If you thought the birther movement had finally died down, think again. On Thursday, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett threatened to keep Barack Obama’s name off the ballot in November unless he personally receives a copy of the president’s birth certificate from Hawaii.
Bennett insists he’s not a birther, but is simply responding to requests for an investigation from 1,200 of his constituents. In a radio interview with conservative host Mike Broomhead, Bennett said, “I believe president was born in Hawaii…or at least I hope he was!”
The Ed Show’s Ed Schultz says we’ve heard this kind of language before – from Donald Trump, in April of 2011.
“Let me know how this whole thing works out for you,” Schultz said.
It has been over a year since the White House released a copy of the president’s long form birth certificate. Arizona spokesperson for Obama’s campaign Mahen Gunaratna quickly dispelled any notion the president would actually be left off the ballot, issuing this statement Friday:
“The President will be on the ballot this November in Arizona alongside Mitt Romney. And Arizonans will have a choice between a President who brought us back from the brink of another Depression so job loss has been reversed to create 4.2 million private sector jobs, manufacturing is resurgent, and GM is the #1 automaker in the world — and a Governor with a familiar and troubling economic scheme: more budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy; fewer rules for Wall Street — the same formula that benefited a few, but crashed our economy and punished the middle class.”