Huckabee Still Not a Birther–But His Pants Are On Fire

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In his defense, Huckabee did go out of his way in that radio interview to repeat his belief that Obama was born in the United States. Not so much because he believes Obama, mind you, but because “I know the Clintons…and believe me, they have lots of investigators out on him, and I’m convinced if there was anything that they could have found on that, they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it.”

As for his repeated false assertion that Obama grew up in Kenya with his Kenyan father, the Huckabee camp now tells CNN and ABC that the governor simply misspoke. Several times. He meant Indonesia.

It’s tempting to believe him. After all, Huckabee’s charm as a political figure is his willingness to speak off the cuff, without the careful consideration of most politicians. So it’s believable that he might have just been careless with his words or yammering on about a subject with which he really wasn’t familiar.

Except for that whole comment about the Mau Mau Revolution, which took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1956. It’s not the sort of vague reference that you just sort of toss off. And there’s the bit about Obama growing up with his father and hearing about his Kenyan grandfather being persecuted. Obama only met his father once, which would have made it difficult to grow up steeped in tales of his Kenyan grandfather. Another misstatement, perhaps? Or is this the GOP playbook for 2012?