Last night on Larry King Live, Liz Cheney refused to denounce those who continue to spread the discredited theory that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President:
KING: Liz, do you buy any of this?
CHENEY: I think that the Democrats have got more crazies than the Republicans do. But setting that aside, I think that — you know, one of the reasons I think you see people so concerned about this, I think that, you know, this issue is people are uncomfortable with having, for the first time ever, I think, a president who seems so reluctant to defend the nation overseas; a president who sits through completely venomous screed by Daniel Ortega and then his only response, when the United States has been hostilely attacked, is to say, hey, you know, basically, I was only three at the time.
The appropriate response to Cheney, of course, is this:
[I]f you’ve read about this issue at all, you would know that Hawaii went paperless a while ago. There is no “master” copy.
The certificate the Obama HQ provided is what you get if you request a birth document from the state of Hawaii. If that’s not good enough for you, that’s your problem. The man has fulfilled all the legal requirements. End of story.
Now go find a real issue. Surely that’s not too difficult, with this administration?
Instead, Cheney seems content with stoking the fires of a conspiracy theory advanced by irrational fools like Orly Taitz. That doesn’t seem like a wise strategy at all.
Update: Ben Smith passes along this email from Liz Cheney this morning:
I don’t have any question about Barack Obama’s right to be President of the United States.
My concern is with his policies. I am deeply troubled about the path he is taking this country down — massively expanding the size of government, weakening our national defenses, increasing taxes on all Americans and nationalizing health care. These are dangerous policies for the nation.
Then why couldn’t you say that last night ?
Carville blaming Fox and “Republicans” for every conspiracy theory under the sun is a jackass.
Liz avoided the question, but she didn’t endorse birfers.
Carville’s a jerk, but he’s not the point.
Cheney was given more than one opportunity to distance herself from the birthers and she failed to do so.
Why ?
Standard political procedure. The birfer issue gets her nothing. Pointing out the broader picture of why people are afraid of what Obama is doing in the first place is better copy.
She was feeding into, if not reinforcing, the irrational paranoia of the birthers.
And considering that Obama’s foreign policy to date isn’t all that different from Bush’s, she was wrong
May the names Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and all the other be stricken from the names available to set any public policy anymore. Liz has an agenda that is more about the Cheney name then the country at large. The damage done by this cabal is too great to be completely understood even now. She could have easily dismissed the “birthers” as irrational, but it doesn’t suit the desired outcome for her. It’s not about America.. it’s about her party. Party before Country!!