Don't go to any Republican rallies

by JP Bill - 5/25/12 4:38 AM

In Reply to: For your amusement by James Denison

They'll never give you the microphone.

Fresh examples appear on a near-weekly basis, often in key battleground states, much to the delight of Democrats eager to distract voters from the troubled economy and tie Republican candidates to the extreme elements of their party.

Republicans are expressing frustration and downright embarrassment that the issue won't just fade away.

"Birtherism is a fringe issue that's way out of the mainstream, and it's disturbing when you see people you ... have some level of respect for, whether it's members of Congress or even Donald Trump, falling into that category," said Steve Schmidt, one of Sen. John McCain's senior advisers in 2008. "In the middle of the electorate, people think it's bats--t crazy. The side that's seen flirting with it doesn't do themselves any favors."

Even the late conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart -- whose eponymous website recently uncovered a 1991 brochure from Obama's literary agency claiming, inaccurately, that Obama was born in Kenya -- said "the birther thing" is "ridiculous."

But the conspiracies continue to percolate and wiggle into the mainstream, raising the prospect that Romney will be asked about Obama's heritage by a voter at a town-hall meeting during the heat of the campaign, or about the latest local birther flap by a reporter in Nevada, Ohio or elsewhere

"If 10% of your audience is primed to ask a crazy question, the risk of undermining your message is exceedingly high," said Schmidt, the former McCain adviser. "You can't turn over control of the campaign's message on stuff like this."

IF they do give you a mic...Obama might have a job for you.