Check out this video, courtesy of Blue Mass Group, in which, after praising Sarah Palin, Massachusetts Senate hopeful Scott Brown appears to suggest he thinks Barack Obama was born out of wedlock — a false claim which has been advanced frequently by members of the ‘birther’ movement.
You can watch the key moment here:
Brown: Barack’s mom had him when she was, what, 18 years old?
Guest: And married!
Brown: Well, I don’t know about that.
Now the factual record on this is clear. Obama’s parents were married February, 1961, and Obama was born in early August of the same year. So his mother was certainly married when he was born.
Complicating matters for Brown is the fact that, around the time the video was taped, the fringier elements of the conservative movement were advancing this theory–that Obama’s mother wasn’t married when he was born–as a related matter to the more important “Obama was born in Kenya” theory.
We have not been able to independently authenticate the video. But we believe it to be legitimate. It is also unclear what turns the conversation took after Brown tossed the allegation out there.
When contacted by TPM, Brown spokesperson Felix Browne provided this response: “This is a non-issue. Scott’s comments are being distorted by supporters of Martha Coakley who are trying to tear him down.”
