelection this year, had his own brush with controversy in 2007 when his name appeared on the telephone records of a Washington madam's "escort service." He apologized, but denied other reports of relationships with New Orleans prostitutes. A spokesman for his Democratic opponent, Rep. Charlie Melancon, called the birth certificate dispute "nonsense."
So-called birthers believe the president is not a native-born American, despite repeated confirmations by Hawaiian officials who have examined his 1961 birth certificate. The matter continues to circulate on the Internet in an on-going effort to de-legitimatize his standing as president.
At a town hall meeting in Metairie, a conservative New Orleans suburb, Vitter that he supports "conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court," the Associated Press reported, citing a video of the Sunday event. "I think it is valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it," he said to an audience member who asked what Vitter would do about Obama's "refusal to produce a valid birth certificate."
But Vitter also said it would be a "big mistake" to focus on "that issue" and become distracted from the challenge of defeating Obama and his allies at the ballot box. He said most of what he knows about the birther issue came through the news media filter.
Vitter, a first-term Republican running for reelection this year, had his own brush with controversy in 2007 when his name appeared on the telephone records of a Washington madam's "escort service." He apologized, but denied other reports of relationships with New Orleans prostitutes. A spokesman for his Democratic opponent, Rep. Charlie Melancon, called the birth certificate dispute "nonsense."