Patty Boy Versus The Birthers

Via TPMDC, I was wondering when The Odious Patrick McHenry (R-Jagoff) was going to weigh in on the birther nonsense. Seems he can't make up his mind.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry this morning clarified remarks he made at a town hall forum in Lincolnton Wednesday night indicating he was unconvinced that President Obama is a U.S. citizen.

During a three-hour question-and-answer session, primarily on health-care reform, Lincolnton resident Alan Hoyle asked if McHenry thinks Obama is a citizen. McHenry declined to affirm Obama's citizenship, instead saying: “I haven't seen evidence one way or the other.”

McHenry also said the issue is being addressed “in the courts.”

Said McHenry in a statement this morning: “As I stated last night, I have not carefully reviewed the evidence as a jurist would. However, from what I have read, I have absolutely no reason to question President Obama's citizenship. I anticipate that as a legal matter the courts will continue to come to the same conclusion.”

Nice backtrack, Patty Boy. But I wonder, given the number of North Carolina Republicans who don't think the President is even a U.S. citizen, I think his "clarification" is going to hurt him more than anything else in NC-10. After all, only 24% of Republicans in the state believe the President is an American citizen. And from having grown up in that part of the state, the number of Republicans in that particular district that think Obama is really an American citizen is lower than that.

His first statement was most likely the truth for him personally: He doesn't know. But he's come down firmly against a considerable chunk of his electorate here this morning. God forbid that leaves him open to a primary challenge from an even more right-wing crackpot...