Hillary Clinton said today that it’s just awful that Donald Trump is feeding into the idea that President Barack Obama is a Muslim and was born in Kenya, despite the fact that those notions were actively propagated by her own camp.
Let’s flashback to 2008: Clinton is locked in a heated primary battle with Obama, with nasty accusations being flung on both sides. But Obama has begun to pull and away and Clinton seems doomed when, lo and behold, a certain image ends up the featured image on the Drudge Report:
Clicking the link brought up a Drudge exclusive, reporting that Clinton staffers circulated the image via email. “Wouldn’t we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were [Hillary]?” one Clinton staffer complained.
The Obama camp went ballistic, calling it “the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election.” Clinton aides at first brushed off the story entirely, but then denied having ever sent it. Even though, months earlier, the campaign was forced to fire two Iowa staffers caught forwarding an email saying Obama was a Muslim.
Then there were the comments from campaign surrogate Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey when he announced his support for Clinton. “It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” Kerrey said. Because who doesn’t compliment someone by bringing up two extremely touchy topics with voters in the Muslim-friendly locality of Council Bluffs, Iowa?
Even when Clinton herself denounced the rumors, it sounded about as sincere as… well, everything else she says. Clinton seemingly left the door open for the possibility that Obama was a Muslim, saying he was a Christian… “as far as I know.”
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