Freedom Watch's Klayman Makes Birther Beliefs Explicit in Radio Interview
Right-wing activist Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, has hinted in the past at support of 鈥渂irther鈥� conspiracy theories, such as when he helped for satirizing 鈥渂irthers.鈥� Last week, in a radio interview, Klayman made his support explicit.
鈥淲e have a president who was elected fraudulently who wasn鈥檛 even a natural born citizen,鈥� Klayman asserted during an interview Friday on Fox News Radio with liberal host Alan Colmes, who shook his head at this remark and asked Klayman if he thought the president was born in Hawaii.
鈥淚 believe he was born in Kenya, the evidence points to that,鈥� Klayman replied.
Colmes noted that in fact Obama鈥檚 birth was recorded in contemporaneous notices published in two separate Hawaii newspapers. Klayman explained that those were 鈥渁ds鈥� placed by his parents in attempt to claim citizenship for their son.
鈥淎lan, I鈥檓 not still a birther, these are the facts,鈥� Klayman said. 聽鈥淓ven if he was born in the United States, many people in Hawaii place these ads in to try to get permanent residency or citizenship. Hawaii is the most corrupt state in the United States...."
鈥淎merican citizenship is valuable,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲ouldn鈥檛 your kid want to be an American citizen rather than a Kenyan?鈥�
In reality, of course, those birth notices published in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin weren鈥檛 advertisements at all. Rather, they were standard newspaper birth announcements, common during this era, collected by newspaper staff reporters who gathered birth records from local hospitals (a practice that has gradually vanished from most newspapers today). In other words, these newspaper announcements stand as independent corroboration that Obama was born in a Honolulu hospital.
Klayman also went on to claim during the interview that Obama is secretly a Muslim who 鈥渇avors Muslim interests over Christian and Jewish interests鈥�. Colmes demanded that he substantiate such a claim.
鈥淲ell, number one, his dad was Muslim,鈥� said Klayman. 鈥淣umber two, he wears a ring that says my only God is Allah. He cancelled the National Day of Prayer in the White House to observe Ramadan and endorse the Ground Zero Mosque. He has been continually hostile toward Israel in six years.鈥�
Colmes then proceeded to knock down each of these claims factually, observing that Klayman was collecting and parroting 鈥渙ld wives鈥� tales鈥� that had all been proven untrue.
Klayman was undaunted, and indeed continued in the same vein. 鈥淎lan, you鈥檙e Jewish, you understand what I鈥檓 talking about,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou know, Jewish people here, I鈥檒l tell you something, you walk around Beverly Hills, California, or any other place, people are changing their opinion of this president. They believe he鈥檚 an anti-Semite. He hangs out with Reverend Wright. Previously with Derrick Bell, who鈥檚 a vehement anti-Semite and a law professor. Louis Farrakhan is one of his friends.鈥�
Klayman concluded that 鈥淥bama in his heart is not a Christian.鈥�
The interview is reflective of Klayman鈥檚 increasingly extremist approach to the Obama presidency. , he led a small demonstration outside the White House in which he demanded that the president 鈥� It was .
