Conservative calls birthers 'cranks'

To all those birthers out there, who maintain Barack Obama is not a citizen and, therefore, cannot legally be the President of the U.S., I can only say, "Get over yourselves!" Do you have any idea how silly you sound?

Even Ann Coulter, who most Democrats view as a right-wing nutcase who is just to the right of Rush Limbaugh, says this is a nonissue, that the "birthers" are a bunch of cranks! And not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd agree with anything Ann Coulter says, but I have to in this case.

The issue was brought up during the primaries by the Clintons, and again during the general election by the McCain campaign, and has been thoroughly debunked time and again by independent fact-checking groups and the state of Hawaii itself.

Official copies of the birth certificate have been produced, but the "birthers" say these are fakes. Copies of Honolulu newspapers have been produced that have birth announcements within a week of Obama's birth in 1961, but the "birthers" say these were planted, or created, or photoshopped by Obama supporters.

With all the serious issues we have confronting us in this country, from health-care reform, to war, the environment, unemployment, the economy, education, energy creation, etc., to think people would waste so much time and energy on this "conspiracy theory" is almost beyond belief. I fear these people are out of touch with reality, or have so much hate for Obama that they can't reason. And unreasonable people often say and do crazy things.

Tom Dillivan

Schaumburg