This just in: 3 out of 5 Republicans are idiots, as are 50% of Southerners

[greyyguy]

Not to say that those of you who are Republicans or who live in the South are idiots- but it is saying that you are in larger than normal idiotic company.

The Daily Kos and Research 2000 had a poll to find out if people thought that Barak Obama was born in the US. There is a surprisingly loud "Birther" movement that claims he was actually born in

Comments

[msfledermaus]

I can't believe those guys are
STILL pushing this pathetic story...

The whole "Obama's a 'furrener!" thing just makes my jaw hit the floor. It's so all-encompassingly stupid on so many levels. But over the years I've come to accept that a large majority of humanity is stupider than I'm comfortable with...and some days, I am not an exception to this rule...

[greyyguy]

Everyone has stupid days. We just have to try to make sure that they are few and far between.

The more I read about this whole thing, the more people seem to be convinced that it is another way of pointing out he is black without seeming to look racist. He was born in an African country, to a white woman knocked up by a black man! By talking about his birth they can dance around all the themes that dig at racists (Foreigners are taking over! Oh no- it's a black man! The black men are coming for our women!) without coming out and saying them out loud.

[annakie]

I apologize for the idiocy of those around me. :(

[greyyguy]

You need to pick up a clue-by-four and start beating some sense into them!

:)

[team_jessie]

Seriously?

C'mon. We know this poll is basically trying to say "Everyone who differs from you in opinion - you erudite and sexah Liberals, you - is a stone-cold moron. Way to side with the cool kids, bro!"

I don't actually think that 42% of Republicans believe this nonsense... I don't even know that I believe that 42% of Republicans surveyed believe this. It sounds as contrived and purposely inflamatory as the Rush Limbaugh babblings you reference.

And having just been to "the south", I didn't get the impression that all the people living and working there were idiots. Not even 47% of them. I mean, yeah, they were *looks left, looks right* Steelers fans, but they appear to have been educated. (Little "long suffering Eagles fan" joke for ya there. Sorry, it won't happen again.) :-D

[greyyguy]

It wouldn't be half- it would be about 20-25%, assuming that there is a relatively even split between Democrat and Republican, and 5-10% Independant/Other. And I would tend to agree with South Park that at least a quarter of the people are morons

[crwilley]

there is even a "Birther" bill going through Congress to require people wanting to be President to provide a birth certificate

And the infuriating thing is - he *did* provide his birth certificate during the campaign. There's scans of it on the Internet, independent media personnel saw the original document, and the county clerk (I think?) verified that the information on the scan matches the records in his files. It's not like Obama could go door-to-door to every house in the US to show everyone the certificate...

[greyyguy]

But that isn't a birth certificate. That is a printed out copy of a certificate of live birth. Entirely different. In "Birther" minds. At least that was the version I saw someone talk about when explaining how he was not yet convinced of Obama's birthplace.

[crwilley]

On some level, I would think "The Governor of Hawaii, who is a Republican and has no reason to do Obama any favors, and various other government officials in Hawaii have checked the state records and found it to be legit" would shut the "birthers" up. (The fact that it hasn't shut them up is, understandably, kind of frustrating to the records official.)

Mentioning this usually results in the goalposts being moved. For a lot of people, the die-hard birthers, I don't think they're interested in letting reality get in the way of their own...I can't even fathom the motivation. For some others..."Well, they wouldn't keep talking about this stuff if there wasn't something to it..." was why my otherwise solidly-Democratic mother-in-law said she wasn't voting for Obama.

[greyyguy]

Yeah- you would think that all the government officials saying he was born here would get through, but crazies have never been too bothered by reality.