Damning with Faint Denial

I was never really a fan of Jerry Seinfeld’s show, but because it reflected his stand-up act--of which I was a huge fan--I checked it out every once in awhile.

 In one episode, George talked about going to his doctor to see about a spot on his arm. When the doctor ordered a biopsy, George asked if it could be cancer. The doctor said he didn’t know what it was. Here was how George felt the doctor should have responded:

 GEORGE: When I asked him if it was cancer, he didn't give me a "get outta here." That's what I wanted to hear: "Cancer? Get outta here!"

 What George wanted was for the doctor to not only tell him that it wasn’t cancer, but that it couldn’t be cancer and he was silly for ever asking the question.

That’s what I wanted from two prominent Republicans recently, and didn’t get.

On two different shows this past week, both John Boehner and Eric Cantor were asked about the persistent assertion from some within their party that President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., which would make him an illegitimate President--the Right’s wet dream.

 But instead of bold statements that would help put those arguments to rest[1], both first deflected the question by saying that there more pressing matters. When pushed further, Boehner said, “The State of Hawaii has said President Obama was born there. That’s good enough for me.” Cantor said, "I think the President is a citizen of the United States."

Did you catch that? Those might have sounded like a firm rebuke, but look carefully and you'll find something much softer: “That’s good enough . . .” and “I think . . .“

By carefully choosing words that conjured up a sense of faith rather than fact, and by not dismissing Birthers’ claims as ridiculous, both of their answers had an it’s-still-up-for-debate feel about them.

These responses did two really important things:

• Didn’t alienate parts of their base
• It didn’t put anything to rest

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Republicans have nearly magical abilities when it comes to communicating their message. The problem is that half the world can see how the trick is done, and the other half doesn’t seem to know that it’s a trick.

[1] I find it really interesting that a lot of the titles of the articles that reported these exchanges far overstated the firmness of Boehner's and Cantor's rebuttals.