"In the end, Kroft looked stupid too. Frankly, sometimes you just have to laugh." Yeah, when I first read that 60 Minutes excerpt I wondered how Hillary sat through this with a straight face, it's so absurd.

But a lot of people aren't listening that closely for nuance when they're watching the news, and so strongly implying that Obama is not Christian (even though there's no evidence to suggest this) can be nearly as effective as saying it outright. As you note, journalists on mainstream TV usually won't blatantly lie, but some of them come right up to the line.