Andrew Sullivan, godfather of the Palin birthers, misremembers:Ben Smith argues against [Sarah] Palin's release of a birth certificate because he knows in advance that this would not stop the conspiracy theorists.For the record, I have simply asked for some medical records establishing maternity since the day I found out about the weirdnesses of the story. If provided, I would regard the question as closed as the Obama birther certificate question. I tried to clear this up privately with the McCain campaign, but they had no clue either. The difference between the two cases, as Ben acknowledges, is that one public figure has provided easily available definitive evidence to end the debate; the other says she has - but hasn't.
Wrong. Sullivan published first, on Aug. 31, 2008, and asked questions later. He should admit that he was wrong to give mainstream credibility to a fabricated story without checking the facts. I'd bet at this point that Palin's refusing just to spite him. Besides, Ben Smith is probably right. Conspiracy theorists eat facts for breakfast.
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I'm only a little late on this, but as I was reading I was reminded of my desire to stop fretting over whether the things people say reflect their true feelings and beliefs or whether those things are calculated for personal gain (election, publicity, etc.) I opted, at the time, to begin to take those utterances at face value. And then Trump. Sigh. Back in the soup for me. No one can really be that obtuse.
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