Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

**Babylonsister** · 02-14-2011, 10:56 AM

Posted in its entirety with permission from author.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archive...027985.php

BIRTHER NONSENSE SPREADING IN STATE CAPITALS.... House Speaker John Boehner (R-Va.) doesn't want to talk about it. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) doesn't want to talk about it. But their Republican allies in state legislature don't mind talking about it at all.

This is more than just annoyance about idiotic jokes at CPAC, this is about 10 legislatures advancing actual legislation in response to insane conspiracy theories.

Adam Serwer had a smart item the other day explaining the "post-birtherism" phase of Republican thought: "Since the Republican base has long seemed impossible to sway from clinging to certain symbolic beliefs in the face of verifiable facts, conservatives have adapted to birtherism by making a joke out of it.... But by making jokes about it, conservative political figures manage to avoid taking a position one way or the other. They mollify the birther elements of the Republican base who simply can't accept the legitimacy of a black man in the White House by signaling agreement with them, while allowing Republicans averse to conspiracy theorizing to dismiss it all as a jest."

And while that's certainly true, let's not forget that in nearly a dozen state capitals, Republicans haven't quite gotten to the "post-birtherism" phase, because they're still stuck in the actual birtherism phase.

Also note, Dave Weigel explained recently that some of the GOP birther bills in state legislatures go even further than demanding proof of birth in the United States, and actually target Barack Obama specifically, removing any pretense of larger principles of transparency and accountability.

Congressional Republican leaders don't want to "tell people what to think," but would they at least be willing to characterize these crazy state efforts as ridiculous?

—Steve Benen

**Treestar** · 02-14-2011, 11:20 AM

What irony. Republicans do tell their supporters what to think. Republicans do as they are told in lock step.

**jaxx** · 02-14-2011, 11:37 AM

As long as Beck and Limbaugh are directing the right wing we can expect no less. There is no leader of the GOP, they are running wild with the teabagger mentality coming out on top. The crazies are running the show. That ought to scare the mainstream pubs.

**Andy823** · 02-14-2011, 01:49 PM

(02-14-2011 11:37 AM)Sass Wrote: As long as Beck and Limbaugh are directing the right wing we can expect no less. There is no leader of the GOP, they are running wild with the teabagger mentality coming out on top. The crazies are running the show. That ought to scare the mainstream pubs.

I couldn't agree more! The idiots that watch, or listen, to Beck and Limbaugh are crazy as hell, and this kind of BS proves it! I also think that the mainstream republicans don't like this kind of BS, at least the ones who know how bad it would be if these morons get their way, and get into elected office!

The former governor of Hawaii, a republican, came right out and said she saw the original birth certificate, and it was legal, he was born in Hawaii! What more do these clowns want anyway? I know they want to make sure president Obama does not get a second term, but this won't work, it only makes them look crazier than they already are, if that is possible!

As eliz@sf said, I too think this will backfire on them big time!

**Treestar** · 02-15-2011, 04:19 PM

(02-14-2011 01:49 PM)Andy823 Wrote:
(02-14-2011 11:37 AM)Sass Wrote: As long as Beck and Limbaugh are directing the right wing we can expect no less. There is no leader of the GOP, they are running wild with the teabagger mentality coming out on top. The crazies are running the show. That ought to scare the mainstream pubs.

I couldn't agree more! The idiots that watch, or listen, to Beck and Limbaugh are crazy as hell, and this kind of BS proves it! I also think that the mainstream republicans don't like this kind of BS, at least the ones who know how bad it would be if these morons get their way, and get into elected office!

The former governor of Hawaii, a republican, came right out and said she saw the original birth certificate, and it was legal, he was born in Hawaii! What more do these clowns want anyway? I know they want to make sure president Obama does not get a second term, but this won't work, it only makes them look crazier than they already are, if that is possible!

As eliz@sf said, I too think this will backfire on them big time!

Once it is clear that the President was born in the U.S., they resort to outlandish legal theories of expatriation.

First, they start with attending an Indonesian school, being adopted by Lolo Soetero, causing loss of US citizenship.

Shown case law that no minor can lose citizenship by actions of the parents, they resort to - wait for it:

Obama applied for financial aid as a foreign student to Occidental College. This deprived him of his citizenship. Why won't he release the records from that college? Shows he must be guilty.

Of course if Obama released those records and they showed no such thing (which would not mean he lost his citizenship even had he done that) they'd just make something else up.

**atomic** · 02-14-2011, 11:51 AM

Republican legislatures and in particular governors are making fools out of themselves with this kind of fear-mongering.

I predict it will backfire ugly. Like this:

[Image: watermelon-of-pain.gif]

***NJMaverick*** · 02-14-2011, 12:39 PM

(02-14-2011 11:51 AM)eliz@sf Wrote: Republican legislatures and in particular governors are making fools out of themselves with this kind of fear-mongering.

I predict it will backfire ugly. Like this:

Ouch, that had got to have hurt! Shocked

**atomic** · 02-14-2011, 04:18 PM

(02-14-2011 12:39 PM)NJMaverick Wrote:
(02-14-2011 11:51 AM)eliz@sf Wrote: Republican legislatures and in particular governors are making fools out of themselves with this kind of fear-mongering.

I predict it will backfire ugly. Like this:

Ouch, that had got to have hurt!

It happened on the Amazing Race last season. Amazingly the girl stood up and got right back into the race. She was probably picking melon out of her nose for a while.

**Cha** · 02-14-2011, 05:09 PM

(02-14-2011 11:51 AM)eliz@sf Wrote: Republican legislatures and in particular governors are making fools out of themselves with this kind of fear-mongering.

I predict it will backfire ugly. Like this:

Both uplifting encouraging images, eliz! Thank you~ Notworthy

**Cha** · (This post was last modified: 02-14-2011 05:08 PM by Cha.)

They're either bigoted assholes or they can't comprehend a single fact like President Barack Obama being born in Oahu, Hawai'i on August 4, 1961. If they can't understand simple facts..what else can't they understand?

I say either way they don't deserve the honor of representing anyone in our Gov. A member of the military, Lt Col Terry Lakin, who willfully ignorantly tried to take that attitude got jail time and dischaged..

The Army doctor who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he challenged President Obama's birthright has been sentenced to six months confinement and ordered discharged from the Army.

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin had considered any order from the commander-in-chief, President Obama, unlawful because he claimed the president has not proven he was born in the United States.

Besides today's sentence, Lakin will pay a potentially heavy financial price. At 18 years in the Army, he was two years short of retirement, which over the course of a lifetime could have added up to an estimated $2 million in retirement pay and benefits.

Lakin had pleaded guilty to one charge, and was convicted of another in failing to report for deployment to Afghanistan in a court martial at Fort Meade, MD.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/201...-sentenced

**Willinois** · 02-14-2011, 05:26 PM

I followed a few links but couldn't find a list of all 10 states. I doubt one is in Illinois but I'd love to write a blog about the sponsor if there is.