The Birthers Rebirth

This could be filed under my long forgotten "Dinner with My Parents" series, however I didn't have the tapes rolling tonight. But let me just recap that my father is an ultra right-wing septuagenarian raised on WW II propaganda and the fear of Communism -- in case you didn't know.

We had a little family dinner tonight that included me, mom, dad, my oldest sister and her husband whose birthday we were celebrating. My dear old mom had to let us in on an unusual dream she had: for some surreal reason she was walking behind President Obama and he turned around and told her that she shouldn't talk to him "like that" and she should show more respect. I'm not even going to touch that with a ten foot dream-catcher (or something). I'll leave that up to my new-agey friends with their dream dictionaries and "dream cards."

But what followed at the dinner table was, of course, my father ignited in a slightly paranoid factless rant about the president. According to my father, "they still can't find Obama's birth certificate." What? What bullshit! Is this starting up again?

Why yes, it is, and it's a lesson on how the right-wing ignores reality. If the WorldNetDaily headlines read, "Hawaii governor can’t find Obama birth certificate," then is it any surprise that what the Hawaii governor actually said was that there is a recording of the birth in the State Archive!

If WorldNetDaily quotes the Hawaii governor as saying this has "political implications," is it any surprise that his complete quote was about how the birther nonsense has "a political implication for 2012 that we simply cannot have."

Reasoning is hopeless. Birthers will think what they want to think, facts be damned. And they certainly won't pay $100 to shatter their most cherished belief, though that was a very creative idea by the Hawaii state legislature.

I'm tempted to say it just doesn't matter what the old folks cling to. The people who believed this drivel in 2008 will continue to believe until 2012 and beyond. But what disturbs me more is my sister who is not dumb -- but maybe a teensy bit gullible -- and doesn't have time to investigate this stuff on her own. She listened to our father with genuine intrigue -- well I hope to god she was faking it, but probably not.

It's been said "if you repeat a lie often enough they believe it to be fact," and that's the strategy of the conservative media outlets: create a false sense of controversy in order to pander to the delusional birthers and sway any possible "fence sitters."

Though arguing with the illogical is futile, let me just say, yes mom and dad, Obama is an American, and he does in fact deserve a little more respect.