Response to question shows dishonesty

I was not present at the community hall for Mike Crapo’s visit (”Crapo visits Sandpoint,” Daily Bee, Oct. 27), but his responses to questions from what the Bee described as tea party members shows his dishonesty.

For example, I find it difficult to believe that any intelligent, self-respecting politician (even a Republican one) would seriously entertain the notion that Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen and, therefore, not legitimately our president.

The proper response would have been to cite the facts and simply state that the issue is dead, rather than suggesting he needs “to see more background on the issue” to determine if impeachment of Obama is in order. Instead, with the goal of securing his tea party votes, Crapo offers legitimacy to the type of lies that constantly spew from the irresponsible far-right wing of the Republican party and fuel the apparently willfully misinformed tea party. Certainly, in Idaho, it should not be difficult for a Republican politician to be elected without the backing of the tea party.

By the way, I wonder how many tea partiers know that John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone and, therefore, by the strictest sense of the law, not eligible for the presidency. Personally, I think he probably is eligible because the framers of the Constitution could not have foreseen the creation of what was the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone at the time of McCain’s birth. But, still, put that in your Constitution pipe and smoke it.

CHARLES MORTENSEN

Sandpoint