Photo: washingtonpost.com

Her influence may be on the wane after a series of public smackdowns, but California dentist and lawyer Orly Taitz has no doubt made a mark on the political consciousness of the country. According to polls, eight out of ten Americans are aware of the birther movement, of which she has become a self-appointed leader. Taitz, who has filed at least five cases relating to the birth origins of President Barack Obama, dreams that one day he will be forced to come to her dental/legal office and answer her questions: Is he really American? Is he controlled by Saudi Arabia, who paid for his Columbia education? "My children are so excited ... that the president of the United States will have to appear in Mom's office in Rancho Santa Margarita," she trilled to the Washington Post in a must-read profile from this morning.

Here's what we learn about Taitz from the profile. She drives a Lexus, she wears fake eyelashes, she is partial to slingbacks, and she likes lunch at T.G.I. Friday's. Also, she compares herself to Nelson Mandela, accuses judges who disagree with her of being controlled by the government, believes said government has used FEMA to construct 600 camps to keep dissident citizens corralled, and that if things keep going the way they are going, "this country will turn into a dictatorship, just like the communist Soviet Union, just like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran, or Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or Kim Jong Il's North Korea."

After she said that last part, her assistant Charles Lincoln III chimed in to say, "You're sounding awfully political right now, and I think that's a dangerous way to go." Lincoln himself is a disbarred lawyer and self-described "anarchist." When your anarchist assistant is telling you that you've gone too far in criticizing, what do you do? Go back to your law/dentistry office and think about what you can do next, of course.

Burden of Proof on Obama's Origins [WP]