Mitt Romney aimed awfully low yesterday, telling a Michigan audience, “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate — they know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”
By last night, the Obama campaign had already unveiled a new video on the subject.
For those who can’t watch clips online, the voice-over tells viewers, “Holding out hope Romney had a vision for the middle class? Think again.” After showing a clip from the Michigan rally, the clip adds, “Embracing unfounded conspiracy theories, distracting from real issues. America doesn’t need a Birther-in-Chief.”
At 15 seconds, the video is too short to be a broadcast spot, and is almost certainly intended for an online audience. That said, the larger push extends further — the Obama campaign is already fundraising off Romney’s birther comments, and this morning in Ohio, a plane was seen overhead at a Romney/Ryan rally flying a banner that read, “America is better than birtherism.” [Update: the banner was apparently flown by MoveOn.org.]
For his part, Romney told CBS yesterday afternoon that he doesn’t question the president’s citizenship, adding, “Humor, you know, we’ve got to have a little humor in a campaign…. [T]he crowd loved it and got a good laugh.” First, if Romney wants to try to be funny, maybe he should avoid jokes based on racist conspiracy theories. He couldn’t think of anything else to joke about? Second, Republican crowds may “love” a lot of things, but that doesn’t make ugly rhetoric acceptable.
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