Birthers vs. Truthers: Each Party Has Its Fringe

Both Parties Have Their Fanatics

Fully 35 percent of Democrats believe George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Fully 28 percent of Republicans believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.

We had a 9/11 Truth commission which didn't satisfy the truthers. Should we have a Birther commission so it won't satisfy the Birthers, either? But notice the bias in reporting:

Consider that southerners are most likely to believe Obama was born abroad. Northeasterners are least likely. The former is the most conservative region, the latter is the most liberal. And it's no coincidence that nearly all Democrats believe Obama was born in the United States and nearly all Republicans believe W. Bush had no prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.

The disparate treatment of the two conspiracy theories is unmistakable. More Democrats fell into the "truther" camp than Republicans fall into the "birther" camp. But the mainstream media has covered the "birther" poll far more vigorously. It's easy to understand, unless one is invested in the opposing camp, why these incongruities irk the political right.

I think the media's obsession with the Birthers has to do with their contempt for Southerners in general. If Birthers are kooks and more Southerners are unsure of Obama's birthplace than any other region and Southerners are less educated and more inbred (so the stereotype goes) and the South still votes Republican, then this is a terrific smear on Republicans. See the comments at this post for an example of how this thinking goes.

The author goes on to make a different point about the polarization of our politics, but I thought it was important to point out that the lens through which media types see events affects the way they report them. Thus, if those reporting the news consider certain regions of the country to be prone to certain behavior, they may pick up on examples in that region more quickly than others. And if those same media types belong to a different region, they might not be so quick to stereotype that region.