After considerable cajoling from Donald Trump, President Obama released his long form birth certificate yesterday. 

Newsbusters.org reported today that Fox News had the least amount of coverage of the ‘birther’ story.  The numbers:

Fox News:  0.4 percent

MSNBC:  9.2 percent

CNN:  5 percent

Obviously Fox News was not driving the story.  What in the world is going on here?  Does the ‘birther’ story serve as a convenient distraction from the actually important issues of the day?  Does the ‘birther’ story prevent people from looking at the President’s actual actions and proposals?  What impact does the ‘birther’ story have on the President’s approval records?  If the story is getting more coverage on networks normally more favorable to the President, how does this help the President? 

A few personal comments here.  I really don’t care where the President was born.  If he was actually born in Kenya, he has perpetrated a fraud on the American people.  That is unfortunate, but it is not the first time (nor will it be the last) that a politician has perpetrated a fraud on the American people.  If he was born in Kenya, he should not be President, but I truly think that is a moot point.  I am more concerned with his actions than his birthplace.

That having been said, this discussion may take a while to go away.  Yesterday, The Smoking Gun posted their comments on the release of the birth certificate.

The article comments:

“This morning’s White House release of President Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate will, of course, do little to derail the “birther” movement, which will now analyze the document with the kind of verve previously directed toward those Texas Air National Guard memos faxed to CBS from that Kinko’s in Abilene.”

The article then lists a set of questions that will now be asked about the document.  In case you are interested, I have two–was African considered a race in 1961 or was it Negro and what was the legal name of Kenya, East Africa in 1961?  The questions will continue.  It’s time to get out the popcorn, but also to realize that this discussion is a serious distraction.