A group of five Texas congressmen, including Reps. John Culberson, D-Houston, and Ted Poe, R-Humble, is considering whether to require future presidential candidates to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Please, gentlemen. That strikes us as grandstanding in the third degree. The whole thing is getting weirder than those old tabloid stories about house cats giving birth to space aliens. It’s time to say, “Enough, already.”

Poe and Culberson both represent districts that have grown less white and less Republican over the last few years. Poe’s 2nd District, for example, is 64.2 percent white and gave Barack Obama 40 percent of the vote, up from John Kerry’s 37 percent. Culberson’s 7th District is 67.5 percent white and gave Obama 41 percent of the vote, up from Kerry’s 36 percent. Neither is seen to be in danger in 2010, but the rewards of their being seen to back a racially-tinged conspiracy theory are increasingly limited.

Via WorldNetDaily’s Andrea Shea King, who transcribes a stunning interview Posey gave her on her Internet radio show. Posey, who referred to the story as the “eligibility dilemma” and said King brought it to his attention, outright accused the president of hiding something: “The only people that I know who are afraid to take drug tests are the people who use drugs.” He also admitted speaking with “high-ranking members of our judiciary committee” about the chances of Obama “being removed from office,” but said there was “zero chance” of success there.

On how he got the co-sponsors:

I was talking to Neugebauer about it, and my good friend John Culberson was listening to the conversation and so Randy said, “Yeah, I told my staff I wanted to sign up on that already.” And having heard the conversation, Culberson says, “Yeah, sign me up.” And the judge (Carter) was sitting in the next row listening to the conversation and he said, “By God, sign me up!” So you know, we might start getting a little bit of steam here pretty soon. I didn’t strong arm these people. I haven’t begged anybody to sign on this thing, I haven’t asked anybody, really. The people that come up and slap me on the back and say, “Good luck to you!” I say, “Hey, there’s room for you on here!” And of course, they start doing the moonwalk, you know? “Oh no, no, no, congressman!” But you know, times change and time wounds all heels.

On the media and what seems to be a one-way feud with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow:

You may recall that [Stephen] Colbert used the “F” word to describe on national TV a relationship my grandmother, bless her heart, deceased grandmother, must have had with an alligator to come up with the likes of me. [Keith] Olbermann named me the Worst Person in the World and angry woman Rachel Maddow has just trashed me on every show, and asked me to come on her show. You know, I won’t do it cause she’s got a lousy, low rated show, and I don’t want to give her the ratings, quite frankly. I’d love to go on and debate her and set the record straight.

UPDATE: More from the interview, Posey recounts his conversation with Goodlatte:

He said, “You’re trying to do what is right and I want to be a part of that. I said, “There’s just not too many other people around here who want to be a part of that.” He said, “Well, some day they may regret it.”

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Meanwhile, Michigan Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra doesn’t have a gavel in his hand, so obviously the two situations are exactly the same. He tweets:

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

I suppose that makes Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the equivalent of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his mind. Oh, and it seems Hoekstra has company. Here’s Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), via The Hill:

good to see Iranian people move mountains w social media, shining sunlight on their repressive govt – Texans support their bid for freedom

Oppressed minorities includeHouseRepubs: We are using social media to expose repression such as last night’s D clampdown shutting off amends

Now that’s the kind of moral clarity we’re missing from President Obama: self-aggrandizing delusion that insults the people who actually stand up to oppression. They’re like the would-be rappers who want to get shot in order to prove their gritty authenticity.

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He didn’t so much take questions as ask the audience of mostly conservative bloggers and movement staffers for new media ideas. He came up with one on the spot: everyone should call Congress on noon on April 15 and “light up the phone lines until sparks shoot out.” Someone watching the luncheon online suggested that the message be “No new taxes, no new borrowing.” Culberson signed on right away.

“We really are enslaving future generations with all of this debt,” said Culberson. “We have a president who wants to turn us into … I used to say France, but I think you’re going to jump right beyond that into the vestiges of the Soviet Union.”

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