Recently, the birther movement has gained greater notoriety, with CNN's Lou Dobbs promoting the discredited myth and right-wing activists confronting members of Congress. Though the conspiracy theory has been thoroughly-debunked, some Republicans continue to feed "the wacko wing" of the party. For instance, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) recently told Politico that he thinks the birthers "have a point":
But as if to illustrate the touchiness of the subject, [Pete] Hoekstra quickly added: "Not that this isn’t important."
Sen. Jim Inhofe has also tried to find the elusive middle ground.
"They have a point," he said of the birthers. "I don’t discourage it. … But I’m going to pursue defeating [Obama] on things that I think are very destructive to America."
It's unclear why Politico characterizes Inhofe's decided support for the "birthers" as an "elusive middle ground" stance.