They know this is the place where I was born and raised.” 
 
 The line, which prompted laughter and then cheers from the roughly 5,000 people gathered here, was an apparent reference to the long-debunked conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa, and therefore not Constitutionally qualified to be president. But the Romney campaign quickly pushed back against questions about whether Romney was invoking “birtherism.” 
 
 “The governor has always said, and has repeatedly said, he believes the president was born here in the United States,” said adviser Kevin Madden. “He was only referencing that Michigan, where he is campaigning today, is the state where he himself was born and raised.” 
 
 A campaign aide told BuzzFeed, on condition of anonymity, that Romney did not plan the birth certificate joke in advance, and that it was an “off-the-cuff reference to him being a homegrown guy of Michigan” that was wrongly interpreted by the press. "Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt emailed reporters. Romney this year defended his alliance with Donald Trump, an outspoken "birther," but Romney made clear he disagreed with Trump on the issue. But Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.” 
 
 Meanwhile, the reaction from the crowd of Republicans here was largely enthusiastic, with some laughing it off as a politically incorrect joke, and others treating it as a welcome attack on what they believe to be the coverup of the president’s birthplace. Obama spokesman: That Romney birth certificate joke is “gutterball politics” 
 
 posted at 4:17 pm on August 24, 2012 by Allahpundit 
 
 In case you’re wondering what it takes to offend a campaign whose allies have accused Romney of tax evasion based on anonymous “sources” and blamed him for leaving a steelworker’s wife to die from cancer uninsured, here you go. There are real reasons to get this guy out of office," Romney said in April 2011. “[Romney] was born and raised in Michigan and as far as Obama goes, his grandma was there at his birth and his grandma has never been outside Kenya,” Cayline said. Sure, they’ll spend three days navel-gazing about Romney’s dumb joke, but as long as Todd or Bob Schieffer or some other big name TV journalist sighs afterward and admits that it’s silly to spend three days on this, well, then that’s proof that they have “integrity” after all.
– Mitt Romney's joke at a rally today that "no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate" is living on. (It was "off the cuff," an aide tells BuzzFeed.) Some reaction: Obama campaign: Romney has long "embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them." His "decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America." Romney himself: "No, no, (it's) not a swipe" at Obama, he tells CBS. "I've said throughout the campaign and before, there's no question about where he was born. He was born in the US. This was fun about us, and coming home. And humor, you know—we've got to have a little humor in a campaign." Greg Sargent, Washington Post: "Maybe this will get chalked up to Romney’s awkwardness and get dismissed, but it looks to me like a major mistake. Coming just after days spent debating Todd Akin’s 'legitimate rape' remark, this is again a reminder of the extreme voices in the GOP, which Romney has at times been slow to denounce." Allahpundit, Hot Air: "In case you’re wondering what it takes to offend a campaign whose allies have accused Romney of tax evasion based on anonymous 'sources' and blamed him for leaving a steelworker’s wife to die from cancer uninsured, here you go." Still, he thinks it was silly of Romney to have handed the media such easy pickings.