“If it continues, then we should all speak out,” said Peter T. King of New York, one of the few remaining GOP moderates in the House. King doesn’t think the birther movement rises to that level yet, but he sees the potential danger if the birthers continue to distract attention from real policy debates. “If the public can turn against Obama because they think he’s too liberal,” King said, “they’ll turn against us if they think we’re nuts.” Read the whole thing.That is so weak. Besides, the public already thinks republicans are nuts. They've encouraged the birthers. Perhaps King hasn't seen this video or this one.
Gibbs is right:
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who tried to shut down the birther rumors during the presidential campaign by posting a copy of Obama’s birth certificate on the campaign’s FightTheSmears.com Web site, noted in frustration that “nothing will assuage them” because “for $15, you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want.”Republicans aren't decent enough to set the facts straight until it's hurting them:
Matt Mackowiak, founder and president of Potomac Strategy Group, a Republican crisis communications firm, said his party could still send a powerful message by turning to prominent party figures, such as presidents George Bush and George W. Bush or the top House and Senate Republican leaders, to make a statement rejecting the birthers. But until there’s evidence that the fringe group is causing broad damage to the party, Mackowiak said, “nobody wants to engage with a very small, vocal minority that believes in this very strongly and is not reasonable enough to consider facts.”How much more broad do they want the damage to be?
