indiana's most famous birther?

while indiana's most outspoken birther is surely gary welsh—just yesterday he posted yet another rambling, delusional screed on the subject—abdul suggests that our state's most famous birther is in fact rep. dan burton.

from the washington independent:

"It's a good idea," said John Donnelly, a spokesman for Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who became one of the bill's co-sponsors this month. "If candidates provided that information to the Federal Election Commission you wouldn't have all this hullaballoo. You don't want to needlessly expose presidents to crazy conspiracy theories."

it's pretty hilarious to hear a spokesman for dan "head-shaped object" burton talking about "crazy conspiracy theories"—a topic that burton knows better than most.

of course, the statement is worded in such a way that it suggests burton isn't actually a birther. and it's possible that he's not, that he's simply sponsoring the bill because he knows the issue is popular with his base and he wants their support. (after all, he faces a contentious primary next year, and there's been a lot of chatter that this may finally be indiana's chance to get rid of him.) but honestly, does it really matter? effectively, it makes no difference whether burton actually believes this nonsense or whether he's only humoring the wackos in order to get votes. either way, the end result is the same.

i'd like to think that this could be the last straw for 5th-district voters—or at least part of that straw—and inspire them to finally vote him out of office. but if they weren't turned off by the whole shooting-a-watermelon-to-prove-the-clintons-are-murderers business or the loaded-gun-in-an-airport business, then i can't see this being much different. ¶