The Birthers

In a country where 34% if Americans believe in UFOs and 24% believes in witches, and 9/11 was an inside job... there is a large pile of folks, let's call them "birthers," who still don't believe that Obama was born in the United States. If it were true, it would invalidate his Presidency, since Natural Citizenship is one of only three actual requirements to be the Chief Executive.

What's the problem with a couple right wing fringe nuts ruining the remaining threads of the Republican Party? 

The conservative talk show host Michael Medved recently referred to the movement's leaders as "crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters" who are "the worst enemy of the conservative movement." 

"It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilized company," he mourned

For the most part, it's just funny. For a larger part, this claim and subsequent belief in someone lying about their birth is a natural and usual tactic by the opposing party since the birth of the country.

Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886), 21st president of the United States, was rumored to have been born in Canada. He was born to a U.S. citizen mother and a father from Ireland, who was eventually naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Arthur was sworn in as president when President Garfield died after being shot. 

George Romney (1907–1995), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 1968, was born in Mexico to U.S. parents. Romney’s grandfather had emigrated to Mexico in 1886 with his three wives and children after Utah outlawed polygamy. Romney's monogamous parents retained their U.S. citizenship and returned to the United States with him in 1912. Romney never received Mexican citizenship, because the country's nationality laws had been restricted against American settlers.

Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) was born in Phoenix, in what was then the Arizona Territory of the United States. During his presidential campaign in 1964, there was a minor controversy over Goldwater's having been born in Arizona when it was not yet a state.

Lowell Weicker (born 1931), the former Connecticut Senator, Representative, and Governor, entered the race for the Republican party nomination of 1980 but dropped out before voting in the primaries began. He was born in Paris, France to parents who were U.S. citizens. 

Róger Calero (born 1969) was born in Nicaragua and ran as the Socialist Worker's Party presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008. In 2008, Calero appeared on the ballot in Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Vermont.

....aaaaaannnndddd..... John McCain (born 1936), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 2000 and was the Republican nominee in 2008, was born in Colón, Panama, in the Panama Canal Zone of two U.S. parents, who were at the time serving at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station.

The worst thing that can happen from the Birthers? Well, first the restriction will be relaxed, in the odd chance their movement gains any further traction. What then? President Arnold Schwarzenegger. And the horrible vision of Idiocracy will be complete.