2008: (Hillary) Clinton Says Obama Muslim Rumor Not True “As Far As I Know”By Jake Tapper
Mar 2, 2008 11:03pm
Interesting item starting to circulate on the web tonight (2008) like on AndrewSullivan.com…
On 60 Minutes, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, was asked about rumors that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is a Muslim.
She took a hardline stance against the rumor…then seemed to walk it back, injecting a note of ambivalence.
Here’s how the exchange went.
STEVE KROFT: You don’t believe that Senator Obama’s a Muslim?
HILLARY CLINTON: Of course not. I mean that’s, you know, that, there is no basis for that. You know, I take him on the basis of what he says, and, you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that.
KROFT: You said you take Sen. Obama at his word that he’s not a Muslim…
CLINTON: Right, right..
KROFT: …you don’t believe that he’s a Muslim.
CLINTON: No! No! Why would I? There’s nothing to base that on. As far as I know.
"As far as I know"?
To be fair, Clinton went on to say that having "been the target of so many ridiculous rumors… I have a great deal of sympathy for anybody who gets, you know, smeared with the kind of rumors that go on all the time."
That said, it’s the "as far as I know" that has some Obama supporters up in arms.
(Like the one who posted the clip on Youtube under the header: "Hillary Clinton Stokes False Rumors about Obama’s Faith".)
I guess the question is how would this look if the shoe were on the other foot.
Let’s try just one of any number of ridiculous anti-Clinton smears.
HYPOTHETICAL STEVE KROFT: You don’t believe that Senator Clinton killed Vince Foster?
HYPOTHETICAL BARACK OBAMA: Of course not. I mean that’s, you know, that, there is no basis for that. You know, I take her on the basis of what she says, and, you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that.
HYPOTHETICAL KROFT: You said you take Sen. Clinton at her word that she didn’t kill Vince Foster…
HYPOTHETICAL OBAMA: Right, right..
HYPOTHETICAL KROFT: …you don’t believe that she killed Vince Foster.
HYPOTHETICAL OBAMA: No! No! Why would I? There’s nothing to base that on. As far as I know.
Hmm.
And lest we forget this context, from the perspective of Obama supporters: two Clinton campaign volunteer coordinators in Iowa were asked by the Clinton campaign to resign after it came out that they had circulated those insane Obama-is-a-Muslim-Manchurian-candidate emails.
What say you?
- jpt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHFREDHB-nQ
