Fmr. Obama Aide: Republicans Weren’t the Only Ones Pushing Birther Theory

Reggie Love, a former personal aide to President Obama stated that while he didn’t know who originated the rumors about President Obama’s place of birth “there were people who were out there pushing it that weren’t just Republicans” on Monday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel

Love was asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:30] about a portion from his book “Power Forward” about a confrontation between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Obama during the 2008 campaign, during which he mentioned “the emails it was rumored her camp had been sending out labeling him as a Muslim.” Specifically he asked, “there was a belief that she — her campaign let out these rumors that President Obama was a Muslim.”

Love answered, “Yeah, I think there were some — there were a couple of rumors back and forth about his, you know, him — whether or not he was a Muslim, and I think there were some comments about what he wrote in his book ‘Dreams from My Father’ about marijuana use, and I think someone had mentioned that he was like a drug dealer in New Hampshire, from [unintelligible].”

Asked more specifically about the Muslim rumors, he stated, “I think there are a lot of things that get said, and sometimes people don’t want to take necessarily the proper — they don’t want to take all the accountability for everything that’s out in the market, right? And, you know, especially when you have a crowded race at — which they did at the time, I think, you know,  there were points of — about then-Senator Obama that weren’t necessarily as accurate as they could have been.”

Later, after being asked if Clinton was the “original birther?” Love responded, “I don’t know exactly who was the originator of it, but I know that there were people who were out there pushing it that weren’t just Republicans.”

(h/t Real Clear Politics)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett