Rep. Michele Bachmann no longer appears troubled about President Barack Obama’s place of birth.

In fact, in an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday, Bachmann, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012, told George Stephanopoulos that the certificate of live birth issued by Obama presidential campaign more than three years ago “should settle it” and that she “takes the President at his word.”

Upon further follow-up by Stephanopoulos, Bachmann replied that Obama’s place of birth “is not the main issue facing the United States right now” and that the focus should be on the national deficit.

Earlier in the week, however, Bachmann, appearing on Fox News with Jeanine Pirro, seemed to place importance on the ongoing “birtherism” conspiracy, saying that “all [Obama] had to do is just answer some questions.”

“I think the president has neglected to focus on answering that question for people, and that’s why a lot of people still have it lingering in their minds,” she added.

The assertion that Obama had not done enough to alleviate concerns about his place of birth was also a topic Bachmann discussed during another interview this week with Sean Hannity of Fox News.

“This has to be the easiest problem to solve,” Bachmann told Hannity. “All the President has to do is show [his birth certificate].”

A poll released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling found that 48 percent of Iowa Republicans continue to question Obama’s place of birth.

One of those Iowans is state Sen. Kent Sorenson, a key Bachmann 2012 supporter, who filed a bill that hoped to require all presidential candidates to place their birth certificate on file. Bachmann, questioned by Stephanopoulos about the Iowa proposed legislation, seemed to agree with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that such state-level laws were not appropriate, but that she would support a change in federal law.

“There is a federal piece of legislation that hasn’t gone anywhere that would also require that candidates put forward their birth certificate. I have no problem giving my birth certificate, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve got one, it’s authenticated, take it,” Bachmann said.

The ABC News exchange from Wednesday morning is embedded below:

On ABC’s Good Morning America, Rep. Michele Bachmann refused to take a stand on whether President Barack Obama was a Christian or not, but did concede that Obama should be taken “at his word” that he’s a U.S. citizen. She also doubled down on her opposition to flex-spending tax credits for breast pumps and weighed in on pop artist Lady Gaga.

GMA host George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann, “Can you just state very clearly that President Obama is a Christian and he is a citizen of the United States?”

Bachmann responded, “Well, that isn’t for me to state, that is for the president to state. And I think that the president makes…”

Stephanopoulos pressed her, “Do you believe it?”

Bachmann said, “When the president makes his statements, I think they need to stand for their own.”

He asked again, “But he has said it very clearly. I’m just asking if you believe it.”

She responded, “Well, I think we should take the president at his word.”

Stephanopoulos pressed her further, “But you can’t say — you can’t sit there and declare that he is a citizen and he is a Christian?”

And Bachmann changed the subject: “You know what I focus on today, today is the two-year anniversary of the stimulus program where we spent a trillion dollars to make sure that unemployment wouldn’t go above eight percent. That’s what I’m worried about because the people in the 6th District of Minnesota are very concerned about job creation.”

He also asked her if she was a fan of Lady Gaga. “You know, I don’t really know that much about Lady Gaga,” Bachmann said. “I hate to say it, I have a lot of children, but I don’t know that much about Lady Gaga.”

Here’s the full interview:

Bachmann’s campaign manager, Gina Countryman, told the Strib that she “has absolutely no reason to question the president’s citizenship, as much as her detractors wish was the case. She’s attending so she can share her passion for our nation’s founding and belief in fiscally responsible, limited government with those in attendance.”

Farah said the newspaper unfairly tarnished Bachmann for her appearance in a “Socialism: A Clear and Present Danger,” a documentary created by Coral Ridge Ministries which has come under fire from a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League, for its statements about the Holocaust.

Farah wrote, “Rep. Michele Bachmann is a target of the local and national media for one very good reason – because she’s an extremely effective advocate of the uniquely American-style of liberty, justice and morality.”

He continued, “Bachmann, who will be a speaker at WND’s ‘Taking America Back’ conference this fall, is the real deal – guts, convictions, the ability to articulate the vision, fearless, uncompromising. We need to support incumbents like her when we take the Congress back in November.”

The event, to be held in Miami Sept. 16–18, offers attendees a choice between “the world of standards and morality, self-government and accountability to God or the world of tyranny and ever-changing moral codes enforced by government.” But while the conference website doesn’t include a schedule of topics yet, the lineup of speakers suggests it could focus on whether Obama is legitimately the president.

The 15 speakers include a Who’s Who of the “birther” movement, and many have ties to the conservative website WorldNetDaily, which is the event’s sponsor. That site’s managing editor and a conference speaker, David Kupelian, penned the piece, “Why I care about Obama eligibility issue.”

Kupelian’s boss, WND founder Farah, is also outspoken in his belief that Obama was not born in the United States. Farah has been instrumental in plugging Corsi’s book, Obama Nation, which questions the legality of an Obama presidency.

Other Farah employees who are speaking: Floyd Brown, who says there’s no proof Obama was born in the the country, and Aaron Klein, who has written a book doubting Obama’s legitimacy.

Also invited to address the confab is Gary DeMar, president of American Vision, a small religious right outfit who has doubts about Obama’s legitimacy.

“Whether Barack Obama was born in the United States is important, but even more important is for him to demonstrate his constitutional loyalty to a nation built on Christian principles,” DeMar wrote in 2009.

Keyes, the perennial Senate and presidential candidate, refuses to refer to Obama as “president” and has filed suit to gain access to Obama’s birth certificate.

Also speaking alongside Bachmann is former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who shares similar views with birthers, having once said, “Send Obama back to Kenya.”

Saturday Night Live alum and tea party activist Victoria Jackson told a rally in April, “Whether he has the birth certificate or not, he’s not an American.”

Only one speaker — Ann Coulter  — has the distinction of taking a firm public stance against “birtherism.” She called the movement’s proponents “cranks,” yet she’ll be sharing the stage in Florida with a line-up that includes a majority of so-called “cranks.”

As will Bachmann, who Farah described Sunday as “one of the leaders in calling for a repeal of Obamacare.”

“She’s a rock star, a principled, liberty-loving woman of conviction.,” he wrote. “It will be a treat to see her and hear her and interact with her in Miami.”

Taitz on MSNBC. Photo: YouTube

The Republican Jewish Coalition hosted lead “birther” Orly Taitz on Sunday as a “special guest,” along with former Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Michele Bachmann. Last month, Bachmann attended a lunch with Taitz and posed for a photo with the former dentist and lawyer who has filed numerous unsuccessful lawsuits alleging President Obama is not an American citizen.

“I believe [Obama] is the most dangerous thing one can imagine, in that he represents radical communism and radical Islam,” Taitz said late last year. “He was born and raised in radical Islam, all of his associations are with radical Islam, and he was groomed in the environment of the dirty Chicago mafia. Can there be anything scarier than that?”

TPM verified with the Republican Jewish Coalition that Taitz was a “special guest” of the event.

Coleman, who took a job with the Republican Jewish Coalition while the Minnesota Senate recount was underway in 2009, says he doesn’t endorse the “birthers” or Taitz’s message.

“There were 600 people at that dinner. I hardly saw her,” Coleman said. “I may have said hello to her, but that’s hardly an endorsement. I think the birthers are way over the edge, but this is America. People have a lot of ideas.”

Taitz, who’s running for Secretary of State in California with the backing of Tea Party activists, is no stranger to controversial statements. Last fall, she told Esquire magazine, “I believe [Obama] is the most dangerous thing one can imagine, in that he represents radical communism and radical Islam: He was born and raised in radical Islam, all of his associations are with radical Islam, and he was groomed in the environment of the dirty Chicago mafia. Can there be anything scarier than that?”

Hat tip: Dump Bachmann.

Savan writes:

Birther seems to have been coined about a year ago, separately, by the conservative bloggers Ed Morrissey and Steve Gilbert. Last December, in dismissing the birth-certificate argument as a “canard,” Gilbert wrote, “The ‘birthers’ are the new ‘truthers.’ ”

But the term could have a three-way byline: David Weigel, of our sister site the Washington Independent, first published the term, on Dec. 7, 2008, although he says he’s been using it conversationally a bit longer. He’s reported on the topic extensively since, discussing the movement on MSNBC and other media outlets. (Morrissey, who blogs for Hot Air, has likewise written often on the movement, which he says in an email he’s “no fan” of.)

Morrissey, in an email shared by Weigel and used here with Morrissey’s permission, says he doesn’t recall where the word was first used:

While I wouldn’t mind sharing the credit here, I don’t have a specific recollection of coining the term.  And I certainly couldn’t tell you where I heard it first, whether in my own head or somewhere else.  If I was the first or tied for the honor, I’d be mildly surprised…

Regardless of its origin, the term has taken off. Google now shows nearly 40 million results on a search of “birther” and “Obama.” It’s no small feat, one that, Morrissey joked in his email to Weigel, he’s “not above putting [...] on my business cards.”

Photo: Mark Dahlager

President Obama’s birth certificate (or purported lack thereof) has been a central piece of rightwing agit-prop, but at the Minnesota State Fair’s crop art exhibit, it’s now a piece of agri-prop. 

Artist Mark Dahlager glued thousands of seeds to a board to create a facsimile of the famous document, adding the tagline “Move on #&%?! Birthers.” (See full sized view at bottom of post.)

Political themes have become a staple at the Fair’s crop art exhibit over the years, but Dahlager’s piece may break new ground by reproducing an actual government document.

Why did he do it? “I actually had another piece planned, but was increasingly irritated by the birther nut jobs and I guess that’s what inspired me,” Dahlager wrote in an email to the Minnesota Independent.

“It took me about 10 hours over 2 weeks — it’s not a technically very good piece (as evidenced by the lack of [an award] ribbon) — but I like it and I got to do a little spleen venting (which is good therapy).”

What does he think his crop art contributes to the debate over Obama’s birth certificate?

I would have to answer your debate question much like Barney Frank did during his recent town meeting. There really is nothing to debate and I have no interest in debating with the equivalent of a dining room table(s). It’s just an expression of my wonderment at a depth of ignorance that is unfathomable.

Photo: Molly Priesmeyer

The card visible at lower right in the photo is a required element of the fair’s crop art competition: a key listing each seed used in the artwork, along with a sample seed. Most categories of the contest require seeds to be from crops grown in Minnesota.

Dahlager (and indeed his family) is an inveterate crop artist, as evidenced by this bumper sticker:

See more political seed art at our Flickr page.

Related: Bachmann inspires seed art homages

I’m not comfortable reading a lot into this. When Taitz friended Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele this week, spokespeople from their offices laughed it off, explaining that their Facebook friends supported Cantor and Steele, and not the other way around. At the same time, Taitz is becoming a sort of national spokeswoman for a fringe movement. It’s strange that these politicians aren’t scrubbing her friend requests.

David Weigel is a politics reporter for the Washington Independent.

“Twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who represents a conservative Republican district in Minnesota. “That’s why I don’t do town meetings.”