It's Funny Because We're White

Oh look, a Republican Senate campaign telling the President to go back to Africa:

Jason Thompson, the son of former Governor and Wisconson Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, speaking this morning at a brunch attended RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said that "we have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago -- or Kenya." A woman in attendance then chimed in "we are taking donations for that Kenya trip."

There is this sense that birther jokes are the sideshow of the Republican Party, a nutty fringe that keeps conservatives from the serious task of separating those who are smart from those who are poor. But I would argue that birther jokes are the essence of the conservative movement: The involuntary spewings of a resentful class who know they should be better, and hate you for holding them to this.

That's who they are.