FACT CHECK: "Obama was photoshopped into Situation Room photo"

IGOR BOBIC 3:55 PM EDT, THURSDAY AUGUST 15, 2013

"Obama was Photoshopped into Situation Room photo"

Conservatives seeking to unveil the transgressions of President Barack Obama's presidency seized upon another target Thursday: the iconic photograph capturing a tense moment in the White House Situation Room on the night of the raid upon Osama bin Laden.

After skeptics coaxed the White House into releasing a photo of Obama skeet shooting in February, and Fox News suggested a photo of Obama golfing was "staged" earlier this week, Bryan Fischer, a conservative radio host and an official with the American Family Association, followed suit with a familiar, and quite detailed, conspiracy theory.

"Look at the size of his head compared to the size of the head of everybody else in the room. Even people standing in the back of the room, their heads are bigger than his head," Fischer said on his show Focal Point. "And it looks teeny-tiny next to the people that he's sitting next to. He looks kind of hunched over and small."

He continued: "Frankly I think that got photoshopped in after deal. I think Obama's approach was, 'Hey, if this thing goes south, I don't want to be in the room. I don't want to be anywhere near this thing if it blows up. If it succeeds, if it's an outstanding success, then photoshop me in there.'"

Fischer replayed an interview with Obama's former body man Reggie Love that aired Sunday, in which he recalled how Obama played cards away from the Situation Room while awaiting the day-long operation to proceed in 2011.

"[President Obama] was like, 'I'm not, I'm not going to be down there, I can't watch this entire thing'," Love said, according to CNN. "We must have played 15 hands-15 games of Spades."

"What if you needed a decision from the commander-in-chief?" Fischer asked. "I mean things -- it's a very fluid situation. Decisions may have to be made, decisions may even have to be made by the commander-in-chief. Where is he? He's downstairs playing cards. That is enormously revealing about our current commander-in-chief."

Watch video of Fischer's remarks at the 3:00 mark posted on the AFA YouTube channel:

@WinkProgress: FACT CHECK: Bryan Fischer, "Obama was photoshopped into Situation Room photo" Tea Party Cat fact Check