May 03, 2011 11:18 PM UTC

Birther Is As Birther Does, Sir

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Independent’s Joseph Boven reports, putting endnotes on a bill we had a little news-cycle driven fun with in the last week–is it our fault the talking-point similarities were too eerie to ignore? We seem to have not been the only ones:

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee axed three Republican immigration bills Monday. Like many times this session, the committee, on a party-line vote, turned down legislation that targeted voting accessibility and immigration concerns. Also killed was a bill ridiculed by some as a  “birther bill.” That legislation would have required elected officials to present proof of citizenship upon taking office.

“A lot of people come down here to work on making good government and building a better society,”  Rob DuRay of the progressive leaning New Era Colorado, told the Colorado Independent. “So, to bring forward a ‘birther’ bill is offensive and cynical. We have people working very hard and it is distracting from other problems.”

SCR 003, requiring proof of citizenship from elected officials before they can take office, caused a stir among Capitol watchers and inspired a flurry of Twitter tweets that ridiculed the bill. Sponsored by Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, the bill would have had no affect on those elected to national office but instead would have targeted those elected to Colorado office…

We suppose it’s not Sen. Kent Lambert’s fault, nor that of most of the Senate Republican minority who co-sponsored SCR-003, that this resolution to require Colorado elected officials to supply proof of citizenship, offered in tandem with a resolution to require the same of voters, came out just as the absurdity of questions about President Barack Obama’s birth certificate was reaching its peak. But whether intended as grist for the fringe “birther” controversy, or simply another attempt to keep anti-immigrant posturing in the public eye, we’d say that timing proved most unfortunate. Then again, when the comparison makes itself, you can’t really blame anyone–and maybe that ought to make you rethink what you’re doing.

Unless there’s some other politician whose citizenship is being questioned? Is there evidence of any problem this resolution might have have actually addressed, then?

That’s what we thought.