Birther Terrorism

On the heels of the conspiracy theory about the liberal media and pollsters “inventing” President Obama's post-convention bump—which has turned out to be quite reality-based—the wingers have a brand-new fractured fairy tale. This one features the former George W. Bush adviser and appointee, Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, sporting an Obama campaign button and laughing maniacally as he orders the money-printing machines cranked up to top speed. (“Forward, pussycat! Forward!”) Yesterday, Bernanke announced a new, open-ended policy of “quantitative easing”—pumping huge sums of money into the economy, as theProspect’s Robert Kuttner explains, in order to fuel growth by driving down interest rates, particularly on home mortgages. The Fed’s action was a bracing rebuke to deficit hawks like JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and the Norquist GOP. But that’s not what’s got the right wing buzzing. After all, why would a Federal Reserve chair want to stimulate a stagnant economy—unless he was doing it purely to benefit our foreign-born Muslim president’s re-election effort?

The Drudge Report called it “Election Manipulation.” At The New York Post, Charles Gasparino’s column was headlined, “Printing money to bail out Bam.” 

Noted economist Sarah Palin opined, “President Obama is no doubt happy that this latest sugar fix comes 53 days before the election.” Many congressional Republicans agreed: “It really is interesting that it is happening right now before an election,” said Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho. “It is going to sow some growth in the economy, and the Obama administration is going to claim credit.” New Jersey Republican Representative Scott Garrett demanded to know: “Who exactly is this helping?”

What’s remarkable about the ludicrous idea that the Fed acted purely out of pro-Obama motives is that it’s not remarkable. The contemporary Republican mainstream has inherited the once-risible conspiratorial mindset of the John Birchers. The idea that Obama could be a “legitimate” commander-in-chief is so far-fetched, so utterly unthinkable, that these folks are convinced the rest of the universe is in on the plot. It’s a small leap, really, from diabolical issuers of faux Hawaiian birth certificates to "election manipulators" on the Federal Reserve Board. They’re all in on it, people! You can’t say you weren’t warned.