do you laugh or cry at this?

Michael Flower sends me the following poll graphic from MSNBC in reaction to the posting of Obama’s birth certificate. (You can enlarge it by clicking on it.)

In some ways I almost find the 11.3% orange category more appalling than the 37.6% green.

At least the 37.6% are irredeemable naysayers, energetic Obama-haters, and/or racists trying to look respectable by hiding behind pettifogging legalese complaints. We never expect anything much better from such people, even if 37.6% is an alarmingly high proportion of them.

What I really don’t get is the 11.3% who seem to have been persuaded by seeing the birth certificate. Can you imagine that attitude? “Hey, we still haven’t seen any proof that he’s really American! I have my doubts! Oh… Now I’m satisfied. Thanks for showing it to us.”

In principle I ought to love those people, just because I always love people who are willing to have their views falsified by actual evidence rather than continuing to churn out the same old opinionated dogmatic crankery. It’s generally a good sign when people are that responsive to information that surprises or satisfies them.

But in the present case, it seems so bizarre ever to have doubted the point in question in the first place.