Only In The Land O'The Free & The Home O'The Brave!

Meeet the Congressional Birthers here. Read about the schism among the Dumbos and assorted Righty wingnuts on the issue President Obama's citizenship here. Not only are the Birthers paranoid, but they have prompted dissociative identity disorder among the Rightwingnuts. First, the Birthers froth at the mouth over the citizenship of the POTUS, then they vote for (or abstain without opposing) a resolution recognizing the 50th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood as well as Hawaii's claim that Barack Hussein Obama II is a native son of the Aloha State. What's a poor Birther to do? Even the Crown Princess of the Congressional Rightwingnuts, Michelle Bachman (R-MN) voted FOR the resolution! If this is (fair & balanced) delusional behavior, so be it.

[x Salon]
The War Room:An Anti-Birther Resolution In Congress?
By Alex Koppelman

Tag Cloud of the following article

abercrombie absence alex bachmann bill birth birthers birthplace block brought candidates co-sponsor commemorates congress congressional criticized decided democrat describes evening floor hawaii house indeed introduce jam legislation means measures neil noted obama pass political postpone procedure quorum reject rep reported republican resolution rules sargent scheduled seems support suspension used votes

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It would make some political sense for congressional Democrats to start pressing their Republican colleagues on the birthers. If Republicans don't reject the conspiracy theories about President Obama's birthplace outright, their opponents can use it to paint them as extremists; if they do reject them, they might have a problem with their base.

Greg Sargent reported Monday that one House Democrat, Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie, was doing just that. Abercrombie, Sargent wrote, "is going to introduce a resolution on the House floor today that seems designed to put House GOPers who are flirting with birtherism in a jam.... [The resolution] commemorates the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood. But here’s the rub, his spokesman tells me: It describes Hawaii as Barack Obama’s birthplace."

The resolution wasn't really intended to jam up the House Republicans, or to rebuke the birthers, though. (The implied slam at the birthers was a side benefit, but not the primary purpose by any means.) Besides, the resolution was actually introduced last month — it just happened to be brought to the floor on Monday. And one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., is to be a co-sponsor of the "birther bill" that would require future presidential candidates to furnish a birth certificate.

The way the resolution was brought to the floor, under a procedure known as suspension of the rules, also indicated that it wasn't meant as a political maneuver. The procedure is generally used for measures unlikely to cause any controversy, and means that the amount of debate on the bill is limited, as is the number of amendments that can be added, but means that two-thirds of the House must vote in favor in order for the legislation to pass. Fifteen other measures were brought to the House floor under the same procedure Monday.

On Monday afternoon, it seemed that one House Republican, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, had indeed moved to support the birthers, as liberal blog Think Progress reported that she blocked the bill.

This time, though, Bachmann was being criticized unfairly. She did indeed block a vote on the resolution, noting the absence of a quorum, but that move wasn't about Abercrombie's resolution specifically. She was just playing her part. The House had already decided to postpone the votes on all of the resolutions being considered under a suspension of the rules until Monday evening. Bachmann noted the absence of a quorum for several other non-controversial pieces of legislation so that those votes, too, could be postponed until the scheduled time.

In fact, as a spokeswoman for Bachmann told Salon — and C-SPAN video of the congresswoman's remarks on the House floor confirmed — Bachmann supports the resolution.

After the postponement, on Monday evening the resolution passed — unanimously. Bachmann was one of the "yea" votes.

[Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for the online magazine Salon. He runs Salon's political blog, War Room. Formerly the media critic for another online magazine, Dragonfire, Alex is a contributing editor at Smith Magazine and has written for New York Magazine and the Huffington Post, among others. Alex has appeared on MSNBC, CNN Headline News and Fox News, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.]

Copyright © 2009 Salon Media Group, Inc.

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