Politico has a lead story on Birtherism right now, blaming the whole thing on the Democrats and linking it, by vague insinuation, to 9/11 Trutherism (Ben Smith has a post on that, too — another of those False Equivalency Fairy magic pieces).
However, the main story concludes:

Some Republicans take the position out of a basic respect for facts, but they also worry about its consequences for their party.

“It makes us look weird. It makes us look crazy. It makes us look demented. It makes us look sick, troubled, and not suitable for civilized company,” one of the first conservatives to turn against the birthers, talk show host Michael Medved, said in 2009. “I’m not a conspiracist, but this could be a very big conspiracy to make conservatives disgrace themselves.”

Read more: politico.com