Washington, D.C.- But h- In recent days, on both radio and TV, CNN host Lou Dobbs has provided cover for conspiracy theorists who claim that President Obama lacks a valid birth certificate and is therefore ineligible to be president. Specifically, Dobbs has repeatedly said that Obama needs to ‘produce a birth certificate’ and cast doubt on the birth certificate posted online by FactCheck.org. Moreover, Dobbs has claimed that ‘reasonable people should be interested’ in the issue and that Obama has refused to put the questions to rest. Given Dobbs’ spotlighting of the birthers’ claims, Media Matters for America presents some of the leading figures within the birther community and the views they’ve espoused. The figures include Andy Martin, who has made anti-Semitic and racially charged comments; 9-11 ‘Truther’ Philip Berg; perennial candidate for public office Alan Keyes, who has reportedly accused Obama of taking the ‘slaveholder’s position’ on abortion; a pastor who has prayed for Obama’s death; and the discredited right-wing website WorldNetDaily (WND). Dobbs has hosted some of the birthers, while others have cited Dobbs’ efforts as evidence that the birther movement is growing. WND wrote in a July 16 article that it ‘has been reporting — […]