GOP lawmakers brace themselves for the Birthers

[Enrique]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25444.html

When lawmakers return home for recess in August, they can expect to hear tough questions from constituents on the economy, health care and government spending.

But Republicans are preparing for something else: the birthers.

(...)

The trick: What do you say?

Of the various approaches a put-on-the-spot pol can take, each carries its own risk of alienating constituents. Pick up a pitchfork in the cause of this conspiracy theory, and you risk damaging your reputation in the mainstream while aligning yourself with a movement some regard as having racist undertones.

Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), co-sponsor of legislation that would force candidates to show their birth certificates, was widely mocked after he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that Obama is a U.S. citizen — “as far as I know.”

However, members who decide to challenge the conspiracy theory, as Castle did mildly, risk ticking off a shrill minority who can upend their events and then post the video on the Web.

And those who try to split the difference may find themselves getting doubly burned.

(...)

[niceypoo]

1. Ya gotta love it!

[ccharles000]

15. yup

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Heh. Heh. Heh.

IS this what you'd call "reaping the whirlwind"? The McCain/Palin campaign started this -- Palin especially -- by deliberately throwing out a lot of crazy, racist crap to stir up their knuckledragger base. That base includes the birfer crackpots. And now the Republicans are stuck with them.

Bwahahahaha...! I am just about doubled over with Schadenfreude.

[AndyA]

6. The irony of it all is sweet, isn't it?

What the GOP accomplished in 2008--more than anything else--is it divided itself into separate groups, and the freak birther/Obama's a Muslin/etc. wackjobs are the ones getting most of the press now. And they are not exactly helping the GOP rebuild itself.

So, I say fine for now...let them continue, they just make the GOP look like a bunch of fools (which they are).

[yellowcanine]

9. Don't forget the "Obama may be a Muslim, palling around with terrorists, etc."

And that priceless moment when McCain had to take the mike away from the nutcase woman and say, "No he is not a Muslim." I am sure that woman is a barfer.

[NJmaverick]

3. That's the problem when you have a party,

that since Nixon, has quietly welcomed the racists into their fold.

[FatDave]

23. True, but it took an African American candidate to make them show their true colors. (nt)

[cleveramerican]

4. who will be the brave one?

The brave republican congressman or senator to call these nuts a bunch of nuts?

Somebody has to do it and forcefully.

[Beetwasher]

14. "Somebody has to do it and forcefully."

No they don't. What makes you think that? I guarantee not a single Repub politician will do any such thing. If they had any scruples or integrity or sense they wouldn't be Republicans in the first place.

[cleveramerican]

20. This is damaging to them/they know that

I can't believe it hasn't already happened
They need a grownup to call out this tinfoil hat crowd.
It'll happen and it won't take till September

Its actually a huge opportunity for somebody brave who wants to make a larger name for themselves in the party.

[Beetwasher]

25. LOL! Nope

Never happen.

You can't believe it hasn't already happened??? What planet do you live on? You seem to be familiar w/ some other breed of Republican.

[DrDan]

5. the WH has played this just right

keep out of it - do not respond to requests for comment or additional proof.

Just let the conspiracy nuts have at each other, and their elected "leaders".

[rocktivity]

7. uh...the truth?

The form is on the Internet, the "long" form does not exist, and this issue must be dropped because it's undermining the party's credibility, not Obama's.

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Bill Maher Was Right

We have the center-right party, and the crazy party. Watching the crazies is good sport.

[davidpdx]

10. Reminds me a of a line from Die Hard 3.....

"Ah, fuck'em. Let'em burn."

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. Hopefully they'll have to spend most of their recess

trying to deal with these kooks instead of trying to derail President Obama's health insurance reform efforts- while we do some blue dog "obedience training" in regards to health insurance reform (and get Reid a spine transplant if possible).

:rofl:

[southernyankeebelle]

12. If I were a republican official I would tell them to back off, I have a

ob to do and I don't have the time to prove something that has already been proven several times. I bet this really isn't has much of an issue as people think it is.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. It should NOT be an issue but the birfers don't know when to stop

If the GOP wants to get involved and it helps drag them down even more then I hope they keep it up.

[janx]

16. The president of the United States is a MARTIAN.

Pass it on. :rofl:

[11 Bravo]

17. Even worse, he's a Martian MUSLIN!

[janx]

24. We need blood tests. And the results of those blood tests

WILL be made public...even the LONG-FORM documents held in the super-secret locked vault! Open the goddam vault! Cuz we KNOW he's a MARTIAN MUSLIN/MUSLIN MARTIAN and until we get the martian/muslin documents with the alien footprints from the depths of the locked vault, we will not be satisfied!!!1! :rofl:

[Pharlo]

28. Shhhhhh....

We can't have it getting all over the internets that Barack Obama was hatched from an egg that was found at Roslyn New Mexico.

The Birthers will have PROOF just as soon as the FBI releases The Roslyn UFO Files.

That's why the US government has kept those files hidden all these years. The alien takeover of the US presidency!!! Only The Birthers know The Truth!!! - or so they think.

[corkhead]

18. as an athiest, I take special pleasure in the ironic application of the phrase "reap what you sow"

[Jade Fox]

19. The Right created these kooks.....

by filling the airways with Fox News and Wing Nut radio. Now, the resultant nut-cakes are taking down the GOP brick by brick with the sheer idiocy of the beliefs they learned from the right wing noise machine.

[prolesunited]

21. That's what they get for winding up all these crazy tools

Now they're turning on them. I think it's funny.

[kestrel91316]

22. The Republicans have made their beds, and used a lot of WHITE SHEETS

to do it, I might add. So now they can lie in them.

[county worker]

26. Ticking off the bithers would be the start of the rebuilding of the Repub party.

If they are afraid of the birthers they will not attract the moderate Repubs and Independents. They should just do what McCain did to that woman who said Obama was an Arab. Just say no mam.

But then let them keep being the party of the lunatic fringe. That works for me.

[LiberalAndProud]

27. They seem to be painted in a corner.

Acknowledging and affirming documented proof has become a political liability. And the Republican party will be further marginalized.

Good. I detest the birthers, and I don't mind watching those who pander to them go down in flames.