Jonathan Capehart (WaPo): Weasel words from Speaker Boehner

[pampango]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/weasel_words_from_speaker_boeh.html

I interrupt my swoon over House Speaker John Boehner's statesman-like mien of late to rap his knuckles over his answers about President Obama's faith and citizenship on "Meet the Press" Sunday. When it comes to Obama's citizenship, Boehner was consistent with what he told NBC last month: "The state of Hawaii has said that he was born there. That's good enough for me."

Well, what's not good enough for me were his next two sentences:"The president says he's a Christian," Boehner said. "I accept him at his word." The obvious implication is that there's a possibility the president might be lying. This is offensive and an insult.

NBC's David Gregory opened this line of questioning after showing a disturbing clip of a focus group Republican pollster Frank Luntz conducted in Iowa last week. When a woman said that she thought the president's religious beliefs "govern his foreign policy," Luntz asked her what she thought Obama's religious beliefs were. "I believe that he is a Muslim," she said. Then Luntz asked how many shared that opinion. "Wow!" Luntz exclaimed as more than a few hands were thrust skyward.

Gregory asked Boehner the only reasonable question to such lunacy: "As the speaker of the House, as the leader, do you not think it's your responsibility to stand up to that kind of ignorance?" But the speaker begged to differ. "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think." Right -- but in the face of a persistent lie that has ensnared way too many in his party, it is incumbent upon those who know better to tell the uneducated or the mistaken what the truth is. In the parlance of Twitter, Boehner's resistance to do so was a #leadershipfail.

The "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think" quote could be used against Boehner repeatedly in the future when he pontificates on practically any policy that he likes or dislikes.