I agree with every word. As the early PUMA/birther ladies I encountered would say,

When I began to realize, sometime after the election but before the inauguration, that I was being inexorably pulled into the swirling vortex of insanity that is birtherism, and that I was going to spend a substantial part of my life over the next few years fighting the madness, I kept telling myself: "When this is all over, I want to be proud of the part I played in it."

So far, so good.

Yes, I'm damn proud of what I've managed to achieve so far. Yes, it has come at a cost, and I've gladly paid the price. Yes, I'd do it all over again. I have no regrets. Like many of you, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. It's good for my soul, to fight for truth and justice and the best President in my lifetime.

But kate520 is right: There's a lot more to do. I'm ready. It's time to escalate. This thread is for ideas and suggestions for further efforts to publicize anti-birther debunking information, and ideas about how to coordinate our efforts. We can't all write outstanding legal briefs. This is the opportunity for all the IANALs to pitch in, too also.

I don't mean publicizing Fogbow per se. I mean publicizing the anti-birther community as a whole, including our bloggers, RC Radio, our other resources, and so forth.

After I solicit a lot of ideas and suggestions, when it comes to the actual planning, organization and implementation, we should probably discuss in an area not readable by anyone but the team (or possibly, teamS, as in one team for each project). That way, the birthers will find out our plans when we're ready, and not before.

NOTE: I'm not suggesting anything illegal and I won't agree to any suggestion that might violate the laws of this great nation. Publicity stunts are a different matter; if they don't cross the line and generate some buzz, why not get creative?

We've built a great body of knowledge and we have a huge stockpile of expertise. You're the smartest group of people I've ever run across. It's time to take action now. Please give me your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and so forth.

RACHEL! We need to get Rachel to interview Foggy!

But how can we do that?

I'm considering a press conference at the National Press Club, with a really slick presentation. But how to generate enough buzz that the networks show up?

I'm off the board for a few hours, but I really look forward to reading your ideas when I get back this afternoon.

I suggested (in the Joe thread) using one of the news wire services to distribute a press release. I think that will be the most cost-effective in the short term.

I'm in. I think that orange guy in the next room is, too.

Sounds great.


Sounds bad. Sounds very bad.


Please don't.

Publicizing the anti=birther community could start right now by contacting the media for interviews, writing letters to the editor, emailing individual reporters. Based on the media links I've been reading since the CCP latest press conference, there are reporters in the media who understand what the birthers are up to. We're already emailing stuff to reporters, right? realist's local radio voice even understood about the "9 codes". I don't understand what requires any planning or cloak-and-dagger shit. Play it straight, get out there and publicize what we've done.

I don't think Fogbow or Fogbowers should do anything that would alienate the campaign or even worse, jeopardize any relationship anyone has with the campaign if such relationships exist. "Publicity stunt" sounds particularly bad to me. The CCP news conferences were publicity stunts. Notice how badly those turned out for them in the media.

I think if you are serious you should borrow a page from Orly's book. Send out a press release to every news organization whenever a birther story breaks. Give them a list of people with every press release who they can contact for more information. When one of the Birther cases fails. spread the word over all the news channels in the case, and tell them why they failed.

Have people prepared to go on air to debate birther claims point by point. There's nothing the media love better than 2 people debating. Its free air time, and they can claim to be balanced.

If we find someone has given wrong information, offer to come on their show to correct them.

Inform the media of the blatant judge shopping activities of the birthers.

Send every news organization a "birther pack" of debunks of every major birther claim, from Minor V Happersett up. If a new birther case opens, send that pack to every news organization in the state, so that they don't have to research this, its right there.

Basically its inform inform inform. Send them clear press releases. Make it so that the reporters don't actually have to do any work to debunk these cretins, its right there in their birther file. The birthers greatest weapon is that the reporters don't know that much about constitutional law or graphics imaging, or even the full faith and credit clause. With the birther pack, they wont have to.

Of course the birthers will quickly create new lies to counter the birther pack, but that will need effort on their part, and having people the media can contact for a rebuttal will make it easier for us to nip that crap in the bud

I'm willing to do what I can to assist, and certainly you can use what I've been putting together at Bad Fiction.

But I'm not sure how much help I'll be. To put it bluntly, it's coming up on four years since I wrote my first piece on the "Cult of COLB", and I've gotten to the point that I'm not sure anymore what's staring at me when I stare into the abyss.

Here's an idea and I apologize if it already exists somewhere. How about an alphabetical bulleted list of debunking points for every birtherism? Today on FB I wanted to respond to some birther garbage on a friend's site but didn't have time to look up definitive info (not that it would matter to birthers, but others would see it.) One birther was saying money should release his tax returns when Obama releases his college transcripts; another claimed that it had been proven that the BC was a fake/forgery. I think it would be helpful for a rapid-response truth squad to be empowered to respond on social media whenever birther garbage is spewed. (Spewn?)

Indeed.

Would it be of any value to pull in some of the RW bloggers complaints against Arpaio, Zullo and Corsi? Some of them aren't in lockstep with the program.

I'm in. FWIW, I was successful several months ago in getting Rachel to cover a topic (the fact that AZ doesn't issue long-form birth certificates, which was in conflict with AZ's birther bill). I sent her a short but very detailed e-mail with links and phone numbers to verify my arguments, i.e. the director of AZ DHS. It was also very timely in that Jan Brewer was set to sign the bill that day or the next day. (I also sent my info to AZ DNC leadership.) I didn't hear back from them, but they cited to the material in my e-mail, which I had sent the previous business day.

So that would be my suggestion. I sent it to this address Rachel@msnbc.com, which I found through her show's website.

Like that story, I think one of our strongest lines of defense is showing the reality of what state officials do/can't do with regard to birth certificates. The reality is so far removed from what the birthers claim. Ken Bennett at least checked with his own state vital statistics people to find out what they would allow if he asked them. Shurf Joe and Zullo do no such thing, so what they report is contrary to how things really work . . . for all states. In addition to Foggy, Rachel needs to interview a few state vital statistics officials to debunk these ridiculous claims, such as the one about the microfiche. It's one thing to cite the law. It's another to have several red state officials say they couldn't release the info if they wanted to and/or that they would code something a "9" if it didn't fit neatly into another category.

Edit: to add something I forgot.

I'm almost out of battery, so this will be brief. Sprout got stung by a bee this. Morning, he's highly allergic so we are ready to go home.

I want this to be straight forward, like Foggy said. We're working on press contacts, so please pm Listeme and me both if you have a personal relationship with any reporters working the birther beat. Rachel is one, but we also need a well-known, not-as-polarizing famous person to speak on our behalf. PK? Got friends?

Mimi, are you still in touch with Weigel?

Bye bye battery.

Don't look at me. It's pretty obvious I go for the minute detail answers, not the quick "why doesn't Obama release his transcripts?" responses. http://www.thefogbow.com/birther-claims ... her-stuff/

Humor.
I'm a big fan of the Muppets, and have often thought that were I running for office - I'd fight the lies against me with short skits by Muppets. Check out your average popular TV show (I'm watching NCIS at the moment), 15 sec. / 30 sec. commercials are an eternity.
I think that 15 to 30 second skits could cheaply be produced with identifiable humorous characters that would stick in people's minds even if they first don't absorb the message.
And not the high-tech Superbowl commercials with expensive CG effects! Which is why my personal favorite is muppets - On stage plain background skit comedy with characters that are "characteristic" of the message. Lots of bang for the buck with the right visual image reinforcing the dialogue. For example - Uncle Sam constantly distracted whilst mending a tattered American flag by little bespeckled accountants who look like recognizable GOP politicians complaining about the cost of thread, workmanship, priority ect. ---
Or, if not muppets than cartoon characters.
My personal vote for Uncle Sam & Lady Liberty would be from the website sinfest (see cartoon from 7-19-2012) drawn by the cartoonist Tatsuya Ishida, a graduate from UCLA. Tatsuya has a deliciously wicked sense of humor - I wonder what he thinks about all this birther nonsense?

The Daily Show did blend such an Arpaio skit last night.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#48235167

Rachel did a segment on these very points last night....about how important it is to track and ridicule and push back on the RW conspiracy theories because they influence too many people no matter how crazy and loopy they are. She is also right about the big yawning gap between the information networks that are the sources of information for the right and the left.

This calls for missionary work. We need to send out hoards of young people to win over the hearts and minds of those folks out there in the red states where there is not access to information except RW controlled radio, local newspapers, and TV stations. Instead of buying TV time, blue dollars would be better spent buying radio and TV stations and local newspapers.

EXACTLY
There's a huge untapped resource out there at deviantART. Lot's of hungry artists who will work on commissions. I haven't been much of a member, but I suspect these folks would be up for a challenge (a contest?). Animation would be preferable for TV commercials on Cable TV but even "artwork" on a billboard or at a football stadium would be just dandy.
But an artist needs inspiration. Every joke has a punchline. There's alot of folks on this board with mad skills with satire, mockery and irony.
Hell, a cottage industry of posters! Classic & collectible.

"BORN IN AMERICA"
That used to be enough

All the questions have been answered.......
NOW WE WANT (Joseph Farah/Jerome Corsi/Mike Zullo/Joe Arpaio) TO ANSWER A FEW OF OURS

RENT-A-SHERIFF
SurpriseAZteaparty.com

Birthers for Tort Reform

"Moe" Farah, "Larry" Zullo & "Curly" Corsi
-starring in-
(Pick your Stooges title)

Birthers of a Nation

3 Stooges:
Plain Nuts
Ditzy Detectives
Usurper Surprise

Count me in. In, in in in, in. I'm good with organizing and coordinating with the press; I know others here who have done this more than I have though. I am also happy to help in any way I can. If folks want research help, let me know. I have a huge, Univ library 4 blocks from my house. I'm on break until the end of Sept. I have had it with these tea party birfer shits hijacking our media and trying to redefine our patriotism. I don't think we should limit ourselves to just debunking birfers; we should attack the Tea Party as well.



I think Anderson Cooper should do a story on the anti-birthers. Let's show America that there is a large, intelligent and reasonable group of people that believe facts matter and won't tolerate racism and purposeful ignorance.

CNN has gone after the birfers more than any other news org.



I know I have said this several times before, but it bears repeating.

There is more than one kind of birfer. We won't ever convince the hard-core birfers. But I believe there are many out there who think there is something "fishy" about the POTUS but doesn't identify with the nutters. These folks should be our target group.

When we look at the polls, we see headlines like "45% of Repubs don't know where Obama was born". If you look at the poll questions and answers, you see that many who say they don't know where he was born aren't hardcore birfers. They simply heard some rumbling by birfers but don't think the issue matters enough to research. They may think there is something "fishy", but they think the hardcore birfers are freaks. Let's make the non-nutters our target group.

In addition: we need to tailor our package. We need to go after all forms of political extremists. Hardcore birfers buy into all of the anti-Muslim, Tea Party, racist, anti-immigration, anti-healthcare government misinformation extremism. Let us target extremism and make birfism one of the extremist groups that we target. There is a group of mod Repubs, Indys and mod Dems who will tune us out if birfers are our sole topic of discussion. Let's keep those groups listening.



We need the return of Anti-birther ... those videos are fantabulous, and would be used by the media along with interviews if we script them well. Just an idea.

Perhaps we need to get our TFB cartoonists gigs with Weigel and Phoenix NewTimes.

My opinion is a little bit different. I think one strategic blow is better than lots of information. The blow I would land would be to undermine the credibility of Corsi/Zullo -- w/ the information that while they may not have known the coding information they presented was incorrect (ha ha), they have been informed in detail now -- but continue to push the point -- thus what could their motives be? The fact that they can be caught in a lie is nice -- using a 1968 not 1961 image. Makes them look bad. Details of the e-mail exchange that show what an ass Corsi is -- makes interesting fodder for an opinion piece as well.

Which bring me to a second point: I think rather than a press release, an article on HuffPo -- and they'd probably take it from Foggy -- has a lot more impact, efficiently. Just my thoughts.

I believe we need to all require our children to put in a couple years of missionary work, Mormon-style, door-to-door in the red states, counties, precincts, across the USA!