The Fox News Candidate Comes Full Circle With Birther Flirtation

During a rally today, Mitt Romney echoed the right-wing media's obsession with President Obama's birth certificate.

Romney told an audience in Commerce, Michigan: “No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” 

(video from TPM Media

Fox News and other conservative outlets have repeatedly touted false conspiracy theories involving President Obama and his birth certificate. Fox's opinion programs ran dozens of segments last year in which the hosts either espoused birther conspiracies or did not challenge or correct false claims about Obama's birth.

Fox News also teamed up with birther Donald Trump -- a current Romney surrogate -- to repeatedly smear Obama on the subject. Fox's flagship “straight news” program, Special Report, drew fire for treating birther conspiracies seriously even after President Obama released his long-form birth certificate last year.

Media Matters has noted that the Romney campaign has often embraced Fox News talking points and the fringes of the right-wing media.