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Isn’t it funny how news stories only reach critical mass when they are bestowed with catchy neologisms? In this case, coverage of the overlapping series of conspiracy theories relating to Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and therefore his citizenship and eligibility for the Presidency, was diffuse and fringy until the blogosphere could settle on calling proponents of theories “Birthers”.

Now, well, just google birther or plug it into your RSS reader.

I hope this thing burns brightest right before it dies.

The Birthers are, by and large, kooks. Most on the right get this. Witness Mr. Kevin Williamson at NRO:

“…[Birthers] engage in intemperate, paranoid, hysterical speculation, and not always from the best of motives. One has to be prudent about one’s associations….You can’t separate birtherism from the birthers, and the folks screaming at Mike Castle down in Delaware don’t sound to me like obvious contributors to a responsible, sensible conservatism….”

(Though here’s Mark Steyn, and Andy McCarthy, also at NRO, in dissent; they stand uncomfortably near the kooks.)

And elected conservatives have been even more vocal in their dismissal.

For the record, here’s a copy of Obama’s birth certificate provided by the State of Hawaii (’it’s a photoshop!’, you’ll cry).