August 22, 2009 04:22 AM UTC

Littwin Does The Reporting, and the Commentary

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• by: Colorado Pols

Asking the questions that his Denver Post colleague Mike Riley did not, Post columnist Mike Littwin dives in to the Cory Gardner and the Birthers topic:

Careful readers may have noticed that I have nobly resisted writing anything about the so-called birthers among us. That’s because it’s my long-held policy not to write about complete nutjobsunless, of course, they also happen to be elected officials.

And so, thank you, Cory Gardner – state representative from Yuma and also the front-runner in the race to be the Republican nominee in the 4th Congressional District – for bringing the birther movement to the fore.

Actually, I’m sure Gardner is not a birther (that would be someone who questions whether Barack Obama is American-born, including those – registering at a map-challenged 6 percent – who don’t believe Hawaii is part of the United States).

But Gardner is more than willing to pander to them, as Bob Moore’s blog for the Fort Collins Coloradoan shows. At a town hall Wednesday in Fort Collins, Moore reports, Gardner was asked (by a non-birther) whether he thought Obama was born in the United States.

After trying not to answer the question at all, Gardner eventually replied: “Based on what they’ve shown, what they’ve tried to say, I think the administration is trying to say he was born in this country. I know what everybody else knows.”

Actually, he knows more than some people know. He knows – I’m sure – that it’s complete nonsense. You’d hope a potential congressman would know at least that much. I called to ask. He had a representative return my call, but he did speak directly to ace Post reporter Michael Riley…

…It’s nothing new for politicians to try to scare voters. Yes, Democrats have been scaring seniors on Social Security for years, but this is different – and far scarier. Obama ran on a why-can’t-we-all-get-along platform, and now he’s seeing why. Rush Limbaugh compares him to a Nazi. Glenn Beck calls him a racist. And you have Republican politicians willing to stoke the anger. I mean, shouldn’t some adult recommend leaving the guns at home?

Before you know it, you’ve got the “death panel” question, which requires people to believe that Obama wants their relatives dead. Sarah Palin makes the charge, Newt Gingrich says she might be right, Charles Grassley tells town hallers they have every right to be afraid. And an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll says that 45 percent of Americans agree. Is this really how we debate something as important as health care? [Pols emphasis]

If health care fails, you can blame Obama for not making the argument better. Or you can blame those politicians – possibly appearing at a town hall near you – who have encouraged people that it’s OK to believe the worst.