• When the fringe becomes the norm: The past couple years, the birther issue has been a touchy one in Republican politics; it’s a dangerous internal wedge issue for them. Say he was born in Kenya (or merely imply your doubts), and you look like a kook of the highest order. Say he was born in Hawaii, and you’ve alienated a non-negligible amount of your traditionally ravenous base. If the GOP Presidential field had managed to stay in the middling, “I take his word for it” zone, averting the problem — no Republican would have disdained their party’s strongest looking candidate because he didn’t think Obama was foreign. But with Donald Trump diving into the deep end of the birther pool, this constituency becomes volatile and impossible to predict. source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • Permalink