So we're at the midpoint of Obama's first term in office.
Despite the confident predictions of the birthers who said he wouldn't even be inaugurated. Despite the claims that he would be removed "any day now". Despite tea party rallies and Dr. Orly's "Obama will be removed in 30 days" claim. Despite conspiracy theories and fake grand juries and fake trials and questionable redefinition of the Constitution. Despite pleas for military coups and armed revolts. Despite a constant string of "No" from the courts. Despite pleas for the Congress or Senate to do something - anything.
Despite all that, Obama is not only still in office, but has an approval rating a bit better than Reagan or Clinton was at the midpoint of their first terms.
Look at some of the birther lawyers who held their hopes so early on. Berg seems to be heading to obscurity, with most of his energies taken up with the birtherstani civil war. Kreep is still working on appeals. Dr. Orly is playing attention whore for anyone who will pay attention. Stephen Pidgeon is writing self-published books about Obama's occult connections None of them are doing much legally anymore.
In over two years, the birthers have yet to present any credible evidence. Any facts to back up their claims. Anything to prove their points. Their much vaunted "experts" have almost all been unmasked, and found to be far less than they claimed to be. The more evidence comes in, the more their claims are disproven. All they have now are a threadbare quilt of lies and myths and disproven claims that they have repeated to themselves over and over again in hopes they can convince anyone else.
And in some cases, I suspect they're trying to convince themselves.
Most of the PUMA boards have closed or dwindled down to a couple of closely censored echo chambers. Most of the PUMAs themselves have either been reborn as right-wing tea party types or have faded off into the distance. Most of the birthers that replaced them rarely venture out of their own echo chambers, and when they do, the immediate deluge of facts and evidence to refute them usually sends them scurrying back to those echo chambers.
And it's interesting to note that the latest targets of the birthers are those sites that have been spending time debunking their claims. Witness the current tempest in a teapot about PolitiJab and The Fogbow. Obama Conspiracy, Native and Natural Born Citizenship, this blog here, Oh For Goodness Sake!, Crazy Internet People, Barackryphal, all of those sites have come under recent harassment and attack from the birthers. That tells me one thing.
We've won. And they know it.
I don't see the birthers stopping anytime soon. Doubtless there will be some die-hards picketing at the opening of the Obama Presidential Library sometime in 2020 or so. But at this point all the birthers are doing is chewing old soup over and over again, vomiting forth only tiny changes to long-since disproven lies and claims. They don't seem to be offering anything new or different.
Not even their frothing hate that Obama is still president is new or different. Except to underscore that despite their stamping of feet and childish cries of "He's NOT the President, He's NOT! He's NOT! He's NOT!!!", Obama is still the democratically elected President of the United States.
And the birthers are still a political punchline at best.
