On the day that Jesus died, we cats are focusing on the Republicans' obsession with President Obama's birth. Goodness gracious, they're so obsessed, you'd think they believe the President is the Second Coming. How to explain this rampant nuttiness?
Well, our first answer is that the Republican Party is so rudderless, so completely bereft of leadership going into 2012, that the crazies have taken over. Indeed, it seems that no one in the GOP side is excited about their Presidential prospects. There's no authority figure around to tell them to shut up and sit down. Therefore, birtherism flourishes.
But we agree with The Daily Beast that the birtherism phenomenon is not a good thing for the GOP. Like all Democrats and most Independents, we cats find the fact that a decisively elected mixed-race President is subject to suspicion and prejudice this late in his term unattractive, repellent and, frankly, embarrassing. This has never happened before, because A) all our other Presidents were white guys, and B) a major political party has never been captured by extremists to the extent that the Republican Party has been today.
Still and all, there's some fun to be had with this. Namely, throwing it right back in the Republicans' faces. Here are a few examples.
Take Newt Gingrich. Although he says he believes the truth — that President Obama was born in Hawaii — Gingrich still thinks that birther conspiracies are worthy of discussion. "Anything is a fair question in this society," he opined. Oh, really? Well, then, Mr. G! Shall we, therefore, discuss your 1) adultery? 2) gay sister? 3) lack of military service? 4) finances? We cats are eagerly awaiting your responses on these extremely pressing topics.
Or take the Republican Presidential field as a whole — such as it is. The birther thing is roiling them. How will it all play out in the Presidential primaries? For instance, Jon Huntsman accepted President Obama's appointment to be ambassador to China. Does that mean that Ambassador Huntsman has officially repudiated the birther position, since agreeing to join the Administration necessarily confers an acknowledgment of Mr. Obama's Presidential legitimacy? We cats await the answer with interest.
Finally, we end with the words of conservative commentator Michael Medved who, like other worried Republicans, is weighing in on the political effects of birtherism.
"It makes us look weird," he said. "It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled and not suitable for civilized company." Well, Mr. Medved — we cats hate to tell you, but your entire political party is looking, um, awfully that way.
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