A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll finds that 77% of Americans believe President Obama was Indeed Born in the United States, with only 11% saying he was not -- but there's no clear verdict among Republicans.Granted, I tend to take any DK/R2K poll with the same grain of salt as anything out of Rasmussen (they tend to average each other out on most things) but the inability to even get a majority should be disturbing as hell to the GOP. A majority of Republicans have doubts that our President is even an American citizen. One, that's just idiotic on its face. Your average Republican either is unsure or thinks the President is not a U.S. citizen, which means your average GOP lawmaker will have to adopt the same position. This explains quite succinctly why so many GOP lawmakers refuse to go on tape saying they are sure President Obama is a U.S. citizen...they'd be instantly alienating 58% of their voters!Among Republicans, it's a much weaker plurality of only 42% who say Obama was born in the U.S., with 28% saying he was not. Among Democrats, the number is 93%-4%, and among independents it's 83%-8%.
Two, that's a position that is going to become increasingly untenable for the Republican Party. They're going to have to take a side eventually, particularly the ones sure to be facing House primary challenges for voting for the stimulus package and other "traitorous acts" of supporting "Obama's tyranny" and whatnot. Coming out that far into the Birther Zone will almost guarantee a blistering loss in the general elections in 2010 (which is one of tha main reasons I don't see the GOP magically regaining the House or Senate in 2010.)
Three, seeing the Republican Party go into an internal battle over something the rest of the country sees as meaningless racial-inspired drivel is not going to endear them as any sort of valid solution to the problems we have and will still have going forward.
The rest of us have an economy, health care, education and two wars to deal with.
[UPDATE 11:05 AM] Steve Benen notes the Birther breakdown by region is just as depressing:
The GOP Southern Strategy lives.
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3 comments:
I don't find this depressing. I find it heartening. Let the GOP keep the Confederate racist Klansmen Bible-thumpers. That's all they have left.
The birther thing is going to create a lot of problems for them in the rest of the country. They can't deny Birtherism without losing their racist base, and they can't embrace it without damaging their prospects with independents. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I suspect this is why Obama is not requesting the release of his "long-form" birth certificate: it's a political advantage.
He's a chess player: He'll release it in his own good time, probably during the re-election campaign. This will force his Republican opponent to either risk losing his/her base or scaring off independents. Checkmate.
Amazing! Are these the same 28% who love the Bush/Cheney Gang of War Criminals? The bitter enders as it were? I wonder how much overlap there is in those groups. But a substantial portion of this group also believe the Earth was created a thousand years after the Sumerians invented ink. Sigh ...
Oh from a long range standpoint, this is nothing but pain for the GOP. It's can't lose for the birthers, but all lose for the GOP.
It's just depressing to see people still this racist and this stupid.
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