A Clearly Racist Montana Bill

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Montana lawmaker on CNN addresses "birther" bill

Posted: Feb 16, 2011 11:51 AM by Montana's News Station Updated: Feb 16, 2011 11:54 AM

MT State Representative Bob Wagner (R-Harrison) appeared on CNN on Tuesday night to discuss his bill that would require Presidential candidates and Montana's U.S. Congressional candidates to file copies of their birth certificates with the Montana Secretary of State.

The lawmaker spoke with Anderson Cooper about his proposal.

Click here to read the full text of House Bill 205.

The issue has been in the spotlight in recent years as controversy has swirled around the birth certificate of President Obama.

When the Montana Legislature addressed the issue several days ago, it generated passionate arguments on both sides.

"I don't know if the document exists or not," said bill proponent Jeff Laszloffy, referring to President Obama's birth certificate. "I don't know how this is eventually going to play out, but what I do know is that the integrity of the process is being called into question, and it is a simple fix. The President could fix this simply by releasing the birth certificate and that would get us past this little road bump."

"HB 205 is rooted in an extremely racist belief, that a black man with a foreign name could have only become President of the United States of America by substantial and well coordinated deception that included faking a birth on US soil," countered Jamee Greer of the Montana Human Rights Network.