Only in American politics could a man who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard have his bonafides questioned by a man who graduated lawdy how come from Texas A&M. From TPM (h/t) Balloon Juice:
Rick Perry steps all over his tax plan messaging by asking for Obama’s report cards along with his birth certificate:
“I’m really not worried about the president’s birth certificate [but] it’s fun to poke at him a little bit and say ‘hey, how about let’s see your grades and your birth certificate.’”
The long commercial on that clip is worth watching just to see how stupid he looks when he says that. Perry is breaking new ground here, because it’s a major accomplishment to come up with a statement that alienates 100% of the electorate. Birthers take birtherism very seriously, so they don’t see the fun in this. And for everyone else, it comes off as stupid, racist and/or boring.
The real beauty of this is that it invites blowback from all sides: the “birthers” will be ticked that he’s NOT a true believer, sane Republicans* will bemoan the “distraction”, and the rest of us already think Perry is George Bush lobotomized.
He’ll literally be counting his own toes next…
*Currently assumes facts not necessarily in evidence.