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Dana Milbank

Dana Milbank writes a regular column on politics.

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On Fox News last week, Elisabeth Hasselbeck attributed the attack to Clintons failure to put the group on a list of foreign terrorist organizations when she was secretary of state. That perhaps could have saved these girls earlier, Hasselbeck declared.

Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show, suggested that Clinton didnt designate the group as terrorist because its members are black.

Foxs Megyn Kelly floated the idea that Clinton didnt put the group on the list because doing so would have angered them, and a guest on her show said Clinton gave Boko Haram a green light.

House intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and others argued that the Twitter campaign raising awareness of the kidnappings, #BringBackOurGirls, was evidence of the toothless foreign policy favored by Clinton and President Obama. Clinton, who along with first lady Michelle Obama participated in the campaign, was derided for trying to fight Boko Haram with hashtags.

Former congressman Allen West, always a step ahead, asserted that focus on the kidnapping is a wag the dog conspiracy by the Obama administration to distract attention from the Benghazi, Libya, investigation (of which Clinton is also a target).

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich called for congressional hearings which would also provide the opportunity to explore whether Clinton suffered a brain injury, as Karl Rove has alleged, and whether she orchestrated the Monica Lewinsky article in Vanity Fair, as Lynne Cheney suggested.

The nascent effort to pin blame for Boko Haram on Clinton is still far from a full-blown Benghazi conspiracy theory. But its worth examining, because it shows how a scandal is born.

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Milbank: Birth of a scandal blaming Hillary Clinton for Nigerian kidnappings