On Sunday, I reported that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor refused to reject Birther “crazy talk” on Meet the Press. At Monday’s White house briefing, I asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if he thought that Republican leaders had a duty to put the kibosh on Birther talk, and whether the President would do the same were the positions reversed. Gibbs responded that “rational people” don’t question the President’s citizenship, and pointed to Obama’s own record regarding his opponent’s status.

With Gov. Neil Abercrombie‘s (D-HI) now-open-ended resurrection of the Birther issue, expect to see more of the embarrassing scene that played out on Sunday morning’s Meet the Press: Republican leaders trying to distance themselves from the conspiracy theorists, without alienating them. Rep. Eric Cantor danced around host David Gregory‘s challenge to reject Birthers like an amateur snake-charmer with a bladder full of Mountain Dew. Deliberately or not, Abercrombie just might be some kind of political genius.

The last time we heard from merry presidential outlier Mike Gravel– the Democratic answer to Ron Paul in the 2008 elections– he quelled our summer doldrums with a high-production-value example of what America would be like had he won the 2008 election, courtesy of the people that brought you “Obama Girl.” Now, granting his first interview in months, Gravel threatens a return to politics– once again as a Democratic presidential candidate.

Did you know that Ed Asner, of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Hollywood in general, is a 9/11 Truther? Adam Carolla didn’t seem to when, on his podcast, Asner started to offer his views as to why the government was behind that Twin Towers attack. Here we go.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the United Nations General Assembly this afternoon, sharing some rather provocative rhetoric over the United States worst terrorist attack in history. Ahmadinejad told the assembled diplomats, ambassadors and world leaders that the events that occurred on 9/11 were actually orchestrated by the U.S. Government. This prompted the U.S. delegation to abruptly leave the assembly hall while many other national delegates followed suit.

When director Oliver Stone made his film South of the Border to try to convince Americans that Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is more than a goofball variety TV show host with blood-lust, one of the last people he was probably hoping to get as an advocate for his cause is Jesse Ventura. The former wrestler-governor sprung to Chavez’s defense on Larry King Live last night, calling for Stone’s film to be a staple of American school systems.

Ok. Well this should clear things up somewhat for those folks out there who are confused as to what side of the climate change debate Glenn Beck falls on. He apparently thinks it’s merely another conspiracy theory. Move over Birthers and Truthers!

Is Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan trying to get into politics or perhaps auditioning for a leadership role in a right-wing conspiracy group? Because judging by the current political temperature his latest blog post might make for a quick entree into the world of birthers and death panelists. The singer thinks that swine flu may actually be part of some Barack Obama conspiracy.

9/11 is a date that has come to represent a lot of complicated ideas. Memories of the attack come with a real sense of unity and global support that immediately followed. Suddenly it became a political football, used to exemplify a lack of patriotism (or a pre-existing bias). But judging by the coverage in today’s Newspapers, we seem to have moved on, or have at least started the process…

Is there a better time to bury news than Saturday night of a sleepy holiday weekend? Probably not —by Tuesday, this will be a two-day-old story that will be pushed aside in favor of focusing on Obama’s scary, propagand-tastic speech to America’s children. Even the Sunday shows didn’t get into it too deep. Such is the holiday weekend news cycle.

The 40th anniversary of the moon landing yesterday saw slews of retrospective coverage. But in an effort to “spice things up,” a good number of these stories introduced drama and conflict in the form of moon landing conspiracy theorists, or “truthers,” who believe the whole thing was faked. Let’s take a look.