"Here is Congressman Murphy's position: President Obama is a natural-born citizen of the United States, period."
That unambiguous statement comes from Congressman Tim Murphy's Chief of Staff for Media Relations in Washington DC, Susan Mosychuk. She was returning my call, in which I asked whether Murphy had sent out any messages to constituents on this topic.
Both MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and the Pittsburgh area blog 2 Political Junkies reported that Congressman Murphy sent a lengthy message to some constituents acknowledging the concerns of those who question President Obama's citizenship, but not taking a stand himself on the matter. Chief of Staff Mosychuk told me that Murphy's office has done no mailing on this topic; she says that the congressman is focused on the issue of health care.
When I pressed and asked whether Congressman Murphy had sent out any e-mails on the subject, Mosychuk said she would not respond to blogs or videos that have appeared on the Internet. When I asked the chief of staff whether she was saying the alleged message from Congressman Murphy was bogus or a fabrication, she chose not to answer directly. She instead repeated her statement: "Congressman Murphy's position is that President Obama is a natural-born U.S. Citizen".
Mosychuk says that Congressman Murphy has never aligned himself with any "fringe movements" or "conspiracy theories". She says he is not among those who have come to be known as "birthers" -- those who question President Obama's citizenship and constitutional qualifications to legally serve as president.
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PS: If anyone has copies of any mailing represented as coming from the Congressman or e-mails with all the underlying address headers, I'd welcome the chance to see them.
Thanks.
The format of the letter posted on 2PJ’s (http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/2009/08/congressman-murphy-responds.html) indicates it is a response to an inquiry from a constituent. Murphy’s office probably has that letter on file, and sends it out generically to any inquiry from a birther type, someone asking why Congress hasn’t thrown Obama out since Obama is obviously not an American citizen. Such letters always try to be at least neutral, if not throwing a little bone of ambiguity to the constituent. So Ms Mosychuk is probably technically correct, the office has likely not done a special mailing on the subject, just responded to what might have been many letters, calls and emails on the subject.
That the verbal response from Ms Mosychuk had no ambiguity surprises me a little. Murphy must really feel he can’t afford to antagonize Democrats in his district (which I believe are more numerous than Republicans there, although pretty conservative for Democrats). But the South Hills of Allegheny County is not the deep south of the United States. Despite people’s fondness for militias and confederate flags not far from here, Murphy probably does feel it is in his best interests not to be identified as a birther, even as he tries to avoid antagonizing them.
"When I pressed and asked whether Congressman Murphy had sent out any e-mails on the subject, Mosychuk said she would not respond to blogs or videos that have appeared on the Internet."
When you receive a response like that, I sincerely hope you follow up with, "Yeah, well how about responding to me, pal?"
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