Yesterday, blogger-activist Mike Stark released a new compilation of his interviews with Republican lawmakers on whether or not they believe President Obama was born in the United States. One of the interviews that received the most attention was with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who said that Obama still hasn't produced a valid "certificate of live birth." He was widely labeled a "birther" in response. Blunt campaign spokesman Rich Chrismer later released a statement, saying the congressman's comments had been taken "completely out of context":
We encourage this blog to release the video of the entire interview instead of only the edited version which take his comments completely out of context.
This is what happens when you talk to reporters and have press conferences. Things can be taken out of context when you open yourself up to media on a daily basis. We are not going to take the Robin Carnahan approach of dodging questions and hiding from the media.
Today, Firedoglake released the full, unedited footage of Stark's conversation with Blunt. Watch them here:
What was missing from the original compilation was Blunt saying that he doesn't have "any reason not to believe" that Obama was born in the United States (in the second video above). However, he then still says that it's a "legitimate question" to ask why Obama "can't produce a birth certificate." Greg Sargent noted that when he followed-up and asked Chrismer "whether Blunt believes Obama is legitimately the president," the spokesman "sidestepped" the question.
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