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.
That's her beacon of apolitical, truth, and honesty..!!??
ROFLOL!!!!
I admit I’m not a ‘birther’ but the media cares less about facts and events and more about choosing what gets coverage.
This is a brushfire they can’t put out and it’s driving them mad.
So, if the push to (1) uncover Obambi’s hidden records and (2) expose the garbage embedded in the ObamaCare bill keep up THE OBAMA PARTY WILL END?!?
Hot DAMN!
Wowowow...check out the comments @ the Sun-Times...all but 1 flamed this little POS article just like a freeper would!
The information from the divorce records had to be made public, because otherwise a Republican might have won. I don’t know if Obama was directly involved—he tends to have someone else do it on his behalf so his own fingerprints aren’t visible.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0406220247jun22,0,3744432.story
Ryan file a bombshell
Ex-wife alleges GOP candidate took her to sex clubs
By John Chase and Liam Ford | Tribune staff reporters
June 22, 2004
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jack Ryan’s ex-wife, TV actress Jeri Ryan, accused him of taking her to sex clubs in New York and Paris, where he tried to coerce her into having sex with him in front of strangers, according to records released Monday from the couple’s California divorce file.
Jack Ryan denied the allegations when they were made in 2000, when the couple was engaged in a bitter child custody battle a year after their divorce.
The papers were released by California Judge Robert Schnider following his decision last week to unseal portions of the Ryans’ divorce file.
Attorneys for the Tribune and WLS-Ch. 7 sought release of the records, but the Ryans had fought disclosure because they said it could harm their son.
(more)
Ryan is facing Democrat Barack Obama in the November general election to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Illinois). Obama said it would not be “appropriate” for him to comment on the revelations. “Obviously Mr. Ryan and his supporters will be discussing this and I don’t think that’s my role,” Obama said.
The socialists are selective in their outrage and mockery
http://letters.mobile.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/02/28/panama/view/index.html
John McCain’s Panama problem The GOP front-runner was born in the Canal Zone. Could that make him ineligible to be president? Mike Madden [2008-02-28]
Wow, keep it up folks, who cares if we are nuts, keep pounding away.
Remember Rules for Radicals!
I don’t know why Beck thinks we should ignore this unless he doesn’t want to be blamed for war
Oh so they read the President’s talking points but neglected to read the house bill? Lie Lies and Damned Lies!
I sure wish some people would take the time to read what is in the “health’care’ bill” before they run off at the mouth about it.
In a number of places, the reference to mandatory “counseling” every 5 years for persons over age 65 regarding methods of dying are in this bill.
This author needs to learn to read before they try to write part of the debate on the topic.
I , for one, will not be so easily swayed about the competance of the Dems and NObama. They have already shown themselves to be running with the bit in their teeth- and not taking the best paths for the American people.
My priest has a favorite saying...”If atheists are convinced there is NO God, they why do they waste so much time and energy trying to disprove Him?” Rush tells us that the Left, in their incessant attacks against Palin, are telling us that she’s the one they fear most. If not, why spend so much time and effort trying to destroy her. And the fact that this POS MSM paper prints this, tells us they they’re worried, if not worse...
Obamacare lawyers. God help us.
It can’t be put to rest. Getting a forged birth certificate and forged passport is easy...very easy.
Besides, the key fact is even if he produces it and it is 100% accurate, he is still ineligible since his dad was not a citizen.
I’ve been searching for the reference in the proposed bill - do you know where it is?
I say make him spend more!!
On a serious note - what’s a good reference for the $800,000 spending by Nobama?
Is $12 the cost in Hawaii??
I can get a ‘birth certificate’ from www.realbirthcertificates.com for $200 saying I was born in Siam.
Its the scariness of deathcare that is the scariness of ideas.
The left has done nothing but cater to their share of loonies. Their people, with the issue du jour, call up the White house and whine about why their pet project isn't getting addressed immediately.
Why do you think we have to continually re-visit gay marriage, global warming, state-run health care, and why for heaven's sake does everything have to be green?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.