Promoting his new book last week former House Speaker John Boehner decided to take a shot at people who questioned Barack Obama’s Birth Certificate as “crazies.” His statement comes as eligibility activists look at the tenth anniversary of the April 27, 2011 release this month.
Boehner espoused for nearly half of the Politico piece about how it was tearing the Republican party apart. Boehner has landed well in a plum role since his tenure as Speaker of the House as a “Senior Strategic Advisor” at the elite Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs. Many eligibility activists say this placement was a prize for not taking on the Birth Certificate issue.
John Boehner Singing To The Choir
Boehner’s conclusion about the document may win him plaudits with inside-the-Beltway operatives but a far different conclusion about that document was reached by Sheriff Arpaio‘s team in December of 2016.
Here’s what I wrote in September 2014:
Critics and presidential eligibility activists have been wondering whether the investigation will affect the November midterms. The Cold Case Posse head addressed that by saying that “certain members of the public would want to see that. However Sheriff Arpaio is not politically motivated and this is taking its due course as a law enforcement investigation and political motivations have no bearing on the release of this information.”
Arpaio Team Did What Boehner Would Not
Arpaio’s team after several years did the analysis that Boehner wouldn’t do when he put his head the sand. The Arpaio team sought out the expertise of two independent forensic experts. One of which was Reed Hayes, the lead document examiner for President Obama’s own law firm Perkins Coie.
The White House made its first public comments on the issue in early January 2017, after the election, when it no longer mattered to anyone. They said their position on the President’s eligibility was “significant, overwhelming and convincing.” That was their assessment, but only their supporters were convinced of that.
The White House however, provided no forensic evidence that their document was authentic, attempting to spin the discussion of the issue as proof of the Obama administration’s position.
What Obama Supporter Reed Hayes Found
Hayes, who was a supporter of Obama, looked at the document independently along with an Italian firm, Forlabs which specializes in reviewing child pornography cases for European police agencies. Hayes and Forlabs both came to the same remarkable conclusion that the document matched in nine unique points of forgery to the birth certificate of Johanna Ah’nee a high school classmate of Obama in Hawaii.
Here is what I wrote at the time.
A month after Phoenix, Arizona Sheriff Arpaio released the findings of a five year investigation into President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and two of its forensic experts working independently on two continents, the document was linked by nine points of forgery to the birth certificate of Johanna Ah’nee.
Boehner’s book has an interesting marketing blurb at amazon. The tail end of that blurb promotes Boehner as something of an “elder statesman.” The self-serving entry says “Through Speaker Boehner’s honest and self-aware reflections, you’ll be reminded of a time when the adults were firmly in charge.”
The Book at Amazon
Here is the start of the well-written Amazon blurb that might make some people think he was pushing his own barrow leading up to a Presidential run:
Former Speaker of the House John Boehner shares colorful tales from the halls of power, the smoke-filled rooms around the halls of power, and his fabled tour bus.
John Boehner is the last of a breed. At a time when the arbiters of American culture were obsessing over organic kale, cold-pressed juice, and SoulCycle, the man who stood second in line to the presidency was unapologetically smoking Camels, quaffing a glass of red, and hitting the golf course whenever he could.
There could hardly have been a more diametrically opposed figure to represent the opposition party in President Barack Obama’s Washington. But when Boehner announced his resignation, President Obama called to tell the outgoing Speaker that he’d miss him. “Mr. President,” Boehner replied, “yes you will.” He thought of himself as a “regular guy with a big job,” and he enjoyed it.
In addition to his own stories of life in the swamp city and of his comeback after getting knocked off the leadership ladder, Boehner offers his impressions of leaders he’s met and what made them successes or failures, from Ford and Reagan to Obama, Trump, and Biden. He shares his views on how the Republican Party has become unrecognizable today; the advice – some harsh, some fatherly – he dished out to members of his own party, the opposition, the media, and others; and his often acid-tongued comments about his former colleagues. And of course he talks about golfing with five presidents.
Through Speaker John Boehner’s honest and self-aware reflections, you’ll be reminded of a time when the adults were firmly in charge.
One thing is for sure, the Republican Party is nothing like the GOP when Boehner was Speaker. And The Democratic Party was completely different too.
It was a different time in America, and that’s the real story.
In the end, the former House Speaker was only interested in peddling his own narrative and selling his book. Now John Boehner is clear of Congress, although not clear of politics as usual, he can easily take a shot at his enemies, including people who questioned Barack Obama’s Birth Certificate. That’s the way it works for insiders in Washington D.C.
