The great majority of people, including the great majority of Republicans, recognize that President Obama was born in Hawaii. The state of Hawaii says so and so does all other available evidence, including public records birth notices published in both Honolulu dailies at the time. (And there’s also the matter of plain common sense — how likely is it that a pregnant American woman of limited financial means in the early 1960s would travel to British East Africa to give birth to her first child?)
Alas, both candidates vying for the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district embraced “birtherism” at the Blue Ridge Tea Party Patriots Congressional Candidate Forum June 12. Whether they actually believe it or are merely pandering to the far right of their party I’ve no idea, but either way it’s discouraging. Here’s clip:
That’s Vance Patterson on the left and Mark Meadows on the right.
The 11th District, in the far western corner of the state, is currently represented by Democrat Heath Shuler, but after last year’s redistricting that moved the city of Asheville into another district, leaving the 11th heavily Republican, Representative Shuler decided not to seek reelection, and there is a good chance the Republican nominee will win the election.
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