8 Apr 2011 4:44 pm
(Cross posted in my Donald Trump Birther thread.)Birther Donald Trump's latest lie is that Obama's Paternal Grandmother said he was born in Kenya.I think a few of the Birthers also mentioned that in my Trump Birther thread.I was not familiar with that particular lie, so I did a little digging.The lie was based on an telephone interview conducted through a translator, by a street preacher named Ron McRae, with Sarah Obama, the third wife of President Obama's Grandfather.Some Birther sites posted transcripts and YouTube clips that end abruptly with a mistranslation and don't include the corrections. Here is the conversation:MCRAE: Uh, could I ask her, uh, could I ask her about his, uh, his, his, hisactual birthplace. I would like to see his birthplace when I, when I come toKenya in December. Uh, was she, was she, was she present when he was born in Kenya? VOICE (in background): It is here.MCRAE: Was she present when he was born in Kenya?BROTHER TOM: I think, uh, uh I think--VOICE (in background): (unintelligible)BROTHER TOM (in background): He is asking her that, uh, he wants toknow something that uh, was uh you, was they, was she present when, ah,he was born. Were they they there then?(Male voice in foreign language in background.)TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: Yes, they say that yes she was. She waspresent when Obama was born. (YouTube clip ends there.)(McRae catches breath)MCRAE: OK. Uh, when I come in December I would like to go by the, theplace, the hospital where he is born. Uh, could you tell me where he wasborn? Was he born in Mombasa?(Long pause. Puzzled sound from Translator Ogombe in background:"naah?")BROTHER TOM: Uh, uh, I, I will need help. I think, uh I think, I kind of,you know we'll be coming December (unintelligible) and Vitalis, and Italking to him, so I tell him--TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (in background, simultaneously): --no, no--what?!?BROTHER TOM: --that you are a capitalist, that you were a little, that youwere a little, a little, a little American bus--TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (responding to background voices, soundingdistressed): No--yes--TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (to McRae): No! Obama was not born inMombasa! He was born in America!MCRAE: Wh-whereabouts, whereabouts was he born? I, I thought he wasborn in Kenya.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: No he was born in America, not in Mombasa.MCRAE: OK. Do you know whereabouts he was born?TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: (Pause.) Huh?MCRAE: Do you know where he was born? I thought he was born in Kenya. I was gonna go by and see where he was born.(two male voices in background in foreign language speaking at the sametime. Mrs. Obama or another woman in background.)VOICE (background): It was Hawaii.VOICE OF MRS. OBAMA OR ANOTHER WOMAN (background):Hawaii.BROTHER TOM (background): Hawaii, yeah?VOICE OF MRS. OBAMA OR ANOTHER WOMAN (background): Yeah.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (background): Yes.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE (to McRae): Sir, she says he was born inHawaii. MCRAE: OK.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: Yeah, in 1960 this was Hawaii, where hisfather, his father was also marrying there. This was Hawaii.MCRAE: OK.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: Yeah.MCRAE: Was, was, was Mrs. Obama, was sh--was she present? Was, wasMrs. Obama, see I thought you said she was present. Was she, was, was she,was she able to see him being, being born in, in Hawaii?TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: (pause, silence) Hoh? (pause) Uh, yeah wouldyou please pronounce?MCRAE: OK Im sorry. I, I thought she said she was present when he wasborn. I wasTRANSLATOR OGOMBE (sounding exasperated): No, no! The, thewoman was not present. She was uh not, a what--you see, she was here inKenya, and Obama was born in America. That is, thats obvious.MCRAE: OK.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: Because, because the grandmother was marriedhere in Kenya, and Obama was born in America, oh yeah, so his son, thelittle Obama, was marrying, was marrying, in America, in United States.MCRAE: Oh, OK, fine. I mean, I--I just, I misunderstood what she wassaying. I thought you said she was present when he was born.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: No, not present there. The present with me herewas tonight. Not present so she can leave. No she was here in Kenya whilehe, uh, her son, the little Obama, was marrying in America. And, uh, he bepresent if it--WOMAN'S VOICE (background): It was in Hawaii.TRANSLATOR OGOMBE: --was in America there, why are they for, theygo, they go, they go to some place, then the present isn't here sir, he wasborn there in America.MCRAE: OK. Well tell, tell her I would like to come by and see her whenI am there in December. I would love to, uh, meet her personally and praywith her.You can read the whole transcript here. There is a link to the full audio here. It played using Windows Media Player for me. The audio is pretty bad, and it's easy to see how this could have happened, in a telephone interview that was being conducted through a translator. The whole thing about Obama's Grandmother being 'present' was cleared up later in the conversation.This lie was debunked back in 2009, and yet Donald Trump is still spewing it, along with the lies that Obama's Birth Certificate does not have a signature on it, and that it was Obama's Grandparents in Hawaii who placed the birth announcements in the newspapers.The Birthers expect to be believed, yet they resort to tricks like deceptive editing of tapes, and the forging of phony Kenyan Birth Certificates.BTW, major **** artist Donald Trump is also now saying that the 9/11 hijackers sent their families out of the United States a day before the attack.NBC's Lisa Meyers debunked that lie, along with some others. There was never any evidence that any of the hijackers ever had family members in the U.S. Is Trump gong from Birther to Truther? ROFLI think his gold foil hat is on a little too tight.