If they keep this up, the party will be over (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES THREATENS THE GOP)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | August 4, 2009 | John Barron, Tom McNamee, Don Hayner, Andrew Herrman

[Chi-townChief]

In case you haven't heard, President Obama is a member of a secret Kenyan terrorist cell who is scheming to dispatch waves of government bureaucrats to tell grandmas and grandpas how to off themselves.

Such is the intellectual weight of a segment of the Republican Party these days.

Or as one commentator recently put it, the GOP has decided "to double down on crazy."

We're talking about two controversies here, one involving the so-called birther movement, which questions the citizenship of the president; the other involving mandatory "end-of-life" counseling that's supposedly part of the president's health care plan.

The controversies are such nonsense that we hesitate to discuss them at all. But both issues, like some crazed killer at the end of a slasher movie, just won't die. And they speak to a broader, troubling trend within the GOP.

To recap, briefly:

• The birther movement questions whether President Obama was born in the United States, and thus legitimately elected president. His birth certificate and every piece of credible evidence show he was born in Hawaii. But for the folks in the birther movement, no piece of evidence is ever enough.

What's more, for some in the movement, the questions about Obama's citizenship lead to greater suspicions about him, including whether he's secretly an agent for a foreign government, sort of like Laurence Harvey in the 1962 movie thriller, "The Manchurian Candidate."

We're not making this up.

• The mandatory "end-of-life" counseling controversy is not a direct attack on the president but effectively paints his and the Democrats' health care proposal as a secret plan to peddle suicide to senior citizens.

Some commentators, led by Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York, hit the airwaves recently to claim that under the Obama plan, people enrolled in Medicare would be required to submit to counseling every five years that would tell them how to end their lives sooner.

In fact, the bill requires Medicare to cover the costs of voluntary advice sessions for seniors who want to find out about living wills, powers of attorney, health care proxies and similar issues. We believe these planning steps are good things, not only for seniors, but for their families.

The AARP thinks so too. It lobbied for the provision. And the last time we checked, the AARP isn't into killing off its membership.

Both the "end-of-life" critics and the birther movement should be part of the lunatic fringe, but they've found a home in the GOP.

Instead of shunning them, some elected Republican officials and party standard bearers have embraced them. The left has its share of loonies, too, but hasn't given them this sort of bear hug.

On the issue of Obama's citizenship, several Republican congressman have signed on to a bill that would require presidential candidates to produce a copy of their birth certificates.

This is nothing but a sop to the birther movement.

On the health care front, former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson featured McCaughey on his radio show, and from there, her "end-of-life" comments caught fire, spreading quickly to Sean Hannity's and Rush Limbaugh's programs, among other conservative outlets.

The GOP needs to be a vigorous, substantive party. It must try to win back voters with the strength, not the scariness, of its ideas.

When elements of the party embrace such claptrap, it does the GOP itself -- and the country -- no favors.

[Chi-townChief]

These guys sure don't seem to mind selling themselves out for Barry and crew.

[bareford101]

goodness gracious, better put a band-aid on that sore nerve!!!!

[Jeff Head]

This entire origin issue for Obama is a simple thing to put to rest. The real issue, more and more, is simply why he will not do so.

I have a passport and a birth certificate. I can produce them at my house in a matter of minutes. I have not spent a million dollars to either acquire them...or to hide them.

This is not a unreasonable thing to ask for since being a "natural born citizen" of the US is a constitutional requirement for the job of President. It's not hateful, and it's not racist.

Proving that you are should be an honor.

Yet Obama cannot and will not produce either. Why?

The following document is a Certified Copy of Registration of Birth, puporting to be from Kenya. It has gotten a lot of press. It has a number of issues which means, IMHO, that in all probability that it is not authentic. Yet, it looks more authentic than the electronic Certificate of Live Birth (COLB, not the long form Birth Certificate which has never been offered) that the Obama administration has shown on their web site.

The point is, this supposed document is out there and is being analyzed to death and will ultimately be certified one way or the other by experts. Obama's long form birth certificate is not...it is getting no such review. The longer it is absent, the more insistent the demands will be for it to be made public.

A number of military Officers are now suing for Obama to prove and show his "bonafides" before deploying, because for them, it becomes a life or death issue to follow their Commander in Chief. The same applies in principle to all citizens. In the end, Obama will not be able to forever hide from proving the constitutional qualification.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING

A PETITION ON FACEBOOK FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RESTORATION

[SlowBoat407]

In case you haven't heard, President Obama is a member of a secret Kenyan terrorist cell who is scheming to dispatch waves of government bureaucrats to tell grandmas and grandpas how to off themselves.

Whew! Finally, they're starting to figure it out!

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..In case you haven't heard, President Obama is a member of a secret Kenyan terrorist cell who is scheming to dispatch waves of government bureaucrats to tell grandmas and grandpas how to off themselves..."

Writes the Butt Joy Committee of the Chicago Sun-Times.

[McGruff]

Me thinks they doth protest too much.

[roses of sharon]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/scalliwag/200908/why-most-journalists-are-democrats-view-the-soviet-socialist-trenches

August 3, 2009, Politics

Why Most Journalists Are Democrats: A View from the Soviet Socialist Trenches

[La Lydia]

Direct evidence why their newspaper had to file for bankruptcy a couple of months ago.

DR. RAOUL's rule.

[agere_contra]

We want to see if Obama is constitutionally qualified for the Presidency.

Apparently even to ask the question is stark madness. But spending 800,000 dollars not answering it isn't.

[silverleaf]

The Chicago Sun-Times is genuinely concerned about helping the GOP. sarc

They wouldn’t wanna see Mike Steele get a dead fish or anything like that.

The national media campaign against “birthers” continues and widens and gets uglier and more threatening.

Why. Who is not on vacation and in the WH this week.

[nutmeg]

ping!

[ExTexasRedhead]

We’re exposing them big time!!!!

[McGruff]

...waves of government bureaucrats to tell force grandmas and grandpas how to off themselves.

Is more like it.

[Frantzie]

Dying newspapers posting rubbish. This is the reason why your papers are dead.

[listenhillary]

It's not about euthanasia, it's not about health care, it's not about insurance.

It is about cradle to grave control of people. It's about creating an Oligarchy of Democrats dictating peoples lives for the foreseeable future.

Once they control who is born, who will be treated and who must sacrifice for the common good, there is NO other power that they need.

[Marty62]

President Obama is a member of a secret Kenyan terrorist cell who is scheming to dispatch waves of government bureaucrats .....................

WHAAAT.......IS THIS BREAKING NEWS.

This remeinds me of ole hair Brian Williams letting it slip on NBC News that the COLA increases for the Retirees would not be paid for 2 (TWO) years.

These guys had better start putting tape on their mouths.

[HerrBlucher]

Birthers and now Deathers....LOL!

So, all you anti-birthers who oppose Obamacare, you are now officially nutballs too, whadya think that eh?

[pnh102]

The state-run media is so off base that what they write should not even qualify for free speech protections.

First, the people who started the quest to open up 0bama's birth certificate were from the Hillary campaign and certainly not members of the GOP.

Secondly, just about everyone in the GOP has disavowed any involvement with the "birthers."

Thirdly, regarding the AARP, they are just a liberal front group which masquerades as an advocacy organization for old geezers.

Fourthly, the damn health bill itself says nothing about financial planning regarding the killing of old people.

And of course the last premise is rich... the GOP needs to act more like the Democrat party in order to regain power. What has it been doing for the past few years? It has moved so far to the left that it makes Karl Marx look like Ronald Reagan.

[Americanwolf]

Thankfully the idiots keep making themselves look worse with their screeds like this.

[Dick Bachert]

Hey, it’s the CHICAGO WAY.

Besides, Barry and Ram the rest of the Capone Clones know where these guys live and where their kids go to school.

A kid just can’t be too careful when crossing Racine Street, ya know.

I had a friend who lived on Racine Street — until he had that “accident” with Mr. Niti and Mr. Thompson.