The birther conspiracy theory should now be placed on the ash heap of presidential derangement syndromes that date back to at least the John Birch Society’s founder declaring President Dwight David Eisenhower a ‘dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy’ — or, a Soviet spy. The sad difference is that back then William F. Buckley had the decency to denounce that fringe fear-mongering because he realized that it could discredit the entire conservative movement. Today, because the fringe is blurring with the base, conservative leaders seem afraid to confront the unhinged extremists in their midst.

— John Avlon, writing in the Daily Beast.

every 10 seconds

Someone posts something about the royal wedding on a social network — that’s 9,000 mentions per day.

213

Number of billionaires in China; there are 417 in the U.S.

I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I do chase women, like the prime minister of Italy, but that’s about it.

— West Virginia gubernatorial candidate Arne Moltis (D), in an interview with the Beckley Register Herald.

18.3%

Of the nation’s total personal income was a payment from the government for Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits and other programs in 2010, up from 12% just a decade ago, and an all-time high. Wages accounted for the lowest share of income — 51% — since the government began keeping track in 1929, according to USA Today.

Any discussion of his birthplace is a code word. It calls upon ancient racial fears.

— Jesse Jackson, in an interview with Politico, on questioning President Obama’s citizenship. Jackson added that this “is the most personal attacks on any president ever. Whose personal religion has ever been challenged before? That has strong racial overtones.”

Obama finally put to bed that birther jive.
Though we always knew that crap was contrived.
Now we’ve seen the document,
And it’s a legal testament
That proves Barack was born — in Hawaii — alive!

The question is no longer whether Donald Trump has disqualified himself from being a serious presidential candidate (because he has, a long time ago). Instead, it’s whether he’s staining the GOP by association. How much longer can serious Republicans stay silent as Trump — who visits New Hampshire today — hijacks this whole process? Simply put, what Trump is doing is the equivalent of a GOP presidential candidate in 1995 campaigning on the Vince Foster rumors, or a candidate in 1968 suggesting that LBJ was connected to the Kennedy assassination. It is crazy conspiracy talk that has gone mainstream. And while Republicans quietly dismiss Trump as a sideshow, they aren’t saying a lot publicly. What are they afraid of?

— NBC’s First Read.

n reporting that Pres. Obama released his so-called long form birth certificate, Ben Smith at right-leaning Politico.com gives voice to the inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom that the president and his team bowed to pressure from birthers like Donald Trump:
Seeking to put an end to the “birther” conversation — and, incidentally, elevating Donald Trump on the day [...]

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