Weigel

I try to ignore the birther movement unless it inducts someone important -- a congressman, for example. The (sigh) American Patriot Foundation's announcement that Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (ret.) has signed an affidavit supporting court martialed birther Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is actually a pretty big coup.

How wild is McInerney's statement? This wild:

[I]t is my opinion that LTC Lakin's request for discovery relating to thePresident's birth records in Hawaii is absolutely essential todetermining not merely his guilt or innocence but to reassuring allmilitary personnel once and for all for this President whether hisservice as Commander in Chief is Constitutionally proper. He is the onesingle person in the Chain of Command that the Constitution demandsproof of natural born citizenship. This determination is fundamental toour Republic, where civilian control over the military is the rule.According to our Constitution, the Commander in Chief must now, in theface of serious-- and widely held-- concerns that he is ineligible,either voluntarily establish his eligibility by authorizing release ofhis birth records or this court must authorize their discovery. Theinvasion of his privacy in these records is utterly trivial compared tothe issues at stake here.

And is McInerney a serious person? Yes. He's a West Point graduate who ran the Alaskan air command during the Exxon Valdez disaster. As recently as August 5, he was featured on Fox News and referred to as a network contributor -- he's typically referred to as a network military analyst. He writes and comments fairly frequently about how America could bomb Iran. Point is, he's not some kook, and now he's staking his reputation on... this.