Why Is Jan Brewer Getting Credit For Vetoing a Whacko Birther Bill?

Chris Matthews: "I'm so impressed with Gov. Brewer" for vetoing the 'Birther' bill. Why?

The 'Birther' bill vetoed by Brewer, requiring presidential candidates to present a long-form certificate of birth before eligibility to stand for election in Arizona was so ridiculous and extreme it also required as documentation a certificate of circumcision to prove U.S. citizenship.

Jan Brewer was a Republican low- to mid-level political operative her entire career. She chanced upon the Arizona governorship through its succession laws after Janet Napolitano resigned the office to become President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security. Brewer then rode the despicable 'show me your papers' law, now tangled up in the courts, to electoral victory. In the interim, she ran away from the media, riding a wave of anti-immigrant xenophobia, a low point for her gun-violent state, made a fool of herself with a couple of mind-melts in front of the cameras, and claimed at least two victims on a Medicaid transplant list when she callously slashed its funding without considering budget alternatives to restore the funding or even that matching federal funds would offset any minimal budget shortfall. It was playing politics with people's lives — critically ill people — who DIED for a lousy $5 million.

The fact is, the Republican establishment has gone after Donald Trump with all guns blazing, from the Club for Growth to Karl Rove, Tim Pawlenti, Mitt Romney, and Eric Cantor, not to speak of establishment right wing media. It's a coordinated assault on Trump to discredit him on the Birther issue — a HUGE general election GOP killer — and stop his GOP trainwreck momentum in the polls. You think Jan Brewer didn't get the memo, Mr. Matthews? If this bill were in any substantive way politically advantageous to Republican Party political prospects in the 2012 election, Jan Brewer would have signed it, sight unseen, no matter how absurd and ridiculous it was.

Jan Brewer is a follower, not a leader; a right wing politico, not a visionary who is bucking a trend or going against the grain of her Party handlers. Jan Brewer — "impressive" and "interesting"? Please.