Tina Dupuy

The first encounter I had with what is now commonly known as a “birther” was right after the 2008 election. It was with one of my family members:

“Obama wasn’t even born in this country,” she-who-will-remain-nameless proclaimed.

“No, you’ve got it mixed up. McCain wasn’t born in this country,” I said. “He was born in Panama, but it was a US territory at the time.”

“No it’s Obama. He was born in Hawaii and Hawaii wasn’t a state yet.”

“Hawaii became a state in 1959,” I busted out with some grade school civics class knowledge.

And then, there it was, the thing birthers are now being known for: My name-withheld family member then sighed and muttered, “Well, I don’t know.”

“No, you do know. Because I just told you.” I thought but didn’t dare yap aloud. “Hawaii was a state in 1959 and Barack Hussein Obama was born in 1961. He just won the election by the biggest margin since Ronald Reagan and he’s going to be the first half African-American president of the United States.”

“Well, I don’t know,” she continued, sure of herself. Then she switched tactics, “He won’t show anybody his birth certificate.”

“I’ve seen it online,” I said.

“Well, I don’t know. It’s suspicious. Don’t you think it’s suspicious? He won’t show anybody his birth certificate.”

“But he does. He has. I’ve seen it. Online.”

“Well, I don’t know. I think he should show it. It’s interesting though, huh?”

No. No it’s not interesting. There’s nothing interesting. There are questions. Here are answers. Refusing said answers, doesn’t mean there are still questions. Furthermore, refusing other answers and holding tight to doubt then blaming the proof-provider for not being forthcoming does not equal “interesting.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Now it’s taken on a whole witch trial vibe. Very Malleus Maleficarum (1486’s best-seller “The Hammer Against Witches”). Like the woman showing up to Rep. Mike Castle’s town hall in Delaware bleating Obama is, according to her, a citizen of Kenya. Now it’s to prove a negative. Their evidence is their own suspicion and the only acceptable defense is Obama stepping down as president.

“‘Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States. Why not release your birth certificate?’ What is the big deal with saying that?” asked CNN’s “give us your huddled masses” opponent Lou Dobbs on the July 28 edition of his radio show.

What’s the big deal with saying that? What’s wrong with saying that is the simple fact Obama HAS released his birth certificate. That’s what’s wrong with saying it. It’s like saying there were WMD’s in Iraq. It’s not true. It’s been proven to be untrue. So what’s wrong with saying that is – it’s wrong.

But birthers don’t want proof of what they don’t believe. They want to hold onto doubt regardless of evidence.

It’s like drawing a saddle on a dinosaur. It doesn’t make it accurate. It just shows one’s convictions trumping overwhelming evidence. The birthers position is like asserting the earth is flat because when they flew around it they had their eyes closed.

Being a birther should disqualify you from serving on a jury let alone in Congress. But, Bill Posey, a freshman Representative from Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel he couldn’t swear on a stack of bibles whether Obama is or isn’t an American. He and other Republican congress people have been playing up the “non-denial denial” of this fiction. So willful ignorance on the part of the accusers is now giving the story more legs.

The origin hysteria of this is the holdover from the “love it or leave it” and “these colors don’t run” crowd (my family). Their unflinching jingoism is now misplaced since there is a funny-named dark skinned guy in the White House. Everything American is good. We don’t like Barack Obama. Therefore he must not be American.

Which could be progress since those of African descent in America were once not considered human.

But still, spiteful denial is what passes for healthy skepticism?

Well, I don’t know.

This piece also appears at Huffington Post.

The loudest voice, piercing through the debate over health care is unquestionably sure “privatization is always better.” Because Republicans (who are in the government) will readily tell you – the government never does anything right. Which explains why the most popular people in their Grand Old Party no longer hold any personally “taxing” jobs in the government (Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and as of Sunday, Sarah Palin), opting (fittingly) for private political gigs.

Less government control is always good? The private sector is always first-rate? Free market capitalism is the cure-all? Even for health care?!

Let’s look at this reasonably: Firefighting used to be a private for-profit industry. In the 1800’s, the early days of urbanization, in cities like New York and Baltimore, there were private “clubs” or “gangs” who were in charge of putting out fires. The infamous Boss Tweed started his illustrious political career at a volunteer fire company. The way it functioned was the first club at the scene got money from the insurance company. So, they had an incentive to get there fast. They also had an incentive to sabotage competition. They also often ended up getting in fights over territory and many times buildings would burn down before the issue was resolved. They were glorified looters. It was corrupt, bloated and expensive – but at least it wasn’t the much maligned “government controlled.”

Around the time of the Civil War, firefighting in big cities was reformed and taken over by the government. Currently firefighters in most major metropolises are trained by the government, employed by the government and given health care – wait for it – by the government.

Yet if we had to have the “conversation” about the firefighting industry today, we’d have socialism-phobic South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on the TV every chance he could get saying things like, “Do you want a government bureaucrat between you and the safety of your home?”

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio would hold press conferences and ask, “Do you want your firefighting to be like going to the DMV? Do you want Uncle Sam to come breaking down your door every time some Washington fat cat says there’s a fire?”

There would be 30-second TV spots paid for by the powerful firefighting lobby featuring stars and stripes graphics and the national anthem playing softly in the background with a booming voice-over trumpeting, “Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were volunteer firefighters. Support traditional values and oppose government waste. Tell your representative you want a bi-partisan solution to fire reform.”

News programs would be interviewing sobbing people whose homes fell through the cracks and burned to the ground. “I don’t want to see the government take-over firefighting, but I sure miss Momma’s oil paintings.”

And President Barack Obama would relay his childhood experience with a fire then point out the failure of the for-profit firefighting industrial complex that “threatens to bankrupt this country.” And then those most in need of firefighting services would foam about his birth certificate and confuse Karl Marx with Charles Darwin on misspelled protest signs at events put on by covert firefighting lobbyists.

But instead, today firefighters are national heroes. They’re organized, quick, competent and with few exceptions pillars of the community. Their duty is to protect people and their property and they do it. They make no profits, are part of the government and they help people 24-hours a day. They even let seniors live. No debate necessary. What started out as a shady gaming of the system where the general public’s welfare was at risk is today something of national pride.

So government can do something right. It’s happened.

Less government is not always good. The private sector is not always first-rate. And free market capitalism does not cure all.

Do I want my health care to be like the DMV? I’ve seen clinics that make the DMV look like destination spa. DMV is affordable and I can always get seen the same day (I have insurance and I can’t say the same about my doctor). So yeah, DMV-esque wouldn’t be too bad. What would be better is if doctors could be like firefighters.

This piece ran at the LA Daily News and Huffington Post.

Sarah Palin hates the media and all the smarty people in it. All the people who have been keeping track of her track record and annoying her “message” with evidence and actualities, she hates them. She hates them all so much her revenge was on the Friday of a three-day holiday weekend (when many members of the elite media were vacationing at no-doubt elite places) she would hold a press conference late in the day and tell all via the media she wasn’t taking “the quitters way out,” she was in fact quitting. She announced she will step down as the Governor of Alaska at the end of the month.

So the media people who were on vacation suddenly all had to call-in to the second tier anchors, type their witticisms on their phones and otherwise put down their snooty nose plugs, garishly garnished drinks and 100 proof sunblock to try and translate some “Palin speak” even though they’ve gotten a little rusty since the campaign.

“We are doing well!” Exclaimed Palin at the one-way press conference.  “I wish you’d hear MORE from the media of your state’s progress and how we tackle Outside interests – daily – SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an ‘all-knowing attitude’ – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular,” Palin relayed between manic breaths.

So the media people who cared (enough) to sober up long enough to wonder why a first-term governor with little executive experience and an eye on the big prize of the White House would refuse to gain anymore executive experience. “How could a first-term governor be a lame duck anyway?” they wondered. Don’t you have to be up against term limits to be a lame duck? Does Palin know what a lame duck is? Was that just a lame duck quacking in the background during the speech? What’s up with her and background fowl anyway? They all wondered if there was a scandal. Because a scandal would make sense. Dodging an indictment would make tons of sense. Oh yeah, those media elites like fancy stuff like sense and coherent reasons. Humph bluebloods.

Within 24 hours of the 140 character (and some blogging) bon mots bonanza Palin had her lawyer threaten to sue the entire establishment of the Internets for suggesting there could be a rational reason for her actions.

So on the Nation’s Birthday, Independence Day – Palin did the most American of acts – made her lawyer write an intimidating letter. Palling around with terrorists indeed.

Again, right in the middle of the also very American of acts of blowing stuff up while stuffing charred meat into your face, Palin’s lawyer released a four page letter. Which forced media elites to squint to read it on their 3GSes. Then Palin herself released a statement. And just to mess with the elite, surely sloshed members of the press even further – her statement was full of grammatical errors.

First the fireworks exploded. Then the heads of chronic copy editors.

For some overly-flattering reason, Palin’s resignation has been compared to Richard Nixon. Quitting after losing a gubernatorial race after being Vice President of the United States is a Nixonian move. Quitting before being impeached is a Nixonian move. Quitting while the quitting is good is a Nixonian move.

But, in fairness Nixon was a genius for punishing elites. He perfected the art of debate. He would plant traps for his opponents using the wrong name of something obvious. His opponent feeling smug about the misstep would correct him. Then Nixon could say something to the effect of,”I guess I didn’t go to a fancy school like you did.” And he would score populists points.

I’m convinced that when Palin called General McKiernan, General McClellan in the 2008 Veep Debate, she was attempting a classic Nixonian move. Joe Biden just didn’t fall for it.

See, Nixon was bitter because he was just as smart and capable as elites – he just wasn’t one. He got accepted to Harvard but his parents couldn’t afford it. Palin is bitter because “Facts,” as Ronald Reagan once said accidentally, “are stupid things.”

But the press, Palin’s press, her watchers, the people she threatens in the same breath as praising the First Amendment, her press people were given the big screw you on the Nation’s Birthday Eve.  In a way saying, “You want to pay so much attention to me – I’ll make you do it when you don’t want to! That’ll TEACH you!!!”

Proving, she who laughs while you’re face-down hammered and out of cell range – laughs best.

This first appeared on Huffington Post.