Bachmann Birther Overdrive

Yesterday I mentioned that Hawaii Democrat Rep Neil Abercrombie was going to bring a resolution to the House floor recognizing the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood. The best part was that the resolution described Hawaii as the "birthplace of President Barack Obama", possibly having to put dozens of Republicans on record that they recognized Barack Obama's legal birthplace in America and that he was indeed an American citizen (and throwing the Birthers under the Hawaii tour bus while at it.)

The resolution came up for a voice vote, which wouldn't have put the Republicans on record or anything, but would have gotten them off the hook and out of the neat little trap that Abercrombie laid for them.

Only, one Republican walked right into the trap and dragged the rest of her party along with her by objecting to the voice vote: good ol' Bachmanniac.

This afternoon on the House floor, Abercrombie spoke of his measure and specifically noted that Obama had been born in Hawaii. “It’s also going to be the birthday in a week or so of President Obama, born in Kapiolani hospital just down the road from where I lived,” he said. Just as the presiding chair of the House, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), was about to declare the resolution passed by voice vote, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) stood and objected:

BACHMANN: Mr. Speaker? I object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order that a quorum is not present. [...]

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): Further procedings on this motion will be postponed.

Nice. And I'm sure GOP Rep. Bill Posey of Florida is writing a big thank you card to Shelly there, because he had to go on record to vote for the Hawaii resolution as Jeff Fecke continues the saga.

Well, the roll call vote was taken, and Our Michele voted aye — congratulating Hawai’i and implicitly agreeing that Barack Obama was not born in Kenya. Indeed, 378 Representatives voted in favor of the resolution, and none voted against it. And of the 55 not voting, only 16 were Republicans. Indeed, even House GOPers who have played wink-wink-nudge-nudge with the birthers, like Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., voted to support the resolution.

One would think this would lay to rest, once and for all, the bizarre notion that five decades ago, a massive conspiracy was carried out to make it look like Barack Obama was actually born in America instead of hatched from an alien pod, so that some day he could run for president (the proof is in the name he was given — Barack Hussein Obama. A name as American as baba ghanoush) and then govern as a center-left, mainstream Democrat. But of course, one would think the fact that we all actually saw airplanes fly into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, would have convinced everyone that those towers were actually destroyed by, you know, airplanes. Or the fact that Tim McVeigh confessed would have convinced people that the Clinton Administration did not actually blow up the Murrah Federal Building. But conspiracies have a tendency only to strengthen in the face of facts. And so while the House unanimously rejected the birther theories today, don’t expect that to stop Lou Dobbs from talking about it tomorrow. That’s just proof that the Republicans are in on it, too. Or that they really don’t want Biden as president.

We salute you, Michele Bachmann, Real Congresswoman Of Genius. Without you, the Birthers in the GOP might have been able to slide under the radar without having to go on record as agreeing that Obama was an American citizen. But thanks to you, we now know that the House unanimously believes he is.

So here's to you, Shelly. You've done America a huge favor. No. Really. She has. (Well, not if you're a Birther...)