Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch Part Frigging Fifty

Matttbastard just sent me a link to this fine piece of journalism by Jim Geraghty at the National Review Online with the note: "Show us your birth certificate, Mohammed!"

And that pretty much sums it up.

Having done some Obama-rumor debunking that got praise from Daily Kos (a sign of the apocalypse, no doubt), perhaps the Obama campaign could return the favor and help debunk a bunch of others with a simple step: Could they release a copy of his birth certificate?

Reporters have asked for it and been denied, and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public.

What rumors, pray tell, do reporters need to debunk with Obama's birth certificate?

1. The rumor that he was really born in Kenya—a rumor so widespread and scandalous that I've never heard it! And also would have required "everyone in his family to lie about this in every interview and discussion with those outside the family since young Obama appeared on the scene."

2. The rumor that his real given name is Barry—a rumor also so widespread and scandalous that I've never heard it! And this must be sorted out immediately; I mean, if Barry Obama changed his name to Barack Obama, we could conceivably be living in the United States of Americarack by the end of his first term! And no one wants that.

3. The rumor that his real middle name is not Hussein…but Muhammad!—a rumor so absurdly ludicrous that Geraghty notes: "[I]f you're going to change your middle name from that of the central figure in Islam because you fear controversy, picking the last name of the highest-profile anti-American dictator in the Middle East (Saddam) doesn't seem like a huge improvement." Not that it stops him from treating the rumor as serious enough to need debunking, mind you.

Which pretty much underlines what I fear is the point of this whole exercise—to spread the most xenophobic, racist, and generally idiotic rumors under the pretense of stipulating their need to be debunked.

And, to that end, I think the rumor that John McCain blows goats really ought to be debunked immediately. The ball's in your court, McCain Campaign.

[Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven, Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine.]