There was all that nonsense during the campaign about Barack Obama‘s citizenship. Nonsense that centered around whether or not he has a valid U.S. birth certificate. Nonsense that everybody thought had been pretty much put to rest:

According to the Associated Press, state officials in Hawaii checked health department records during the campaign and determined there was no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.

The nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org examined the original document and said it does have a raised seal and the usual evidence of a genuine document. In addition, Factcheck.org reproduced an announcement of Obama’s birth, including his parents’ address in Honolulu, that was published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961.

But, lo and behold, the Republican mind is a mysterious thing. Not the deranged far-right Republican mind, either, but the respected four-term Senator Republican mind. Presenting, without further ado, Sen. Richard Shelby, in a question-and-answer with his adoring public in Cullman County, Alabama:

Another local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

Let’s assume you just asked Richard Shelby who his father is. Intellectual honesty — not that I mean to accuse him of possessing any — would require him to answer: “Well, I don’t rightly know, to be honest. There was a man who was living with my mother at the time, and they said he was my father. But, hell, in all these years I’ve never seen a marriage license, so I couldn’t even swear he was her husband. And they certainly never showed me a paternity test.”