MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT



Okay, so a lot of birthers spoke at the Republican convention. What do you expect from the invasion of the pod people in Tampa?

Heck, as we know even Mitt Romney gave a wink and a nod to the birther movement while speaking in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. That from a guy whose father was born in Mexico because his great grandfather moved the clan there to practice polygamy. (And as BuzzFlash at Truthout pointed out yesterday , Mitt's father spent the first few years of his life on "welfare relief" after returning to the US. Egads!)

Of course, the birther movement has always been a barely concealed metaphor for denying Barack Obama's right to be president because he's not white. To nullify Obama's birthright as a US citizen is to say that that only native-born whites are entitled to govern this nation.

Thus, it's of little surprise that the right wing internet publication, World Net Daily (WND) (AKA news from Mars), recently published an article from a birther in chief, Jerome Corsi, claiming revived "evidence" that Obama was not born in America. (It should be again noted the George Romney, Mitt's father, was not born in the US, but he ran for president without any birther movement rising up against him. After all, he was a white guy.)

Corsi entitles his birther column, "Grandma Sarah's poster celebrates 'Kenyan Wonder-Boy'." Corsi admits that some critics question a confusing interview in which some birthers claim Obama's Kenyan step-grandmother said that the president was born in Kenya, but Corsi backs the lunatic assertion that Obama was delivered in Mombasa:

However, two members of Sarah Obama’s Luo tribe who are fluent in the local Luo dialect, Swahili and English told WND that after carefully listening to the tape, they believe she declared Barack Obama Jr. was born in Mombasa, Kenya, and that she was present at the birth.

One of Kenyans who listened to the tape for WND has known Sarah Obama personally over many years. He has met with her repeatedly in her home village. The other Kenyan who listened to the tape for WND holds a respected position in the Kenyan government.

The WND source who knows Sarah reported: “I have keenly and attentively listened to the tape over and over again, and I can confirm from Sarah’s own confession that Barack Obama was born in Kenya in her presence.”

He continued: “She was asked of his actual birthplace, and she affirmed she was actually there, present in person at his birth.”

Even though the translator on the tape says that Sarah asserts that Obama was born in Hawaii, Corsi lays out the WND account. That shouldn’t be surprising, since Corsi is a guy who makes his money off of Obama take down books and birther writings, such as "Where's the Real Birth Certificate: The Case That Barack Obama is Not Eligible to Be President"

That Romney tipped his hat to the pathological birther brigade is a testament to the role of race in the virulent absurdist opposition to Obama on the basis of the color of his skin.

Jerome Corsi and World Net Daily just keep feeding the racist beast that to be anything but white is to be un-American.

Sometimes you just wish that we could bring back the straight jacket.