Romney makes Birther joke

[anvi]

Good one, Mitt.
I enjoyed that joke so much that I'm going to send in a donation.
To your opponent.

EDIT:  I'm perfectly aware that both campaigns have hit below the belt.  Obama and his surrogates have made often irrelevant and sometimes quite offensive stabs at Romney.  So, in the abstract, turnabout is fair play, and the stakes in this election are far more important than this comment.  But pandering to birthers just gets under my skin, even as a snide or clueless joke.  

[anvi]

This was clearly just a case of Romney trying to be emphasize himself as a Michigander in a way that he thought for some reason would be clever.  But, people like to be offended.

Really?  There are birth certificate request jokes that are specific to Michigan?  I don't, by the way, look for opportunities to be offended.  Birtherism is offensive, and enlisting it in a joke doesn't help make it obvious that it's just a joke.  In fact, I always thought one of the good things about Romney being the nominee was that he wouldn't give any quarter to birther stuff, so I was not expecting to hear remarks like that from him.

Hey, RockyIce, I've been watching presidents make speeches for more than thirty years, and they all used teleprompters--a lot.  Where did this idea come from that Obama is the only president to have ever used them and that we should especially find fault with him for doing it?

[anvi]

Oh, I don't think it will have any political ramifications at all, and obviously no one cares about what I say on the Atlas Forum, nor should they.  But, you know, it's a free country, I have freedom of speech, and I'm just saying I don't care for it.  That's all.

[anvi]

No worries, shua.  I don't believe Romney is a birther at all, or even anything remotely in the universe of one.  So, maybe that's why I was taken aback by the comment he made today--I didn't expect it, and was just left feeling like, "wow, what is that?"  But, then again, if I revert back to a more humble parody of myself, I've unintentionally flubbed jokes badly too, so I'm probably a bad one to point fingers.

I think it's perfectly understandable for people not to want Obama to be president anymore.  He has let some very important opportunities go by that have disappointed me too.  But, you know, I've actually spoken with him directly through more than one correspondence, I think he is, on a human level, a really decent fellow, and, not to jump up and down or anything, but I was really proud four years ago to have played even the most insignificant parts in helping to get the country's first African-American president elected.  So, I have a visceral reaction to birher stuff, it really makes me sick.  So, if my initial reaction seemed like an overreaction, that's basically why.