Republicans Propose Creating a New Federal Office of Birtherism

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 01:12 pm

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra has proposed the creation of new federal office staffed by the FBI and CIA that would check presidential candidates’ birth certificates.

According to the Detroit Free Press,

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At a tea party gathering in Lapeer earlier this month, U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra said he’d like to create a federal office in Washington that would verify that presidential candidates meet the minimum requirements to hold the office.

“This is not brain surgery. It should be an FBI person, maybe a CIA person,” said Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman from Holland, during the meeting in response to a question from the audience about Obama’s citizenship. “If you want to run for president, you’ve got to go with the proper documentation and get it certified that you meet the qualifications to be the President of the United States.”

You may remember the name Pete Hoekstra from the incredibly racist local ad that he ran during the Super Bowl. The attack ad was so xenophobic and racist that it backfired and actually gave his incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow a double digit lead. The ad was so bad that according to a PPP poll it made 45% of respondents less likely to vote for him.

It is nice to see that Hoekstra learned absolutely nothing from his Super Bowl ad and is doubling down on the racism, but the bigger point is that the Republican Party has been so infected with birtherism that they are willing to institutionalize racism within our government.

Let me see if I have this straight, Republicans are anti-big government except when they want to expand the size of government by creating a new federal office in order to check Obama’s birth certificate? That is freedom loving small government conservatism in action. Hoestra’s comments are a symptom of a larger disease within the Republican Party.

From the party that spied on you and destroyed your liberties with the Patriot Act, comes a new office to check presidential candidate’s birth certificates. Hoekstra’s idea proves that there is no limit to how low Republicans will go in order to court the anti-Obama racist vote.

Jason Easley

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