Blunt Listed As One of DSCC's "Birther Five"

The DSCC is renewing its criticism of candidates who've teased the birther conspiracy theorists after Rob Portman, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, refused to give direct answers to questions about Barack Obama's citizenship.  Portman, Roy Blunt, Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Chuck DeVore (R-CA) are all part of their "Birther Five."

This is a deliberate tactic and part of a long-held, calculated GOP strategy. If the president isn't Republican, they will push the same lies over and over in an effort to undermine his legitimacy. They tried to discredit and delegitimize President Clinton. Now they're doing the same thing with President Obama by standing with – or winking at – the right-wing fringe.

The Republican Party is running on fears and smears, and these candidates should be ashamed of themselves.

The move from the DSCC comes after The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder's scathing commentary about GOP Senate candidates around the country who continue to tease the birther crowd. Ambinder and the DSCC both state that Blunt made comments sympathetic to the birther cause in February. I'm not familiar with new comments from last month (though World Net Daily did write about how Blunt's previous comments helped their cause), but there's no doubt about Blunt's position on the matter.

Blunt said last year that the birthers are asking "legitimate" questions and believes that mainstream media reporters lack the capacity to report on the issue in a "legitimate" way.  Also recall that it took more than 24 hours last summer to get a straight answer about whether Blunt believed Obama was an American citizen; spokesman Rich Chrismer refused multiple opportunities to clarify that point with a Washington reporter.

I wonder if Blunt and Chrismer will be "honored" to be part of this list.