OIP Derangement Syndrome Lives in Arizona

Men claiming to be Presidential Electors from Arizona cast votes this month while voicing skepticism about the fact that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii in 1963, as noted in legal records and newspapers of the time.

Local station KNAU reported:

The Electoral College voting is pretty much pro forma: The electors for whoever got the most votes for president in Arizona come to the Capitol to cast their ballots. But during the voting, state GOP Chairman Tom Morrissey said doubts remain about the legitimacy of Obama's birth certificate.

"I'm not satisfied with what I've seen," Morrissey said. "I think for somebody in the president's position to not have produced a document that looks more legitimate, I have a problem with that."

Elector Don Ascoli said the fact Obama got more popular votes is irrelevant to the truth.

The third man claimed to be an Elector named John Rhodes. Ascoli and Rhodes both claimed to have been Republican county chairs, according to the Associated Press.

As the article noted, the man who identified himself as Tom Morrissey also claimed to be chairman of the state Republican Party. In July he sat silent as a radio host said of the President: “I call him a monkey. I don’t believe in calling him the first black president. I call him the first monkey president. . . . I voted for the white guy myself.” He was apparently satisfied with what he heard.

Back in January 2009, before Obama took office, Ascoli hijacked a comment thread on CNN.com to rant against his legitimacy as President:

Guess what, Obama is illegitimate as he wasn't born in the US, He is of Kenyan birth! I defy any Democrat on this comment string to name the hospital that Obama was born at. Also, can you tell us what race is check marked for Obama, was it marked Black, White, Indian, or what [There was no such race as 'African' back in 1961]. Try and answer these two questions before you try and talk about a legitimate President. You guys voted for a fraud. Barack Hussein Obama wont even show the American public his birth certificate! [Don't you fools talk about his published Certificate of Live Birth, that is not a Birth Certificate]. What is Obama hiding?

So Ascoli’s Republican Party colleagues have undoubtedly heard him raising those false issues for years.

Are Morrissey, Ascoli, and Rhodes qualified to be Presidential Electors? I’m not satisfied. If they were supposed to represent me, I’d ask to see the results of a mental-status exam first. But the National Archives states that “A state’s certification of its electors is generally sufficient to establish the qualifications of electors.”

Ironically, a state certification—as Hawaii already provided to Arizona officials and the public in regard to the President’s birth—empowers these three foolish bigots to represent their state before the nation.