Eideard

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is having some fun — and raising some money — from a flap over whether Obama was born in the United States.

The Obama campaign is offering a “Made in the USA” T-shirt emblazoned with the president’s birth certificate in exchange for a $30 donation. There are coffee mugs as well.

Some Republicans [and other dipshits] have theorized Obama was born in Kenya, birthplace of his father, instead of Hawaii.

Obama ignored the accusations until wealthy real estate magnate Donald Trump made the “birther” issue a central part of his campaign to decide whether to challenge Obama in 2012. The U.S. Constitution requires the American president to be born in the United States.

With a sizable percentage of Americans expressing doubts about Obama’s birthplace, Obama last month produced a longer version of his birth certificate that confirmed he was born at a Honolulu hospital in 1961…

The issue has since ebbed and Trump this week opted against a campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

“If the facts can’t make these ridiculous smears go away, we can at least have a little fun with it,” deputy campaign manager Julianna Smoot said in an email to supporters.

One of the best ways to handle populist dullards and their conspiracy cousins is laughter. Turning that laughter into a fund-raising tool – makes it worth even more. You get to laugh at these clowns while helping the 2012 campaign of the Black man they hate the most.

No – I’m not suggesting you print this out and sell it on your own

Five Hawaii Democratic state legislators have introduced a bill that would allow anyone seeking an original, certified copy of Barack Obama’s birth record to obtain one — for $110.

The measure, introduced in the state legislature last week, would change a state law that currently limits the release of vital documents to persons with a “direct and tangible interest,” such as family members.

“I’m hoping that it will also reduce the number of calls that we get and calm the birthers down,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rida Cabanilla, in an interview. “It may to a certain extent reduce the conspiracy theories, but at least the fee might reduce the number of frivolous calls asking for explanations about why a copy cannot be released.”

The Obama campaign released an electronic copy of his “certification of live birth” in 2008. But it didn’t quiet skeptics who insist, without evidence, that Obama was born in Kenya. They have flooded phone lines at Hawaii’s health department with hundreds of requests for access to original documents.

The certified copy lists the date, hour and location of Obama’s birth, as well as the names and races of his parents. It includes an embossed seal of authenticity from the Department of Health, according to images posted online.

Cabanilla’s bill would allow anyone to receive a physical copy of that certification for a fee…

“Those records are very fragile and are kept in a state vault. They shouldn’t be released or exposed to the elements,” said Cabanilla. “We’re hoping providing people access to the certified copy will quiet them down.”

Which is as absurd as explaining the world is round to some of the same crowd in the KoolAid Party.

Nutballs convinced of one or another conspiracy theory are perfectly religious, no different from any other apocalyptic sect, in that they see no science, reason or material fact able to dissuade their True Belief. All the rest of reality must be wrong.

The YouTube video of an out-of-control woman yelling and screaming at Republican Congressman Mike Castle’s town hall meeting in Delaware, demanding to see the birth certificate of President Barack Obama, is utterly hilarious.

To watch others cheer her insanity, and then boo the congressman who says the president is an American, shows you that we have a serious problem with mental illness in this country.

The nut jobs that continue to promote this story are wacky, right-wing radio and TV talk shows hosts and no-credibility bloggers. They have latched onto this story like bloodsucking leeches, and actually want us to believe this story has legs.

Last week, in a suit filed by perennial presidential loser, Alan Keyes, they even tried to claim a court victory after a federal district judge in California asked to listen to the merits of their case. I’m sure he simply wanted to see for himself how delusional they are…

President Obama is right to ignore these losers. They are right up there with Holocaust deniers like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the people who insist that the landing on the moon was done in a television studio.

Conspiracy theorists are everywhere. It’s just that today, we have to deal with the Internet and all the mess that is disseminated in the name of so-called transparency.

So nut jobs, keep it coming. In such difficult times, we all need a good laugh every now and then, and you provide great comic fodder.

RTFA. Follow the rendezvous of racists, tea-party trollops and Birch Society leftovers.

My only disagreement with Roland Martin on this question is – I prefer to use the designation “nutballs” for these credulous fools.