
Somebody probably should have warned him about the high risk of blowback. Now he's learning it the hard way.
Over the past 12 hours, hundreds if not thousands of Elizabeth Warren's supporters have swarmed Rep. Patrick McHenry's (R-NC) Facebook page and excoriated him for mistreating her on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
As the contentious Oversight Committee hearing drew to a recess, Warren claimed she had arranged with McHenry's staff to be excused from the panel at 2:15 p.m. -- and that the arrangement was only necessary because the committee made multiple scheduling changes before settling on an early-afternoon start time.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)President Obama's decision to release his long form birth certificate comes amid Donald Trump's three-ring circus on the issue, but prominent conservatives have flirted with the birther movement since its earliest inception. From insisting Obama release more records, to waffling on questions about his citizenship, to sponsoring legislation winking at conspiracy theorists, there's been no shortage of birther curious behavior over the last several years.
TPM reached out to over 20 lawmakers and public figures who have indulged in such behavior to determine whether Obama's release of the Rosetta stone of birtherism has settled the issue, receiving few responses.
TPM SLIDESHOW: There's The Birth Certificate: TPM's Best Of The Birthers
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)For as long as there have been birthers, there have been politicians jumping on the birther bandwagon. And for as long as there have been politicians jumping on the birther bandwagon, there have been politicians who casually lean up against the birther bandwagon but run away before anyone sees them.
Here's TPM's roundup of politicians who have proven to be, for lack of a better term, birther-curious, before having to back things up a bit...
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Birthers, militias, Tea Partiers -- it's hard to keep track of all the fringe groups that have popped up across the nation. But what to do when the extreme ideas of some of these groups bleed into the politics of public officeholders?
We've rounded up some of the right-wing House GOP members who may not have the national presence (or charisma) of a Michele Bachmann or a Steve King, but who certainly share their penchant for appealing to the outer limits of the political stratosphere...
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Obama Recognizes Passover And Easter
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama recognized the Passover and Easter season, with a call for all people to recognize what they have in common.
"And while we worship in different ways, we also remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all - Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus, believers and nonbelievers alike," said Obama. "Amid the storm of public debate, with our 24/7 media cycle, in a town like Washington that's consumed with the day-to-day, it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of the eternal. So, on this Easter weekend, let us hold fast to those aspirations we hold in common as brothers and sisters, as members of the same family - the family of man."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)We can add another name to the list of Republican officeholders who won't say that President Obama is a citizen, thus playing into the Birther movement: Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
McHenry was asked by a constituent at a town hall meeting whether he thinks Obama is a citizen. "I haven't seen enough evidence one way or the other," said Mchenry, who also added that the issue is being addressed "in the courts."
Late Update: McHenry's office has given this statement to Greg Sargent, backtracking and seeming to affirm that yes, Obama is an American:
"As I stated last night, I have not carefully reviewed the evidence as a jurist would. However, from what I have read, I have absolutely no reason to question President Obama's citizenship. I anticipate that as a legal matter the courts will continue to come to the same conclusion."PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a vocal conservative who serves as a deputy Republican whip, appears to have just admitted openly that the GOP's policies are irrelevant.
In the new Time article on the current sorry state of the party, McHenry decried the endless rhetoric about tax cuts -- and apparently declared that the era of Reagan is over:
The most urgent question is the meaning of economic conservatism. Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, surprised me by declaring that the Reagan era is over. "Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts," he said. "The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set."PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)

