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Now that Saxby Chambliss has decided he doesn't want to have to face a primary race for his Senate seat, Rachel Maddow took her viewers through the list of potential replacements that would like to succeed him, and it's a doozy.

Georgia's Saxby Chambliss to retire:

Just a few months ago, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a two-term Republican incumbent from Georgia, started facing credible primary threats in advance of his 2014 re-election bid. In a bit of a surprise, the senator has said there won't be a re-election campaign -- Chambliss is retiring at the end of his term (via James Carter). [...]

The news was not widely expected, and Chambliss was expected to win re-election if he sought another term.

What's especially interesting now, however, is the field of Republican candidates who may try to succeed Chambliss in 2014. One of the leading GOP officials to watch is Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who said just this week that was considering taking on Chambliss in a primary, and with the incumbent stepping down, the congressman is that much more likely to run himself.

That would set up quite a campaign -- Broun is one of Congress' more ridiculous members, and a Senate campaign would create an Akin-in-Missouri situation in which a candidate may simply be too nutty to compete on a statewide level, even in the South. In this case, Broun is perhaps best known for arguing that that cosmology, biology, and geology are, quite literally, "lies straight from the pit of Hell," and that President Obama only believes in supporting "the Soviet constitution."

In other words, even among loony extremists, Broun is almost a caricature of himself.

This matters because Georgia could prove to be far more interesting than expected. In 2008, when Chambliss sought a second term, he won by a narrow margin after being forced into a runoff when he won 49% of the vote on Election Day. Since then, Georgia's population has only grown more diverse.

If a strong Democratic candidate faced off against a ridiculous right-wing extremist, could this become a blue-to-red pick-up opportunity? Quite possibly, yes.

We've got more on Broun here: Is Paul Broun the dumbest member of Congress? Signs point to Yes and here: Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution, Embryology, and the Big Bang Theory are 'Lies Straight from the Pit of Hell'.

And as Rachel mentioned, another potential candidate is Karen Handel whose anti-abortion views are so extreme they just about took down a cancer charity: Former Susan G. Koman Exec May Run For Senate In Georgia.

And then there's Todd Akin's buddy Phil Gingrey: Republican Congressman Backs Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments: ‘He’s Partly Right’.

Steve Benen's article also mentioned Herman Cain, but Rachel informed her viewers that alas, Cain has said he's not running.

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As MSNBC's First Read reported, Trump claimed that those in the media are the biggest threat to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. After watching his latest birther rant at the North Carolina Republican Party Convention banquet from this Friday evening, I'm wondering if continued appearances from Trump are a likely bigger threat if he keeps this nonsense up. It's going to turn off everyone but the hard core racists who have lost their minds ever since our first black president got elected.

Trump: Media are biggest threat to Romney's presidential campaign:

Donald Trump on Friday warned that the media are the biggest threat to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, but added that the press he has garnered for the Republican nominee has caused his poll numbers to rise "very substantially."

Speaking at the North Carolina GOP Convention, Trump praised Romney for his business experience and promise to stand up against China and fight for American economic interests. But the business mogul also focused a portion of his speech on his questions about where President Obama was born. It is the reason why on Tuesday, when Romney earned the 1,144 delegates necessary to secure his party's nomination, much of the news cycle was devoted to his decision to appear with Trump at a fundraiser that day. [...]

And during his address, Trump again used his appearance as a platform to question the president's birth certificate, the reason he has branded himself as a controversial figure on the national political scene. Calling for the president to release his college records, Trump said, "There is one line called place of birth, I’d like to see what he said..Perhaps it’s going to say Hawaii, perhaps it’s going to say Kenya."

He dismissed that his motives were based in race by citing his recent decision to award African American actor Arsenio Hall the winner of his reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice."

"Somebody said, 'Oh, because I brought up the birth certificate, I'm a racist. I said, 'How can I be a racist, I just picked Arsenio Hall," said Trump.

Asked after the event why he continues to bring up the issue of the president's birth certificate, Trump said it was the demand from people who want to hear him talk about it, pointing out that the loudest applause line of his nearly hour-long speech came when he was questioning the president's birthplace.

I believe Stephen Colbert would call that the "I have one black friend so I can't be a racist" defense.

You can watch the whole horrid mess at C-SPAN's site here if you're in the mood to torture yourself:

North Carolina Republican Party Convention Banquet.

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Well, we can add Rep. Pete Hoekstra to the list of Republicans that have decided to go full birther this week. If anyone isn't sure of what the standard is to qualify you as a birther, I'm pretty sure it's quantifying any statements you make about President Obama and whether he was born in the United States with "I'm not a birther... but..."

I was glad to see Hoekstra and his ilk get a little bit of push back from CNN reporter Brooke Baldwin. As Think Progress reported, Hoekstra was flirting with birtherism at an event this week: GOP Senate Candidate Flirts With Birtherism At Tea Party Event.

As TPM noted, Hoekstra was not happy to see his remarks called out by CNN's Baldwin: Pete Hoekstra Defends Birther Commission Proposal:

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) defended his proposal to create a new federal commission staffed with FBI and CIA officers that would investigate presidential candidates’ place of birth Wednesday, after video of him suggesting such a group surfaced online.

Hoekstra, who is running for Senate and hoping to challenge incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), first pitched the idea at a town hall last month, footage of which surfaced Wednesday. The Michigan Democratic Party derided the idea as a “birther office” and said it placed Hoekstra firmly in the Donald Trump zone of the conservative fringe.

Appearing on CNN, Hoekstra defended the proposed bureau from aggressive questioning by Brooke Baldwin. He insisted that his proposal had nothing to do with President Obama, who has battled a litany of phony rumors about his birthplace over the last four years, rumors referenced by the very town hall questioner that prompted Hoekstra’s initial commission proposal.

“This is all looking forward, saying we have requirements in place, we have requirements in some states where people when they go to vote they’ve got to show a driver’s license,” he said. “You would think that we could at least make sure that when someone decides to run for office that we know that they meet the minimum requirements and we’ll never have this kind of debate again.”

But Baldwin challenged him on just what “problem” Hoekstra was trying to correct if his idea had nothing to do with the birther conspiracies surrounding Obama. [...]

Baldwin aired a clip of an infamous Hoekstra ad that aired during this year’s Super Bowl, since pulled from his website, in which an actress depicted a Chinese villager thanking Hoekstra’s opponent in broken English for running up the national debt.

“Critics called you a racist for that ad,” Baldwin said. “Do you realize that critics might use this office, this proposal for this office, as further proof?”

Hoekstra was not happy to see the old wound reopened.

Transcript of their full exchange below the fold.

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Mitt Romney is a coward. In his zeal to collect 50.1 percent of the vote, which may or may not yield the electoral college votes he would need to be elected President, he's bear-hugging the likes of Donald Trump. In gratitude, Mr. Trump launched into a three-minute rant about Barack Obama's birth certificate on CNBC this morning, and when that wasn't enough, Trump switched to the question of Barack Obama's college transcripts, claiming that they would reveal the President's true place of birth.

Yeah, the college transcripts are the new "thing we cannot get" to conservatives and their fearful base. Not because they want to see grades, but because they want to know his place of birth. Unfortunately, even if they had the transcripts they would prove nothing, because no college I know of investigates the veracity of information like birthplace on a college application. Further, college transcripts are protected by privacy laws so Trump knows he can go on and on about this without consequence or ever actually seeing them.

In other words, raise doubt based on documents one knows can only be made public by the person the documents concern. If I were to ask whether Mitt Romney was really born in the United States or whether he was born in Mexico, would anyone care? Of course not, because everyone knows Mitt was born in the United States. Right? But have we ever seen his birth certificate? His college transcripts? Do we know as fact that he was born here? Have we seen hospital records?

As surrogates come forward trying to make excuses for Mitt Romney's defense and embrace of Donald Trump's irrational, hate-filled birther rants, a picture emerges of a man who is terrified of his conservative base, who is so amoral and wanton that he will sell his support to the highest bidder, and who is not fit to step into any elected office, much less the Oval Office.

It's funny how Mitt Romney likes firing people until it comes to the guy who gets to say "You're fired" on television every week.

Steve Benen lists Romney's leadership failures since he emerged as the frontrunner. If Romney can't stand up to Trump, he's not likely to stand up to any other bully on the national or international stage either. Then again, maybe he doesn't have to, since Grover Norquist just wants a guy who can hold a pen to sign legislation Norquist wants.

Mitt fits that description perfectly. No ideas. No character. No leadership. But he can hold a pen. And bow to Donald Trump.

Transcript after the jump:

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What do you do when you say something foolish just to excite your base (and loosen their wallets) but it's caught on tape so what you said gets you in even more trouble in what was once a very "red district" that has recently become much bluer through redistricting? Well, if you're Republican Mike Coffman you make yourself look even more ridiculous.

via 9News in Denver:

DENVER - Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) repeatedly answered with a one-line talking point when asked by 9NEWS about his recent comments questioning President Barack Obama's birthplace and whether he's really an American at heart.
...
Coffman reiterated that he misspoke and apologized, but would not elaborate. Coffman offered the same one-line explanation to every question asked, including when he was asked if he would answer any question with a different response.
...
"I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don't know that," Coffman told donors. "But I do know this, that in his heart, he's not an American. He's just not an American."

Informed that the comments were recorded, the Coffman campaign issued a written statement.

"I misspoke and I apologize. I have confidence in President Obama's citizenship and legitimacy as President of the United States," the statement read. "I don't believe the President shares my belief in American Exceptionalism. His policies reflect a philosophy that America is but one nation among many equals," the statement read. "As a Marine, I believe America is unique and based on a core set of principles that make it superior to other nations."

Coffman knows he stepped in it with his idiotic remarks and is now just trying to lay low till this blows over. The lingering stink will stay with him though through the election.

If you live in Colorado's 6th district you do have a far better choice in Joe Miklosi.

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Here we go again with more birthers coming out of the woodwork making embarrassments of themselves. CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke to one of them this Monday evening, but here's some background first from Think Progress.

North Carolina Republicans Go Birther: Certificate Is A ‘Poorly Reproduced Forgery’:

North Carolina is apparently ground zero of the latest resurgence of the birther movement, as a number of Republican candidates in the state are expressing doubts about President Obama’s birthplace.

ThinkProgress has previously noted that Richard Hudson, running for a congressional seat in the state’s 8th district, said Obama is “hiding something on his citizenship,” while the Charlotte Observer rescinded its endorsement of Jim Pendergraph, running in the 9th district, after he expressed his own doubts about Obama’s birth certificate.

Now, the Observer reports that Dr. John Whitley, one of Hudson’s opponents in tomorrow’s GOP primary, has also gone birther. He declared Obama’s birth certificate a “poorly reproduced forgery” after comparing it to the Hawaiian birth certificate of one of his campaign workers. “There is a tremendous amount of smoke here,” Whitley said. “In fact, it’s called a smoke screen.”

In the interview above, Anderson Cooper just simply asked Whitley for what proof he had that the birth certificate was a forgery and allowed Whitley to spin himself into looking completely ridiculous. Whitley's proof that the birth certificate was a forgery? Wingnut Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "investigation" that we wrote about here: Arpaio Probe Offers Boilerplate Birtherism in Dramatic Presser.

When asked who any of Arpaio's so-called experts were that he was relying on, Whitley couldn't name them. When asked how he knew his friend's birth certificate was legitimate, his answer was basically that he'd looked at it himself, even though he concurred that he was not an expert on evaluating documents and records.

I really wish these yahoos would get called out for exactly what they're doing in one of these interviews, which is race baiting. Sadly I guess this still goes over well in Republican primaries in North Carolina, since we've got so many of them playing this ugly game. Shameful.

(Note on the video clip above. The CNN broadcast had problems with their video hanging up during a portion of the interview, but the audio continued to work, so it's not a problem with our servers or your computer.)

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Here we go again. Another day, another story about a Republican feeding into the birtherism that still runs rampant among their electorate.

From Think Progress -- Rep. Stearns On Obama Birth’s Certificate: ‘The Question Is, Is It Legitimate?’:

New video of a February town hall shows Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) pandering to birthers and raising questions about the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate.

When Stearns met with constituents on February 25 in Belleview, one of the first questions came from an elderly gentleman who insisted that Obama was not born in the United States and ought to be impeached. Rather than correcting the man and informing him that the president is indeed a natural-born American citizen, Stearns coddled the conspiracy theory by implying that Obama’s birth certificate may be a forgery — “is it legitimate?” Stearns wondered aloud.

The Florida congressman noted that there is a “general consensus” that Obama “produced a birth certificate,” but gave no indication that he agreed with this sentiment. He also advanced an phony conservative meme, debunked by Dave Weigel and others, that Hawaii’s governor was incapable of locating the birth certificate. Read on...

Video via Youtube user FlaPolActCoop.

Think Progress has the transcript posted for those having trouble hearing them and as they noted, the very next questioner was a man asking "if there was a grand jury looking into the veracity of Obama’s birth certificate."

Steve Benen at Rachel Maddow's place has more on some recent poll numbers with just how pervasive this is in the South -- Zombie lies linger in the Deep South.

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Lawrence... Lawrence... Lawrence... if you invite a crazy person on the air as you admitted here, what else did you expect you'd get from her? Lawrence O'Donnell invited birther queen Orly Taitz on The Last Word to see if she would finally admit that President Obama was born in the United States now that he's released the long form birth certificate, and she was non-responsive and just started talking about her next conspiracy theory.

O'Donnell finally had enough of her and threw her off the air. The media really needs to decide that this crazy person's fifteen minutes of fame are up. We've got more important things to discuss, like getting Americans back to work.

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Lawrence O'Donnell didn't give Birther and recent Donald Trump fan Franklin Graham the kind of pass he got from Christiane Amanpour on This Week, but man, was this interview painful to watch. O'Donnell laid Graham's hypocrisy bare when it came to pretending that he didn't know full well that our President is a Christian, but he let him off the hook for the Birther nonsense, just like Amanpour did.

O'Donnell had an opportunity to really go after Graham when he gave his blathering answer as to whether he'd actually given up everything when he supposedly devoted his life to Christ, but he just allowed Graham to ramble on and make a fool of himself instead of a doing a little follow-up.

I don't know how much money the Grahams take in every year, but I imagine they're doing pretty well if they could afford to be flying Sarah Palin around on private jets awhile back.

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John King talked to Virginia's wingnut birther Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli about today's ruling by Judge Henry Hudson that the individual mandate in the health care law is unconstitutional. Cuccinelli dismissed concerns that this might create uncertainty for employers in Virginia and said he hoped that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to turn down hearing the case.

Cuccinelli also defended immediately raising campaign funds from the ruling, painting himself as the victim who's going to have powerful interests coming after him, rather than the fact that he's been using the issue for political gain from day one.

Par for the course, ignored in this conversation... Judge Hudson's conflict of interests. Also ignored, whether or not conservatives getting their wish if the Supreme Court does take the case and rules against it, that potentially opening the door back up to a public option.

CNN Transcript:

KING: Dan Lothian at the White House -- Dan pointing out a legal ruling that reignites the political debate. Now let's get the perspective of the man who challenged the law and won, at least this first round. Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli of Virginia joins us from Richmond tonight. Sir, I'm holding the decision here from Judge Hudson. You win the case on this round. You just heard Dan Lothian note there are two other cases upholding the law. One of them in Virginia --

CUCCINELLI: Right.

KING: What do you think makes this decision better than the other two?

CUCCINELLI: Well, whenever you have a state as a party with the federal government, you're in sort of a different category. And the next one of these is coming up Thursday in Florida when they have their merits hearing down in Florida. Probably get a ruling in January or February time frame in that case. There are 25 total cases running across the country.

Certainly you're going to see a series of rulings, but even in the two we've seen so far that went the federal government's way on the individual mandate; the federal government was ruled against in both cases on their tax argument. And there are two arguments in this case. The individual mandate, whether or not it's constitutional, and whether or not the penalty, if you disobey the government instruction that you must buy their government-approved insurance is a tax.

And the federal government lost again on the tax argument in addition to the individual mandate today. This is obviously a very important ruling. But as you've pointed out here on this show, this one is probably going to the Supreme Court. We hope it gets there soon because it certainly introduces an amazing amount of uncertainty for our whole economy.

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