Bill Armistead is the former chairman (2011–2015) of theAlabama Republican Party, and is probably most famous for his sympathies withvariousbirther conspiracies. In 2012 Armisteadrecommended that his voters watch Joel Gilbert’s fringe birther movie “Dreams of My Real Father”,which claims that President Obama’s real father is American labor activistFrank Marshall Davis, and that Obama is accordingly pursuing Davis’s “dreams ofa forced imposition of a classic Stalinist-Marxist agenda upon America at homeand abroad,” by for instance working with ACORN to cause the subprime mortgagecrisis as part of a plan to “use minorities and the poor to collapsecapitalism.” Armistead, on his side, stated that he had “verified that it isfactual, all of it,” but has given no indication that he knows what “verified”means. Due to the current culture on the right wing, the claimdidn’t not lose Armistead favor with the leaders of the Republican Party.

Armistead is of course not the only birther in the AlabamaRepublican party. Prominent birther, State Republican Committee member, andformer Congressional candidate Hugh McInnishhas been pushing it for years:“In my white paper I will present what Ibelieve is conclusive evidence that the Obama birth certificate is a forgeryand Obama himself a forgerer. […] It would mean that the most powerful nationin the world is under the direction of a felon. It might mean, as some legalexpert contend, that all of his executive actions are null and void.” Asmost people making the same claim, McInnish seems systematically unable todistinguish “conclusive evidence” from “delusional gibberish”.

On other issues Armistead tends to take the position you’dexpect someone like him to take. As for gay marriage,Armistead called the Supreme Court’s Decision “an affront to the Christian principles that thisnation was founded on.” And of courseThe Alabama Republican Party stood “firmly behind JudgeRoy Moore to serve as the next Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court” in 2012, whichis probably enough to merit an entry in our Encyclopedia on its own. During therecent brouhaha over gay marriage in Alabama, Armistead wrote an impassioneddefense for Moore’s actions,also warning about God’s judgment.