Birhterism is not only not dead, it's making a comeback!
A new poll from YouGov’s Adam Berinsky shows that the number of people who believe President Obama was born in the United States has dipped to levels below even the weeks leading up to President Obama’s release of his birth certificate last April. The movement appears attributable to Republicans, 37 percent of whom now say that President Obama was not born in the US. That’s 12 points higher than when Republicans were polled just before President Obama released the certificate.
Not coincidentally, 37 percent is roughly the same number of Republicans who believe George Bush was a great president, that wrestling is real, and that we never landed on the moon.
This all the Republicans have to run on this campaign season -- Otherism.
Whether it's those dirty, socialist Europeans, or broken-English speaking racial stereotypes, this campaign will be about fear of The Other, because they're completely outmatched on economics, foreign policy, and domestic policy.
I expect Mitt Romney's lines about "European-style socialism" to be a mainstay of his campaign from now until November. It's his way of saying the president wasn't born here.