Majority of Republicans are "Birthers" AND "Deathers"

The Plum Line breaks down an interesting new poll today from Research 2000/Daily Kos about the "deather" movement that Sarah Palin drew so much attention to a couple weeks ago. The question asked by the survey:

Do you think the health care reform plan being considered by President Obama and Congress creates “death panels” which have the authority to subjectively determine whether or not a gravely ill or injured person should receive health care based on their “level of productivity in society”?

The question seemed custom-tailored to utilize the same language used by Sarah Palin earlier this month:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care

The Republican results may look kind of familiar:

• 43% - No
• 26% - Yes
• 31% - Not Sure

The majority of Republicans believe that it's at the very least possible that Obama will be effectively euthanizing people. Compare those numbers to a survey conducted by the Research 2000 / Daily Kos at the end of July among self-identified Republicans:

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?

• 42% - Yes
• 28% - No
• 30% - Not Sure

So 58% of Republicans believe that Obama might be a Kenyan and is illegitimately serving as President of the United States.

A majority of modern-day Republicans believe these two things:

1. Obama might not be American.
2. Obama will decide if the plug is pulled on grandma.

This is not a legitimate opposition.