This is a post in two parts. Part One is, who was Orly Taitz and whatever happened to her? And Part Two is, why the hell is driftglass writing about Orly Taitz?
To begin Part One, no, Orly Taitz is not dead. The title of the post is meant ironically. Or metaphorically. Or photosynthetically.
One of those writerly things.
Anyway, no, she's not dead, just irrelevant and nearly forgotten. When last the world heard from Orly Taitz she was living in Laguna Niguel, California and owned a dental practice. But not so long ago, she was the tip of the spear in a massive conspiracy to cripple the presidency of Barack Obama and maybe get him impeached, while at the same time putting Donald Trump in contention for the 2016 Republican nomination.
From Mother Jones, August 10, 2009:
Meet the Birthers
Who are these people, really?
Born in the former Soviet republic of Moldavia, Orly Taitz is a peroxide-blonde SoCal dentist with a law degree from an online academy and a black belt in Taekwondo. More than anyone else, she has vaulted birthers—their preferred nomenclature is “doubters” or the “eligibility movement”—into the public eye.
In 2008, Taitz helped to bring a lawsuit on behalf of Alan Keyes, disputing the validity of Obama’s birth certificate. This year, she hit the headlines again when she filed another lawsuit from an Army reserve major who charged that “Barry Soetoro” was not his lawful commander in chief. Both suits were rejected, prompting Taitz to accost Supreme Court justices John Roberts and Antonin Scalia at public events to demand an investigation into the matter...
Taitz wasn't alone. The Mother Jones article has bios on all the leading birthers, including Philip Berg "a 9/11 Truther who hopped the birther train after a brief detour with the PUMA crowd—the small but noisy band of Hillary Clinton supporters who refused to accept that Obama had won the 2008 Democratic primary.", Alan Keyes "The perennial candidate, anti-gay crusader, and anti-abortion activist is nevertheless perhaps the birther movement’s most credible member—which isn’t saying a lot. A party to the Taitz lawsuit challenging Obama’s eligibility to hold the presidency, Keyes, who calls Obama a 'radical communist' and a 'usurper'", Dr. Ron Polarik (not his real name) who claimed to be a “document imaging” expert, Andy Martin (not his real name) who started the rumor that Obama was a secret Muslim.
Swiftboat scumbag Jerome Corsi joined in, as did Fox News' very own Lou Dobbs, and on and on.
And there were even elected Republican federal officeholders who maybe were cautious enough not to fully and publicly embrace the entire bull goose loony lie, but were more than happy to go on the record as having "questions" about Obama's birthplace. That list included senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), representative Bill Posey (R-Fla.), representative Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and representative John Sullivan (R-Okla.)
Do you remember that Taitz also sued over Obama's Social Security number? She did.
From the Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2011:
Orly Taitz Raises a New Issue: Obama's Social Security Number
In an interview with Washington Wire, she now says that Mr. Obama once used a Social Security number that was not assigned to him.
She also sued to get him off the ballot in 2012.
From the Topeka Capital-Journal, September 20, 2012:
Taitz files Kansas suit to block Obama candidacy.
Taitz was the Laura Loomer of her day: the louder and crazier she got, the more media attention she got, and the more Republican "friends" she began to gather on Facebook.
Because any media oxygen you give to a fanatic only encourages them.
From Politico, July 27, 2009:
Birther leader: GOP is with me
Orly Taitz, the California attorney-dentist leading the charge of the so-called birthers movement, is boasting on her blog that she’s made some high-profile “friends” on Facebook: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor and GOP Reps. Mary Bono Mack and Cynthia Lummis.
“I am in total disbelief and greatly honored,” Taitz wrote on her blog today after Cantor appeared as one of her Facebook “friends.” “To me it means that the leadership of the Republican party understands the importance of the issues and legal cases I brought forward. I hope more congressmen and senators join and either become additional plaintiffs or bring to the House and Senate judicial committee hearings the issues of Obama’s illegitimacy to presidency as well as suspected illegal activities by Obama and his supporters. “
The birthers argue that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore not eligible to serve as president. Obama’s birth certificate and all credible evidence show that he was, in fact, born in Hawaii.
Republican National Committee press secretary Gail Gitcho said she has been deluged with calls about Steele’s “friend” status with Taitz today — a day when the RNC was trying to roll out its health care counter-agenda...
From Salon, May 17, 2010:
Michele Bachmann pals around with birther queen Orly Taitz
The Minnesota congresswoman was photographed with the one woman in America with crazier ideas about Barack Obama
Wonderful news! Big-haired Minnesota Congressloon Michele Bachmann was finally photographed with crazy attorney/dentist and insatiable lover Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers.
The Tea Party Patriots invited both of them to speak at a lunch in California on Friday. Taitz claims Birtherism didn't come up, but that's literally the only thing she talks about, so I'm not sure if I believe her.
And then, inevitably, the Exploiter Of Broken People took her side.
And from that moment on, with Hate Radio and Fox News and most of the legacy media happy to go along for the ride, Trump used this ridiculous, racist lie to make himself the center of attention. From then on, it was Trump versus Obama. Co-equals. And when Obama was finally pushed to the point where he thought, fine, I'll disclosed the birth certificate so we can get on with actual, important business, it was Donald Trump that the legacy media rushed to interview.
And he made a seven-course meal out of it.
The CNN headline?
Donald Trump to vet Obama's birth certificate
So that was the end of it, right? Finally done with this nonsense?
Nope.
From USA Today, December 2013:
Donald Trump and Orly Taitz Reinvigorate 'Birtherism' After Hawaii Plane Crash
And from CNN, four years later, November 29, 2017:
President Donald Trump isn’t convinced Barack Obama was born in the United States after all.
That’s according to a New York Times piece, which contains these two chilling paragraphs:
“In recent months, they say, Mr. Trump has used closed-door conversations to question the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. He has also repeatedly claimed that he lost the popular vote last year because of widespread voter fraud, according to advisers and lawmakers.
“One senator who listened as the president revived his doubts about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate chuckled on Tuesday as recalled the conversation. The president, he said, has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States. The senator asked not to be named to discuss private conversations.”
So, that's what Birtherism did for Donald Trump. But what about Orly Taitz?
Well, she's still nuts and still desperately trying to claw her way back into the spotlight, but now she's just a joke. The last "news" item about her I could find is from January 2021 from an outfit called Law & Crime. The headline:
Orly Taitz Accuses VP Harris and Sen. Schumer of Borderline ‘Criminal’ Conduct in Bizarre Attempt to Shut Down Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial
The Wikipedia pages on her are wild. Just paragraphs and paragraphs of nutso accusations and dozens of transparently ridiculous lawsuits. Stuff you've heard about and stuff I'll bet you've never heard about like...
- Obama's first act as president was to donate money to Hamas, which she claims will be used to build Qassam rockets. And,
- The FEMA camps conspiracy theory: Obama is having the Federal Emergency Management Agency build internment camps for "Anti-Obama dissidents". And,
- That Osama bin Laden was killed years before 2011 when he actually died, with his body kept on ice, and the announcement of his death was timed to divert attention from an upcoming court case she was litigating challenging Obama's citizenship.
Back when her madness was useful and exploitable by Republicans, she was everywhere, being interviewed by everyone. But once she reached her sell-by date and her crazy bitch ravings were no longer useful, she became just another rusted, used-up tool. Discarded like a used condom in the same ash heap of broken people where momentarily-useful cranks and crackpots like Mike Lindell and Laura Loomer are headed.
End of Part One.
Coming soon: Part Two -- Why the hell is driftglass writing about Orly Taitz?
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