Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:35 am
Bill Maher shredded the return of birtherism by becoming a wifer, and asking how many wives does Mitt Romney really have?
Here’s the video from Mediaite:
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Maher said, “Mitt Romney comes from a Mormon background. I don’t know how many wives he has. I am not saying I believe in that. I am just saying he was born on a Mormon compound. I’m not a wifer, but for some reason he has never shown his original marriage certificate.”
Later Maher said, “Again, I’m not a wifer. I’m just saying that he has the blood of nomadic polygamist tribesman and I think that has shaped his world view. Now, this is a copy of Mitt Romney’s marriage license. I specifically asked for the original. I even offered to go to the Romney house and take it out of Ann Romney’s marriage scrapbook, but some reason they frowned upon that idea and instead sent me this obvious photocopy. And isn’t a little weird that they chose to send only the short form license? And why next to Ann Romney does it say spouse and not only spouse? I’m just asking the hard questions that the mainstream media won’t ask about Mitt’s unholy harem of obedient sister wives which I really hope I’m wrong about.
Maher asked, “How is it that Ann and Mitt Romney have five kids and they’re all thirty years old? And here, what is Mitt pointing to in this picture? The Olympic symbol. What is it five rings. What else has five rings? Five wives. And why did Mitt Romney strap his dog to the roof of his car? Could it have been because his station wagon was full of wives? I’m not saying I believe this wifer stuff. I take Mitt Romney at his word, but how do you explain this video.” (Video of Romney saying he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, and a woman, and woman, and a woman).
If the Romney campaign keeps playing around with this Obama birther nonsense, they are inviting trouble of their own. Bill Maher may have been the first, but there are many on the left, though not the Obama campaign, that are chomping at the bit to discuss Mitt Romney and his faith. On the surface it is easy to mock the birthers, but there was a deeper point to what Bill Maher was doing. He was essentially saying that there are plenty of things in Mitt Romney’s background that are waiting to be dived into.
Perhaps the only thing saving Mitt Romney from deeper scrutiny is the fact that nobody cares about him. The far right hates Obama to the point of cult like absurdity, but Romney doesn’t inspire the same fanaticism in the left. In many ways the left’s treatment of Romney revives memories of their attitude towards George W. Bush in 2000. Many thought there was no way that Bush could defeat Gore. They didn’t take Bush seriously, but two wars, a botched hurricane relief effort, and a collapsed economy later, they saw what a lightly considered president can be capable of.
The left doesn’t need to hate Mitt Romney, but they need to keep in mind that the right hates Barack Obama, and they will stop at nothing to defeat him. Maher’s mockery was an effective take down of the birthers, but it is what birtherism represents that should trouble every American. Birtherism is hatred taken to the level of delusion, but if pushed far enough the left will fight fire with fire, and Mitt Romney may end up having to prove that he has only one wife.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
