August 25, 2012 by David K. Sutton
Birtherism: Hey Romney Supporters, Your Bias Is Showing
On Friday, while at a campaign stop in Michigan, Mitt Romney joked, “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.” Maybe Romney has gone birther, or maybe he was pandering to the birther element within the Republican Party, or maybe he just made a bad joke. It’s irrelevant to the point I would like to make that Romney supporters are showing their bias when they defend his “joke.”
Mitt Romney, intentionally or not, played to the birther crowd on Friday. It’s almost as if he (and his supporters) believe it is acceptable, even legitimate, for people to ask to see President Obama’s birth certificate in the first place. Barack Obama is President of the United States because he won a national election and met the requirements. There is no legitimate foundation for birtherism which means the only reason people question Obama’s citizenship is because he looks different compared to any previous president. Nobody asked to see Bush’s birth certificate, or Clinton’s birth certificate, and so on. Why? Because none of them were “exotic.” Yeah, I used the word. Not because I approve of it, but because it’s become almost a mainstream way to describe President Obama. And on the Right, saying things like “he’s different,” and he “doesn’t understand America,” has become routine, even within the Romney campaign.
There is only one correct side to this issue of birtherism. This isn’t an issue that has two equally valid arguments. One side is correct and the other side is full of shit. Mitt Romney cracking a birther joke at the expense of the President of the United States is in the latter camp. That is why I say to Romney supporters “your bias is showing.” It’s fine for comedians to tell birther jokes because they are always doing so at the expense of the birthers themselves. Mitt Romney’s style of birther joke plays to the birther crowd at the expense of President Obama. You either understand that, or your bias is showing.
