What do these three things have in common? They don't deserve more than 10 seconds on the news. And yet they get whole weeks.
I just watched a video on a Rec'd diary about some 'smackdown' on Pat Buchanan. Now, I've seen enough of this man talk to know that he's a bit of a loon, but this is one issue on which he was dead on right.
Buchanan basically (as far as I could tell, since Matthews kept talking over him) blamed Chris Matthews for making a bigger deal out of the birther conspiracy than is necessary. Matthews seems to think it's "huge" that 58% of Republicans don't think/aren't sure that Obama was born in the United States.
Where the hell has this man been? These are the people who believe that evolution is a lie propagated by anti-religious atheists. These are the people who believe that homosexuality is a liberal scheme set on undermining our families. These are the people who believe that ACORN and the Black Panthers are in cahoots with Obama to destroy the democratic process.
It is news to nobody that these people are lunatics. It is no more huge than is news that Paris Hilton went to jail. Remember when Mika Brzezinski refused to read the Paris Hilton story? If Matthews actually had one hardball in his empty sac, he would show the same discretion when going on television with ANY birther story.
Republicans will believe anything. Unsubstantiated, unjustified, untrue. They will believe it.
I know this now, I knew this 5 years ago - and so did everyone else in this country.
For Chris Matthews to act like this conspiracy nonsense is newsworthy is a deplorable act, and Pat Bucahanan is absolutely right to call him out for it. This story needs to be dropped before anymore honest journalists stoop low enough to give these people a platform on which to speak.
update: I'll add a quote from the video on which I think Buchanan illustrates his point perfectly:
"Look at what the Republicans are doing while you're doing this; they're killing the health care bill."
Is there a reason why Chris Matthews thinks it's more important to debunk the birthers than to debunk the myths about health care? No court will allow this Kenyan birth certificate nonsense to last more than a day - yet people are asking Obama at town hall meetings why the health care bill will require all senior citizens to choose how they want to die. Give me one good reason why we should be wasting valuable time on birthers when there are far greater myths to be quelling.
/rant.