"Birther" movement now at war with itself

Two factions, both of which question President Obama's eligibility for his office, are fighting, and now they're going to court.

Published May 5, 2009 11:15PM (EDT)

Pity the poor members of the Birther movement, those people who believe that President Obama was not born in Hawaii or is otherwise ineligible to be president. They've been rejected time and again by a justice system sadly uninterested in their crackpot legal theories, and ignored by a media that's for some reason unconvinced by the complete lack of evidence for the movement's claims. And now, some of their leaders, once friends and allies, are very publicly slamming each other.

Politico's Ben Smith reports that one group of Birthers (the "East Coast faction," in his words), led by early crusader and 9/11 Truther Philip Berg, has filed suit against the West Coast branch of the movement, as represented by the dentist-slash-lawyer Orly Taitz. Berg and his fellow plaintiffs claim, among other things, that Taitz and her crew have been defaming them. The complaint, if you want to read it, is here -- it is, as you might expect if you've been following this saga, long, rambling and a bit incoherent.

For the sake of the judge who has to hear this case, not to mention the movement itself, let's hope this beef can be squashed and everyone can come back together peacefully. Maybe Louis Farrakhan can mediate?


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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