Remember when President Obama...

...had to produce his birth certificate to prove that he was born in the United States? That's right; for anyone who slept through it all, there had been some doubt among Republicans that the president of the United States was even a citizen.

This was after, of course, Republicans called the president a "socialist," a "Marxist," a "Muslim," a "follower of Saul Alinsky," and even -- gasp! -- a "community organizer." (That last one is actually true; but in Republican circles it means "black troublemaker.")

President Obama was also said to have gone on an "apology tour," "didn't understand America," and wanted to turn the U. S. into some sort of European-style socialist welfare state. (If only.) And this was either before, or after, he tried to raise the price of gasoline to wean the U. S. off fossil fuels. Remember that one?

Oh, and the Affordable Care Act -- in case you forgot -- was a "government takeover of health care." (Never mind that it was based on a Republican bill from the 1990s.)

"Now wait a minute," you might be saying, "Not all Republicans made those charges." No, but not one of the GOP elder statesmen -- not John McCain, not Lamar Alexander, not even Richard Lugar (that guy who just lost a primary in Indiana for being too moderate) -- stood up and said, "Hey, cut out all this nonsense! The president is a citizen and that's that!"

Not one.

Last week the Obama campaign hit back. They called on Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns and also asked the former governor of Massachusetts exactly when he left Bain Capital. Was it 1999, as he has stated, or was it 2002, as it appears on SEC documents? It's a simple question, really; I can tell you the year (and even the month) that I left every one of my jobs. And Romney only had one.

So, after all this, do you know what the Republican candidate for president's response was?

He wants an apology.

I think that's what my Jewish friends call "chutzpah."