Gibbs addresses the Birthers

The White House press secretary says the president's citizenship has been proven "ad nauseam"

Published July 27, 2009 7:15PM (EDT)

Well, it was inevitable: At some point, a reporter besides World Net Daily's Les Kinsolving was going to ask White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs a question about the Birthers. At Monday's press briefing, it finally happened.

The reporter who asked the question even acknowledged the situation, starting off by saying, "Robert, I hate to bring this up, but somebody has to."

Here's the exchange that followed:

QUESTION: Is there anything you can say that will make the birthers go away?

GIBBS: No.

QUESTION: Do you want to try?

GIBBS: I mean, the God's honest truth is no. I mean, let's understand this. And I almost hate to indulge in such an august setting as the White House -- and I mean this in seriousness -- the White House briefing room discussing the made-up fictional nonsense of whether or not the president was born in this country.

A year-and-a-half ago, I asked that the birth certificate be put on the Internet, because Lord knows, if you've got a birth certificate and you put it on the Internet, what else could be the story?

Here's the deal, Bill. If I had some DNA, it wouldn't assuage those that don't believe he was born here.

But I have news for them and for all of us: The president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the 50th state of the greatest country on the face of the Earth. He's a citizen.

Later, Gibbs added that "it's been proven ad nauseam" that the president is a natural-born citizen, and said there are "10,000 more important issues for people in this country to discuss." But, he said, it keeps coming up "because, for $15, you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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Birthers War Room