Fox News has resurrected a debunked, six-year old smear against President Obama as part of its desperate attempt at damage control in the wake of network contributor Karl Rove's baseless accusation that Hillary Clinton is suffering from brain damage.

On May 14, Fox News aired a sound bite from a 2008 CNN interview with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and CNN's Wolf Blitzer in which Obama states: “And, so, for him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination.” Co-hosts Steve Doocy and Elisabeth Hasselbeck used the clip to recycle an old, debunked talking point that Obama was suggesting Sen. John McCain was “off his rocker” because he “was getting older.” Fox then used this clip to argue that attacks on a political opponent's mental health occurs on both sides of the aisle in an attempt to paint Rove's recent comments suggesting Hillary Clinton had brain damage as "not unusual":

HASSELBECK: In 2008 Obama suggested McCain lost his bearings because he was getting older in fact.

[...]

DOOCY: Okay so where's the press attacking then Senator Obama for suggesting that John McCain was off his rocker? There wasn't any because you know there's just a double standard when it comes the left and the right in the mainstream media.

This attack dates back to 2008 when conservative media first tried to twist Obama's interview to claim he was attacking McCain's age. But even then, Obama's spokesman insisted that the comment was taken out of context while pointing out that “clearly losing one's bearing has no relation to age.”

The transcript of the interview reveals that Obama was responding to McCain's smear where he claimed “Obama is favored by Hamas.” Obama addressed the comment in the interview by pointing out that McCain had previously promised not to “run that kind of politics” by leading a smear campaign, and that by engaging in this negative campaigning, McCain had violated his pledge.

Rove's suggestion that Hillary Clinton might have brain damage from a 2012 concussion was widely criticized, yet conservative media have continued to politicize her health. Fox's efforts to exhume the thoroughly-debunked lies surrounding the 2008 campaign in an effort to run defense for Rove shows just how far the network is willing to go to smear Hillary Clinton and score political points in the next presidential election.