On Tuesday night, Jerome Corsi held a seminar in Morristown, New Jersey; in which he pushed his so-called evidence that Obama's birth certificate is a forgery. His arguments appeared to sway Morris County sheriff Ed Rochford into becoming a full-on birther.
Part of the night's discussion included Obama's school transcripts, which birthers have asked to have released. "There were many other talking points that I can say raised 'a red flag'," Rochford said in an email.
Rochford would like to see an Obama representative and Corsi do a joint presentation on the sides of the birth certificate issue to help end the public debate, he said.
"The easiest way to put this to rest is to have the records unsealed," Rochford said in the email. "Mr. Corsi made a very convincing argument that President Obama may not be a natural born citizen of the United States."
Corsi, who is a Morris County resident (he lives in Denville), was invited to speak by area teabaggers. The speech was also endorsed by the Morris County GOP. Among other things, Corsi claimed that Hawaii officials said there was no long-form birth certificate for Obama, as well as supposed discrepancies with his Social Security number. Rochford made some pretty alarming clucking noises about this, saying that Corsi raised some "interesting points."
There's no indication yet whether Rochford might go on a Joe Arpaio-style windmill-tilting expedition. Still, it's pretty unnerving to have another sheriff apparently turning into a 200 percent rabid birther.
Just as disturbing, though, is that the Morris County GOP endorsed Corsi's screed. From what little I know about New Jersey, the brand of Republicanism in Morris County has usually been a moderate one. For them to endorse a yayhoo like Corsi is irresponsible in the extreme. Perhaps someone ought to put a bug in Chris Christie's ear that his home county's party has given succor to a conspiracy theorist.