John Hinderaker warns against "Birthers", after admitting (and showing) he knows little about the issue

John Hinderaker of "PowerLineBlog!" (I add the exclamation mark for emphasis) offers "Forms of Madness" (powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/07/024151.php). Let me try to remove some of his filler:

[A talk radio show wanted me to discuss the "birthers" and whether they should give it up...] I do think they should give it up, but I haven't studied the issue closely and won't debate anything I haven't studied, so I declined the invitation... Birtherism is nowhere near as crazy as trutherism... [but...] So, birthers, give it a rest...

In case it's not immediately obvious, the following comment I left several hours ago sums up just how dumb Hinderaker is (on this issue; a discussion of everything else he's wrong about is left as an exercise). Note that I'm putting this in the deleted comments category because the comment was not approved. In case it does appear I'll provide an update:

------ COMMENT BEGINS -------
1. Hinderaker should get his facts straight. It's not a "hospital" that holds the cert but supposedly the Dep't of Health. (On a sidenote, various sources including Obama can't even get their stories straight on which hospital he was born in.)

2. Much more importantly, Hinderaker is giving spectaculary bad advice. First, the birthers aren't going away, and the Dems are going to hold them against the GOP. Simplistic forms of distancing such as the GOP establishment are engaging in won't work.

3. And, even more important than that, Hinderaker can't figure out how to use this issue to oppose Obama. Large numbers of MSM reporters have outright lied about this issue, and if enough people pointed out those lies that would help discredit the MSM. And, that can be done without engaging in any "birther theories".

To recap the last: you don't have to engage in "birther theories" to point out that the MSM has lied about this issue.

So, why isn't Hinderaker doing that? Why aren't HotAir or NRO doing that? Why are the latter two sources choosing to lie instead of using this issue to discredit the MSM? Write them and ask.

For all the details on this issue, see my extensive and completely fact-based coverage here.

And, write Hinderaker, HotAir, and NRO and ask them why they couldn't figure out how to use this issue to discredit the MSM.

Thu, 07/30/2009 - 02:35 · · Importance: 4