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On Thursday, Sarah Palin was asked the same set of questions while speaking in front of a group of business leaders at the Long Island Association, and Michele Bachmann was subjected to a similar show trial. Bachmann appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and was discussing with George Stephanopoulos the need to reform the country’s tax code. In a clumsy non sequitur, Stephanopoulos brings up the questions about President Obama’s faith and citizenship:
Stephanopoulos: You know a sizeable number of GOP primary voters still have, are, questioning Obama’s faith and citizenship. Can you just state very clearly that President Obama is a Christian and he is a citizen of the United States?
Bachmann: Well, that isn’t for me to state. That is for the president to state, and I think that the president makes . . .
Stephanopoulos: Do you believe it?
Bachmann: When the president makes his statement[s], I think they need to stand for their own.
Stephanopoulos: But he has said it very clearly. I’m just asking you if believe it.
Bachmann: Well, I think we should take the president at his word.
Stephanopoulos: But you can’t say . . . you can’t just sit there and declare ‘the president is a citizen, and he is a Christian?’
Notice the similarities between Gregory and Stephanopoulos’ closing demands:
Gregory: Why isn’t it your job to stand up and say, “No, the facts are these”?
Stephanopoulos: But you can’t say . . . you can’t just sit there and declare ‘the president is a citizen, and he is a Christian?
Putting political figures upon a national stage and demanding that they confess certain ideas has all of the characteristics of a kangaroo court. Boehner and Bachmann’s guilt seem to be a foregone conclusion. After the scandalous exposure of Ezra Klein’s JournoList last summer, it has been said that the Democrat/media’s collusive back channel was put to rest, but the synchronicity of the media’s message this past week leads one to believe otherwise. Leftist news outlets, such as Salon.com and the Washingtonpost.com, have been quick to use these exhibitions as a chance to perpetuate the conservatives-are-conspiracy-nuts myth.
Democrats and the leftwing media will not let the birth certificate issue go away. When Hawaii’s Governor, Neil Abercrombie, renewed the controversy last December, Republicans did not take the bait, so the leftwing media has repackaged and amalgamated questions about President Obama’s background in order to bring the subject up for another round. The strategic use of the issue has been a way for the Left to create a negative controversy where none exists.
If President Obama is having problems with the public’s thoughts concerning his faith or citizenship, it is his responsibility to correct those perceptions; the mainstream media are suggesting that it is the job of Obama’s opposition. Under the guise of setting-the-record-straight, leading media figures are demanding conservatives denounce ideas as falsehoods in the style of a show trial confession. If only Matthews, Gregory, and Stephanopoulos were as anxious to set the record straight about the many falsehoods that have been spread about Palin, Boehner, Bachmann, and the Tea Party.
