Monday, March 28, 2011

Birth of a Monster

I'm really just thrilled that Donald Trump is (a) apparently serious about running for President under the GOP banner and (b) is going the full birther (and not just because he can't even manage to grandstand on it effectively). Trump is not a serious figure, but he has enough money to at least command attention in a GOP primary (and enough delusion to actually throw it away). Which means birtherism stays in the news as Republicans debate, and the Party can't dodge that it's a thing for them.

Anything that emphasizes to America that, hey, we're dealing with a Party that collectively has gone off the rails, is something good for not just Obama, but that entire Democratic Party in 2012.

UPDATE: Dave Weigel basically concurs.

2 comments:

Pablo Kenney said...

I believe I understand your point, but I do wonder whether it isn't better for civil rhetoric in this country for the birthers (and truthers for that matter) to be systematically marginalized much as the Birchers were in their heyday [fact check?].

David Schraub said...

I see what you mean, but I don't think it is really possible to do that. The media, I think, has been trying to exile birtherism to the fringe -- which would be fine if the GOP was cooperating. But they're not -- it's still a huge force amongst the GOP base. And what we're discovering is that the media can't unilaterally excise something from the public debate -- all it can do is call out players who make ridiculous claims (unfortunately, that requires the media to grow a backbone, which would be an impressive if unlikely sight).