MSNBC: Hillary Clinton denies starting birther theory

Hillary Clinton denies starting birther theory

In the dying days of Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid, some her die-hard supporters were indeed the first to spread the rumor that Obama was not born in the U.S., and thus ineligible to serve as president, according to FactCheck.org and numerous media reports. But there’s no evidence the Clinton campaign itself was behind the conspiracy theories.

A source familiar with her 2008 campaign’s opposition research effort has told msnbc that the campaign looked into the claims, but found nothing to support them and denied that campaign circulated the questions about Obama’s eligibility to serve to supporters or reporters.

The campaign did, however, actively propagate the notion that Obama was somehow foreign.

Clinton’s top strategist, Mark Penn, circulated a memo in March 2007 on Obama’s “Lack of American Roots,” urging the campaign to highlight his “diverse, multicultural” roots and the fact that he is “not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and his values.” The memo was made public after the collapse of her campaign.

It seems like the picture here is more muddy than Mrs. Clinton portrays the situation:

Mediaite: Hillary Clinton Surrogate Sorta Answers for Obama ‘Muslim Garb’ Photo

In the video at MSNBC, Mr. Trump refers to Mrs. Clinton several times as "shrill". He's unable to accuse Mrs. Clinton of smearing Obama without, in the same breath, blatantly attacking Mrs. Clinton on her gender. Painful to watch. It's terrifying that Mr. Trump's open proto-fascism is garnering so much support on the other side.