An old-fashioned outhouse painted red and decorated with the words “Obama Presidential Library,” appeared at the Montana GOP convention this weekend, the local paper in Missoula reported.
A fake birth certificate for the president, stamped with “bulls***,” hung inside, while mock graffiti writing suggested: “For a Good Time call 800-Michelle (crossed out), Hillary (crossed out) and Pelosi, which got a red circle.
The Missoulian said the paint job made it appear that the outhouse, parked outside the Hilton Garden Inn where the convention took place, was riddled with bullets. Although it's not clear who created it, the outhouse also appeared during a Montana Memorial Day parade, the paper said.
The state GOP chairman made a half-hearted attempt to condemn the stunt:
“It’s not something I’m going to agonize over,” State GOP Chairman Will Deschamps told the Missoulian. “Some of that stuff is not real good taste. We do have a president of the United States, and we have to honor that.”
But isn't it something to agonize over? Doesn't a display like this make those who see it question what era we're living in, what it teaches our kids, and what it means to partake in American politics today? Isn't this more than "not real good taste"? Doesn't it call for the harshest condemnation available and doesn't it mean that once and for all birtherism should be buried by the right for all of its racist overtones and ridiculousness?