Lots of chatter about a Washington Independent article in which David Weigel, reporting from the Tea Party convention, captured Andrew Breitbart and RW birther nut Joseph Farah having a heated exchange about the whole birther crusade.

Breirtbart castigated Farah's obsession as being “self-indulgent”, “narcissistic,” and being “a losing issue” for Republicans at the ballot box. And oh yeah, Farah couldn't prove his case, so Breitbart said he ought to just drop it already.

That's all very interesting and some are pointing to Breitbart as a right-wing voice of reason, which is always a big mistake. Why? Becuase Breitbart site, Big Hollywood*, last year gladly published birther nuts who used Breirtbart's platform to push the hate.

Behold Breitbart's birther past, via Big Hollywood:

On September 10, Burt Prelutsky criticized the “hypocrisy of liberals” in not expressing any “concern over Obama's refusal to offer up” his birth certificate:

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On August 22, Chele Stanton claimed that the media are giving Obama a “free pass” on issues such as Obama saying “he was born in Hawaii -- Yet his own Grandmother says he was born in Kenya and she was there at his birth" and that Obama "[w]on't release his school records, medical records, or birth certificate -- no explanation." Stanton concluded: “Obama promised transparency, but all I've seen is secrecy. If there is nothing to hide... then why are those records still being hidden? Concerned Americans want to know and deserve to know... the truth.”

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On August 11, Jeremy D. Boreing wrote a post headlined, “In Defense of the Birthers.” Boreing claimed he is “not a Birther” but wrote that the treatment of birthers is “completely unfair” because they are raising “perfectly legitimate questions.” Boreing added that Obama “plainly is not one of us”:

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Carl Kozlowski wrote on July 30 that “the more I read about [Obama], the more questions I had. I also had always held respect for John McCain and his incredible sacrifices for the nation, so by the time fall rolled around, I was campaigning for the war hero and speaking out against the man who couldn't even produce a normal birth certificate to prove he belonged in the White House.”

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Joseph C. Phillips wrote on April 13 that "[t]here are a vast number of Americans that are not even aware that there are ambiguities surrounding the president's birth certificate or that those questions remain unanswered. The issue is not one promulgated by the opposition party, nor is it one entertained by any mainstream conservative or Republican writers."

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Prelutsky claimed on April 15 that “our president went to Europe recently and, doing his rather uncanny impression of Michael Moore, apologized for American arrogance. Naturally, his own arrogant words were greeted with great applause from a pack of jackals who would have been under the boot of Hitler or Stalin, except for America's hatred of tyranny, its unrivaled display of courage and fortitude, and its sacrifice of treasure and blood. It is at such times that one can easily understand why the question about Obama's citizenship continues to plague so many people.”

To recap, Breitbart now says the birther stuff is “self-indulgent” and wrong. But not that long ago his site published all kinds of birther nonsense, including a column called “In Defense of the Birthers.”

Hypocrisy noted.

*Changed. I originally suggested the birther nonsense appeared on Breitibart's Big Government site. Instead, it appeared on Breitbart's Big Hollywood site.