Everyone’s talking about how Hillary Clinton ignited the birther movement
by Maggie Serota, Death and Taxes, September 24, 2015
We all remember that racist obsession Donald Trump had with President Obama’s place of birth, right? The obsession he wouldn’t address the other night when asked by Stephen Colbert.
On Wednesday, during a campaign stop in Charleston, South Carolina, Trump deflected his old talking point by bringing up that Clinton doubted Obama’s citizenship long before he ever did. “In 2008 she was the original birther,” Trump said. “She’s the one that started the whole thing. Hillary is a birther.”
This dirt isn’t anything new. It dates back to when Clinton was on the cusp of losing the Democratic primary to Senator Obama in 2008. According to Politico, in the spring before the election, Clinton supporters forwarded an email that questioned Obama’s religious affiliation and citizenship.
It read:
“Barack Obama’s mother was living in Kenya with his Arab-African father late in her pregnancy. She was not allowed to travel by plane then, so Barack Obama was born there and his mother then took him to Hawaii to register his birth,” asserted one chain email that surfaced on the urban legend site Snopes.com in April 2008.
That theory gained momentum when Clinton qualified the statement that Obama is a Christian with the disclaimer “as far as I know” during a 200820/20 interview. The fact that Clinton fanned the flames regarding Obama’s citizenship was also the crux of conversation for Monday’s Morning Joe broadcast.
“It all started with her and her campaign passing things around in the Democratic primary,” said Scarborough. “The Republicans are wrong for doing what they’re doing, [but] this started with Hillary Clinton, and it was spread by the Clinton team in 2008.”...
read ... Hillary Birther
B: WASHINGTON POST CONFIRMS HILLARY CLINTON STARTED THE BIRTHER MOVEMENT
Birtherism Throughout the Years:
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