Above: A morning headline on the Drudge Report—the right-wing news site that, like a number of other outlets with similar ideological orientations, is crudely obsessed with the idea that Hillary Clinton and her longtime adviser Huma Abedin are involved in a secret lesbian/Muslim relationship. Abedin just separated from her husband, Anthony Weiner; the picture and the caption imply that Abedin has in fact dropped Weiner—and perhaps forgone all penis-related romance—because of her relationship with Clinton.
Even setting aside the tone of retrograde adolescent revulsion/excitement with which Drudge treats the idea that two ladies might kiss, there are a number of problems with this item. For one, the woman hugging Clinton in the photo, as you can see in another shot taken at the same time, is wearing a wedding ring.
The second problem is that, as you can see in Reuters’ database, this photo was taken on Dec. 2, 2011, at which time Abedin was still (as far as we know) committed to her marriage.
Screenshot/Reuters
But the third, most significant flaw in Drudge’s analysis is that the woman in the picture … is Burmese opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.
Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters
I genuinely am not sure how this could have happened, but I suspect a badly punctuated, all-caps conspiracy-theory email forwarded by someone’s uncle was involved.
Update, 10:55 a.m.: Drudge has changed its photo, which is now actually of Huma Abedin, though I’m still not sure how you’re supposed to be able to tell that she’s not wearing a wedding ring.
Screen shot/Drudge Report
