One more reason why I think both political parties are lulu. I have said all along that I thought Chris Nelson’s comments were a bit cynical when it came to whether Obama was a legal United States citizen, but it didn’t stop the SD Democratic party from trying to blow it out of proportion;
Clarifying earlier remarks, Secretary of State Chris Nelson has said he believes President Barack Obama is a natural born U.S. citizen and the legitimately elected leader of the nation.
Based on Nelson’s comments on a newspaper’s blog last week, South Dakota Democratic Party executive director Erin McCarrick criticized the Republican congressional candidate for questioning whether Obama qualifies to be president.
This is what Nelson said;
Nelson, South Dakota’s top election official for the past seven years, replied that it’s important that candidates meet constitutional qualifications. “If President Obama isn’t constitutionally qualified, it would be the biggest scam ever perpetuated on the American people.”
Nelson this week said his earlier comments did not question whether Obama is a natural-born citizen or legally the president. “There’s nothing in the comments I made that says that.”
And he is right. There are other issues I have with Nelson, and the Democratic party should to. Stop grasping at straws.
You have your quotes slightly out of order. The SDDP’s comments came in response to the statement Nelson issued last week:
“Yes, meeting the constitutional qualifications to be President is a very important issue. If President Obama isn’t constitutionally qualified, it would be the biggest scam ever perpetuated [sic] on the American people. MANY people contacted me as Secretary of State prior to and after the election asking how Obama could be on our ballot given this controversy. Absent a court finding that he isn’t a natural born citizen, we have to take the certification from the National Democratic Convention at face value.”
The statement you give above from Nelson is the damage control he issued this week, after the Dems issued their criticism, after his non-denial was gleefully quoted by World Net Daily and other birther rags, and after the Washington Post dinged him for “taking the bait” on what should have been an easy question. Compared to the straightforward rejection that R. Blake Curd offered Woster in the original post last week, Nelson came off sounding like the biggest right-winger in the room. Nelson thus had to come out this week and backpedal his word games.
This blog itself issued stinging criticism of Orly Taitz and her birther nuttiness; I’m disappointed this blog fails to recognize Nelson’s enabling of Taitz-like thinking.
The scary thing is Nelson is going to win the primary. Only thing more scary is if Blake Or Noem wins. I want to send Steph a message- but not at the expense of losing the seat!!
Still don’t see where he didn’t think the Prez wasn’t a United States citizen. Yes, it was a stupid thing to say. I just think the Dems are scared that if Nelson wins he will give the Princess a run for her money. She would steamroll Curd.
Noem gets less than 10%. Nelson wins primary 60/30
It does seem Nelson is backpeddling quite a bit from his earlier statement. I would guess he has a lot more in common with Taitz than the state GOP leadership would like to admit, so he is putting his personal feelings in his back pocket and trying to smooth things over.
Any candidate who questions Obama’s legitimacy at this point isn’t worthy of public office. We need leadership rather than conspiracy theorists. I like Nelson so this disappoints me a great deal – his comments are just a tad too “birther-like” for my taste.
It’s a super stupid statement from Nelson. The correct answer is, Obama is a citizen, I’ve seen his birth certificate online, and anyone who thinks he isn’t is cuckoo bananas.
I thought Blake was crazy one.
I still think he was being cynical and is probably disappointed, like I often am, that people don’t understand political sarcasm and cynicism. Difference is, I can get away with it, I’m not running for office, Mr. Shave his mustache is.