Their view of reality is therefore distorted and this may lead to some serious consequences such as some sort of violent insurrection or even an assassination attempt . For the Birthers the U.S. government and its laws are thrown into question. They may believe that a number of members of the Obama administration plus the Congress and Senate and the judiciary are all part of this imagined conspiracy to protect Barack Obama and to keep him in power.
This "Conspiracy theory" of a an African-American taking power in the United States by illegitimate means is right out of the paranoid ravings of the far right white supremacist playbook ie the notorious novel The Turner Diaries which describes a future race war in America. Note the book is available on YouTube its a rather nasty and vicious diatribe masking as a novel.
Washington Monthly, Political Animal by Steve Benen, July 31, 2009
ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER.... A new Research 2000 poll conducted for Daily Kos asked respondents a rather straightforward question: "Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?" Since the president was born in the U.S., ideally, the results would be around 100%.
They weren't. There was, not surprisingly, a significant partisan gap. Only 4% of Democrats are confused about the president's place of birth. The number is slightly higher among independents, 8% of whom got it wrong. Among Republicans, though, 28% -- more than one in four -- believe President Obama was not born in the United States.
For a crazy, demonstrably false, racist idea, these are discouraging numbers.
But I was especially surprised by the regional breakdowns. In the Northeast, West, and Midwest, the overwhelming majorities realize the president is a native-born American. But notice the South -- only 47% got it right and 30% are unsure.
Outside the South, this madness is gaining very little traction, and remains a fringe conspiracy theory. Within the South, it's practically mainstream.
THE BIRTHERS playing fast and loose with facts and reality still claim Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen or they have doubts about his citizenship. 58% of Republicans in a recent poll are of the same mindset and are skeptical about Obama's citizenship and therefore his legitimacy in holding the office of U.S. president.
So how significant is it that a greater number of Southern Republicans compared to Northern Republicans are doubtful about Obama's citizenship. This raises the issue of whether the Birthers are in fact motivated by racism.
Newest poll reveals :Large number of republicans don't believe Obama is a US citizen. They are according to Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks "immune to the facts".
How Many Americans Believe Obama Is A US Citizen?July 31, 2009
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: Obama Birther Movement Is "Southern" - 07/31/09
Rachel Maddow wraps up the Birther conspiracy with McCain birth in Panama on an US Navy Ship
July 31, 2009
Birther Whack Jobs: Citizens of Idiot America By Dan Kennedy, Comment Is Free. Posted July 30, 2009.
Join MoveOn's fight take on Lou Dobbs and put this paranoid and racist movement to an end.
Indeed. The Birthers are ignorant hatemongers, spouting nonsense about Obama's roots as a proxy for their profound disgust that a black man was elected president. And it's tempting to say that the media should simply ignore the Birthers -- not to mention the global-warming deniers, the WTC conspiracists and all the rest. But given the cultural environment in which we find ourselves, such tactics would only lead to conspiracy theories about the liberal media -- as if there weren't enough of those already.
2. How Lou Dobbs Scared Rush Limbaugh Off the Birther Story By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America. July 31, 2009 via Alternet
The media backlash that Dobbs set off made sure that nobody will ever take the birthers seriously again.
I can think of three (inadvertent) positives that came out of Lou Dobbs' ill-advised embrace of the birther movement:
1) The CNN host has permanently tarnished his reputation
2) The birther movement is officially kaput (like, stick-a-fork-in-it done)
3) Rush Limbaugh is afraid to talk about birthers.
Talk about a win-win-win.
It's true that Dobbs irresponsibly mainstreamed radical right-fringe players by championing their half-baked claims that Barack Obama isn't a natural born citizen and is ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Dobbs, at least indirectly, lent the birther movement some fleeting credence as he dragged its misbegotten detective work into the spotlight. And it's still vitally important to monitor Dobbs and call out CNN management for its dreadful hypocrisy on the birther issue (i.e. The story is "dead" but it's OK for Dobbs to keep flogging it on national TV).
But there was some good news last week, and it came from watching Dobbs' slow motion train wreck unfold on the airwaves. It came from seeing how eagerly -- how convincingly -- the birther claims were debunked, not only online by progressives, but within the mainstream press as well -- the same mainstream press that's often reluctant to show up high-profile media players such as Dobbs, no matter how badly it has botched the facts. And let's not forget conservatives, who dismissed and ridiculed the birther claims.
Also see;
by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville, July 31, 2009
and:
Birthers, the Few, the Proud, Riling Capitol Hill by Mary Ann Akers at The Sleuth, July 30,2009
Health-care reform may be slow going, but the birthers - the few but furious - are gaining steam.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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