Both Parties Have Their Fanatics ( on cause of 9/11 and Obama's Birth Site)

Real Clear Politics ^ | August 3, 2009 | David Paul Kuhn

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Fully 35 percent of Democrats believe George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Fully 28 percent of Republicans believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Meet the fanatical third.

The tale of two conspiracy theories is the tale of the most polarized among us. The two statistics are based on a poll apiece. Neither is an exact measure. Yet, lots of liberals say take the "birther" poll on face value. Lots of conservatives say take the "truther" poll on face value. So let's listen to both sides.

The unsurprising conclusion: you can't reason with arch partisans.

On Friday, I published a post wondering why the mainstream media was paying exponentially more attention to the "birther" movement now. The 2008 campaign ended about eight months ago, after all.

The recent obsession over this fringe topic effectively blends conservatives with a fringe belief. The end result, the media has been making conservatives look like kooks.

That's because they are, according to many liberals who emailed me last Friday. The polar camp, the "birthers," sent me an even larger onslaught of emails; many were infuriated that I had inferred they were kooks.

The liberal emailers were armed with a poll. The Daily Kos, the mega-activist liberal blog, commisioned a Research 2000 poll that was coincidently also published last Friday. The poll reported that only 42 percent of Republicans believe Obama was born in the United States, while 30 percent were unsure and 28 percent said he was born elsewhere.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Most striking, there was a broad similarity between that result and a Rasmussen poll taken in the spring of 2007. That poll found that only 39 percent of Democrats believed W. Bush did not have advance knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while 26 percent said they were unsure and slightly more than one third of Democrats believed W. Bush knew his country was going to be attacked.

[the invisib1e hand]

I see this "equivalence of nutcases" theme is getting rotation.

Once again, there's no equivalence between premises of the the 911 freaks and the premises of people who are simply asking for proof of birthplace.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The simple act of making an original birth certificate available for scrutiny would satisfy most “birthers”.

No amount of factual information will satisfy the “truthers”. Most of their “theories” (e.g. “fire can't melt steel”) are based on a profound ignorance of science and engineering, and are easily debunked. (Popular Mechanics did a great job on that: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html )

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related thread:

Media ignores Truthers in favor of Birthers.

[Dryman]

“FREE THE LONG FORM!”

[never4get]

"Once again, there's no equivalence between premises of the the 911 freaks and the premises of people who are simply asking for proof of birthplace."

....not according to the Obama adoring media.

[AmericanVictory]

Kinda like the Cold War until Reagan called the Evil Empire and evil empire, wouldn’t you say?

[the invisib1e hand]

I see the similarities. It the rhetoric of paralysis and emasculation (equivalency, that is).

[3niner]

Granted, it’s unlikely he was born anywhere other than Hawaii, but this is a symptom of a much bigger issue. Almost all essential information about Obama’s background is being hidden from the American people. It’s unacceptable that anyone can be President, while hiding so much about who they are, and what they’ve done.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well clearly some people are taking action regarding this clown....and I like it....FR Thread:

Obama Joker Poster Popping Up In Los Angeles

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See link at #10.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The lefties are concerned...FR Thread:

'Birthers' must be stopped

*************************EXCERPT INTRO*************************

Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything.

For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean.

Also, when Obama was sworn in as president, he forgot to give his answer in the form of a question.

And yet, every week, the chorus of conservatives demanding to see his birth certificate grows. It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID.

[the invisib1e hand]

It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID.

This doesn't qualify as sophomoric.

[a fool in paradise]

There was never any press attention to the number of Communists and Marxists and Anarchists at the so called “antiwar” rallies.

This week we have false rumors that Sarah Palin is getting a divorce and Durbin is telling us that the townhall meetings on healthcare are being disrupted by persons funded by the medical industry.

The media selectively reports/distorts.