Rick Perry Is Either a Birther or a Jedi

In an interview published Sunday in Parade magazine, Rick Perry was asked whether he believes the president was born in the United States. His response, which you’ll find below, has caused some alarm, because it makes Perry appear to be aligning himself with the one-roll-of-Reynolds-Wrap-per-hat faction of the Tea Party.

Frankly, I’m more concerned with his deteriorating ability to make anything that resembles sense. If I understand the rules correctly, once he bows out of the presidential campaign, he’ll go back to being our governor. And the more he talks, the more I become convinced that one of three things is happening: He’s having one really long aneurism, I’m having one really long aneurism, or Rick Perry is the only Jedi in Jedi history to do his shopping at JoS. A. Bank. Here’s the exchange:

Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States? I have no reason to think otherwise.

That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”– Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

But you’ve seen his. I don’t know. Have I?

You don’t believe what’s been released? I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

And? That came up.

And he said? He doesn’t think it’s real.

And you said? I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.