Sarah Palin got quite a kick out of a fringe right-wing conspiracy theory that the White House staged a woman’s fainting at an event earlier this week — but she can’t blame people for buying it!
The fainter, identified as Karmel Allison, became disoriented as she stood behind President Barack Obama at an event intended to defend the Affordable Care Act (Allison successfully enrolled in Obamacare).
Obama paused his remarks, helped her remain upright, cracked a joke about speaking too long and resumed his speech as Allison was escorted off the dais. Allison later tweeted that she simply “got a little lightheaded” and that was that.
Or was it?
The Weekly Standard was seemingly the first major outlet to disseminate the theory, which originated on the conservative website Lady Patriots. As the theory goes, the whole “phony” incident was nothing more than another example of Obama requiring “props around him when he does one of his con-jobs in the Rose Garden, or wherever he chooses to receive his worshipers.”
“This was no different, except that he had animated props this time,” Lady Patrios blogger Dr. Sharon Schuetz wrote. “Although it was well staged there were enough holes in this little scene to drive the proverbial truck through.”
Palin, who noted on her Facebook page that the Weekly Standard’s post was picked up by Drudge, called the whole thing “hilarious” and stopped short of fully endorsing the theory. But she still sympathized with the true believers.
“With the Obama White House’s total lack of transparency, it’s no wonder that some will ask whether they staged even a fainting lady in the Rose Garden,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee wrote. “What was once a major leap in logic has become a single step because President Obama has lied so often and so blatantly (“If you like your health care plan, you can keep your plan” comes to mind!).”
