Birthers, Are You Happy Now?

The state of Arizona — best known for being one of the last states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day — has just given birthers a minor victory. The WSJ Law Blog reports:

The Arizona House approved a bill Wednesday that would require presidential candidates to show his or her birth certificate in order to be on the state’s ballot.

In other words, if President Obama wants to appear on the Arizona ballot in 2012, he just might have to produce his birth certificate.

Now the bill goes to the Arizona State Senate. If it passes there, current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) will have quite a decision — give into the far right of her party, or risk their wrath.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Even if all the moons align for the birthers, there’s still one big problem…

The pesky little problem that these birthers always run into is that Obama is — clearly — a U.S. citizen. So if he has to produce a birth certificate (and I’ll say for the record that if this bill passes I hope Obama tells AZ to take its ten electoral votes and shove them up the Grand Canyon) who gets to decide if it is “authentic”? Fox News has the answer:

The measure would require the secretary of state to review candidates’ documents and withhold a candidate from the ballot if he has “reasonable cause” to believe ineligibility.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Arizona Secretary of State, Ken Bennett. If the State Senate passes this bill, and the Governor signs this bill, Ken Bennett is going to be a star.

I wonder how it will turn out for him? Somebody get Katherine Harris on the phone.

Arizona House to Obama: No Birth Certificate, No Ballot [WSJ Law Blog]
Arizona House OKs Bill Requiring Presidential Candidates to Provide Birth Certificate [Fox News]

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