Reid Attacks Birthers In Floor Speech

5182726Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attacked the birthers – the group of conspiracy theorists who believe President Obama is not a U.S. citizen despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary – in a speech on the House floor this afternoon.

Reid's comments suggest Democrats have begun to view the birther movement as an asset – an opportunity to link the opposition party to a fringe group that discredits its message overall.

After attacking Republicans for offering "one radical distraction after the next" in the health care debate, Reid said "they not limited to health care." He continued:

An artificial controversy is getting far too much attention lately - one that ignores the undeniable and proven fact that our president was born in the United States of America. Just last week, one of the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives continued to give it credence.

Let's be clear: It is a phony issue that does not deserve even a minute of our attention on the floor of the United States Senate. It is absurd, irresponsible and baseless, and the false claims have long ago been easily refuted.

The American people have every right to expect we will solve real problems before creating fake ones. And they should know that rather than helping them get ahead, some of our colleagues would rather spew ludicrous conspiracy theories.

Faced with the document, the birthers "quickly divided between the credulous — people who believed that the new certificate was genuine — and skeptics who believed that their movement was being taken for a ride," reports The Washington Independent's David Weigel. Unsurprisingly, the latter were correct: Weigel catalogues a litany of problems with the document, including the fact it purports to be from the "Republic of Kenya" but boasts a publication date that is before said republic was founded. More here.

And here's an, ahem, entertaining interview with Taitz on MSNBC today: