Or, Why blogs will survive, even if corporate mainstream media may not...
By Brad Friedman on 7/27/2009, 6:05pm PT  


Kudos --- for the actual reporting and literal legwork --- to Mike Stark of Firedoglake ("Scum of the earth," according to Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)) for nailing this in between FDL reader-funder Capitol Hill reportage on health care (ya know, stuff that actually matters).

Kudos too to Rep. Tommy Franks (R-AZ), for his willingness to admit, for the camera --- unlike all of the other Republicans that Stark tried to get comment from on the Hill --- that Obama is a natural born "citizen of the United States of America."

We were prepared to offer Franks a much-sought, but too-rarely bestowed BRAD BLOG Intellectually Honest Conservative Award, but then he blew it at the very end by noting his condemnation of Obama "for promoting abortion on demand, for standing by and letting Jihad gain traction in the word, and for doing things to undermine our constitution and for turning us into a Socialist nation." Too bad. And you were so close, Mr. Franks!

BTW, in a very related late update, FDL's Jane Hamsher notes...

Update: House just passed H.Res 593, which says "the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii." It passed 378-0, with 55 not voting. Michele Bachmann [sic], who earlier tried to block the resolution, voted "aye."

Guess this nonsense is getting too idiotic even for Republicans. And in a related note, and (hopefully) the last of our "birther" coverage here, Media Matters' Eric Boehlert notes how Lou Dobbs seems to have "scared Rush Limbaugh off the birther story". Virtually daring Limbaugh to re-open the story, Boehlert writes that after broaching the subject just a couple of times, "Limbaugh's scared to talk about the birthers and won't defend them because he has seen how Dobbs and the movement got manhandled by the press --- including by conservative commentators."

All of which means, "If Limbaugh won't back the birthers, that means most right-wing AM hosts won't either. Because that business is built upon a very simple (lemming) rule: Do whatever Rush does." And, we'll add, they do it all on your publicly-owned airwaves.

[Hat-tip RAW STORY, for their coverage of Stark's video.]

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