Defending...Orly Taitz?!?

One of the obstacles faced by someone such as myself in persuading the birther crowd that the conspiracies are unfounded is in establishing my factual neutrality. I believe that being someone who voted *against* Obama in last year's election helps on that front. And now, the opportunity has arisen for me to actually somewhat defend one of the leading Birther conspiracy nuts, Orly Taitz.

On Wednesday, the OC Weekly ran an article about Taitz that included this tidbit:

(In February, for example, the complaint alleges she posted, "The simple fact is that we are long overdue for another Rebellion in this nation, and I heartily endorse the idea of having one again very soon, preferably starting THIS year!")

In a lengthy (surprise!) response to the article, Taitz writes:

"For example, you quoted me as saying that there will be a rebellion, that I support it whole heartedly - I never said that."

Now whether Taitz has ever expressed similar sentiments is beyond the scope of this post. What I want to address here is whether Taitz actually made this specific quoted statement.

The "complaint" referred to is complaint to the California State Bar, alleging violations of the California Rules of Professional Conduct by Taitz. On page 24 of the Complaint appears this allegation:

On February 3, 2009, Taitz proclaimed:

I have reported on thisblog [sic] for quite some time that we here in the United States are heading toward Civil War. Many of you told me I was a nut for thinking that.

The simple fact is that we are long overdue for another Rebellion in this nation and I heartily endorse the idea of having one again very soon; preferably [sic] starting THIS year!

We must stop our federal government dead in its tracks because it is out of control and very dangerous. If stopping them means attacking them and destroying them by force, then so be it."

See "NH Revolution ~Update~," posted by Dr. Orly Taitz at 2/3/2009 5:34 PM, available at http://defendourfreedoms.us/2009/02/03/nh-revolution.aspx (emphasis added).

The defendourfreedoms.us website is no longer available online, but much of it was preserved at defendourfreedoms.net. That specific page was cached here. And as seen there, the quoted 'rebellion' statement comes from a post of Taitz's wherein she quoted a lengthy piece by one Pat Dollard. It was Dollard who originally penned the line "The simple fact is that we are long overdue for another Rebellion in this nation, and I heartily endorse the idea of having one again very soon, preferably starting THIS year!" Taitz did not write it herself; she simply favorably reposted the article that contained it. She also linked to her sources for the article, including the websites of Pat Dollard and Hal Turner.

At the end of her (re-)post, Taitz included a poll that asked readers "What did you think of this [Pat Dollard's] article?" 85.7% of respondents voted that they "Liked" it.

So there you have it. Taitz did not write "The simple fact is that we are long overdue for another Rebellion in this nation, and I heartily endorse the idea of having one again very soon, preferably starting THIS year!" She only quoted it (with proper citation) from a white supremacist's website.