Unless you are one of the Republican congressmen who have affixed their official seal to the bona fides of the nutbag fringe who challenge the president's citizenship. Or, unless you are Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs or one of the other media enablers who know Obama is a citizen but lack the integrity to say so.
I don't want to come down too hard on the "birthers" as these half-wits are called. It would be like pointing and laughing at handicapped people.
But there is no such constraint when it comes to pointing out how unethical, irresponsible and exploitative these political whores and their slimy chroniclers in the media are for teasing a few stray hairs into a veritable bouffant of insanity.
Would there still be "birthers" without the sanction of the whores and hustlers in Congress and cable land? Probably. But this would not still be a live issue six months into the Obama administration if there weren't people willing to exploit these crazies for their own purposes.
Their purpose is to portray the president as "other." You can trace it back to the ridiculous flap about his middle name "Hussein." What kind of loyal American names his child after the evil ruler of a terrorist-harboring nation, they mused?
Never mind that Saddam Hussein wasn't even the evil ruler of his own playpen when Obama was born.
Then we were told that Obama was schooled in a madrassa that preached hatred of America and its ideals in order to swell the ranks of terrorists. The truth barely slowed the momentum of this pernicious lie.
What could slow it is for some of the trusted "leaders" of the Republican Party to admit that they believe the president is a citizen.
Instead of showing that small measure of leadership, they allow this sore to fester.
The national leader of this movement is Orly Taitz, a Russian immigrant who enjoys a comfortable life in the U.S. despite her alien status.
What does it say when a Russian immigrant is seen as more credible constitutional scholar than a Harvard-trained, constitutional-law professor?