National Review: Calmly, slowly step back from Arpaio

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said last week that an investigation by his "cold case posse" has led him to believe President Barack Obama's birth certificate is a "computer-generated forgery." The Area 51 enthusiast in me wishes he were right. But the sober part of my brain (all of it as of 8:30 a.m EST) tells me he's not.

So does this editorial in the conservative National Review, which stops just short of calling Arpaio a total nut:

Republicans who have chosen to associate with the birthers have done their party and their country a disservice. And as Sheriff Arpaio settles comfortably into that political mental ward, the same must be said of those Republicans who choose to associate themselves with him more broadly. Those who cannot distinguish between the birthers’ flim-flam and the critical questions that face our nation in 2012 will not win and do not deserve to.