Buying into Birtherism is only a minor thoughtcrime? I guess the Republicans are familiar with thoughtcrimes and assign them numerical scores of seriousness. I assume subscribing to some form of Dialectical Materialism is a ’10’ and thinking the president has failed to provide a legal copy of his birth certificate is something closer to a ‘2’. Allahpundit appears offended that anyone would experience physical revulsion at the Birther accusation. But feeling revulsion to the endless repetition of a stupid lie is a normal and healthy reaction. Shrugging off stupid lies and making excuses for them is the sign of a disordered mind. Birtherism is worse than a stupid lie about the budget or the law or even history. It’s worse because it is suffused with an underlying racial and religious intolerance. It’s worse because it seeks to delegitimize the president and poison the minds of the people against him. For the gullible who will believe anything, perhaps it is a minor crime. For those perpetuating the myth, it is a major crime.

But any malicious disregard for the truth should elicit a feeling of revulsion in a normal, healthy person.