Tom DeLay: Retired Dancer, Birther Ally
That aligns DeLay, a Republican once known as "The Hammer," with the so-called "birther" movement. The birthers' claims have repeatedly been shown to be illegitimate.
Newsweek noted in an interview with DeLay that he "got into some trouble for saying on TV that you weren't sure President Obama was born in the United States."
"What I said was, to answer a question from Chris Matthews, I said: Why wouldn't the president of the United States show the American people his birth certificate?," DeLay responded. "You have to show a birth certificate to play Little League baseball. It's a question that should be answered. It's in the Constitution that you have to be a natural-born citizen of the United States to be president."
Asked Newsweek: "Do you think he isn't a citizen?"
"I have no idea," said DeLay.
The Obama campaign released Mr. Obama's Certificate of Live Birth during the presidential campaign. The president's original birth certificate was not released by the state of Hawaii because state law prohibits doing so except under extenuating circumstances; Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, has said she has seen it and that it verifies Mr. Obama's birth and citizenship.
As a State Department of Health spokeswoman pointed out, a Certification of Live Birth "is considered a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii."
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