Another Poll-arized Moment

Everything you need to know about race relations in the US summed up in one poll:

A little over half of blacks (52%) say that new civil rights laws are needed in this country, while 15% of whites agree.

And that's pretty much it. "We've got a black President, what more could you possibly want?"

Turns out plenty.  We'd like this kind of garbage to stop, for one.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denied that he "promised" Tea Party leaders in Arizona to investigate the validity of Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate to determine the president's eligibility for the 2012 election ballot.

Arpaio said he met in his office Thursday with a Tea Party group which presented him with 242 signatures asking for the investigation.

"What I have agreed to do, contrary to some published media reports, is simply look at the evidence these people have assembled and examine whether it is within my jurisdiction to investigate the document's authenticity," Arpaio said in a written statement Friday.

The Worldnet Daily website said Tea Party leaders in Surprise met with Arpaio and WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi Thursday to express concern that a fake birth certificate would be used to document Obama's eligibility to run in Maricopa County. 

By the way, also in that Gallup poll?  59% of African-Americans think government should have a major role in America, 32% a minor one in protecting and improving the social position of minorities.  Whites?  19% and 50%, respectively...and 30% think government should have no role in that whatsoever.

So when Tea Party folks scream that "we need smaller government!" what they're really saying is "We need a government that helps those people less."  Republicans are more than happy to oblige.