Interested in a Political History of the "Birther" Movement?

Then Reason Contributing Editor David Weigel has many details about the Obama-birth certificate obsessives, over at the Washington Independent. I don't know that I agree with Weigel's contention that the movement "dogs Republicans" (there being so very many other issues that have more bite than a few barkers), but I wholeheartedly concur that this story has legs no evidence will ever trip up, a fact that can't conceivably help the Republican Party unless and until the mother of all Bali birth certificates is magically produced.

Two side notes: 1) I moderated a Freedom Fest panel last week that included Heritage Foundation President Ed Fuelner, Cato Executive Vice President David Boaz, and conservative direct-mail impresario Richard Viguerie, talking mostly about issues of libertarian/conservative faultlines. The very first post-panel question from an audience member was about how the really upsetting thing was Obama's birth certificate (Viguerie, chivalrously, shared the interlocutor's concern). 2) If John McCain had won the presidency, we'd be hearing the same thing, albeit from (mostly) different people.