Is Tom DeLay doing drugs, or what?

He showed up on MSNBC to chat with Chris Matthews yesterday, and put on a most convincing exhibition of incoherence and confusion:

After a few minutes of chit chat, Matthews asked DeLay about the far right and its conspiracy theories, including whether President Obama is proposing “Hitlerian health care.” Matthews asked, “So you want to get rid of what’s known as Medicare today…[and] replace it with private sector health care?” “Amen brother,” replied DeLay, not realizing that Matthews was asking him a question, not making a statement.

Matthews then asked DeLay whether he is a birther. The former House Majority Leader mistakenly said that he would like to see the President’s “gift certificate” and asked Matthews to personally ask Obama for it. He also compared Obama to “illegal aliens”:
DELAY: Well, I’d like the President to produce his birth certificate. I can. Most illegal aliens here in America can. Why can’t the President of the United States produce their birth certificate? [...]

Chris, will you do me a favor? Will you ask the President to show me his gift certificate — I mean, his — gift certificate — his birth certificate?

MATTHEWS: No, I’m not going to ask him.

DELAY: Oh, c’mon, please!

When Matthews asked DeLay whether anyone has asked him for proof of his birthplace, DeLay responded, “The Democrats sued me for being a resident of Texas. That’s just like asking me for my birth certificate.” “No, it’s not,” responded Matthews.

Just for the record, the Democrats didn’t sue DeLay for being a resident of Texas; being a resident of Texas has never been deemed to constitute grounds for civil or criminal action in any jurisdiction. This is probably not incoherence or confusion, though. Just a case of DeLay’s communication skills being unequal to the task of expressing what the lawsuit was about.