KOA's Newman claimed Obama "will not produce his birth certificate," ignoring that it appears on Obama campaign websites

Summary: Discussing Sen. Barack Obama, Newsradio 850 KOA's "Gunny" Bob Newman asserted, "We still don't know if this guy is a U.S. citizen" and parroted the debunked claim that Obama "refuses to prove [] to the American people" that he was born in Hawaii or to "produce his birth certificate." In fact, copies of Obama's birth certificate are posted on two campaign websites, and the fact-checking website PolitiFact reported that it had verified the authenticity of the document.

Repeating a false right-wing talking point on his August 11 Newsradio 850 KOA broadcast, "Gunny" Bob Newman asserted regarding Sen. Barack Obama, "We still don't know if this guy is a U.S. citizen or not -- he will not produce his birth certificate." Newman later declared that Obama "says he was born in Hawaii. He refuses to prove it to the American people." In fact, Obama posted a copy of his birth certificate on his campaign website and on the campaign's Fight the Smears website. Further, PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, on June 27 reported that it had obtained and verified the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

PolitiFact reported regarding Obama that "[c]ountless chain e-mails, seeking to paint him as a secret Muslim, speculated that his full name included Muhammed (or Mohammed). Some said he is not an American citizen." PolitiFact reported that it received Obama's birth certificate on June 13 and verified its authenticity with the Hawaii Department of Health:

On June 13, 2008, Obama's campaign finally released a copy, while launching a fact-check Web site of its own, Fightthesmears.com. The site is a direct response to allegations about Obama that won't go away: He's Muslim. He took the oath of office on a Koran. He refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. PolitiFact has researched all of these accusations and none of them are true.

When the birth certificate arrived from the Obama campaign it confirmed his name as the other documents already showed it. Still, we took an extra step: We e-mailed it to the Hawaii Department of Health, which maintains such records, to ask if it was real.

"It's a valid Hawaii state birth certificate," spokesman Janice Okubo told us.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the Rocky Mountain News on August 6 propagated the related smear that Obama holds dual Kenyan and United States citizenship. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of State, "Kenya does not officially recognize dual nationality" and the Kenyan constitution specifically prohibits it.

From the August 11 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: Friday's poll question: Should Obama be required to prove to the American people he is a U.S. citizen prior to Election Day? 94 percent said yes, 6 percent said no. Hmm. We still don't know if this guy is a U.S. citizen or not -- he will not produce his birth certificate. His father was Kenyan, of course; he spent a lot of time overseas as a child in places like Indonesia.

Hmm. Gotta wonder: What is this guy's real citizenship, and why won't he just produce his birth certificate? So simple. Want to -- you want to put the evil rumors to rest? All you gotta do is break out the birth certificate. Here it is. He says he was born in Hawaii. He refuses to prove it to the American people. Very interesting.

—E.B.