Birth Certificate

The GOP Reacts: We Never Cared About The Birth Certificate -- But It's About Time Already!

Benjy Sarlin | April 28, 2011, 8:56AM

Former candidate for Vice President Sarah Palin

It's been a full day since the White House released President Obama's long form birth certificate, and prominent Republicans are coalescing around a few recurring notes in their reaction.

Responses for the most part fall into two broad, sometimes overlapping, themes in which Republicans either accuse President Obama of taking too long to put the birther nonsense to bed or suggest he's exploiting the issue by even addressing it.

While speculation around Obama's legitimacy occurs almost exclusively in conservative circles -- reaching a high point in recent weeks amid Donald Trump's birther campaign -- a number of mostly mainstream Republicans characterized Obama's statement as a smokescreen that distracts from various other topics.The most oft-quoted example came from Sarah Palin who tweeted: "Now, don't let the WH distract you w/the birth crt from what Bernanke says today. Stay focused, eh?" referring to a rare press conference from the Federal Reserve chairman.

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Louie Gohmert

Gohmert: The Birth Certificate Proves We Need A Federal Birther Law

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 27, 2011, 6:21PM

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) welcomed the release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate on Wednesday, after suffering what he said had been "arrogant condescension" from Obama's supporters. And he said the redundant proof that Obama was indeed born where everyone knew he was born shows that Congress really needs to pass a law requiring presidential candidates to produce their birth certificates.

"It is truly distressing that the administration would wait so long to release such an important piece of documentation, when such a simple act was all it required," Gohmert said in a statement. "In my mind, a critically important action we could take in Congress is to eliminate similar controversies arising in future elections."

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