This Post is For All You Birthers Out There

UPDATE: Those delusional birthers are still at it -- six states have 'birther bills' moving through the legislature, include Arizona, Indiana, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Read the Washington Post, Arizona birthers: No clue, but plenty of company.

You might remember that the Grand Poobah of Birthers, Taitz was recently and unceremoniously denied permission to intervene in the health care lawsuit.

I wonder if Pastor Poppins will now rally support for a national 'birther bill.'

Their bitterness blinds them to the truth, Obama was born in the U.S.A.

This one is from the Pensacola News Journal, by a lawyer who makes way too much money, and is worth posting in whole:

July 29, 2009
Grown-ups in GOP fail to control 'birthers"
Mike Papantonio

Several years ago, I tried a case with a Texas lawyer who used a code to track potential jurors that he wanted to eliminate from his jury during courtroom jury selection. Next to each potential juror, he put letters and numbers that described his attitude about that potential juror.

I noticed that next to some names he wrote the words "googly eyes!" Every lawyer uses their special codes in trial, but I had never run across the term "googly eyes." He explained to me that a potential juror with "googly eyes" is someone who probably believes that Elvis Presley is still alive.

They are the ones who have seen a UFO and probably know someone who has been abducted by aliens. In casual conversation, they are likely to tell you that the Apollo moon landings were staged on a Hollywood movie set. Today, it is likely that potential jurors are making it onto that lawyer's "googly eye" list if they attended more than one Sarah Palin political rally or if they dressed up like Paul Revere or Martha Washington during a tea party protest.

People probably qualify for his "googly eye" list if they spend 10 minutes a week watching the Glen Beck crazy hour. Beck, after all, is the King of Googly Eyes.

Here is a standard I'm going to use to add names to my "googly eye" list when I ask potential jurors questions these days. It is this: Are they Obama-birther conspiracy theorists? Do they believe Lou Dobbs, who tells them that Obama is a citizen of Indonesia who has lived in the United States for 48 years with a forged birth certificate?

Do they seriously accept the idea that Obama is not eligible to be president?

Fringe Democrats looked equally ridiculous when they suggested that John McCain was not eligible to be president because he was born in Panama.

Fortunately, the grown-ups in the Democratic leadership put a quick end to that self-humiliation process and the issue disappeared, along with the few wing-nuts who raised the issue.

But there are too few grown-ups left around the GOP House to gain control over the Glen Becks and the Lou Dobbses who now control dialogue for Republicans. Because of that, completely sane Republicans have repeatedly fallen victim to these "googly-eyed" messengers who surface with their political party talking points.

The Obama birth certificate issue originated with a racist anti-Semite named Andy Martin. Martin, who characterizes himself as an Internet populist, has such a creepy background that Fox News apologized for allowing him to appear in its programming.

They were as appalled as anyone would be when they read his blogs characterizing a hugely respected federal judge as a "crooked slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." So in the end, a head case like Martin launches the "birther" message and a TV personality like Lou Dobbs gives it credibility to where it sounds like a legitimate Republican talking point.

At the same time, you can bet there is a Texas lawyer using his "googly eye" code to make certain that anyone goofy enough to believe it never gets close to a jury box.

The birthers think that Obama's failure to respond is proof that their silly claim(s) are correct. I've tried to warn them that the failure to respond is a shrewd plan on Obama's part to keep the Republi-cons occupied and allow them to discredit themselves with a majority of the public.

But they just won't listen. There is no reasoning with a Republi-con.