Forty-five percent of Republican voters say they believe President Obama was born oversees despite not a single fact pointing to that possibility. Surprisingly, though, Republican politicians from South Florida are lining up to knock the theory down.
Echoing statements made by Marco Rubio, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart dismisses the conspiracy theory completely, and infers that Donald Trump, the man who's now become the surprising face of the birther movement, probably doesn't have much of a chance at winning the presidency.
"I have no reason to believe that he was not born here," Diaz-Balart tells The Sun-Sentinel. "It's just not an issue. What is an issue is that he's been a dismal president. That's the issue. I actually think that that kind of detracts from the real issues, but you know thank God we live in a free country."
The remarks closely mirror those made by Senator Marco Rubio earlier this month. Both are the sons of Cuban American immigrants, and both were born in South Florida (and we have no reason to believe that they were not).
Rubio said he wished Donal Trump would stop talking about the issue, and Diaz-Balart infers that Trump would have a hard time actually going through the media vetting process associated with a presidential campaign.
"Trump is an exciting guy. But you know I don't know if he's going to run. And if he does run, and then it gets real. And then you know all the issues, remember when you run for office, every issue, everything you've said, everything you've done, every business deal, every personal thing you've ever done now becomes an issue. Right now he's riding the wave of being able to get all of the positives and none of the negatives. And you know if he runs and he'll be scrutinized like everybody else."
>Perhaps Diaz-Balart is referring three marriages. Perhaps he's talking about Trumps previous comments supporting universal health care (a Republican no-no). Maybe he's thinking about the time just six years ago when Trump said he identifies more as a Democrat on several issues and said that the economy is better under Democratic presidents. Or he could have several of Trump's shadier business deals in mind.
The point Diaz-Balart is slyly making is that the media and opponents comb through every aspect of a presidential candidate's life and record with a fine comb, and that perhaps Trump either wouldn't survive such digging or wouldn't want to go through it in the first place. Then again, Trump should be aware of the attacks on his background. He's the guy questioning Obama's birth certificate after all.
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