So I believe there is indeed a third type of birther out there that we all have probably come across as of recent. There are, in my view, three kinds of birthers out there. For the most part birthers in general will move between different types, but I've come across distinctive arguments.

1. Kenyan born theory birthers

Those who believe that Obama was born in Kenya. The original birthers.

2. Two parent citizenship birthers

Birthers who believe that you require both parents to be American citizens (and for you to be born on U.S soil) in order to be a natural born citizen.

3. Obama cover-up birthers

The most common type of birther. These birthers believe that Obama was likely born in Hawaii, and they may not deny that he would be a natural born citizen if such, but they believe he is yet to demonstrate that he is eligible to be president. These birthers object to being considered birthers more than anybody else, but their refusal to believe Hawaiian authorities or the authenticity of both birth certificates puts them well within the tinfoil hat section. Expect these birther types to say 'I'm not a birther but or I think he was probably born in Hawaii, he's just hiding something.


So essentially what is a birther?

A birther is somebody who believes that the president has not proven or demonstrated sufficiantly that he is eligible to hold office.

IMO there quite a few more types of birthers. Off the top of my head there are:-

Born in Indionesia birthers

Need a citizen father to be an NBC birthers

Indionesian adoption birthers

Not a NBC because of multiple citizenships birthers (divided into two sub sets - those that simply rely on dual citizenship at birth and those who claim existing multiple citizenship)

Stanley Ann not old enough to pass on citizenship birthers

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii but this isn't him birthers.

Only a 14th Amendment citizen birthers.

Even the 3rd class you recognise is really an amalgam of those who claim he hiding something specific ( parentage, religion, foreign sturdentship, age, antichrist etc) and those who just allude to a vague "something". We do seem to be seeing more of this recently I think because the others are getting less and less traction.

Of course any individual birther can fit into multiple categories even if they contradict themselves and nearly all fit into an overiding "there's a n***** in the WHITE house category".

^^^^^^^This!

FIFY

One common trait of birthers is a stubborn Denial of all facts and evidence which shows that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a NBC - combined with an eagerness to accept every farfetched, weak and/or fabricated smear thrown out there which they believe (more accurately, which they hope...) discredits Obama's legitimacy. The dishonesty is top to bottom with all birthers, and that much dishonesty touches ever aspect of a person's life.
Theirs is a very personal hatred focused on Barack Obama. It has caused them to be irrational, to the extent that they base their opinions and arguments upon their own internal emotions, rather than on fact or evidence.
That's also why charlatans target the birthers - they are easy to hornswaggle.

One of the underlying truths that few birthers will admit is that this belief is more honestly stated:
They know that the appropriate answer to this belief is "So? Don't vote for him."

They know that if Democrats came out doubting Romney's citizenship, and Romney released posted a pdf of his Michigan birth certificate on his campaign web site, and Romney Birthers started saying it was a forgery and suing Michigan to see the "original", etc. that they would consider them crackpots.

Heck, if they had to prove their OWN citizenship, for some scholarship or membership, and the authority to whom they were applying got the verification directly from their state of birth, but still refused them entrance because "they only verified that it matches your record on file, not that it's the true information," they would be mystified and furious, and rightly suspect some other prejudice at play not based on citizenship.

The question is why? Why are these people willing -- eager -- to abandon common sense in the one case of Obama? That's a thesis for another day, but part of the analysis turns on the other "three types of birthers" -- the categorization by motivation.

1. True Believers: Absolute tinfoil hat territory. Their fear, hate and ignorance have boiled over and made a potent stew that permits them to return again and again with absolute conviction to long debunked theories, and simultaneously hold mutually contradictory theories. Example: Tracy.
2. Grifters: Primarily in it for the money (plus notoriety). Kreep, Berg, CELIII, Dealio?, Trump, etc.
3. Smear Tacticians: Absolutely do not believe (but will never admit it). Fatally cynical (NADT). Corsi, Farah.

Orly is a curious combo of all three.

There's a fourth category that we've seen repeatedly over the years, but was never a large enough block to be considered a "force": Footsie Birthers. This is the one to watch. These are GOP faithful who have drunk enough FoxNews/TeaParty koolaid to begin to wonder, not if there's enough smoke to justify a belief in fire, but if there's enough smoke to justify inhaling just a taste, and maybe hop on the Swiftboat Ride to Easy Political Victory. Example: Bennett, most of the GOP in Washington, Romney's campaign.

As we get closer to November, the desperation to hurt Obama will produce more birther drama, no doubt.

This is the category that I think Fogbow now focuses on. We'll never convert a True Believer, and the Grifters and Smear Artists don't have beliefs to convert. But the nation can be educated, to make the Bennetts pay for threatening to abandon decency, sense, law, history, and democratic order.

Breakdown of the varying clades...

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7566&p=368596&hilit=fellow#p368596

That's awesome. I think I missed it the first time around.

Agreed. And that's why I'm shifting to Wifery. Today!

How many wives does he really have? As one who watched quite a few episodes of Big Love, it's obvious that those people hide all but Wife #1. And they lock up a lot of secrets in some temple where ordinary citizens are shut out.

I agree. The fools will always exist but we can make them the fringe minority by not letting their stupidity considered seriously.

Much like how 9-11 inside-jobbers just want a proper investigation and holocaust deniers are simply researching this open historical question.

birfing is a highly mobile (pre)occupation:



just more proof that, no matter how stupid you are, excessive masturbirfin' will make you stupider.

further evidence of birfer (de)evolution:

Having a boggled mind seems to be a common denominator ...

I mean, the quote is true, just not in the way the birther says it.

It boggles MY mind to think of how many hundreds, now likely thousands, of people would have to be "In on it" for the birthers to be correct, in a conspiracy ranging 50 years or more, and yet they seem to be perfectly OK with the fact that not one has done a deathbed confession or spilled the beans in exchange for what would end up being immortality - they'd be in history books as the one who brought it all down. But not one has even bothered. Thousands of people, including an opposing political party and ideology which opposes everything else the man does EXCEPT this topic.

The birthers seem to consider all of this as perfectly plausible. To me, that really does boggle the mind. That their mind is boggled by how many people they say ARE corrupt and not by the sheer lunacy of a "Thousands of people are all in on it!" plot is the problem )

311 million people are in on it.

i think this one counts as a bona fide true believer:

I think he might have missed a "hate" somewhere, like puppies, mom and apple pie and stuff

... and hot dogs and Chevrolets ...

...and baseball...

Breakdown of the Birthers

1: Racists.
2: People who want to get racists to give them money.
3: People who want to get racists to give them votes.

I believe that all known birthers fall into one (or more) of those three categories.