The Press You Don't Want: Chris Nelson Compared with Orly Taitz

If you want to be taken seriously as a politician, you do not want the press drwaing parallels between you and California birther-maniac Orly Taitz. But that's the press South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson gets after losing his bid for the GOP House nomination. Conservative blogger David Weigel notes that conspiracy-theorist Taitz suffered a decisive loss in her primary bid to become California's secretary of state. He then compares her to our man Nelson:

Still, there was a less colorful defeat for believers in that conspiracy over in South Dakota. Chris Nelson, the GOP secretary of state, had speculated that Obama's citizenship might be a scam. He watched a huge early advantage crumble and lost handily to State Rep. Kristi Noem [David Weigel, "Plenty of hype, but a bad night for Orly Taitz and other birthers," Washington Post: Right Now, 2010.06.09].

Nelson's defeat likely had more to do with not campaigning hard enough than stoking the birther fires. But his weasel words on the fact of President Barack Obama's American citizenship left a memorable stain on the reputation he thought would let him coast to a primary victory.