How can you tell which GOP candidate is the most fanatical fundamentalist, in a pack of fanatical fundamentalists?

He’s the one who gets the coveted endorsement of Birther Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa “Family” Leader: Rick Santorum wins support of influential Iowa evangelical.

Influential Iowa conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats Tuesday endorsed fellow social conservative Rick Santorum for president, saying, “I believe Rick Santorum comes from us, not to us.”

Vander Plaats made the announcement immediately after the Christian conservative organization group he heads, The Family Leader, said it would be staying neutral in the race. Fellow activist Chuck Hurley joined Vander Plaats is offering his personal backing of Santorum immediately after the announcement.

Curious, isn’t it, that the mainstream media completely miss Vander Plaats’s belief in a racist conspiracy theory? He gets quoted instead as an “influential evangelical.”

This is one reason the political process has become so debased; the media are not doing their jobs. They put everyone on the same level of credibility, and lunatic Birthers are presented as authoritative sources, with no context. They shy away from making any kind of value judgments, even of people who are obviously not playing with a full deck.