Okie Bloggers Fall for Bogus Obama Birth Certificate Story

You'd think Oklahoma's conservative bloggers would have more sense. Common sense, we like to think, is a sturdy Oklahoma value.

But no. Some folks who should know better keep falling for conspiracy theories concerning President-elect Barack Obama's phony birth certificate. In the fantasy world of right-wing nonsense, this means that Obama can't actually be president because he isn't actually an American.

While we're at it, there's also a story (read: hoax) that Elvis and Marilyn are alive and well and living in Miami, and a whole horde of space aliens are living in Roswell.

Who's passing along such nonsense? David Arnett at Tulsa Today, for one, and, citing Arnett, OKC's Mike McCarville on his political blog, McCarville Report Online.

And how do they know about the fraudulent certificate? Ah, yes—from other wingnut web sites and such paragons of good judgment as Alan Keyes. Keyes has filed a lawsuit to uncover the hidden truth about Obama.

Of course. If you lose election, search for technicalities, even when you have to invent the technicalities. That's bound to turn up some dirt.

Keyes, by the way, is the non-Illinois carpetbagger (and world-class gasbag) who ran against—you guessed it—Barack Obama when Obama ran for the U.S. Senate. If memory serves, Keyes lost in a landslide. (Keyes needs something productive to do these days, apparently).

Meanwhile, the echo chamber keeps firing blanks at will, as if they have real bullets and an actual political target.

They don't. They are grasping at straws and doing a disservice to politics and democracy. Oklahomans, especially so-called conservative Oklahomans, should get off this bandwagon before they embarrass themselves even more than they already have.

DECEMBER 8 UPDATE: As we (and many others) predicted, the Supreme Court today declined to hear one of these cases, adding to a long line of failed cases filed by the crackpots.