GOP lawmaker backs birther probe in hopes of undoing Obama laws

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) said during a town-hall meeting that he supported investigating President Obama’s birthplace, because if Obama were removed from office, “we can get rid of everything he’s done.”

Speaking at a constituent event earlier this month, the freshman lawmaker said he would back legislation championed by Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) to investigate if Obama was born in Hawaii. 

Yoho said “if it is true” that Obama was born outside the U.S., “it’s illegal, he shouldn’t be there, and we can get rid of everything he’s done, and I said I agree with that.”

In the recording, obtained by Right Wing Watch, Yoho conceded that the questions about the president’s birthplace are a “distraction.”

{mosads}”Is that really how we should be spending our time?” Yoho asked.

The White House and the state of Hawaii have produced copies of the president’s birth certificate indicating that Obama was born in Honolulu.

Yoho has proven a colorful voice at town-hall meetings. In a separate recording released Monday by the same group, Yoho said the 10 percent tanning tax in the president’s signature healthcare law is racist.

“I had an Indian doctor in our office the other day, very dark skin, with two non-dark skin people, and I said this to him — and they started laughing — I said, ‘Have you ever been to a tanning booth?’ and he goes, ‘No, no need,’” Yoho said.

“So therefore it’s a racist tax, and I thought I might need to go get to a sun tanning booth so I can come out and say I’ve been disenfranchised because I got taxed because of the color of my skin.”