AZ Sen. candidate Hayworth panders to birthers: ‘We all had to show our birth certificates’ to ‘play football.’

By Andrea Nil

This past weekend, right-wing shock jock and former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth announced he is planning to run against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for U.S. Senate. In an interview on MSNBC’s Hardball With Chris Matthews this afternoon, Hayworth joined the chorus of far right-wing “birthers” who continue insisting that President Obama may have been born in another country:

MATTHEWS: Are you as far right as the birthers? Are you one of those who believes that the President should have to prove that he’s a citizen of the United States and not an illegal immigrant? Are you that far right?

HAYWORTH: Well, gosh, we all had to bring our birth certificates to show we were who we said we were and we were the age we said we were to play football and youth sports. Shouldn’t we know exactly that anyone who wants to run for public office is a natural born citizen of the United States and is who they say they are? [...]

MATTHEWS: Should the Governor of Hawaii produce evidence that the President is one of us, an American? Do you think that’s a worthy past time for the Governor of Hawaii?

HAYWORTH: No, look…I’m just saying the President should come forward with the information, that’s all. Why should we we depend on the Governor of Hawaii?

Watch it:

However, Obama has in fact, presented a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate that includes a raised seal and the signature stamp of Hawaii state registrar. During the 2008 presidential election, the McCain campaign investigated and dismissed claims that Obama is not a natural born citizen. Nonetheless, stubborn right-wingers have continued incessantly demanding Obama provide a long-form version of his birth certificate. Mother Jones reports that birthers are spending exorbitant amounts in legal fees to pursue this conspiracy.