Conor Friedersdorf on the Birthers and Trig Truthers:
"As evident is that public officials are under no “transparency” obligation to address all questions. Were the right fringe to allege that Barack Obama is in fact a woman, and demand a photograph of his penis to definitively prove otherwise, and the left fringe retaliated by alleging that Sarah Palin is a man, and requested the same sort of photographic proof, Andrew would surely join me in concluding that both politicians have some right to privacy. Right?...Someone should make and sell T-shirts with a silkscreen of Obama's certificate of live birth. That would be AWESOME. Posted by Stephen Silver at July 30, 2009 04:30 PMThe standard these critics prefer would seem to be, “If a conspiracy theory’s truth would make a politician out to be a liar, he or she must do everything in their power to refute it.” Again, I find that transparency standard untenable, and so should you, unless you’re prepared to react to an “Obama’s a woman” conspiracy by asking Barack Obama for a naked photo."