Trump to Letterman: You’re Fired!

'New York Times' says country should be embarrassed

(NEWSER) - President Obama “stared deep into political irrationality” yesterday and offered up his long-form birth certificate —in what the New York Times calls “a profoundly low and debasing moment in American political life” in an editorial today. Here was a president who, more than halfway through his term and with far weightier matters to attend to, felt he had to prove his citizenship, in answer to “a baseless attack with heavy racial undertones.” More»

President doesn't shy away from would-be birther candidate

(NEWSER) - Don't go to Vegas with Donald Trump these days: The would-be presidential candidate was betting last night that "I wouldn't think [Obama] would address me" in his speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. No such luck, reports Politico:

• Trump's "taken some flak lately but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," said Obama. "And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, 'Did we fake the moon landing?' 'What really happened in Roswell?' And 'Where are Biggie and Tupac?'"
• Obama moved on to other rivals, including Michele Bachmann, who's "thinking about running for president, which is weird because I hear she was born in Canada. Yes, Michele, this is how it starts."

New focus will be on college records: Alex Pareene

(NEWSER) - The White House release of President Obama's birth certificate won't satisfy all the birthers, with charges of the document being a Photoshopped forgery already surfacing, notes Alex Pareene at Salon . Other diehards will accept it but develop new lines of attack, arguing that Obama is disqualified by his father being African or by arcane rules of dual citizenship. But "the new frontier in questioning the president's legitimacy" might involve birthers becoming "schoolers." More»

Says he's honored, proud of himself

(NEWSER) - The White House releases Barack Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" and ... cut to Donald Trump. He immediately reacted to—and took credit for—the disclosure at a press conference in New Hampshire, where he said that "today I'm very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody has been able to accomplish. I was just informed ... that our president has finally released a birth certificate." He continued patting himself on the back: "I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role, in hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of this issue. Now, we have to look at it, we have to see 'is it real? Is it proper?' But I hope it checks out beautifully." So will the Donald make good on his promise to release his tax returns? More»

CNN conducts extensive investigation, but Trump not convinced

(NEWSER) - Case closed—at least as far as CNN is concerned: President Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii. The network conducted an investigation, and talked to the Republican former director of Hawaii's Department of Health. A state law let her examine Obama's actual birth certificate, which is stored in a vault. It is "absolutely authentic," she says. "He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii." CNN also got a current Hawaii resident who was born hours after Obama to request a copy of his birth certificate, and that resident received the same thing Obama did: a certification of live birth. More»