Is it too late to let the South secede?

According to a recent poll, 93% of Democrats believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States; however, only 42% of Republicans and 47% of all Southerners believe it, with 30% of Southerners unsure and 23% thinking he was not.

Now, is it really fair to conclude from this result that Democrats, in general, are more grounded in reality than Republicans, and that Southerners, taken as a whole, are a bunch of ignorant dumbasses?

Well, yes.

This issue is all too symbolic of the problems with the Republican Party over the last 5 to 10 years. They cannot be a credible national political party if their strategy is to promote a version of the facts that is different from reality. I think that strategy worked extremely well for them when they were promoting the Iraq war or questioning John Kerry's medals, but they keep trying to fool all the people all the time, and the pool of fools keeps shrinking.

Thanks to our southern states, the fools have not disappeared altogether. More and more, the South is becoming like the disreputable cousin to the rest of the country, the one we don't want to talk about and are embarrassed to have in the family.