Surprise, surprise. Despite the right-wing's irresponsible and baseless rumormongering about Hillary Clinton "exposing" Barack Obama's "covered up" childhood at an Indonesian madrassa (where he was presumably indoctrinated in extremist Muslim teachings), it turns out that none of it is even remotely truthful. After checking out the veracity of the story -- you know, a basic tenet of Journalism 101 -- CNN blows the lid off of what a spokesman for Senator Clinton called "an obvious right-wing hit job."

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The only thing this story "exposes" is the anatomy of a right-wing hit job: Conservative Insight magazine runs an unverified story that the minions at FOX News then cite to smear politicians they don't like. And when it blows up in their faces, they claim they were just citing a source and wipe their hands clean. That's how right-wing "journalism" works.

CNN.com:

Insight Magazine, which is owned by the same company as The Washington Times, reported on its Web site last week that associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, had unearthed information the Illinois Democrat and likely presidential candidate attended a Muslim religious school known for teaching the most fundamentalist form of Islam. Insight stood by its story in a response posted on its Web site Monday afternoon.
The Insight article was cited several times Friday on Fox News and was also referenced by the New York Post, The Glenn Beck program on CNN Headline News and a number of political blogs.

Fox News executive Bill Shine told CNN "Reliable Sources" anchor Howard Kurtz that some of the network's hosts were simply expressing their opinions and repeatedly cited Insight as the source of the allegations.

UPDATE: FOX backpeddles on Obama smear.