‘Birth of an Obsession’
Spencer Kornhaber has a fantastic piece about the Birthers up at the OC Weekly — a lengthy profile of Orly Taitz, the dentist with a degree from an
Jul 31, 202043K Shares2.1M Views
Spencer Kornhaber has a fantastic piece about the “Birthers” up at the OC Weekly — a lengthy profile of Orly Taitz, the dentist with a degree from an (accredited!) online law school who’s become the “queen” of the movement.
A few things about Taitz.
The first I heard of her was in November 2008, when I interviewed California lawyer Gary Kreep about his work for Alan Keyes, the tragic fringe candidate (a Harvard-educated diplomat who has been utterly discredited by his runs for office) who sued to deny Barack Obama California’s 55 electoral votes. Kreep told me that he’d also been helping out a “woman who immigrated from Russia” and whose legal filings, reflecting the language gap, needed to be cleaned up. I met her at a December 2008 press conferencethat followed the Supreme Court’s denial of cert on one of Philip Berg’s many anti-Obama lawsuits. I ran into her again at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, where she was doing interviews (one with Esquire, she claimed) and helping out Carl Swenssonin his effort to empanel “citizen grand juries” that could bring down the president, somehow. Both times, I talked to Taitz at length—the second time, she led me to the cafeteria of the Knob Creek range to show me sheafs of documents (many of them listing other Americans named “Barack Obama,” which she found suspicious) and ask me why I hadn’t written about them.
I ran into the same problem that Kornhaber did — for all of Taitz’s legwork, none of her stuff held up. It was/is based on misunderstandings and a failure to check the veracity or meaning of documents with the right people.
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Dexter Cooke
Reviewer
Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
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