TPM: Hillary spokesperson Wolfson denies campaign officially pushed Obama turban picture

The Obama Turban Pic Flack has entered into a new phase of this messed-up Democratic politics. The Hillary Clinton campaign is now denying that they had any involvement in sending the picture of Obama wearing African clothes to the Drudge Report. According to TPM Election Central:

On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson strongly denied any official campaign role in pushing the photo of Obama in a turban and Somali garb.

Drudge reported this morning that Clinton staffers had "circulated" the photo. He didn't say who circulated it, what level of Clinton staffer had circulated it, or to whom it had been circulated. Drudge is the sole source for this email's existence. Nonetheless, the media has been all over the story today.

Asked if the campaign had any role, Wolfson said, "No, not to my knowledge...I've never seen that picture before. I'm not aware that anyone else here has. I'm not aware that anyone here has circulated this e-mail."

Wolfson did say, however, that the campaign agreed with part of the message in the email -- that if the same photo had appeared of Hillary, it would have been a big story: "It is a common view among this campaign and our supporters that there is a difference in how the media covers our campaign and how it covers Senator Obama."

Wolfson also grew exasperated with a reporter who pressed the issue, saying: "If you have any original reporting to suggest that this campaign was circulating this e-mail, please let me know."

"We've been very clear that we're not aware of it," he added. "Obviously the campaign didn't sanction it, and don't know anything about it."

What is so strange about this denial is that Wolfson denies that he has no knowledge of this Obama pic, and is not aware that anyone in the Clinton campaign has circulated this pic. Wolfson specifically doesn't say that the Clinton campaign was, or was not responsible, for sending this Obama pic out to Drudge. Nor does Wolfson say that the Clinton campaign officially condones this action of sending the Obama pic to Drudge. It is sort of a non-denial denial on the Clinton campaign's part. Wolfson may not be aware of whether this Obama pic came from the Clinton campaign, or that this pic could have come from lower level Clinton staffers acting on their own and without Wolfson's knowledge. This could also be an attempt by the Clinton campaign to officially deny that higher level staffers were not responsible for sending this Obama pic to Drudge, while at the same time ordering the lower level staffers to send this smear out. I still do not know. The only person who really knows who sent this email with the Obama pic is Matt Drudge himself. And until Matt Drudge publicly releases the Obama pic email letter, with the email name and ISP address, then all we have is pure speculation here.