Posted on 08/04/2009 10:10:56 AM PDT by 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.
HELL YES they should all be required a certified copy of their original birth certificates! How can they possibly call that legislation "sop"? Being a natural born citizen is Constitutional requirement.
More evidence that the American journalism died with the 2008 campaign.
and why do you think that is genius? Could it be that there might actually be something to both of these issues?
Reminds me of the nay-sayers when The Enquirer first published it's story about John Edward's secret love child...we all know how that turned out don't we?
Nothing supposedly about it.
What the HELL is the matter with these people?
His birth certificate? I must've missed that when it was released.
“”These guys sure don’t seem to mind selling themselves out for Barry and crew. “”
While I’m sending different provisions of H3200 to congressional members for clarification, I’ll do the same “for” these guys. I want answers in PLAIN ENGLISH and in 25 words or less. I think all congressional offices should be bombarded with separate questions asking them to explain what it is we’re looking at. Just pick any section and ask the question!! I am NOT going to give them the page or line number - let them look for it!
This article and many more from the bought and paid for Socialist Leftist Press, and the usual suspects of the MSM television, and radio propagandist resources are working overtime to berate, belittle, and boogar-up all opposition to their fast tracked road-to-Hell Socialist agenda.
Pay no heed.
• 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.
Funny, if it was BUSH who was obfuscating & refusing to allow for release of documents, the media would be all over him and supporting the investigations not attacking those who would simply ask the question, why won’t he release anything?!
AARP.....what happens to all their money when the “old geezers” die off from lack of medical care.
reminds me of the Abortionists. Kill off their own off spring.
now BAARP wants it’s members to just die.
Don't worry. Anyone who supports the administration will get the best health care that's left. As for the rest of us, we're all dead.
Well, what else did we really expect from the Chicago Sun-Times? To print a newspaper, they have to play the game as it’s played in slimy Chicago.
Besides, the long form birth certificate has not been released.
It's astounding that it took four Sun-Times “reporters” to write an obvious cut-and-paste article. Sadly, that is the state of reporting today: google-cut-paste. Thirty years ago the news media would have exhaustively investigated the Obama birth issue until it was settled.
Yeah, yeah. This will destroy the party but Democrat’s who accused Bush of staging 9-11 for personal gain caused what harm again? LOL
Meanwhile who’s leading in the NJ and Virgina races right now? Who’s ahead on Rass’ congressional ballot?
Exhibit A: it took four of them to write such a silly article.
Cost of long form birth certificate-$12
Cost of fighting multiple “natural born” lawsuits-$800,000
Getting called a “KOOK” for simply wondering why Obama won’t spend the $12 instead of $800,000....PRICELESS!!!!
Obama will be the first president to have historical markers marking his place of birth in three locations--two hospitals in Honolulu and one in Kenya.
I don't think this issue would have been raised if Obama gave the impression of being a patriotic American. That photo from before the election where he had his hands in the "urinal gesture" when everyone else had his or her hand over his or her heart for the national anthem or pledge of allegiance showed his lack of respect for the US flag.
They need FOUR guys to write this crap? Oh, that’s right - products of Chicago education!
BTTT!
Wow, great article!
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