Indulging the fruitcakes
The GOP's passive response to the "birthers"
Indulging the fruitcakes
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Republican leaders have finally rebuked the paranoid loons in their midst. Kinda, sorta, and ever so timorously.
For lo these many months, the so-called "birthers" have been recycling the lie about how Barack Obama is supposedly an illegitimate president because he supposedly was not born on American soil in Hawaii. I won't bother explaining the birther "side" of this argument, because there is no argument; if you agree with the "birthers," take your tinfoil hat and leave now.
Suffice it to say that Hawaii officials, starting with the Republican governor, have repeatedly vouched for Obama; that Hawaii's health director, after having reviewed "the original vital records maintained on file," publicly declared earlier this week that Obama was born in Honolulu - thereby repeating what she said publicly nine months ago. John McCain's campaign looked into this faux issue and found nothing. Obama's opponent in the '04 Senate campaign looked as well and found nothing; as GOP operative Bill Pascoe wrote two days ago, "I can attest to the fact that nowhere in our opposition research (in 2004) did we find any reason to believe that the man was not a natural born citizen of the United States."
So what's most noteworthy about this irrelevant contretemps is the passive posture of the Republican leaders, who have done virtually squat to distance the party from the fruitcakes on the right-wing fringe. Which is tantamount to indulging them.
Granted, the leaders are in a somewhat tricky position, because some of these "birthers" actually sit in Congress as elected Republicans. Ten GOP House members are currently sponsoring a bill that would require all candidates to prove their place of birth, a symbolic slap at Obama, and Republican leaders have indulged these "birthers" by either remaining mute or implying sympathy. (Regarding the latter, here's Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe: "They have a point. I don't discourage it.") We also saw some high comedy three days ago, when the elected Republican "birthers" tried to block a routine House resolution extolling the half-century anniversary of Hawaii statehood...because the resolution proudly noted that one its native sons had risen to the presidency. Again, the Republican leaders said nothing.
On the contrary, a few party bigwigs - including House GOP whip Eric Cantor and national chairman Michael Steele - have actually "friended" Orly Taitz, the leader of the so-called movement, on her Facebook page. These Republican leaders insist that their friending of Taitz does not constitute an endorsement of Taitz. Whatever. Let us merely note that their friending of Taitz has provided Taitz with a terrific PR opportunity; as she wrote on her blog earlier this week, "To me, (being friended) means that the leadership of the Republican party understands the importance of the issues...of Obama's illegitimacy." And that may well inspire more "birthers" to ambush Republican congressmen at town hall meetings - as happened earlier this month to Delaware Rep. Michael Castle. (When he vouched for Obama's citizenry, he was booed. The incident wound up on YouTube and has drawn more than half a million hits.)
Yesterday, however, one Republican leaders did try to exhibit at least a smidgen of spine. Finally. At a breakfast with reporters, House leader John Boehner was asked to comment on the so-called issue; in response, he said: "My focus is on trying to get this economy moving again, stopping (Democratic) efforts on a national energy tax and stopping their government takeover of the health care system. I know there are a lot of issues that are out there, but that's where my focus is." And when asked whether he had any reason to suspect that Obama was not born on American soil, he replied: "No."
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, party chairman Michael Steele, the Facebook friend, said he "believes" that Obama is a U.S. citizen, and that the so-called issue "is an unnecessary distraction."
Perhaps these guys could have gone a tad further - by declaring, for instance, that the fringe attempt to paint Obama as illegitimate is a poisonous exercise that further polarizes the discourse and the electorate. At the very least, it would serve their own interests, as Republicans, to distance the party from this nativistic bid to depict the first black president as The Other.
Apparently they are too cowed, or ill-principled, to take those steps. And that leaves the sane conservatives with a big problem, as strategist Bill Pascoe noted the other day: "We are being lumped in with irresponsible and unreasonable conspiracy theorists...Seriously. Is this anything but a gift to the Democrats?"
And right now, given all the health care travails on Capitol Hill, the Democrats could use a gift.
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Why this country is barely governable, chapter 30,000:
What follows is real. President Obama is having a beer tonight with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley. But a flap has developed over what kind of beer should be served. Gates wants to drink Red Stripe. Crowley wants to drink Blue Moon. Obama intends to drink Bud Light. But one domestic beer-maker is upset with Obama because Bud Light's corporate parent is not based in America (nor are the makers of Red Stripe or Blue Moon), and therefore insists that Obama should be serving something that's all-American, like Sam Adams. What a quandary!
Personally, I don't think that any domestic beer should be served until each and every brewery worker produces an American birth certificate.
NEPhilly: for the last time, you can view his birth certificate on the internet. It's available for the media to view in person! The folks at factcheck physically held. and even posted pictures of themselves holding it. What do you want him to do?— still_independent- Why does anyone even pay attention to the dopes in the GOP anymore, including silencing them on yet another phony issue? Aren't these the people who claimed that Hilary Clinton was a murderer, not to mention that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that "it will only end when God wants it to end." The approbation of the GOP is a sure sign of one's failure as a human being.— the stupid does burn
- In six months of Obama, the Russell 3000 is up 18.82%. Conversely, in 8 years of Bush, the Russell 3000 is down -3.60%............ I guess running companies & baseball teams into the ground wasn't sufficient for the boy genius; he had to run the whole country into the ground.— the stupid does burn
- still, I could care less (just presenting the opposing view), but the 'birthers' say it is not his original birth certificate, it is a copy! See from above, ***The certificate put on the Internet by Obama and held up by the media was created in 2007. In the lower left corner of the form there is reference to a Hawaiian statute that was revised in November of 2001, and if you look closely at the front you can see bleeding through from the back the date stamp from 2007 when the document was created. It's a certification that an original does exist. So the the Birthers say: "Fine. Then show us the original." Obama says, "No." Why?***— NEPhilly
- NEPhilly: because he doesn't have it. Neither do I. I have official copies w/ a raised seal. Just like he does.— still_independent
Comment removed.- The Stupid Does burn- " why does anyone pay attention to the dopes at the GOP " ............. well maybe because Christie is leading Corzine by 15 points or because both Reid and Dodd are both in trouble in their re-election bids. Maybe because Obama's approval rating is down to 48%. It is all cyclical. Republicans paid the price for being fiscally irresonsible and so will the Democrats. There is dopes in both parties. I am about fed up with all of them and wish they would all be statesmen and serve one term and leave.
- NE Philly- I think Biden as president would be far more entertaining that watching Obama read from a teleprompter. Although it is amusing when his teleprompter falls over. Is telepromter reading now a required course at our liberal institutions of higher indoctrination?
- I am playing a drinking game. Every time Chris matthews, Ed schultz, Keith Obermann and Rachel Maddow mention the word "birther" which gets them their DNC bonus bucks, you have to take a drink. I caught the last 10 minutes of matthews and the first 10 of Ed Schultz and I'm wasted. Someone else carry on.— tr88
- I predict Toomey beats Specter in PA. Fiscal Conservatism will be the big issue nationwide for 2010.— tr88
- "Again, I don't know the answer, but did that terrible GWB hide his school transcripts, etc. and have lawyers fight to keep them hidden?" Remember when Kerry wouldn't release his military records during the '04 campaign because they contained his Yale transcript? They finally came out after the election, showing that Kerry was pretty much the one guy whose grades were worse than Bush's!— Vandy
- Vandy, let's hear it for the transparent Bush regime!— PA_Dutch
- TR, I predict Toomey will lose big time to the Democratic nominee (hopefully not Spector). Toomey won't talk much about fiscal conservatism in the campaign because that will remind everyone about the economy the republicans handed over to Obama.— PA_Dutch
- NE Philly said - "Pres. Obama has perpetuated this by not releasing his information! Again, I don't know the answer, but did that terrible GWB hide his school transcripts, etc. and have lawyers fight to keep them hidden? What's the big deal, release your birth certificate and your educational records for that matter! You lose the right to privacy when you run for President, don't you think?" *** TOTALLY! Why is the GOP sitting around letting this happen to America? Republican congressmen have sworn to PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION! Every last member of the Republican party should be thrown from office, agreed?— sully64
- "let's hear it for the transparent Bush regime!" How about Obamaconomics? "The way to cut healthcare costs is for the federal government to spend more!...how dare people question me; why aren't they just taking my word for it, like the media did during the Democratic primaries with Hillary? It's not fair!"— Vandy
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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