Far from seeing these charges as any sort of real threat to Obama's legitimacy, liberals report every outburst of the birther brigades with glee - because they derive maximum political benefit from stirring up the story as long as possible. Why debate the intricacies of a massive overhaul of the nation's health care system when you can conflate principled conservative critics of the program with a bunch of nutty conspiracy theorists?That thesis drew a flurry of reactions, including these.
Not Guilty FireDogLake, Kirchik's prime example, hit back with quotes doubting Obama's citizenship from prominent Republicans--including House Whip Roy Blunt, Republican Senator James Inhofe and Rush Limbaugh--and the GOP-sponsored bill calling for presidential candidates to present birth certificates to establish their eligibility for office.
Blame Liberal Columnists, Too National Review's Jonah Goldberg agreed with Kirchik and extended it beyond bloggers, to major columnists on the left. "Eugene Robinson, Joe Conason and E.J. Dionne," he wrote, "have been pumping the birther story in order to tar Republicans as extremists at precisely the moment their own agenda is being rejected by the American people for it's own extremism."
The White House Likes Birthers Last week, Newsweek's Howard Fineman wrote that the Obama political team seems to think "there is political profit to be reaped in encouraging--or at least putting the spotlight on--the anti-everything fundamentalists and public paranoids who are emerging at a time when the legitimate conservative movement and the Republican Party with it are weak."
Blame Liberal Columnists, Too National Review's Jonah Goldberg agreed with Kirchik and extended it beyond bloggers, to major columnists on the left. "Eugene Robinson, Joe Conason and E.J. Dionne," he wrote, "have been pumping the birther story in order to tar Republicans as extremists at precisely the moment their own agenda is being rejected by the American people for it's own extremism."
The White House Likes Birthers Last week, Newsweek's Howard Fineman wrote that the Obama political team seems to think "there is political profit to be reaped in encouraging--or at least putting the spotlight on--the anti-everything fundamentalists and public paranoids who are emerging at a time when the legitimate conservative movement and the Republican Party with it are weak."
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