Saturday Potpourri

By Ron Beasley

Here in the Pacific Northwest our heat wave is still going strong.  We had two days last week that topped out at 106 degrees.  While it's no longer in triple digits it's still 15 degrees above average in the mid 90's.  I am one of the lucky 35% that has air conditioning but I don't know if I will still feel lucky when the electric bill comes.  A number of records were set including the highest low temperature and continuous days above 90.

Yesterday we had even more evidence that the Republican Party is out of touch with the country except perhaps in the south.  Nearly 60% of the Republicans are not sure if Obama is a citizen.  That includes 28% who are convinced he isn't.

But this chart says it all.  The Republican Party is the Party of the old South.

There was, not surprisingly, a significant partisan gap. Only 4% of Democrats are confused about the president's place of birth. The number is slightly higher among independents, 8% of whom got it wrong. Among Republicans, though, 28% -- more than one in four -- believe President Obama was not born in the United States.

For a crazy, demonstrably false, racist idea, these are discouraging numbers.

But I was especially surprised by the regional breakdowns. In the Northeast, West, and Midwest, the overwhelming majorities realize the president is a native-born American. But notice the South -- only 47% got it right and 30% are unsure.

Outside the South, this madness is gaining very little traction, and remains a fringe conspiracy theory. Within the South, it's practically mainstream.

Daniel Larison has a different take and thinks it's about more than race.

 The only way to make sense of the explosion of this lunacy is to see it as a continuation of the belief that Obama, by virtue of what he believes, cannot be a �real� American, so the obsession with his place of birth is really an extension of the presidential campaign in which he and his supporters were considered not to be from �real� America. We are endlessly treated to more respectable versions of this argument in articles that claim that Obama doesn�t believe in American exceptionalism, that he embraces national decline, etc., which pretend to be policy arguments, but which are ultimatey arguments against Obama�s American identity. The argument normally portrays Obama as being somehow anti-American, and therefore self-loathing. The Birthers have modified this argument and chosen instead to claim that Obama is simply non-American. Neither is true, but the former somehow hangs on as a credible, serious argument when it is just as baseless and wrong as the latter.

And it was not a good week for Sarah Palin as she tries to find herself.  First she found out she's not the next Rush Limbaugh.

On Monday, Inside Radio reported that former governor Sarah Palin�s representatives �have been quietly testing the watersto see how much interest radio syndicators have for her.� While Palin isn�t committed to radio, she is reportedly open to it as �a possible next step.� But the interest in her might not be as great as some had speculated. According to Broadcasting & Cable, Clear Channel Broadcasting, the country�s biggest radio conglomerate, has already turned Palin down because of fears that she wouldn�t be able to �hold forth for three hours a day.�

I guess Clear Channel doesn't need a poet.  She also found out she's not the next Ronald Reagan.

It's been written about as a given, and a logical step for Palin: A speech at the Reagan library.

But Jonathan Martin suggested recently it wasn't a sure thing, and sure enough, the latest statement pops upon Palin's Facebook page:

As repeatedly stated to several in the media over the last week, former Governor Sarah Palin is not committed to attend the Simi Valley Republican Women�s event at the Reagan Library and in fact is not attending the event. Neither the Governor�s state staff nor SarahPAC has ever committed to attending this event or speaking at this event, and even requested that the Governor's name be removed from the invitation several weeks ago. The Governor has other work and commitments to take care of at that time. She looks forward to visiting her friends in California soon.

All event requests must be confirmed with Meghan Stapleton of SarahPAC. Additionally, all invitations bearing the Governor�s name must be approved by her attorney before proceeding.

Thank you.
Meghan Stapleton

Nancy Reagan runs the show at the Reagan Library and it's no secret that she is not a fan of the Republican Party that Sarah Palin represents.  I suspect that Nancy nixed a Palin appearance.