Birthers: Another Manifestation of the Manipulation of the Right

Many devout, sincere and decent people on the Right continue to be manipulated by a few cynical groups and individuals in search of money, with a touch of racism.

Over the last few years there have been many instances where spokesmen of the Rabid Right have created controversies out of whole cloth in order to energize the GOP base or to increase ratings and income for themselves. A few examples will suffice.

Several years ago, Fox's Bill O'Reilly began a fall tradition. In November each year, he would write a blog or devote several radio and television programs to a purported "War on Christmas" in which he asserted that liberals and other undesirables were attempting to eliminate the religious significance of Christmas. In support of this thesis, he would condemn the practice of many businesses to have employees wish customers "holiday" wishes or the use of the advertising of "season greetings". These attempts to include those who did not celebrate Christmas in the religious sense, those Jews who celebrated Chanukah, those who celebrated Kwanza and those who merely enjoyed the holiday season as a secular excuse to have parties and days free from work, were all metamorphosed into an attack on Christianity. This view has been supported less and less and, while we cannot be certain until next November, it may have been finally refuted by nearly everyone.

Another instance of inducing fear as a promotional tactic is the purported outrage over the thought that homosexual persons could legally marry in several states and in most other countries, or even that they might receive official recognition by having civil unions. Again, this "horror" was the basis of many successful fund-raising efforts, the passage of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (of doubtful Constitutionality and likely to be invalidated by the Supreme Court regardless of its makeup), Constitutional amendments and statutes in several states. Notwithstanding all of these efforts, polls establish that the majority of Americans have attitudes toward same-sex unions ranging from total support to relative disinterest; most people take the position that such unions or marriage would affect their lives not a bit.

And now the same fear mongers and denizens of the weird have a new way to turn good and decent people into indignant sources of money: Barack Obama is ineligible to be President because he fails the Constitutional test, "No person except a natural born Citizen.... shall be eligible to the Office of President...." While the term "natural born citizen" is not specifically defined by the Courts or statute, the Fourteenth Amendment provides, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

These people who profess to believe the President was born in Kenya and not Hawaii are collectively called "the Birthers".

As an acknowledged liberal, I am obliged to read and try and understand publications and other media expressing contrary views. I regret that many of the listeners to and followers of Rush, Michael Savage and the inhabitants of the world of Fox News have no corresponding wish to consider the merits of alternative positions, but that's just the way it is.

Among the publications I read is Human Events, a weekly publication that, over the past 60 years or so, has taken an extreme view of everything slightly to the left of Genghis Kahn. For example, its list of the ten "most harmful books" of the past centuries include texts by Marx, Hitler and Mao and, in addition, Alfred Kinsey's book on sexuality, John Dewey's study of education, Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique and even Rachel Carson's expressed concern on the environment, Silent Spring.

True to expectations, Human Events is taking up the Birthers' cause by distributing a press release of the United States Justice Foundation. That release urges people to fax the 50 attorneys general of the several states and urge that they "investigate Obama's birthday fraud". This service to America would only cost the sucker-worrier between $30 and $99; thus the Birthers can do very well by doing good.

On another web site, WorldDailyNet, a conspiracy minded person can donate money to rent billboard space that asks "Where's the Birth Certificate?" Remarkably, many of the Birthers are also, "Truthers", folks who claim the attacks on the World Trade Center were a fiction created by the Bush administration and that the 1969 moon landing took place in a Hollywood sound stage! There are always, I suppose, crazies.

Were Democrats devious and sneaky enough, I would consider the Birthers to be created and supported by the Democratic National Committee. Historically the mid-term congressional election results in gains for the party out of the White House. Thus, in 2010, one might expect GOP gains in the House of Representatives and Senate, where all and one-third seats, respectively, are up for grabs, to be considerable. The Birthers, however, may change this, exacerbating a split between rational Republicans and the nutcakes.

Most folks had read about the Birthers' claims that President Obama was born in Kenya, that the birth certificate was forged and that the Governor and other officials of Hawaii have been and are part of a vast conspiracy. If anyone remains who is not familiar with the tale, or its total repudiation, there are sourcesaplenty.

The most current revival of the Birthers and their ability to receive mention in the mainstream news can be placed at the door of CNN's Lou Dobbs. As Bill O'Reilly acknowledged, the Birthers' claims are silly and absurd and that Mr. Dobbs is pandering in an effort to increase ratings. (Mr. O'Reilly has come to want the same boost; he has invited Dobbs on his own program!)

Ann Coulter agreed that Mr. Dobbs was irrationally publicizing the Birthers' claims. The other right-wing blabbering spokesperson, the one and only Rush Limbaugh has been careful not to support the Birthers after his initial attempt at humor: "Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. You know what it is? God doesn't have a birth certificate either." As to Ms Coulter, she has not been my favorite gal, on one occasion suggesting assassination of Democratic candidates, but this time she's correct. (Even a broken clock is right twice a day.)

Now as to the dilemma for Republicans: On the one hand, it will be almost impossible to win a primary without the support of the conspiratorial fringe, those "social, family supporting conservatives" who are being exploited - and pandered to - by the cynical politicians; on the other hand, it will be virtually impossible to win a general election without the support of moderates and independents who find the conspiratorial-minded folks unacceptable.

Meanwhile, there are those who pander for a buck. And they are succeeding; a new poll shows that 42% of Republican voters accept the fact that the President was born in the United States but that 28% are convinced otherwise and 30% are unsure. Much money is being extorted from the hopelessly gullible and every time a Republican office holder waffles on the issue, Democrats cheer.

My next post will address this waffling and its consequences.